Grace Assembly Sermon Series

Pastor John teaches from Mark 10:46-52. Looking to Blind Bartimaeus, Pastor asks the question of how does our faith work when our life is upside down? By faith, quit what is not working and take steps - continuous steps - in faith. Throw off your cloak and don't give up.

Today Pastor Lance Morris leads a simple but essential discussion. Before we can live the life Christ intended for us to live, we need to get a better understanding now of who we are “in Him.” In Him we have everything; without Him we can't do anything.

Happy Mother'sDay! Today Brooke Allen is our guest speaker. Going to Samuel and Romans, Brooke teaches from the life of Hannah of Ephraim. Brooke reminds us it's one thing to lack and want but know He will give us everything we need for life. Sometimes the solution is not in the way we want or think it should look like. Brooke then goes on to share her recent personal experiences where her perspective was adjusted, her needs were met, and God was glorified.

Returning to the Gospel of John, chapter 4, and the Samaritan woman, Pastor John reviews her discussion with Jesus on faith and worship. We've heard how His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. But when the Spirit reveals truth in our lives do we worship? She did and it changed Samaria.

Pastor John reads chapter 4 of the Gospel of John and the Samaritan woman at the well and what we can learn from her. Like the Samaritan, the Father sends His son to us with the gift of living water that we thirst for. But just as important, He also wants to deal with our pain, our problems, our hurts, our brokenness. In addition to salvation, He longs to make each and every one of us into the image of His son. Do we want what He has to offer?

Happy Easter! It is finished and He is risen!! The children start service with a special offering of song - Thank You Jesus For The Blood. The Dance Team then celebrates Jesus' work with a special dance of Death Was Arrested. Pastor John begins with the burial and resurrection of Jesus detailed in John 19 and 20 and points out the hidden treasure available to all of us. Have you found it? It's Jesus. What are you willing to give up for it? For Him?

Pastor Gary Leonard, who is called to be an encourager, brings a special message of inspiration to us today. He shares from the Lord, Be uplifted!, and know it's only going to get worse! Gary reminds us that we have to learn to be okay with that. In the midst of it getting worse we need to run to God, share an embrace, and count it all joy regardless of how bad it feels to us. And no matter what we go through, He is still in control and always with us.

Pastor Les Lawrence shares a message today that has been on his heart for some time now. Starting in Revelation and then going through a series of other scriptures, Pastor Les demonstrates that Biblical text reveals how Jesus has been, is, and will be the paramount key in all that God is showing us.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to capitalize on everything God has in store for us while we are still on this side of heaven? Jesus is the perfect lifestyle; we can't do better than that. So what more can we do other than love the Lord and surrender everything to Him. Just like He did and does for us.

Even though we may be free, there can be something in our life that remains opposed to the Spirit. Pastor John looks into Galatians 5 and Ephesians 3 to help us learn to love instead of being consumed by our sins. Then we can experience the fullness of God.

Service begins with Kourtney and Alex Kearney dedicating their baby Raelynn Sue Kearney to the Lord. Pastor John continues in Romans 8, reminding us despite how hard life may seem, any sufferings we go through now pales to the glory God has in store for His children. All of us, even creation, wait in great expectation for the beauty to come. Yet we are not alone in this time of frustration - the Lord's Spirit Himself gives us help as He works in and on us.

Pastor John starts service by welcoming the rest of our new members. When then celebrate the dedication of Eli and Morgan Brown's baby girl Kinsley to the Lord. Returning to Romans 8, Pastor John reminds us that our flesh, our self, can easily hinder our spiritual growth. Instead we have to live by the Word, for others, and give our lives to them. Just as He did for us.

Service starts with special music from the Dance team, celebrating who we are in Christ. Pastor John then recognizes and welcomes a bevy of new members to the church. Then starting in 1 John 2:15-20, Pastor John reminds us how easy it is to fall into this world's temptation - simply by doing nothing and wanting our own way. Instead we must learn how to align ourselves with the Spirit. Going to Romans 8, Pastor John points out how our struggle with the flesh is really a battle against our self.

Even though we are redeemed, we are still in a broken, dark world. Further, all of our brokenness may not have gone away when we were saved. Pastor John reminds us that even so the Lord wants to deal with our brokenness. Going to Romans 8, he begins to point out that nothing can stop the will of God to make us whole. And even if words fail Him, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf.

Pastor John reminds us God is working; God is always working. What we may miss is that He's working in you. Since the first time you asked for forgiveness until your last breath, the Lord's Spirit is at work in you. But before He fills us, He needs to empty us. Pastor John then instructs us that we need to understand how to grow.

At Grace, we are expecting that God is birthing something in and through us. We don't know what it is but Pastor John wants to make sure we get prepared. For this he goes to 1 Corinthians 3 and looks at division within the early church. Rather than focus on their mistakes, Pastor John speaks of what the Lord has stirred his heart over. That is we are all co-workers with the Lord and our spiritual siblings and our labor is in love. But we must ensure we don't labor in vain as our motives will be tested by the Holy Spirit and God's fire.

Pastor John starts by warning us that over time he's learned four easy steps to failure. Instead, he warns us to not forget our first love. Rather, Pastor John encourages us to delight ourselves in the Lord.

As a child of God, we need to live in the confidence that we are chosen! Pastor John goes to John 15:16-17 and uses Jesus's words to prove this. Ultimately, we are chosen to be grafted into, abide in, dressed by the Father, and bear much fruit to the glory of God. Pastor John then goes on to describe the fruits we are chosen by God to produce.

To start, Pastor John reminds us Jesus wants a relationship with us. He wants to reveal Himself and so much more to us. But we have to listen. We have to apply it to our lives. We have to accept the fullness He gives in life, including His Holy Spirit. Pastor John then finishes up his three points from Matthew 4 of how Satan may tempt us. He previously spoke on the areas of physical and intellectual; today is spiritual. But the solution is the same - take up the sword of the Spirit, the Living Word.

Pastor John returns to Matthew 4 and this week focuses on tempting God. It can be easy for us to ask the Lord to prove Himself. Instead, if God has addressed the problem, we should never doubt Him. Instead of testing Him, just embrace His words over our life.

Service starts by looking at one of Satan's favorite tactics - doubt. To help counter it, Pastor John goes to Matthew 4 and shows how Jesus models overcoming for us by first addressing our flesh.

In preparation for next week and a shifting in the spiritual realm, Pastor John looks at fasting in the Bible. Going to Joel, he emphasizes we need to fast and focus on the Lord so we can get clarity from God. We need to learn to host the Spirit of God; fasting is intended to help us with this essential.

Going to Luke 1, Pastor John looks at the miraculous births of John and Jesus and contrasts Zechariah's and Mary's responses. Ultimately, we need to adopt Mary's attitude and state “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to [His] word.” Let us embrace the living words God speaks over and to us and do what He says.

Guest Speaker Les Lawrence joins us today and starts by reading a short drama on the prophecy fulfilled almost two thousand years ago. Pastor Les then goes on to speak about Simeon, the man who spoke the prophecy, what he shared, and how even the most anonymous people to bring about the kingdom of God. If we will just allow ourselves to be used.

Concerned over how easy it is to misapply and misquote scripture, Pastor John starts with Matthew 6:33 and how it pertains to God meeting our needs. We often focus on how “these things will be added to us” and miss what the Father says - to seek the kingdom and to seek His righteousness. As an alternative to being motivated but what we think is key, Pastor John encourages us to be motivated by the question of ”Father, what do you want for me?”

Pastor John reminds us we need to pay attention to the words spoken to us. Not the words of other men, thinkers, or saints but the words God speaks to us, His promises. The Word activates our faith and our faith activates the Word. It is the Word united with our faith that empowers and enables us to succeed in our trials.

We know that it's impossible to please God without faith. Therefore, Pastor John begins by helping us understand what faith isn't. It's not our good feelings or positive thinking. Instead, Pastor John wants us to begin by defining faith with a Biblical understanding.

Today Pastor John looks to the life of Abraham to help us understand how to grow in our faith. We know faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word but do we know how to strengthen our faith? It starts by realizing and truly accepting that He is above all things - even when things are unpleasant. But as Pastor John points out, our faith flourishes when we, like Abraham, give glory to God.

Today Pastor Johnreminds us of how critical, important, and foundational the Word is to our lives. If we go to the Word and it seems dead, the problem must be us. Therefore he reminds us we must approach it with an open mind and the expectation that the Lord wants to speak to us. And don't pull back when we are chastised by it. He does that out of His Love for us.

Michael Masambu joins this service and finishes teaching on three things that will help each of us: Thanksgiving Praise Worship. He finishes today with worship because it is through our worship that we acknowledge the holiness of God.

Michael Masambu joins this special service and continues to share three things that will help each of us: Thanksgiving Praise Worship. Tonight he focuses on praise because through our praise we acknowledge the greatness of God.

Today Pastor John talks about what the Lord wants for Grace Assembly, for each and everyone of us. He wants a deeper relationship with us. But the heart of the matter is the matters with our hearts. The transformation of our head needs to change us to the core of our beings - our hearts.

In an effort to strengthen our foundation of faith, Pastor John comes back to the topics of worry and anxiety. If we try to be victorious on our own accord and strength we will always question whether we got it right. Instead, Pastor John directs us to Colossians 1 for a profound yet simple solution. Jesus can say to not be anxious and can mean it is because Jesus put it all together, He holds it together, and He knows what to cut away or to keep.

Today we repeatedly hear from the Lord a message for us to choose to surrender and to worship.

Today Pastor John reminds us we need to quit messing around, get over ourselves, and stop playing around with disobedience. After all, we were bought with a price and we are not our own! We are the Lord's and He knows what He's doing! So let's be motivated to discern and embrace all the has for us!

Seeking to strengthen our faith in God, Pastor John turns our attention to our future, present, and past. In order to endure the trials coming, we need to let go of our past and embrace Jesus and the new and living way that He has before all of us now. We can't hold onto our past and our newness in Christ.

Although we know we shouldn't be anxious, our prayer life often reflects something different. Looking to 2 Kings 6 and 7, Pastor John draws from Elisha, Ben-hadad the king of Aram, and their besiege of Samaria and he reminds us when we don't know what to do, we need to wait with purpose, we need to wait on God. For we don't know how the Lord may want to glorify Himself as He helps us in our need.

AIf we are not careful, Satan will trip us up. But Satan is in fear of fully consecrated believers - those who remain devoted even when trials come. Pointing to Acts 4 and 5, Pastor John challenges our half-hearted faith and how it does not fool the Holy Spirit. So Pastor John asks us to consider asking the Lord about our consecration in the following four areas: - Spiritually; - Physically; - Financially; and - Emotionally.

Laura Lee, with the Inspire Project, is our guest speaker today and she begins by reminding us that the Great Commission is non-negotiable. Laura then goes on to remind us that God is looking for believers who are faithful over our fears, feelings, followers, fame, or fallacies. It starts with what our faith is built on. It must be solid. Not just for us but also for the others around us that we affect. Laura exhorts on how we can be found faithful and hear the Lord speak this over us.

Covering a lot of ground through the Spirit and the Word, Pastor John reminds us Jesus wore our crown of thorns so we can live His life of obedience. Is that what we're doing? Or like Cain, do we ask God to bless the fruits of our curse and disobedience?

Pastor John reminds us that if for some reason we don't embrace God's truth, then we're embracing lies. So when God reveals truth to us, we need to act on it, even if it's hard. If we are willing to embrace God's truth, Pastor John points out the Lord will reveal to us how to walk out of our mess. After all, everyone who is of truth listens to Jesus's voice.

Today guest speaker Pastor Michael Masambu starts by reminding us to arise and shine, for the glory has come upon us (Isaiah 30). And that glory comes to us in the mighty name of Jesus. His name is our access to the Father. So Pastor Michael asks one critical question - What is our relationship with the name of Jesus?

Pastor John returns to the truth that the number one supreme goal of every Christian must be obedience. Complete, whole-hearted obedience, even in the midst of our messes. After all, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, then we should be consumed with doing his will.

It's easy for us to get distracted. But Pastor John reminds us Jesus was motivated to do the will of God, not his own will. This requires humbling ourselves and obeying the Lord. So Pastor John reminds and encourages us how to become obedient to Himby choosing how Jesus did it.

Guest Speaker Peter Drummond starts with Jesus's words in Matthew 6 and the physical example of a spiritual reality. Our perspective, our focus, our attention determines where we store up our treasures. So when we focus on His heavenly things, on what He is doing, what He wants us to do instead of our temporal ones, that's when we are blessed.

Today's service starts with Pastor Jenn sharing from Acts 8 and key things we can learn from the Ethiopian eunuch and Phillip during that baptism. We then celebrate as the following 11 people are baptized: Angel Juarez; Jerica Jones; Courtney Divine Carpenter; Nicolas Alfred; Kalisi Brown; Mikayla Brown; Lexie Brown; Samuel Ademola; Favor Ademola; David Ademola; Isaac Ademola.

Today's service starts with the youth sharing about their recent missions trip with the Dream Center and in the Raleigh area. Lance Morris then shares a vision he recently had related to what has been happening at Grace in the spiritual realm. We are encouraged to prepare for involvement by mending our vessels so we can hold and not waste His living water. Then Pastor John goes on to remind us again what we are told in 1 John 4 - that the Lord God loves you!

Pastor Les Lawrence shares today and reminds us that the #1 terrorist in the world is Satan. And the primary weapon he uses is fear - even on Christians. Les reminds and encourages us to resist the devil and he will flee. Pastor John then goes on to speak about fear, doubt, and unbelief and the biblical antidote. We need to reboot our stinking thinking and stop putting effort into everything else to try and get God to love us more. Instead, we need to be confident in His love that is already perfected in us.

Today the mission team that recently went to and returned from Kenya shares about their trip. Pastor John then points out that while none of them had training in advance, their testimonies remind us that Jesus's words are still true and He is “with [us] always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:16-20).”

Vincent Ademola shares today and reminds us of several key things in order for us to be spiritually prepared and vigilant. He emphasizes our need to have an urgent and immediate focus on maintaining a faithful and prepared heart always ready for the return of the Lord. Vincent stresses - to us, the children of God - that “Repentance is not a one-time act but a continuous journey of aligning our lives with God's will.”

Today's “substitute pastor” is Les Lawrence who goes in depth on the promise of the Father - the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit in our lives during our times of testing and trial. We need the Spirit so we can have a complete relationship with God - the Father, Son and Spirit. We need the Spirit so our character can be shaped into one that is more like Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit.