StoneBridge Church Sermon of the Week

There are two postures that we can take when "doing something", faith or unbelief. A posture of faith is one of confidence and trust. It opens our arms to receive God's grace. A posture of doubt is often expressed in confidence in ourselves, and keeps us from receiving God's grace.

We must get rid of every weight (sin) that entangles us so we can run the race marked out for us. In order to do this, we must fix our eyes on Jesus, because He is the Way.

We need both good soil and good seed to produce good fruit. We can come under the rain of God's grace and help the seeds He has planted in our hearts to grow by giving, fasting, and praying.

In order to fulfill "God's deal" for our lives we must acquire the skills needed for the task and our character must be developed. This often comes through trials and training, but the result is worth it.

If we want to tear down the walls that keep us from moving forward into our destiny, then we must build up the walls that keep the enemy from getting access into our lives. To do this we must repent and obey.

We want hearts (soil) where God's deal for us can take root, grow and produce fruit. You may be doing your deal, but if your heart soil is not good, it won't result in much fruit and be more burdensome then joyful.

God has a dream for us that ties into His plan for the world and the enemy is bent on doing what he can to undermine that Plan. Your role in the battle is strategic. It is vital that each of us discover God's dream for us then begin to live that dream in our lives.

On the road we take to seeing our dreams fulfilled we may encounter opposition, temptation, despair, and hopelessness. But all these things are being used to form in us the things we need to fulfill God's plan for our lives.

God has a dream for each one of our lives. As we pursue and fulfill this dream we need to trust that He will reveal it, give us desires in our heart for it, it is always about blessing others, and it will suit how God created us.

We need both wisdom and revelation to accomplish what God has for us. It is not only important to know what God wants us to do, but how He wants us to do it.

When was the last time you were amazed by Jesus? Busyness, familiarity, and fear can keep us from being in awe of our amazing God who never changes and is always at work around us.

God is a good God and we can expect Him to do good things in our lives, but sometimes there is a waiting period before we see His promises. We have a choice to make in that waiting time, we can continue to wait or quit.

God loves us and demonstrated this love for us in sending His Son Jesus. Knowing and receiving His love is the greatest gift we could ever get.

We must undergo testing in order to become the men and women God has destined us to be.

Because God is a great God, everything He does is great. As we remember all of the ways He has worked in our lives we should be filled with joy knowing we have such an awesome God.

God doesn't want to just influence our lives, He wants to lead them. To be led by Jesus is to give Him not just the pieces of your life, but your life itself. When we understand what He gave up to become a man, it is easier to trust Him and give our lives to Him.

Gift giving gets to the true meaning of Christmas. The first gift was when God gave His Son. We all need this gift, and once we have received from God we need to give it to others by giving our time and love.

In the Golden Rule Jesus requires us to love with intentional action. The only way we can do this is by knowing that God is a good Father who loves us and who can help us love others.

In these passages Jesus is illustrating the character of relationships in the Kingdom of God. We need to have people in our lives that we can be transparent and vulnerable with to help us mature as Christians.

In these passages Jesus is illustrating the character of relationships in the Kingdom of God. We need to have people in our lives that we can be transparent and vulnerable with to help us mature as Christians.

Worry is often a symptom of being a person of little faith. Jesus said if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we could move a mountain. The point Jesus is making is not how much faith is required to get God to act, but how little. The ground for answered prayer is God's heart.

We become hypocrites when we pretend to be something that we are not. God doesn't deal with fake. We have to be honest with Him and others and confess our sins so He can work in them and with them.

Our desire is to see everyone become more like Jesus before they die. The best way for this to happen is to be involved in a small group with people who love Jesus and love you and you can be open and honest with.

No matter how hard we try to obey the law we will ultimately fail because we have a wicked heart. But Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, and when He makes us clean He enables us to keep it by giving us a new heart.

In the Beatitudes, the ones Jesus says are blessed are not the ones that looked blessed in the eyes of the world. But they are the winners in God's economy. His values are very different from the values of this world.