Grace Point Sermons

The world can be a dangerous place. But as Jesus prays for His people, He wants us to know that we're always safe in Him because: (1) He guards us in God's will; (2) He gives us God's word; & (3) He sends us into God's world.

There is no such thing as an independent Christian. That's why the only way for us to experience eternal life with Jesus is for us to die to our independence and embrace God's grace as a gift we could never deserve, through good works we could never accomplish, so that we can share in a glory we could never have imagined.

When God does something we don't understand, we all tend to focus more on what we don't understand than we do on God Himself. When that happens, Jesus invites us to find our peace in Him (instead of our circumstances), trusting Him to give us joy that lasts forever, access to the Father & freedom to not be defined by our failures.

As followers of Jesus, we are outsiders in a world that hates Him. However, He's given us His Spirit so that we can still live with joy as He leads us home through hardship.

While we all want to make ourselves the standard of what's true and good, only Jesus has the right to actually do it. When He does, He's clear that the world isn't going to like it. In fact, they're going to hate Him...and everybody who loves Him...because they: (1) Reject His word; (2) Deny His works; & (3) Ignore His witnesses.

Would you pray more if you knew God would give you everything you asked for? If so, it's going to require a change in: (1) What you pray for; (2) Why you pray; & (3) How you pray. Still interested?

No matter how long we've been children of God, it seems we never outgrow the temptation to live like we're still orphans. In those moments, we need to hold onto the promise and power of the Holy Spirit, trusting that He lives in us & will always give us grace to love Jesus as He loves us.

We all battle anxiety (whether from sin, distractions or self-centeredness). When we do, Jesus calls us to declare war on worry. He never sends us into battle, though, without giving us the weapons we need to win!

Words without action are nothing but self-deception. Since we tend to make commitments we don't keep, we need to be constantly reminded that the love of Jesus isn't based on our faithfulness, but His.

We always resist what we don't understand. When that happens with Jesus, the best way forward is to act on what we already know: trusting His wisdom, following His ways & believing His word. In the process, we learn that true joy can only be found in obedience to the Lord.

When we're confronted with the hard truth that our hearts are divided, what we need to be told (and shown) is that God's jealous love never fails...even when we do!

Jesus is and speaks the Word of God, which means that we must listen. Thankfully, as Jesus wraps up His public ministry (before making final preparations for the cross), He tells us exactly what that should look like. As He does, He again invites us to come to Him for the light & life that only He can give.

Jesus is and shares the glory of God. Until God gives us a new heart, we can never see and delight in this reality. But once He does, our souls will be satisfied forever as we stand in awe of our Redeemer and rest in His amazing love.

Pain in the body always brings trouble in the soul. It's true for us. It was true for Jesus. Thankfully, He embraced the purposeful pain of the cross (for God's glory and our joy), which is what makes it possible for us to follow Him out of darkness and into the light as we embrace God's purpose in our lives (even when it hurts the most).

When we confuse being messengers for being mediators, we can't help but be tempted to add to the gospel. Every time we do that, though, we obscure the glory of God that shines through the sacrificial love of Jesus.

When everyone is tempted to do what is right in our own eyes, we need a King: (1) Who is mighty to save; (2) Who comes to us; & (3) Who can't be stopped. This King, of course, is Jesus...and the question is: "How will we respond to the King we need when He's not the King we wanted?"

True worship is committed to giving full vent to our joy in Jesus. As we do, John reminds us that this kind of worship always has: (1) A Cause; (2) A Cost; (3) Critics; & (4) Competition. What all that means is that true worship can only happen when it comes as a response to true love, which is most fully revealed in Christ.

We are loved by a hated Lord. That will always mean that those who hate Jesus will hate us. When that happens, the question is: will we really believe that the gospel can't be stopped & follow Jesus even when it's not popular?

We tend to define love by what we want, but real love is committed to what we need. Since Jesus leads us in real love, He expects us to follow Him in real faith through death to glory.

Jesus (our Good Shepherd) came to lead us to the Father, but we can only follow Him on His terms, not our own. How we respond to His word & work shows us whether we are True Sheep...or simply Wolves in Sheep's clothing.

We may worry about different things...but we all worry. And every time we do, it threatens to steal our joy in Jesus. Thankfully, Paul shows us how to fight against anxiety by taking hold of God's promises that: 1. When we pray, we get the peace of God; & 2. When we obey, we get the God of peace.

Jesus came as our Redeemer & Representative, guaranteeing our eternal victory over all sin & suffering. But until He comes again, we must endure--and the only way to do that is together as we: (1) Walk by faith; (2) Hold onto hope; & (3) Commit to love.

We're all tempted to replace God's promise with God's law. The problem, though, is that the Law isn't powerful enough to change our hearts. So while the Law is good, the Gospel is even better because it reminds us that Jesus came to set us free through His perfect obedience, effective sacrifice & transforming grace.

When humanity rebelled against God, we were put out of His presence and heaven was locked from the inside. But in His love, our holy God has come to us to when we could not get to Him, and Jesus now invites us to follow Him into God's presence where we can find true & lasting joy.

We try our best to earn God's favor. When that inevitably fails, we try our best to earn His forgiveness. Thankfully, though, our Father loves us too much to leave our salvation up to our best efforts. Enter our Great High Priest! When Jesus came, He gave us an unbreakable covenant that is eternal, internal & powerful because it's based on God's grace, not on our best efforts.