Taking the Next Step
Sin and Hell are not something that is forced on us against our will. Jesus tells us in John 3 that Men love darkness rather than light. People love their sin, pride, and independence from God! Therefore, all human beings are on their way to “eternal destruction.”
Without Christ, people are separated from God
Because you are going to get bumped in this World, the enemy of our souls is going to do all that he can to take your focus off of Christ and put it on something else. He is out to kill, steal, and destroy your life in Christ. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. We tend to prioritize what we treasure what we treasure becomes our focus. The enemy of our souls wants you to turn your heart to something else… because if you wholeheartedly love God there is no room for him!
“I’m not afraid to die…I am ashamed to die. I have never brought a single soul to Christ. I’m not concerned about what I have done…It’s what I haven’t done that bothers me.”
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He sees you…
He sees the mother who barely sleeps, who feels like all she does is meet the needs of others – from changing diapers, to preparing meals, to running errands. He knows how empty you feel some days..
He see the mother who works so hard throughout the day and comes home with a smile for her family. He knows how torn you feel between two worlds.
He sees the grandmother who has set aside the life she was living to watch her grandchildren. He knows the sacrifice that was.
He sees the woman who has struggled for years to have children…
He sees the parent who lost a child too soon…
He sees the father who works 50+ hours a week to provide wondering if someday you will be able to live beyond paycheck to paycheck as you empty the savings account for a car repair. He knows it keeps you awake some nights.
God is going to ask us to do things that, to us, seem difficult if not impossible. He is asking us to go where we cannot see. He is going to take us places we have never been, ask us to do things we have never done nor know how to do.
And until we are willing to take that Next Step of Faith, in obedience, we will never accomplish what God wants us to do, go where God wants us to go or see what God wants us to see.
This week’s sermon preached by Pastor Luke Seidler. Listen here:
Peter began his following when he and his brother Andrew heard Jesus’s call “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” So Jesus’ first and – as we will soon discover – last commands to Peter are “Follow Me.”
Not only was his name changed… but his whole life as he journeyed with his Lord, he was still the same man but things within were changing. He was changing because he followed Christ, he was becoming more while on his journey with Jesus because of his love for Him.
I don’t think these men lost their faith. I believe they did what most people in our country do today: they set it aside, this new commission… they went back to what they knew because things were not what they were with Jesus there in their midst. No Holy Spirit…
Prayer, giving, discipleship, coming together keeps everybody informed, of one mind, and focused on the purpose God has given us together as a congregation of His Church. If you are not connected or plugged in, how are you actively a part of what God is seeking to accomplish?
Listen here: Sermon brought to you by Pastor Luke Seidler
The resurrection of Jesus is a call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). It is a call to learn and grow, to seek, to mature, it is a call to reason – an appeal from God to those dead in their sin, to come out of the tomb, to come to the light and receive eternal life.
The resurrection stops his people from asking, “what is best for me?”
The resurrection, the new life we have in Christ, allows us, enables us, to forgive others, ourselves, Jesus said “Forgive them for they now not what they do.”
