Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that were true of your church? My church? Every church?
Text: Ephesians 6:18-20Christianity is not a religion for sissies or for those who want an easy road. If you are looking for an escape from your problems, Jesus is not for you. Christianity is for strong men and women who will not flee from the struggle.
Text: Ephesians 6:12Peter still speaks to us today. “If you think you’ve fallen short, if you feel like you’ve denied him, look at what happened to me.”
Text: Luke 22:31-33As it was for Peter, so it will be for all of us. Our strengths and our weaknesses lie side by side. If we live on the level of our emotions, we may find ourselves actually opposing Jesus. If we think that our understanding equals God’s will, we are bound to fall into many grievous errors.
Text: Matthew 16:21-23Christians are both pessimists and optimists, but we are much more optimistic because though we see what is happening in the
world around us, we know that Jesus Christ conquered the grave. And because he lives, we too will live.
Hebrews 11 is God’s “Perpetual Plaque” of those who lived by faith. And if you look closely, you can see there is plenty of room for more names. There’s room for you and there’s room for me.
Text: Hebrews 11:39-40I cannot promise you an easy road if you decide to follow Jesus Christ. But I can promise you this. You will be blessed and you
won’t be sorry. And in the end, you will discover that the life of faith is full of adventure, and you will be glad you weren’t a couch
potato but dared to make a difference in the world.
God honors faith, and he seeks it so much that he will honor people who otherwise do some very stupid things. He uses flawed people to accomplish his will so that when the victory comes, he alone gets the glory.
Text: Hebrews 11:32God delights in saving notorious sinners. He proved it by saving Rahab, a prostitute in ancient Jericho whose faith saved her whole family. There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still. There is no sin so terrible that Jesus cannot forgive it.
Text: Hebrews 11:31One day the Sadducees tried to trick Jesus with a very weird question. Jesus’ surprising answer teaches us a great deal about life after death. Our hope of the resurrection rests on the faithfulness of God. Our hope for the future rests not in science, not in speculation, not in some proof text, but in the character of God himself!
Text: Luke 20:27-40