Sunrise Church

As God's people we must recognize that our purpose and role in creation is to know the Lord and make His glory known to all the earth.

Let not our faithfulness to Christ wane, nor our dutifulness of service to him falter as we await his coming; let us serve him and proclaim his coming to the final day.

“Ironically, this standard confession of the compassionate character of God is the root of Jonah’s anger…Steadfast love, when extended to Jonah, filled him with thanksgiving (Jonah 2:8), but when extended to the Ninevites, filled him with anger” (ESV Study Bible Note)

For some, salvation looks like living for yourself in this life with a promise of afterlife deliverance that often just looks like more living for yourself. That’s not the will of God in the lives of His people. God has a different view. God calls us to serve Him and his will of proclaiming His gospel to the nations and our neighbors.

The giant fish is incidental to the story. While it does lend a miraculous component that sets up an irrefutable case for God’s involvement in the events of Jonah, the fish simply serves to remind us, in a story where the book’s namesake has disobeyed God, that God is still in control. That is seen even brighter, not in the swallowing and subsequent vomiting of a giant fish, but in the prayer of J...

Jonah’s disobedience isn’t merely an act of crossing a capricious and abusive God who hands down edicts merely for the sake of seeing who will do what He says, but Jonah’s disobedience is a revelation of his heart; that he does not have the heart of God. In the kingdom of God, our obedience is demonstrative of our transformed heart, not merely an outward-in attempt to make ourselves acceptable.

Jonah is a story of God’s heart for the lost and how we are all disobedient to God in different ways, but that God desires that those who are far from Him would repent and be drawn near to Him and the lengths to which He would and did go to bring His message of salvation to the lost.

Jesus sets the tone for whose ministry they are embarking on and who is in charge. He reminds Peter (and us) that it isn’t about what happens in the lives of other believers that should dictate our faithfulness, our obedience or our endurance. Ultimately, these things should be guided by our connection to Christ.

There’s also a call upon us as followers of Christ, not only to bask in the glory of Christ’s forgiveness for us, but to reckon with the fact that to truly glory in Christ’s forgiveness is not to merely ponder it from every angle like a diamond, but to extend it in the same manner in which Christ did and does.

In a powerful encounter by the sea, the disciples are reminded that fishing was not the work to which they had been called, but, in fact, they had been called to fish for men empowered by his provision and constant care.

When faced with the objective reality of the resurrected Christ, it is easier for some to concoct ridiculous theories and notions rather than accept what is plainly true. It's easier to deny the resurrection than to come to grips with its implications. If indeed Christ has been raised from the dead, one has to reconcile their fate before him.

To diminish Jesus’ glory and his kingship and to reduce him to a mere friend is to reduce the power of his work and leads not to more people coming to Christ, but less.

Jesus died to this end: to bring salvation to a people far from God, to bring them into communion with God and his people, fashioning in them deeper loyalties than biological family connections and he walks with us through the power of the Holy Spirit until the day we arrive in his presence or his kingdom finally comes.

As Christ's followers, we are called to embrace what is seen as weakness in the pursuit of Christ’s kingdom, accept the path of foolishness as we walk the narrow path of The Way and deny defeat and rest in the promise of the resurrection.

What if the voting booth was a lament and not a joy? What if, instead, it served to remind us that we are still waiting for the king of kings who will end all selfish political attempts at representation and, instead, build a kingdom of blessing and bounty for his people to his glory?

We look down our noses at Peter, yet, we are Peter. John intends to cast us all as Peter. Weak against the temptations that beset us. Needy of the forgiveness that Christ offers. Doomed without the sacrifice of the Lamb who was bound.

As the true High Priest, Jesus completes our final atonement and intercedes for us. As the true and faithful witness, he does not falter in the face of difficulty, his revelation of God is clear he proves to be trustworthy.

Judas' betrayal signals the opening salvo in the final battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

True unity in the church is built on the shared experience of God's love, a commitment to God's truth as revealed in His Word and a common commitment to proclaim the gospel to the nations and our neighbors.

In Christ, obedience to the Father’s Word becomes the concern of his followers, not to secure eternal life, but to bring Him glory.

Jesus promises true intimacy with him that provides deeper access to the Father and an assurance of victory over the world.

Jesus promises that in spite of his death, after a little while, all of the disciples' sorrow would be transformed into joy; and not a fleeting or circumstantial joy, but a never-ending joy that results in rejoicing.

Instead of viewing the Holy Spirit as an untraceable force or presence, He should be understood as the gift of Jesus Christ that allows us to maintain our connection to the spiritual realm and God in Christ while we inhabit this physical world.

Jesus warns of the likelihood of persecution facing Christians, cautioning that the servant is not better than the master, but promises help to endure from the Holy Spirit.

Christian fruitfulness comes when believers remain connected to the vine of Christ. Apart from Christ we can do nothing. In Christ, however, we abound in fruitfulness.