Gateway Assembly Sermons

Conclusion. God has promised a life that is abundant and overflowing. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, and He desires to give us more than our lives can contain. God calls us to do good, do right, and do well. He also wants us to do more. Scripture eliminates any excuse we might have to be content with what is already completed.

Part 4. Every good and perfect God gives us is something to steward. We take care of what God owns but puts in our possession. If we are faithful with it, our Master promises to reward us and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." In addition to doing good and doing what is right, we are told to do well. We must use what God has given, but we can't just do enough to get by. God is looking for the best, for He is God. Because of His greatness, we must do well.

Part 2. As we step out to "do" the work of the Kingdom, we find out how God looks for a very specific type of fruit. It isn't apples versus oranges versus bananas. God draws a line and judges the quality of our fruit, which reveals the truth about we who bear it. The first step of doing is to "do good." We have a sense of what we believe is good, but it is based on the feelings of the individual. God has a different idea of what is good, and He direct us to bear good fruit.

Part 1. On the Day of Pentecost, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the first time on New Testament believers, and we pray for Him to come anew to our individual lives and our churches. The Holy Spirit was given, not just to have a party once a year, but to help us accomplish our mission. It is an unpopular idea, but we are saved to do, to be about our Father's business. God is looking for a people who aren't just sitting and waiting, but are busy fulfilling good deeds and doing the work of the Kingdom.

God has promised to never leave or forsake us, but it doesn't always feel like He is there. We feel forgotten, abandoned, or off of His radar. Did you know it is biblical to ask God to remember you. There are eight people in Scripture who called on God in various seasons of their lives, asking Him to remember us. They aren't super-spiritual or perfect. Yet they are all models for making this specific request to God.

Conclusion. The last two chapters of the book of Joshua contain the final words and acts of Joshua for the people of Israel. He assembled two groups to give them clear messages for their future. The choices made on those days would set the tone for that generation of God's people. At the end of this series, we hear God's clear call to make a choice. It sounds strange at the end of the conquest, when victory is already won, but the to choice returns everyday. To keep finding victory and hold on to what God has given us, we have to keep making the right choice.

Part 11. Even when we recognize the value or benefit of something, holding back. We have questions, doubts, and fears. They keep us from that special something, and they keep us from our personal Promised Land. After defeating thirty-one kings and conquering most of the land, seven Israelite tribes were caught holding back instead of launching forward. The land was divided for them, but God chose who would receive what. Would they rejoice or be disappointed? Would they choose to move forward?

Part 10. Joshua was getting old, and his time of leadership coming to a close. Yet God had no desire to leave the people of Israel, nor to leave the conquest incomplete. God's promise to Joshua was the continuance of His Presence and continued victory. The twelve tribes of Israel were about to be given their parcels of land. Some of it was ready for them, but not all of it. God gave them some so they would be encouraged to reach for all. One man stood up against all odds as an example to take what remained.

Easter is perhaps the greatest day in the history of the world. Those who accept its message recognize it as good news, the Gospel. But not everyone receives the Gospel. Some refuse to believe it, while others try to ignore it. Though Easter brings joy to those who believe, it can also bring fear. If Easter is true, if it really happened as Scripture says it did, there are implications we can't ignore. To say Easter is real is to confess these four statements and live in light of them. Thankfully, we don't have to be afraid. If we face them, if we see them as God wants us to see them, we find ourselves pointed to hope and life.

Part 9. Following the miracle of the sun standing still, we see Israel marching through the South and the North, defeating kings and armies while taking cities and plunder. It had taken some time, but Israel was finally moving with the momentum of victory. Along the way, we find out how rest is as vital to our victory as battle. Though it seems wrong that sitting still could lead to victory, without rest we set ourselves up for defeat. Here in Joshua 10 and 11, we find three places in the conquest we must learn to rest.

Part 7. Before sending the army to their victory at Ai, God promised them the spoils of war. Their previous defeat was the result of one man's misunderstanding of the spoils. Now that Israel was able to appreciate and be thankful for the spoils, God made them available to them. While we go after our personal Promised Land, we have to be careful to have a proper perspective of the spoils of war. Are they what we are fighting for, or are they a bonus from Heaven? Our understanding of the spoils has power to determine victory or defeat.

Part 6. After the miraculous victory at Jericho, the Israelites marched on to their next target. Confident in God's Presence as the key to their victory, they were unprepared for the defeat which pushed them back from their Promised Land. When defeat comes our way, we have to hold on to the faith we started with. We can't give up, can't stop, and can't turn back. Defeat will eventually come. We must learn to deal with it and get back on track to victory and conquest.

Part 5. Ahead of the Israelites lay Jericho. It wasn't the only fortified city in the Promised Land, but it was the first they had to face. While Joshua was making battle plans, the Commander of the Army of the LORD appeared and gave him God's battle plan. Though it sounded strange, the battle was won. The plan for Jericho, though, was for single use only. It was never used again. Sometimes we get distracted by the makings of the miracle victory at Jericho that we forget the true key to victory. The Jericho Method is not what we often make it to be.

Part 4. The first five chapters of Joshua focus on how the Israelites prepared themselves before stepping into the major battles of the conquest. Having gathered their provisions and crossed the Jordan River, the people were camped within enemy territory. They may not have understood the significance of where they stood at that moment. While camped there on the western side of the Jordan River, three signs proved to them how much their lives had changed. These were the signs of a new era in Israel's history, a new beginning.

Part 3. When the three days of preparation were finished, Joshua gathered the people for one more day of critical reflection. Then, following the Ark of the Covenant, they witnessed a miraculous repeat and crossed the Jordan River. Joshua pointed to the miracle as a sign to the people of how they held the key to victory as they entered the Promised Land. And then they made sure they would never forget God and His Presence in their lives.

Part 2. As the Israelites made preparations to cross the Jordan River, Joshua sent two spies to get information about Jericho. Joshua already knew all about the city, the terrain, the wildlife and the vegetarian. He wanted to learn about the heart of the king and people within the city walls. On their way to the River, the Israelites had already won victories, and those victories were stirring fear ahead of them. Kings were doing crazy things. Since we have started moving to our personal Promised Lands, our enemy knows we're coming, and he is reacting just like the kings of old.

Part 1. There is a Promised Land for each one of us. It is part of our unique relationship with God. Few of us have found it, but we can take it. God's promise is Victory! God gave the people of Israel the "green light" to begin their conquest of the Promised Land. When He announced it was time to go, God recognize two key steps of preparation that lead to victory.

Conclusion. Christmas was the birth of the fullness of God as a man. Jesus is the God-Man, fusing all of God with all of man. His is a unique glory which sets Him higher than any angel or created being. It proves Jesus as a member of the Godhead. Strangely, God has bigger plans for His awesome glory than to keep it within the Three-in-One. Jesus' coming was the offer to change who and what we are. We have the opportunity to become children of God, and become glorious.

Part 3. On the night of Jesus' birth, God's glory didn't only appear in the stable or on the hillside near Bethlehem. It tore a hole in the fabric of the universe. When it was seen by those who noticed such things, it shook their world and drew them to Someone greater than anyone or anything they had ever known. Their guide to this glorious King was a shining star. It revealed a uniqueness about this King, and they had to find Him. But when the stopped allowing the glory to lead them, not only did they get sidetracked, but disaster followed. And they almost missed it all.

Part 2. On the night of Jesus' birth, the angel could have made the announcement to anyone in Bethlehem. Yet God sent him to interrupt the otherwise ordinary evening of some dirty, smelly Shepherds out in the fields. What made them so worthy of the message and the glory of Heaven? We should find ourselves constantly amazed at the glory of God, but our lives don't tend to allow us to see it. God interrupts our lives to get our attention. The interruption of the angel was the result of one simple truth in the lives of the Shepherds. Without it, few would have marked the birth of the Messiah.

Part 1. Are you bored with Christmas? We can come up with a lot of excuses or a lot of other people to blame, but when we get disillusioned with Christmas it's our own fault. In our personal lives we find ways to keep Christmas fresh and alive. Why not our spiritual lives? Maybe we've lost sense of the wonder of it all. It's time to renew the amazement of Christmas by getting a good look at the awesomeness of our great God and the glory of Christ's coming. After all, with God all things are possible. It wasn't a new message at Christmas, just revisited.

Conclusion. The last of three personal "What If" questions finishes this series about the work of the Bible in our lives. It means looking beyond what we give to explore giving. The Bible shows God places tremendous value on the way we give. Our giving has greater repercussions than the balance in our checkbook. Biblical giving involves faith toward and a change in attitude towards others. One unique element of giving cures our human selfishness and opens the door for Heaven's increase in our lives.

Part 4. The Bible describes the tongue, the words we speak, as "a restless evil." God has a standard, not just for how we live but how we speak. What comes out of our mouths reveals what is built in our hearts. But it doesn't just affect ourselves, it has the power to feed or harm others. We must come to grips with a specific struggle with our words that hits our lives with disastrous effect.

Part 3. If we believe God's Word to be words from God for us to live by, and we hear the Gospel's call to change, we must evaluate how we are doing at living by the Book. Jesus said He would build His church, and He has shared the blueprint with us through the Scripture. To be the church Jesus builds is to live the way the Word tells us to live. This message takes aim at the first of three issues personal to our church, though you may have them in yours. It goes back to the first proofs of a living relationship with Jesus Christ. If we are truly disciples of Jesus, we will love. That sounds easy, but it isn't. There is one key that can help us, and it changes how we treat one another.

Part 2. If God's Word is truly God's words for our lives, we have to follow them. God calls us, not just to salvation, but to a life's work. The Gospel is all about change, to come out of who and what we were to become who and what God changes us into. But it isn't easy. A stumbling block awaits those who aren't willing to hear God's directive to change.

Part 1. The Bible is precious. It is God's word. Though He spoke through different people in different ways over the centuries, the Bible is God's continual word to His people, and it will not pass away until every last word is fulfilled. Like everything that is too available to us, we fail to cherish God's word. It gives us life. We know a lot about it, but what does that knowledge inspire for us? The Thessalonian church gives us a picture of how we should embrace the Bible and live as people of God's word.