is the resurrection necessary?

1 Corinthians 15:14-20, “is the resurrection necessary?” [Listen]

Easter ‘08′

Is it critical that we believe Jesus rose from the dead? Isn’t it the death of Jesus that we must agree on?

justice and the death of Jesus

Romans 3:25-26, “justice and the death of Jesus” [Listen]

Good Friday

There are many ways to look at the death of Jesus. Scripture is full of different reasons for why Jesus died.

the coming storm

Matthew 7:24-29, “the coming storm” [Listen]

Jesus finishes this lengthy section (Matthew 5-7) talking about the importance of acting on his words. Failure to do so will result in catastrophe.

false prophets

Matthew 7:15-23, “false prophets” [Listen]

There are false prophets / teachers all around us these days. This is a very appropriate warning for us.

the narrow gate

Matthew 7:12-14, “the narrow gate” [Listen]

As Jesus is closing out this lengthy exposition of who he is, what the Kingdom looks like, and what the people of God look like, he is asking for a commitment – the biggest commitment anyone can make. All of our study in Matthew 5-7 have been designed to move the hearer to this point.

ask, seek, knock

Matthew 7:7-11, “ask, seek, knock” [Listen]

Jesus is now beginning to close his discourse. In Matthew 5-7 he has boldly challenged his hearers to think about being the people of God in a way that was different from their religious programming. In fact, Jesus was very confrontational in laying the truth before his listeners. In his words we hear about the people the Holy Spirit creates as Jesus becomes their treasure. He repeatedly challenged the rightness of the religious leadership. It could very easily sound as if Jesus was attempting to overthrow the current power base – he was. To make matters worse, he just finished comparing the religious leadership of the day to pigs and dogs. He was really stretching the minds of anyone who would listen. You can easily imagine all the doubts and uncertainty that would come up after hearing this. And so now he says:

don’t judge

Matthew 7:1-6, “don’t judge” [Listen]

In many ways the essence of sin can be seen in humanity’s desire to be God. We want to do things our way, we want to dominate, control, and use people for our own purposes. In October we talked about lust – wanting to use someone (in this case sexually) without an appropriate commitment to their welfare. Today we’re going to talk about another outcome of our desire to be God – the judgment of others.

don’t worry – trust God

Matthew 6:25-35, “don’t worry – trust God, [Listen]

Life is frail. Today we can be healthy and employed, thinking about how much we have – and tomorrow we could be without work or dying of cancer – life has always been frail. How foolish we are when we spend our God-given energy to pursue the frail treasures of this world.

meet Chris Rengert

Chris was kind enough to share a little about himself, his family, and how God has moved in his life [Listen]

living for the kingdom

Matthew 6:19-24, “living for the kingdom” [Listen]

Did you know God wants you rich beyond your wildest dreams? It’s absolutely true.