Fool Proof Your Heart
January 15, 2023 • Jonathan Pokluda • 1 Kings 11:4, Proverbs 4:20–27, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 5:17, Matthew 15:18–20
How is your sense of direction? When driving, do you rely heavily on your GPS, or can you navigate well on your own? What about your heart…what do you rely on to inform and guide your heart? As we continue our series, Fool Proof, JP teaches us how to guard, inform, and follow our heart by teaching through Proverbs 4:20-27. 1) Who are you listening to 2) What are you saying? 3) Where are you looking? 4) When do you plan your path? 5) Why do you stray?
The End of the Search
November 28, 2021 • Jonathan Pokluda • Ecclesiastes 12, Matthew 10:26–31, 1 Kings 11:1–6
What does it mean to fear God? Christians are commanded to do so all throughout the Scriptures. As we finish our series studying the book of Ecclesiastes, JP teaches us what it means to fear God. KEY TAKEAWAYS -We are all moving toward death. You are older now than when you read the sentence before this. -Fear and follow God before your body fails. -You can and should take care of your body, but you are going to die. -Form your theology before your decline. -Don’t buy into a false theology that God is not loving and kind because we are commanded to fear Him. -Read other books, but only in addition to the Bible, not as a supplement to the Bible. -Fear and follow God by holding firmly to His Word. -There are so many distractions in this world that the enemy uses to pull you off track. -Your quiet time is not a means to please God. It’s a method of survival to fight against an enemy that is seeking to steal, kill, and destroy you. -If you are not regularly reading the Bible you are backsliding. -Why would God make known to us His mysterious will when we are clearly disobeying and overlooking His revealed will? -Fearing God and following Him means living by faith. -Is your life marked by acts of faith? Things you did that if God didn’t show up you’d be considered foolish and a failure? -Every sin you’ve ever committed is against God. -If someone can come back from the dead after being tortured and crucified, you should fear them. If they were tortured and killed and came back from the dead for you, you should follow them. MENTIONED OR RECOMMENDED RESOURCES -Suggested Scripture Study: Ecclesiastes 12; Matthew 10:26-31; 1 Kings 11:1-6 -Sermon: Wisdom in Words, Work, and Worship -Resource: http://www.biblereadingplan.org
Elijah and the Gentle Whisper
August 8, 2021 • Nate Hilgenkamp • 1 Kings 19, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Psalm 34:18
Have you ever been in a situation where you are trying your absolute best but no matter what you do your efforts are in vain? Where you try your best and your best isn’t good enough? As we finish our series, BC, Nate Hilgenkamp teaches us about God’s presence in times of trouble as we study the life of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. KEY TAKEAWAYS -Oftentimes in life your greatest successes are followed by your greatest disappointments. -When life gets hard and you are tired, what do you run to? -God will give you more than you can handle. -Sometimes life is simply hard. Our trouble is not that we don’t love God and don’t have faith. It’s the reality that we currently live in a fallen world. -When God asks Elijah what he’s doing, Elijah answers about everyone else, but not himself. He focused on what everyone else isn’t doing rather than answering the Lord about what he was doing. -Our God is not simply powerful, but present. -God will be close in your discomfort. -Why do we feel closer to God in the pain? Why can we hear the whisper when life is hard but not other times? Because our lives are too busy and too loud. -We can establish disciplines of silence and solitude. Of slowing down. Disciplines of spending time with the Lord to hear Him all the time, and not just when life is hard. -God will restore your purpose. -How often are your greatest anxieties something that God has already taken care of? -You might not be getting attacked by the enemy because you are not out on mission against him…you are dwelling in a self-created cave. You are a cave dwelling Christian. -Close encounters with Jesus change everything. -You can’t have God’s power without His presence, and vice versa. He is a God of both.
Elijah and the One True God
August 1, 2021 • Scott Kedersha • Revelation 3:15–16, 1 Kings 18:16–39, Ephesians 4:29, Galatians 1:10, Matthew 6:24
Have you ever met someone who was consistent and faithful in most of their life but had an area of life that was confusing or disobedient? What about you? Where in your life are you justifying a behavior that simply doesn’t make sense? That’s sinful? As we continue our sermon series, BC, Scott Kedersha teaches us about false gods and the one true God by examining the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. KEY TAKEAWAYS -Decide who you are going to follow. -Do you act one way in some settings and another way in other settings? -God’s Word does not speak well toward those who are lukewarm in their faith toward God. -Christians who are inconsistent—who are hypocritical—are one of the greatest causes of atheism today. -A false god never delivers. -What false god are you prone to worship? The result of a college sports event? The engagement on a social media post? Your house, car, or income? What is it for you? -There is no binge apart from Jesus that will ever fill you up. -The true God always delivers. -God loves to stack the deck against Himself and then flex. -Any battle that involves God isn’t really a battle. -If the Lord is God, then follow Him.