Risen Church NC

In this message, we unpack yet another powerful passage from Romans, regarding the impact salvation should and can have on a believer. After teaching us about what it means to be "alive in Christ" and "made new", Paul takes us deep into a conversation about grace and sin. Now that we're under grace, we can come out from under sin. We no longer have to be slaves to sin, because sin is no longer our...

Within just a few decades of Jesus’ time on earth, the Roman Empire was totally immersed in the Jesus Movement. Try as they might to quell its growth and destroy it, Rome was powerless. However, it was undeniable that there was great power behind and within the Church. As Jesus became a household name, questions burned within every heart and mind: Who is Jesus? Why are so many worshipping Him? Wha...

Maybe you’ve asked the question, about yourself or someone else, “Why am I the way that I am?… Why is anyone the way that they are?” Research shows that the the answers to these questions can be quite complex, but the short of it is a combination of genetics and conditioning. We are all born with certain predispositions and we are all conditioned into certain behaviors. According the Romans, these...

The Church reminds us that we have a better belonging and invites us to find a more satisfying life. Deep down all of us long to find a life of true, deeper meaning. None of us want to be forgotten, and are well aware of our world's ability and tendency to wear away and dispose of life. Jesus came to make sure we all can find true and full life. He came alongside everybody in every possible walk o...

Romans 5 casts a clear vision for what our life in Christ can look like - Full of God's peace and grace, reconciled and transformed by the promise of Christ. However, the key word in this chapter is "access". In Christ, we have access to a new and better life. The question is, will we take advantage of and activate our resurrection power? Romans 5:12-21 acknowledges the sin of Adam that works agai...

Of all the stumbling blocks put before by the Enemy, guilt may be the most sinister and most toxic. Tragically, it's also something that many of us assume is actually from God. Religion has leveraged guilt for generations, leaving many to feel as if guilt is a curse we'll forever have to bear. Thankfully, this is not so... In this message, we discover that God has been trying to free His people fr...

Romans 5 is one of the best and most basic descriptions of the Christian Life. In this chapter we learn how faith anchors us in God's peace and grace. With our hearts and minds transformed by these gifts, we gain a new perspective which raises us up to New Life in Christ.

In this special message, we dive deep into the Scriptures looking for clarity and perspective regarding the chaos in our world and how God may be found in its midst. What we discover may surprise you, but will almost certainly offer you peace that is out of this world.

Of all the ways the Enemy seeks to combat our faith in God and faithfulness to His Kingdom, this message addresses his most subtle strategy. This world often causes us to feel infringed and marginalized, and many environments in which we find ourselves cause us to feel out of place, making us want to retreat or even rebel. It turns out, however, that it's in these places that God may very well be...

We all have a certain level of anger within us. Anger lurks in every heart that has ever been wounded... that has ever been taken from, let down, or wronged. Ultimately, anger is the result of a heart that didn't get what it wanted. And isn't it true, we get angry because we don't get our way. We feel like we deserved better, or at least different. While it's tempting to categorize anger as being...

After spending the opening of Romans dismissing any and all alternative pathway to God, Paul finally focuses in on the true way in Romans 3. In this message, we discuss why righteousness is not something we achieve, but rather a gift we receive by faith. Paul gives us the very basis for our Christian faith, by articulating what our salvation does for us. Listen and learn what it means to be impute...

Are you more sensitive to this broken world or our Mighty God? Our answer to this question will determine whether or not we are overtaken by fear or emboldened by faith in times of uncertainty and distress. This world is fragile and volatile, and gives us plenty of reasons to be afraid. However, if our God is good and sovereign, then we have a greater reason to have faith. Ephesians 6 teaches us t...

We are constantly comparing ourselves and being compared to one another. Our world today makes it extremely easy and natural to do this, with social media and society pressure. At the heart of this notion to compare ourselves is jealousy. We may not be jealous of others, but we are jealous of who they are and what they have. Jealousy's power and influence is deceptive, leaving us vulnerable and vi...

In our last look at the Great Commission, we go beyond our call to witness and talk about what it looks like to be a truly welcoming people. As it turns out, when Jesus called His first disciples, He quickly began teaching them a brand new Kingdom ethic. Jesus emphasized their place in this world as salt and light, stressing that their good works towards others would be as important as their preac...

CS Lewis wrote, "There is within all of us a curious idea that we ought to behave a certain way, however, we do not in fact behave in that way." Romans 2 confirms that there is indeed this notion within us, which confirms that deep down we all acknowledge God's righteous standard, even if none of us can live up to it. In this chapter, Paul confronts the Jews' appearance of godliness and confirms t...

In this edition of our Romans study, we unpack the Mercy and Kindness of God. We discover that God's mercy allows us to walk away from Him, while it also works to call us back. We discuss how it is the kindness of God that works to empower that which sin has weakened, to enable us to find new life. While no excuses are made for our sinful nature, no barriers are in place keeping us from obtaining...

Every single day, we face an enemy who seeks to tear down that which God is building up. He works against all that God works for: Redemption, Preservation, Sanctification. He attempts to leverage our world's fallen nature and God's patience with it, against us so that we might lose our joy and faith. The Apostle Paul details this battle that rages around us, and makes specific note of how Satan se...

In the introduction to Romans, Paul extols the gift of salvation made available through Jesus Christ, but the tone changes midway through chapter 1. This transition however is very appropriate, because it addresses the question ,"Why do we need to be saved?" Beginning in Romans 1:18, Paul begins to unpack why humanity finds itself in dire straits apart from Christ. He explains what caused us to be...

The heart of the Great Commission is a call to be witnesses for Christ - but what exactly does that mean? In this message we discuss what is necessary to effectively share the Gospel. What begins as a personal passion for Jesus, translates to and produces an eagerness to witness and a mindfulness for those outside of Christ. Are you willing to take the LEAP and obey the Great Commission? Listen an...

In this introduction to the Book of Romans, we look at how it uniquely fits into the Bible and serves as an incredible intersection of Old Testament promise and New Testament reality. The Apostle Paul shows us how that which was longed for across all of history was finally made available through Jesus Christ. Listen as we define what it means to be in a relationship with God.

The Great Commission is an imperative that hangs over every Christian. Those who know Jesus are called to live their lives with an ultimate purpose of making Him known. However, for many different reasons the majority of Christians don't feel up to the task and wonder if this commission really applies to them. The main reason we miss the calling of the Great Commission is because we misunderstand...

A message from 2 Chronicles 20 about the power of prayer and a collective dependence on God.

All of our lives are telling a story. What if they all could tell the story of God's redeeming power? No matter what our lives are filled with, they all can be touched by and saved by the grace of God. Often we allow the wrong narrative to take hold in our lives, but what if God has a plan and wants us to bring everything to Him? In this message, we take a look at what God's Word has to say about...

As Christians, we are called members of the Body of Christ. What exactly does this mean? How does the Local Church take discipleship to its intended place? In this message, we break down how participating in the Church allows our faith to grow. We may can follow Jesus from anywhere, but finding our place in a Church community opens our lives up to so much more. Find out how God is able to give us...

What sort of New Year's Resolutions should Christians make? Is there one vow that every follower of Christ ought to devote themselves to? Ephesians 4 identifies one thing that every Christian is called to do. The Apostle Paul declares that all who have put on Christ have this shared imperative over their lives. It turns out that this passage in Ephesians is just the tip of the iceberg of the New T...