God Rock Church

At the time of this passage, the Jews lived with an unwanted presence - the Roman Occupation. The Coronavirus, much like the Roman Occupation, is an unwanted presence and it is a test to our response in the midst of trials and tribulation.  When we talk about eternity, the Coronavirus is our not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is when we eventually die and see God face to face, how are we going to spend eternity? If the wages of sin is death, we have a much bigger problem on our hands. But if we believe that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, lived a perfect life, died for our sins and rose from the dead, then we have hope for eternal life. If we believe in Jesus, there is absolutely nothing to fear. 

Two days before Jesus’ crucifixion, we see Jesus back in the temple court during Passover going back and forth this time with the Sadducees. The religious leaders have been relentless in trying to bring Jesus down. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and took the opportunity to try to prove to Jesus how ridiculous the idea of the resurrection life was. Jesus was once again brilliant in his response. He challenged the Sadducees that they did not know scriptures nor the power of God. The truth is, the resurrection life is scriptural, and it depends on God’s power to make it happen. God has infinitely more power to make it happen. Everyone has a physical life, but only those who actually have God have the spiritual life they need. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He died on the cross so that we can have resurrection life. So, if you desire to live for eternity, experience the pleasures that nothing in this life could ever give, Jesus is the only way - He died for you so that you can have eternal life. 

In this text, we see the Pharisees try to plot and entangle Jesus in his words. First, they try to flatter Jesus and then ask Jesus a question regarding paying taxes, where if Jesus answered wrong, could stir up trouble with the Romans.  However, Jesus responds beautifully causing the Pharisees to marvel at his wisdom and went away. In this sermon, we will expand on the significance and the deeper meaning in Jesus' response.     

In Matthew 22, Jesus is in the temple speaking to the religious leaders. The topic in this section of the text is regarding the kingdom of heaven. Jesus explains in a parable comparing the kingdom of heaven to a king's wedding feast for his son. When the king sent his servants to call those who were invited, we see various responses from the guests.  As we dive into this text, we need to think about the image Jesus is communicating in describing the kingdom of heaven. It is a feast, it is awesome. The king's invitation has been sent out. How will you respond to the invitation?  

In this text, Jesus gives another parable to the religious leaders. This parable describes a good master who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, did all the work and have everything set up for the tenants. All the tenants had to do is show up and reap its fruit. Once in a while, the master would send servants to get some of his fruit. However, the tenants beat and killed the servants that came to gather some of the fruit. The master then sends his son to gather the fruit, and again they beat and killed him.  This parable is meant to show the goodness of God. The tenants represent the religious leaders who time and time again rejected, beat and killed the prophets that were sent by God. This is also a foreshadow of the eventual crucifixion of Jesus.  God wants us to experience the love and blessings he has for us. All we need to do is place our faith in Jesus and when the time comes where we stand before God, we'll get to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. 

In this text, we see Jesus back in the temple teaching. The religious leaders approach Jesus and questions Jesus by what authority is He doing all these things? Jesus responds to the religious leaders with another question.  Jesus reveals that the authority that He possessed is from the same authority given to John in his ministry. The religious leaders' response to Jesus also reveal the deep rooted pride that is in their hearts. 

Last week we saw Jesus curse the fig tree, causing it to wither at once. This was a living parable symbolic of the nation of Israel and their Worship of God.  When the disciples saw this, they marveled at what Jesus had done. As Christians, we never want to stop marveling at the work and the power of Jesus. Part of the problem with the church today is that we stopped marveling at Jesus and replaced it with worldly things. When we look further in the text, Jesus explains His works and how we can do the same if we ask in prayer and in faith. In this sermon, we go deeper into Jesus' response to His disciples and understand what Jesus was saying. 

This week we continue in Matthew 21. We see Jesus returning back to the city after spending the night in Bethany. Jesus encounters a fig tree and seeing that it had no fruit, he cursed the tree and the fig tree withered at once. This is a living parable that displays a spiritual reality:  1. Fig tree itself is a picture of the nation of Israel.   2. The figs that didn't exist are the true worship of the living God. 3. The leaves on the fig tree are the empty religious rituals that lacked any kind of substance of true Godly worship. 4. The withering of the tree is the judgement that will come to those who do not have a relationship with God.  Tune in as we dive deeper into this passage and how we should respond to this message.   

Most people care about what takes place in their house. You don't want burglars scrummaging through your belongings or vandals turning your house upside down.  Likewise, God cares about what takes place in His house. When Jesus arrived in the temple in Jerusalem, he saw people buying and selling in the temple, taking advantage of those who were preparing for the passover. Seeing this, Jesus drove out the merchants and the money changers. Jesus goes on to do what the House of God was meant to be for - a house of prayer and ministry.     

We kick off the new year back to the gospel of Matthew. This week, we continue in Matthew 21:1-11 which takes place during what we now recognize as Palm Sunday, commemorating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem as Saviour and King, fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 500 years ago.          

Ebenezer means "Stone of Help" and it served as a reminder of where our help comes from. It reminds us that up until this point, our help comes from the Lord and he continues to help. As we wrap up 2019 and ring in the new year, we too want to remember God's faithfulness over the last calendar year. And as we catapult into the new year, we recognize that our God continues to help us. 

In this final part of our series titled "Gift Exchange" we talk about our gift to God as part of the exchange. What do you give to someone that has everything? God doesn't need anything. He is perfect and sufficient in His triune nature. But God desires to have us, all of us. He doesn't want just a fraction of you, He wants it all. And if we give to God 100% of our life, the people around us are blessed because of it.  

As we head into the Christmas season, we kick off a 2-week series titled "The Gift Exchange." The two most important people in your life is God and yourself. You might wonder why you would be the most important person next to God. That's because in order to be the best for people, you need to get right and get healthy yourself. So this series is about the gift exchange between God and you. This week, we talk about the gift that God gives to you. Specifically, we go over what this gift is, what makes this gift from God a good gift, and how can you receive this gift.  

This is the final sermon in our sermon series titled "Value Village" dedicated to explaining the 6 core values of God Rock church. The purpose is so that we have clarity of what shapes God Rock Church and for effectiveness as we live these values out as a church.  This week, we talk about the power and the culture of multiplication and what God Rock desires to see multiplied in the church.   

This week we talk about Spiritual Maturity in our series titled "Value Village". The purpose of this series is so that we have clarity and unity surrounding who we are as a church and so that we can have a focussed effectiveness in our lives.  Spiritual Maturity is the process of a Christian becoming more and more rooted in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Spiritual Maturity is important so that:  It enables us to no longer be like children (in the negative sense); It enables us to no longer be tossed to and fro by the waves and storms of life; We are no longer carried by every wind of doctrine, human cunning, and by craftiness in deceitful schemes.    

In this week’s sermon, we continue the series titled "Value Village" where we identify and explain the 6 core values of God Rock Church.    The 4th value of God Rock Church is Church Membership. When we talk about the Church, it is not about the building, but about the people - the family of God. So Church Membership is a formal relationship between the local church body and a Christian, characterized by the church’s affirmation and oversight of a Christian’s discipleship, and the Christian’s submission to living out his or her discipleship in the care of the church. 

We continue in our Sermon series called Value Village, identifying and explaining the core values of God Rock Church, shaping how we do life together.  This week, we talk about our second value: The Message - the Bible, the Word of God. We are going to go over what we believe about the Bible, why God Rock Church values the Bible and how we're going to live it out in valuing the message of God's word.  One key theme is, all of the books of the Bible in the New and Old Testament points to the Messiah. 

In this sermon, we continue our series titled "Value Village" identifying and explaining the core values of God Rock church. Our hope is that through this series we can have clarity and cultivate unity around the values of God Rock church and that we can experience the power of God.  This week, we go over 1 of 6 values of God Rock church. This value is the first for a reason, and supersedes all of the other values. This week we talk about the Messiah.    

We begin a 7-week sermon series about the core values of God Rock Church. These core values are the shared common principles that shape the way we do life together. 

In this text, we see Jesus do something unprecedented in healing the two blind men. The two blind men experienced the power of God after they cried out to him. When it comes to blindness, we can be physically or spiritually blind. If you want to experience the power of Christ, are you willing to cry out to Him? 

In this text, Jesus is continuing his journey to Jerusalem where he will eventually be tried, punished, and be crucified. In this interaction between Jesus and his disciples, here are 5 things to be thankful for:   Thankful that we are not the only ones who doesn't get it sometimes - we can learn from the misunderstandings of the disciples  Thankful that we have a God that loves us and cares about the things we want, even though we don't know what we want most times Thankful that Jesus flips things right side up for us so that we can have the right perspective   Thankful that Jesus wants us to pursue greatness in our lives through Jesus' definition of greatness Thankful that Jesus paid our ransom for us.  

In this text, Jesus is with his disciples on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. He goes on to foretell his death and resurrection for the 3rd time. This 3rd time is even more specific than the previous two times. Jesus reveals that He will be condemned to death, delivered over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. But on the 3rd day, Jesus will be raised to life. All of this is connected to Jesus' love for all of us, that he would humble himself, endure suffering and death, so that we may have eternal life. 

In this parable, Jesus describes the interaction between the master of the house and the laborers. This is not a parable about business, but it's about eternal life. The reality is, there will be people that will enter the kingdom of heaven through various circumstances. As Christians, we need to rejoice and praise God when that happens. If you don't know Jesus, don't harden your heart to the Gospel, receive Jesus into your life and experience the love of God. 

In this second part of Jesus' interaction with the rich young ruler, we saw the rich young ruler leave with sorrow after Jesus told him to sell everything he possessed, give to the poor, and follow Jesus.  Jesus takes this opportunity to gather his disciples to teach them about eternal life. He teaches that it is both very difficult and impossible for people to enter heaven. BUT, he goes on to say, with man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.  This is why we talk about Jesus. It is only through Jesus that we can inherit eternal life. There is nothing we can ever do to earn it. It requires faith and it is through faith that we are born again as children of God. 

What good deed must you do to enter eternal life? To be good enough to enter heaven, you need to live a life that is sinless and perfect. Only 1 person has ever done that and his name is Jesus. It doesn't matter how good of a person you are, it's not good enough to be able to enter the Kingdom of God. But there's hope. If we choose to follow Jesus, we'll inherit eternal life. 

In this sermon, we see Jesus wanting the little children to come to him. Jesus wants little children to come to him because he loves them. And with all children, they are made in the image of God, knit together in the mother's womb. But this passage also have significant meaning in how God wants us to live. To be fully dependent on God, like children are fully dependent on their parents. 

We face issues on a daily basis. When we encounter these issues, it's easy for us to focus on the surface issue and miss the underlying root issue. In Matthew 19, the surface issue is the topic of divorce. But in this sermon, we discover that divorce is not "the issue" and is something that is much deeper. 

We learn from previous weeks that the vision God gives us is a people that are divided into 2 groups: those who love and accept Jesus and will live with Him in eternity, and those who reject Jesus and spend eternity separated from Jesus.  With that vision, our mission is to make disciples of Jesus. In this final sermon of our series Mission + Vision, we go over how we are to make disciples.     

A disciple, by definition, is a follower or a student of a teacher or leader. Since Christians are followers of Jesus Christ, our call in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples of all nations is a call to make Christians of all nations.    For us, we need to recognize that this isn't any ordinary task. Becoming a Christian is a supernatural event where a person is spiritually born again. This means that it is impossible for us humans to do this alone. We need the resurrecting power and grace of God to do this.    In this sermon, we go in depth on what a disciple is, the challenges that come with making disciples, and how do we make disciples? 

This week, we continue our sermon series on Mission + Vision. Last we we talked about the desire for God's vision for our life. This week we talk about what God's vision is for our lives as it pertains to Heaven and Hell. God see's our life perfectly, so what does He see? There is a future and eternal reality when we reach the end of our lives on Earth. In this sermon, we are going to go over God's vision for all of humanity as it relates to Heaven and Hell and what this means for you. 

We kick off a new sermon series on Mission and Vision. Mission and Vision in simple form is essentially getting from Point A (our current position) to Point B and the journey in between.  In the church context this is important for the life of the church. It provides a perspective to assess where the church is currently at today, the Vision that God has set forth and what God requires of us as a church to get to where that Vision is .      

In this sermon, we go over how being bullied can cause anxiety for many of us. However, if we fix our eyes on Jesus, all of a sudden our problems become significantly smaller.

Last week, we examined that God sometimes allows us to be in a season of being overwhelmed. In this week's sermon, we look at how we can minimize and erase unnecessary burdens in our lives. These are overwhelming situations that we don't have to be in and we want it completely gone.  There are two reasons we can be the source of our own anxiety:  Obvious reasons, such as unrepentant sin; Hidden reasons, sin of worry and fear. 

As Christians, we believe in the freedom as a result of the Gospel. We believe that God is all powerful and has proven that time and time again in scriptures and in our lives. So then why do we still experience seasons of being overwhelmed? In this sermon, we do a bit of troubleshooting as to why we go through seasons of being overwhelmed.

When it comes to how God operates and how we operate, it's like saying God is playing chess while we are playing checkers. When we are overwhelmed and experiencing anxiety, we tend to see what is in the moment - but God is many moves ahead of us. God wants us to experience freedom from the things that overwhelm us. He desires us to experience freedom so that we can freely worship God. But it doesn't stop there. He wants us to experience freedom to worship so that we have a testimony so that others can see the goodness and the power of God through our transformed lives. He saves us not only for our good but the good of others as well.     

In previous weeks, we talked about how God cares deeply about our anxieties and that when we "give it to God" we have the opportunity to be yoked to Jesus, which is easy and his burden is light. This week we ask the questions, what happens when Jesus is faithful to his own words? What happens when Jesus takes away your burdens? 

Anxiety is often triggered by lingering fear in our minds and the feeling of not being in control. Often times we can build up anxiety when we are expected to perform to a certain level or to achieve perfection. This is a heavy burden either laid on by ourselves or put on our shoulders by the world. But Jesus says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

We begin a new sermon series over the next few weeks tackling the issues of anxiety and fear. We will focus on understanding what these issues are, and how to effectively deal with them when they come up in our life. Everyone deals with fear and anxiety in some shape or form - this is a message that everyone need to hear.  

In this sermon, we have the pleasure of having Pastor Alex Lomangino as our guest preacher. In this text in Matthew, we go into the topic of personal forgiveness. Extending personal forgiveness towards others is essential in the life of a Christian. Join us as we dive into the topic and how it is an important component of the gospel. 

This is the final part of our mini-sermon series titled "Family Matters" where we talk about the Church Family as we dive into Matthew 18. In this sermon, we are going to take a closer look at what love looks like between siblings in the family of God. We are going to go deeper into the granular details about love and answer the following question: - What does love between children of God in the family of God actually look like? - How are we to actually love one another in the church? - How do we do it?

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." In part 2 of our mini-series, we take a look at what Jesus means when He says in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must become like children. Does this mean we start acting in childish ways? Or is this a portrayal of how much we need to humble ourselves and fully depend on Jesus? 

We begin a 3 week mini-series in Matthew 18 titled Family Matters. In this series, we go in depth in Matthew 18 on the family of God, highlighting its importance and the issues that come up between brothers and sisters in the family. This topic matters deeply to God and it shapes how we love each other in the Church. This is also a way for anyone outside of the Church to get a taste of what loving each other means in the family of God.  

In this text, we explore why Jesus didn't want to unnecessarily offend the people at the temple. Jesus explains to Peter that as the Son of God, he would not have been obligated to pay the temple tax - even Kings don't tax their children, but other people. Jesus didn't want to use his freedom as the Son of God as an excuse to unnecessarily offend people, so he paid the temple tax. We learn that sometimes, it is necessary to do something that is unnecessary for the sake of a greater purpose. In this case, it's to prevent people from being distracted from being able to see the real reason why Jesus came to Earth.

In this sermon, we go over the topic of betrayal. This is an important topic because we need to equip the church to be able to respond in a Godly way when we experience betrayal. Jesus thought it was important to teach the disciples and model how to respond to betrayal - which is why we also need to take this topic seriously. 

In this sermon, we see Jesus heal a boy with a demon after the disciples tried and were not able. Jesus later teaches his disciples that they weren't able to heal the boy because of their lack of faith.  Small faith can do big things when that faith is placed in a big God. And growing faith can do bigger things than small faith. Ultimately, faith in Jesus Christ is pleasing to God. 

As part of the service, we are celebrating with Brodie Markel the 2 year anniversary of the last day he used addictive substances of any kind. If you know anything about addiction and recovery, then you know how special this is. Tune in to hear Brodie's testimony of God's grace and power in his life, to rescue him from a life of addiction. 

When you look at a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, what do you see?  In Matthew 17:1-13, Jesus reveals to his disciples a glimpse of His glory as God. We see in the scriptures that God is light, and no power of darkness can ever overcome the power of God.  So when we see a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross, we must observe what is physically in front of us, but also understand the Gospel message associated with it. That the perfect, all powerful God loves us sinners so much that he would die in our place so that we could live forever. If we repent and place our trust in him, we can be saved and be with Jesus for eternity. 

Jesus may have been preaching to the choir when he said to the disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." At the point, the disciples had already left everything to follow Jesus. So why did Jesus make that statement again?  We are going to dive deep into 4 key questions about what is involved when it comes to follow Jesus:  Who can follow Jesus?  What is required of the person who wants to follow Jesus?  Why should you follow Jesus?  How is following Jesus even possible? 

In verse 20 of the text, Jesus strictly charged his disciples to tell no one that he was Christ. Why would Jesus give his disciples this kind of directive?  We see in the scriptures, at this point in time, Jesus shifted the focus of His ministry to be more focused on teaching His disciples. We see that Jesus must go to Jerusalem where he will suffer many things, be killed and on the third day be raised from the dead.  In this sermon, we're going to go deeper into why Jesus gave His disciples this command. What Jesus is trying to teach His disciples is critical in our understanding and our explanation of the Gospel. 

When Jesus asked his disciples who the people say he is, the disciples responded with John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. In today's context, that's like saying someone is Mother Teresa, Billy Graham or someone that is highly respected. The people in the area Jesus and his disciples entered into had nothing bad to say about Jesus, but at the the same time are totally wrong in their assessment of who Jesus is.    When Jesus asked his disciples who do YOU think I am, Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."    This is a profound statement that Simon Peter could not have came to on his own and is a statement that could get him killed. In this sermon, we go deeper into the significance of Simon Peter's realization of who Jesus is. 

In this sermon, we examine what is the significance of communion and what is happening in a person's life when they are taking communion? Under the new covenant, when we partake in communion, we are having personal fellowship with Jesus.