Before the Bible ever came to be, God appointed spokesmen and women to communicate His word and His will to people. They were called prophets. In this message, Pastor Scott walks us through the highlights (and lowlights) of the prophet Elijah. Believe it or not, there's a lot we can learn from his story!
Ever followed bad advice? We've all been there and paid the price. Even a rich and powerful king in the Bible followed terrible advice and it fractured his kingdom in two. Our families today can also be fractured by following the wisdom of this world instead of God's wisdom. How do we get God's wisdom? In today's message, Pastor Scott shows us from the Bible how we can get God's wisdom and apply it to our lives!
If God ever granted you one request, what would it be? There are a lot of things that come to mind. But, would wisdom even make the top 10? It was for King Solomon who had just taken over for his Dad as king of Israel. God honored Solomon's request, and even today, Solomon is known as the wisest of all people in history! God still offers wisdom to anyone who humbly seeks it today. In this message, we'll see how to seek the wisdom from God that we so desperately need.
Why is it that when things are going well in our lives, and we are enjoying smooth sailing, that we often find ourselves making poor choices and suffering through the consequences? And, it's nothing new. King David was a "man after God's own heart". And yet, even he made bad choices that brought devastating consequences upon himself and his family! In this message, Pastor Scott points out some key lessons we can learn today from David's life that will help us avoid our own bad choices and consequences.
Jesus died for our sins, it's true. By paying the penalty for our sins, He rescued us from Hell's clutches and offers forgiveness to all who put their faith in Him. But, after His death satisfied God's holy anger over our sin, He didn't stay in the grave! Jesus came to life again! He is ALIVE! Let's celebrate!!!
How did a teenage boy go from being a dirty and smelly sheep-herder, to King of Israel in a single day? Most of us would say that David was the least likely of Jesse's sons to be chosen as King. Yet, God has different standards than we do when it comes to such an important choice. In this message, Pastor Scott tells the story and helps us see what really matters to God!
For many years, God's chosen people Israel had lived without a need for a king. The only Ruler they had needed was God Himself. But now, after finally moving into the land God had promised them, they were asking for a human king. It seemed like a harmless and reasonable request since all the other nations around them had their own kings. But, it would only be a few centuries before Israel's kings would lead them to their destruction and defeat through poor choices and idolatry. Even today, God wants to be the only King of His followers and we make a big mistake by not giving Him His rightful place in our lives!
The Story continues with the amazing story of Naomi, Ruth & Boaz. God's plan to send a Redeemer through which all people could be saved intersects with these 3 unlikely people long ago. It is an amazing story that ultimately leads to the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us all!
Dr. White points us to several key principles from Ephesians chapter 5 about how we are to live as followers of Christ!
One thing you can say about the Bible, is that God doesn't pull any punches! In it, we see the good, the bad and the ugly mistakes that people have made through the years. In it, we find how God delivered His people Israel from slavery in Egypt and led them to the land He had promised Abraham centuries before. After they had taken possession of the land God promised, you'd think that the Israelites would have whole-heartedly followed after God out of sincere gratitude for the blessings He had given them. But, noooooooo! Their gratitude soon turned to complacency and neglect of God's word. Eventually, they began worshiping the false gods they were supposed to destroy and God unleashed judgement on them in order to bring them back to worshiping Him - the only real God! In the next message in our series called "The Story", Pastor Scott points out the cycle of sin that His people seemed to struggle with over and over again. We'll also learn that we also have some of the same tendencies to
