Why did the deadly cyclone hit Myanmar and the earthquake devastate the Sichuan Province in China? Our first response to questions like that is critical. Psalm 46:10 teaches us to be silent, and in our silence we will know God in the midst of great tragedy.
Text: Psalm 46:10When God chooses people for his family, he picks those the world considers losers. This means that imperfect people make excellent candidates for the grace of God. Since we are all imperfect, when we boast, let us boast only in the Lord.
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31In this message Pastor Ray reminds us everything we believe rests on the sovereignty of God. Salvation starts with God, not with us. Because he has chosen us, we can stand firm amid the trials of life. By standing firm we prove to ourselves and to the watching world what we truly believe.
Text: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17God uses the hard experiences of life to bring us to the place where our trust will be in him alone. Through those hard times, we learn to seek him and to rejoice even when life doesn’t make sense.
Text: Jeremiah 29:12-14When we find ourselves struggling with discouragement, we need to be reminded that God is thinking about us, and his thoughts toward us are good and not evil. When we hope in God, we can be happy even though we find ourselves in Babylon.
Text: Jeremiah 29:11We serve a trans-generational God whose purposes span the centuries. He does not confine himself to our timetable or limit himself to our puny understanding of what he intends to do. If you have eyes to see beyond your own problems, look up and you will see the hand of God at work.
Text: Jeremiah 29:10Life constantly presents us with the choice of the hard way versus the easy way. Suriving difficult times requires that we reject short cuts, embrace God’s promises, and trust completely in his goodness.
Text: Jeremiah 29:8-10This sermon reveals the four disastrous consequnces if the resurrection is not true. If Christ did not rise from the dead, our preaching has no purpose, our faith has no forgiveness, our death has no deliverance, and our service has no significance.
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20Our enemies are a gift from God. If we didn’t need them He wouldn’t send them. God has a beneficial purpose in sending
enemies our way – to make us more like Christ. Therefore, the person we might consider an enemy is, in reality, our best friend.
Contentment is not about geography. It’s about your heart. You can serve God in Babylon just as well as you can in Jerusalem. It’s a hard lesson, but it is also good news if we will receive it from the Lord. Let God define your life, not your circumstances.
Text: Jeremiah 29:4-6