Gladiators
Jun 5 - Jul 10, 2016
Standing against Giant Opposition
July 10, 2016 • Student Pastor Brandon
Whether your wilderness is of your own disobedience, a result of someone else’s poor choices, or just life itself, what is the Lord teaching you? Will you hold on until you receive the Lord’s promise over your life? When the time was right, Caleb took his share. Maybe the time for you is right now! How is the Lord directing you to live into His promised inheritance? The lives of future generations are at stake. Will you be the superhero–the Spiritual Gladiator-God is calling you to be for your family?
Cap. America & the Health of your Heart
July 3, 2016 • Dr Charles Kyker
God’s ways are not our ways. Often the Lord chooses the most unlikely candidate to accomplish His will and purpose. For example, when the Lord told Samuel (prophet, priest, and last judge of Israel) to go to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem and anoint the new king of Israel, Samuel took one look at Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But God said, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height… The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” How is the Health of your heart?
Humility Soothes the Beast Within
June 26, 2016 • Pastor Trent
Although David is known as a “man after God’s own heart” and shows great restraint more than once regarding Saul, he was not perfect. David has a temper. Like the Hulk of Avengers fame, he and each of us are prone to anger which often can become reckless. In this week’s message take a look at how David’s anger was disarmed with a simple action of humility from an unlikely source: His enemy’s wife.
"Bourne" into a true Identity
June 19, 2016 • Dr Charles Kyker
It would be scary to wake up and not know who you are. We take for granted things like spouse, family, jobs, friends, and life itself. But often our reaction to the twists and turns of life’s journey – unforeseen challenges, selfish pursuits, dark seasons, difficult circumstances, deep regrets, severed relationships, or even success – can cause us to forget who we are. It usually doesn’t happen overnight, but if our soul is not anchored in the One who gives us breath, it is possible to one day look in the mirror, and not recognize the person staring back at us. Solomon’s true identity was in the Lord when his mother “became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. The LORD loved the child and sent word through Nathan the prophet that they should name him Jedidiah (which means ‘beloved of the LORD’), as the LORD had commanded” (2 Samuel 12:24-25). God loved Solomon and appeared to him twice. At Gideon the Lord invited Solomon to ask for anything. God was so pleased with Solomon’s request for wisdom that He graciously gave Solomon “an under-standing heart” plus so much more.
Carry the Cross Publicly
June 12, 2016 • Pastor Chip McGee
Can you imagine on your way to worship suddenly being ordered to carry a cross for a man sentenced to die? After having traveled a great distance, Simon of Cyrene (modern-day Libya) enters the Holy City just as Roman soldiers are leading three men out to the place of crucifixion. Pushed and pressed by a mixed mob filled with both anger and grief, soldiers seize Simon “and put the cross on him” and make him walk behind Jesus, one of the men being led to Golgotha. What Simon of Cyrene intended to do privately –worship God in the solitude of the Temple–suddenly went public as he helped carry a shameful Roman cross for the Son of God. This is exactly what Jesus calls disciples to do: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.”
Deborah the "Wonder Woman" of the Old Testament
June 5, 2016 • Dr Charles Kyker
In the Song of Deborah (Judges 5) both Deborah and Barak rise up at God’s command and march against their enemies (v12-13). But among some tribes, there is great indecision (vv15-17). When leaders lead well, everyone wins. But when those whom God calls do not rise up in obedience, everyone loses.