One of God’s purposes for our lives is to form us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.  To do that, He will use the teaching of His Word, as well as, people and environments.  However, another way that God shapes us into the image of His Son is through adversity, pain, and suffering.  Paul said that our troubles are achieving something for us.  2 Corinthians 4:17  The Good news is that nothing happens in our life without the Father’s permission.  Everything is ‘Father-Filtered’.  He is able to take any and everything that comes into our lives and use it to accomplish His purpose and bring about good in our lives if we will just be patient and cooperate with Him.  Romans 8:28-29.  In the meantime, believe God is working in your life even if you don’t see or feel anything, be patient with God and yourself ( James 1:4)...

God created & designed us to be a part of His family.  He didn’t need a family, but He desired a family.  As a member of His family, we are entitled to everything He has. Galatians 4:7  The two key conditions to becoming a part of His family is confessing our sins and accepting Christ as our master, and water baptism. Matthew 28:19  If we’re a part of God’s family, we must learn how to love each other.  1 Corinthians 13:3; 14:1.  The best expression of our love is time. 1 John 3:18  The importance of things in our lives is measured by the amount of time...

We were created to bring pleasure to God.  He didn’t have to create us, but chose to create us.  We bring pleasure to God through worship, not just singing a song, but by the way we live our lives. Romans 12:1-2 The best worship is when we are totally surrendered to God.  Nothing brings God more pleasure than when we are in a relationship with Him.  A lot of people have religion, but do not have a relationship.  God made possible, through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ, a way for us to be friends with God.  2 Corinthians 5:18, Romans 5:11  Instead of focusing on finding your purpose, pursue a relationship with your creator, then you will discover your purpose.  The choice is ours, will we settle for religion or will we pursue a relationship...

Ever wonder what your purpose on this planet is?  For many people, their purpose is just to get up, go to work, come home, eat supper, watch a little TV, go to bed, and then do it all over again the next day.  But what if our purpose was much larger than that.  What if there was a grand, noble purpose for our lives?  God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  God definitely has plans, a purpose, for your life.  The key to finding that purpose is found in Jeremiah 29:13  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the Lord.  For those who will get serious about finding their life purpose, God says you will find it in me.  Doesn’t it just make sense that...

Find anyone who is successful in business, sports, marriage, or in their finances, and you’ll find that they have one characteristic in common; Discipline.  The word Discipline usually carries a negative connotation with most people. However, discipline can be a very positive thing.  When it comes to living for Christ and running our race to win, discipline plays a very key role.  Spiritual Disciplines are Spiritual Habits by which we cultivate a deeper relationship with the Lord.  They do nothing to improve your record with God or get Him to love you more.  They are simply a means to an end, an aid in growing your relationship with God.  Paul talks about the need for disciplines in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27.  Discipline involves two things; Delayed Gratification and Advance Decision Making.  Delayed gratification is scheduling the pain first, so that you can enjoy the reward later.  It’s usually not enjoyable doing...

Billy Graham made the quote, “We take excellent care of our bodies, which we have for only a lifetime; yet we let shrivel our souls, which we will have for eternity.”  There’s a lot of focus today on diet, exercise, and health.  These things are important.  However, often we take better care of our bodies than we do of our souls.  Paul talk about this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.  He talks about the training that is involved in running a race.  He exhorts us to run our race to win!  He’s saying, don’t just jog along or walk or give it a half hearted effort.  He said if you are going to enter the race, then run it to win.  Train in a way as to win the race and get the prize.  One of the key factors in running our spiritual race to win involves FAITH.  Faith is for so much more than just salvation.  Once we’re saved, we are then encouraged to LIVE BY FAITH.  Paul talks about what this means in Galatians 2:20. ...

There is an interesting passage of scripture when it comes to relationships, especially a marriage relationship, found in 1 Peter 5:5-7.  We’re instructed to ‘humble ourselves’ before each other.  This involves a choice to put the other person ahead of yourself.  The reason for this, Peter says, is that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Grace is something we could all use more of in our lives and in our relationships.  As we humble ourselves before one another, God promises to lift us up in due time, which is not always in ‘our time’, but it will happen in God’s time, at the right time.  So in the meantime, while we’re waiting for our ‘due time’, God invites us to ‘cast all our anxieties (cares) on him, because he cares for you!  The reason God cares so much about your relationships, your life and your marriage, is that he cares so much about YOU. ...

For the past two weeks we have been talking about "iMarriage".  How to get the "I" out of marriage.  We have been looking at Ephesians 5:21 where we are instructed to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  We're to put each other (desires, dreams, wishes) ahead of ourselves, out of reverence, not for each other, but out of reverence for what Christ has done for us.  What did he do for us?  He gave unselfishly, putting our needs ahead of himself.  In fact, in Ephesians 5:25, we're instructed to show our love & gratitude toward Christ by showering it upon our spouse.  We are God's #1 tool & method for demonstrating His love toward our spouse!  In our marriage relationships, we should be a picture of God's love to our spouse.  When we approach our marriages with the attitude that I'm going to do for you what God has done for me - which is love you unconditionally and declare you do not owe me anything - then WATCH OUT!!!  Now that's the way God designed marriage to be!...

In Acts 15 there was a debate over who should be allowed in the church and who should be allowed to be a Christ-follower.  After much discussion, James, the brother of Jesus, finally stands up and makes this statement in verse 15: "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."  I believe that it is our job as the Church to make it simple for the unchurched to come to God. With that being said, I believe that as the church, we must beware that we don't gravitate toward insiders and away from outsiders.  We must be careful not to gravitate toward laws (polices) and away from grace.  We must not gravitate toward complexity and away from simplicity. And finally, we must not gravitate toward preserving and away from advancing.  So what should we do as a church.  First of all, we should remove all the obstacles to outsiders coming in.  Next, let err on the side of grace (that's what Jesus did for us!)  Then let's remain open-handed.  (Freely we've received-...

We like the ‘real’ thing.  Real Chinese food, real leather, real diamonds.  Well James talks about “Real Faith” in James chapter 2.  There are a lot of people who think that they are Christians but really are not.  So James defines what real faith looks like:

Real faith is not just something you say.  James 2:14, Matthew 7:21.  Real Faith is not just something you feel.  James 2:15-16, 1 John 3:17  We’re a lot better at verbalizing our faith than practicing our faith.  Real Faith is not just something you think.  James 2:18  The key words are “Show Me”.  Real faith...