Risen Church NC

1 Corinthians' thesis is that the Church is the Body of Christ, detailing how we should love each other and why we truly need one another. In chapter 11, Paul teaches how we share in His Body through worship and fellowship. He highlights how celebrating the Lord's Supper particularly emphasizes the importance of our joint participation in Christ and our partnership together in Him. Listen as we di...

Building off of Jesus' most thought-provoking question about the value and importance of our souls, we take a look at the story of Ruth. Her story turns out to be a reflection of all of our stories, having come from our family which was far from God, she received an opportunity to step into His story. There were all sorts of reasons as to why Ruth shouldn't have been so committed to staying with h...

Amidst all the resolutions we may make and work towards in 2023, it's important that we consider what goals we should make for our souls. After all, our souls are us *with or without* the material statuses or possessions of this world. Our soul is our inner self, the seat of our emotions, and the center of our personality and conscience. Needless to say, our soul is the most valuable part of us. W...

We return to our study in 1 Corinthians and once again hear Paul talk about the importance of considering the greater good of Christ's Body over our own interests and desires. He reminds us of the way of Christ, which is an others-first lifestyle. Being members of Him, we now understand that to glorify God, we must make decisions that edify His Body. From there, Paul launches into addressing a mor...

Every new year presents an opportunity for renewal and rededication. It also lends itself to setting goals and making resolutions. In this first message of our new year, we set out to pursue the goodness of God and make the most of every day that He gives us. He promises to make Himself known, if we simply seek Him and desire Him above all else. Regardless of what has happened or may happen, we ca...

As another year comes to an end, we consider the brevity of this life and seek to put in proper perspective our time on earth, under God's rule and care. This leads us into an even more serious conversation about the general purpose of all of our lives, and how we might seek to complete our God-given tasks here on earth in an honorable way. In this message, we pray for God to fix our eyes on His c...

A Christmas reflection on the gifts of love and life exclusively found in Jesus.

Christmas is just a single day, yet it dominates an entire part of every year. Its spirit is felt early and it lingers well passed the 25th of December. No doubt, Christmas is such a beloved and anticipated time of year because of the comforting and joyous atmosphere it brings into our world. This comfort and joy, of course, is a direct result of the promise of Christmas - that none of us are too...

The backstory of Christmas is full of miracles, from Zechariah's encounter in the Temple, Elizabeth's pregnancy, and Mary's conception. So many miracles, yet none of them actually measure up to the miracles on display in Luke 2 where we see the world change in real time. Luke 2 presents a world overran by darkness - from the empire that ruled to the laws that controlled. It was against that backdr...

The Bible teaches that our present age is bookended by the first coming and second coming of Christ. It invites us to take hold of our inheritance as believers, and see our lives transformed now and our hearts set on eternity. The season of Advent is all about discovering these gifts and unwrapping them. Christmas promises that God is with us and brings these gifts to our hearts. Perhaps the gift...

As we continue our Advent journey, we come to yet another promise of Christmas: Peace. Perhaps the best way to understand peace, and truly appreciate it, is through a discussion of the absence of peace. This is a reality that we are all too familiar with, on so many different levels. In this message we talk about the reason for the absence of peace in our world - all the tension, animosity and con...

Christmas is such a tradition and its themes are so ingrained into our lives that it's easy to take for granted just how great of an effect it's had on the world. Every December as the world is immersed in a cold darkness, the bright and brilliant lights of Christmas put the miraculous power of God on display. Where there was once disconnect from God, there is now His presence. Where there was onc...

This special message was bookended by lighting the first candle of Advent and celebrating Communion, both which punctuated the Hope that the Christmas season brings us. In this message, we study one of the oldest prophesies concerning the promise of Christmas and seek to understand what it means to anchor our hearts in true, everlasting Hope. Isaiah brings us a sobering word about the things that...

If we've placed our faith in God's reign and we've prayed for His will to be done, then the next step to take is obeying Him and bringing His Kingdom to life. Trusting God and praying to God all prepares us to see our lives transformed by God, that we might obey Him. In this conclusion to our ENGAGE series, we talk about how God has filled us with His goodness so that we might unleash goodness on...

Jesus taught that prayer was a vital part of our relationship with God. He stressed the importance of giving God our complete focus, so that we might be fully engaged with Him. He also clarified some common misconceptions about prayer, like the idea that prayer is simply a means of bending God's will to our liking. He assures us that God already knows what we need and intends on taking good care o...

Paul appeals to the story of ancient Israel and their Exodus experience as a basis for our Christian salvation. He establishes that just as Israel came to be under God's care and firmly secured upon a new foundation, so do we have the same hope in Christ. However, just as Israel immediately drifted away from God, so must we fight the same temptation. 1 Corinthians 10 tells us that this story of Is...

Our world's unpredictability is at an all time high. Whether we are all facing uncertainty as a nation or if we're facing unknowns individually and within our families - it's easy to be overwhelmed and discouraged. However, for Christians we have no reason to be afraid or dismayed, because despite how things may look, our world rests in the hands of our God. What if we began looking at life and in...

Paul continues to detail his commitment to winning the lost to Christ, and explains what he believes is the best approach to impacting others. Rebuking those who boasted about their knowledge and rights as believers, Paul stresses his obligation and burden as a follower of Christ. Just as Christ served others and poured Himself out for them, so should we. 1 Corinthians 9 lays out a plan that has s...

1 Corinthians 8 brings us a word on a topic that is more relevant than ever: The rights we possess and can practice as individual people vs the righteousness we possess and should practice as Christians belonging to the Body of Christ. What we may think is a cut-and-dry issue turns out to be much more nuanced as we realize that knowledge and right beliefs don't impress God nor earn His approval. G...

Humanity has a shared experience of being lost. We get lost easily, in every area of life. We are so prone to getting lost or figuratively losing our way, that it's safe to assume that something's not right in our hearts. Pretty much everyone agrees that humans are bent towards imperfection. Within all of us is also a notion that we've missed the mark - that we've fell short of some standard of pe...

1 Corinthians addresses our lives across the board, commanding us to glorify Christ in our relationships and in every area of our lives. Paul's focus in chapter 7 is to fix our eyes on the purpose God has for us and has placed in us, so that we might maximize our lives for His Kingdom. So often we look for purpose on the other side of something happening or changing in our lives. We deflect what w...

There is an undeniable, inescapable calling over all of our lives. As children of God, we are all sent into our worlds to serve Him and glorify Jesus with our lives. Thankfully, Jesus built the Church to help us navigate our callings and direct us in our commission. In the earliest days of His movement, He gathered His original followers and cast a vision over them and gave them a mission statemen...

The subject of sexuality and morality can easily be segmented away from our faith, and only talked about when addressing sinful lifestyles. However, in 1 Corinthians Paul addresses the Church about God's original design and desires for men and women, and how we conduct ourselves as single and married people. His aim is that the Church would model for the world what it looks like to reflect God in...

We all know what it's like to be called upon by someone. We also know what feels like to be called to something. Some callings seem like obligations, while others feel like opportunities. Callings can leave us with a burden, a conviction, a sense of must. They drive us with more than just a "have to", but with a "want to". As Christians, we have an inescapable calling over us all, compelling us to...

In another look at 1 Corinthians 6, we hear about Paul’s approach to combatting the sexual perversion of the ancient world - which turns out to be very relevant for us and helpful in navigating our own world. We talk about God’s original design of humanity and sexuality and how all of us have been impacted by the breakdown and fallout of that design. We also hear how Jesus wouldn’t budge from thes...