Episodes

God has truly been good to us as a church this year! We want to take a look back at what has happened and thank each and every one of you for your support for us and for the body of Christ!

Acts 5:17-42 from Deacon and former missioner Travis Branch.

The fear of rejection. How do we combat it and conquer it?

Saul is going to play Samuel Says that God says and not follow exactly what God told him to do. Samuel will teach Saul, and us, that partial obedience is disobedience, and that disobedience is going to cost Saul the throne.

Never judge a book by its cover, and never judge a King by how it starts. Saul will start making decisions apart from the Lord and pay the consequences.

How does the fear of man show up in our lives on a daily basis?

It is Saul's turn to answer the challenge Samuel presented to the people of Israel. He is going to be tempted the same way we are to be impatient and pretend that we know best, instead of trusting God with all our hearts.

How do we remedy the Fear of Man? Only with the Fear of God!

Who doesn't love a new beginning? Israel could certainly use one after Samuel's charges to the, But what Samuel shows us is that a new beginning has to be followed by a new choice.

Is our fear of man rational or is it a sin? Who in scripture feared man more than they feared God and payed for it? We all have fear, but who or what do we fear the most?

Do I Have What It Takes? The resounding answer from Saul is with the Lord we do indeed have what it takes!

Sometimes the Lord uses the ugly situations and mistakes of our life to make something beautiful. The Israelites have wrongly and sinfully asked for a King, but the Lord is going to make something amazing out of it!

How do we use our creativity as worship? How can we write secular themes and honor God in it? Our deacon of welcoming Joel Rainey is here to answer these questions and discuss his new ministry: the creative community!

Coincidence? We think not! The story of Samuel and Saul meeting is a lot of amazing little miracles, that, unsurprisingly, turn out to be God working behind the scenes!

We wrap things up in our neighboring series with the thought that neighboring can be difficult. So let's talk about limitations and boundaries when it comes to loving our neighbors.

Israel history is about to change forever as they decide that they want a King after seeing Samuel's evil sons. Was it wrong for them to want an earthly King? No, but we are going to see that it is very wrong for them to want a worldly King.

Let's think of ways to bring the church to our neighbors and to bring our neighbors to church.

Genuine repentance or crocodile tears? What makes repentance true or just being sorry for being caught? The Israelites show us that the only way to get true repentance is turning from loving sin with all your heart, to loving the Lord with all your heart.

How can we meet physical needs, so that we can proceed to then meet spiritual needs?

Is it better to be completely unfamiliar with God or too familiar with God? The philistines being unfamiliar with God is going to cost them, while Israel being too casual with the Lord is going to REALLY cost them.

Who exactly is our neighbor?

Never. Give. Up. On. God. Even when the Lord allows himself to lose, He is up to something. The philistines are about to learn that even in defeat the Lord will get the victory and show up to prove who is the real God with power.

"Raymond Llull showed us that the Christian virtues of gentleness, kindness and compassion were more effective at persuading skeptics of the truth of the gospel than just about anything else."

A historical and literary tragedy in Israel. But not just because the ark was taken and Israel was defeated, but because Israel misplaced their faith.