Month: February 2015

Sermon: “Those Who Pray”
Theme: The people who live by prayer will practice discernment and seek wisdom from God.
Purpose: To recognize that Christians are serious about prayer, because it is our sole source of strength and wisdom.
Scriptures: Matthew 7:12-20 Beware the easy way, you will know them by their fruits.
Isaiah 6:7-10 We live in a generation that is slow to listen and hesitant to open themselves to what God is saying.

Questions:
Do we take prayer seriously? Is prayer for us a source of strength and direction or tradition? Do we actually listen for God to speak to us? Are we prepared to be changed by prayer? Are we willing to see ourselves differently and make changes in our lives as a result of a powerful prayer life? Are our doubts and questions about prayer because we don’t know how to use prayer effectively in our own lives?

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Sermon: “Sick with Envy”
Theme: Envy kills us by constantly robbing us of our ability to see or appreciate the image of God within us.
Purpose: To see that a healthy self-image begins with practicing kindness and acceptance of others.
Scriptures: Matthew 20:1-16 Parable of the Laborers in the vineyard.
Galatians 5:16-21 Do not gratify the flesh and give into the works of the flesh.

Questions:
How does envy make us sick? How is our ability to love and accept love affected by envy? What is God’s desire for our self-image? How is envy an attack both on others and on our souls? In what ways is envy a lack of trust in God? How do we deal with our envy? What is the source of our emotional attacks of envy? How can we reduce our envy?

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Sermon: “Be Angry, but Do Not Sin”
Theme: Wrath is when we allow our anger to run our lives, define our relationships, and destroy our ability to grow in love and fellowship.
Purpose: The congregation will become sensitive to the destructive power of wrath and practice the discipline of releasing hostility through patience.
Scriptures: Ephesians 4:26-5:2 Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Be angry but do not sin.
Matthew 5:21-26 Do not be angry with your brother or sister or be prepared to pay the judgment.

Questions:
Is there a difference between wrath and anger? What happens when we are hostile and angry for a long period of time? What affect does our anger have on our relationship with God? What affect does our hostility have on the people who are near us? Can we actually control our anger? What do we have to do in order to be people who have a healthy relationship with our anger?

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Gluttony vs. Temperance (Moderation)
Sermon: “Never Enough To Fill Us”
Theme: Gluttony is the sin of using something tangible such a food or possessions to create feelings of being worthy, and valuable. Gluttony causes us to starve to death spiritually while being smothered and buried physically.
Purpose: The congregation will understand Gluttony and will begin to see the patterns in themselves so that they may be free.
Scriptures: Luke 16:19-31 The Rich Man and Lazarus.
Galatians 5:1, 13-15 Be free, do not use your freedom for self-indulgence.

Questions:
What causes us to become gluttonous? What happens when we begin to try and fill the void in our hearts with meaningless things? How do we address the sin of gluttony in ourselves before it kills us? How do we move forward to drawing our value and purpose from our knowledge of Christ and our meaningful relationships? What is temperance and how do we really use it as a spiritual discipline to bring growth and healing in our lives?

Click HERE to listen to the message.