Grace Church, Springfield MO

Living a lifestyle of repentance can be challenging; recognizing wrong, confessing of wrong, and repenting of wrong. And all can be done internally before the Lord. However, there is so much power and freedom when you confess, not only in your heart, but with your lips.This Sunday, Pastor Tim encourages us to take a bold step in our repentance and confess our failures with a trusted friend.

To be an eager and frequent "repenter" requires a self awareness of our humility.This Sunday, Pastor Tim teaches us to embrace Kingdom realities and that the key to repentance is genuine humility.

In this first session, Pastor Tim reminds us of the importance of repentance and how the stigma in today's world has tarnished the true meaning.

Jesus is our rescuer and despite our best efforts, we can't rescue ourselves.This Sunday our NextGen Pastor, Jack Gilbert, shares with us the JOY of knowing that He will always rescue us if we are willing to turn to Him.

We know joy through our relationship with Jesus Christ. We experience the joy of KNOWING Him and what He has done for us. We also have opportunity to experience the joy of GOING and sharing with others what He has done for us and that they too can experience the "great joy" He desires to share with them.

He is RISEN!! On this joy-filled day Pastor Tim reminds us of the "great joy" we have access to and that knowing and following Jesus, our "great joy" will never dwindle or fade -- for He is alive and will endure forever!

In Matthew, chapter 16, Jesus says, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me." (NLT)How are you following Jesus? Are you following "your way" as Simon Peter tried earlier in Matthew 16, or are you intently focused on following Jesus in the example that He set before us?

Reconciliation with others can be more challenging -- especially if they don't look, think, or act like we do (or like). But, unity is the goal and at the foot of the cross is where reconciliation begins.

In this first session, Pastor Tim emphasizes the importance of going back to the basics of our faith and reminding us what the cross represents for each and every one of us.

Ephesians 5, verses 22-28, has some of the more controversial passages in scripture on marriage, specifically because of the misunderstanding and misuse of how wives and husbands should act towards one another.This Sunday, Pastor Tim tackles this very passage reminding us that all other relationships grow out of how we treat our spouse.

Relational traps are positioned for us all throughout our lives. Often we are able to break free through God's Word, prayer, or worship. But sometimes we get stuck where we are and find ourselves isolated from others, or we have built up justification for our actions based on human inputs and not the word of God.This Sunday, Pastor Tim discusses with us on these specific situations and how each of us can rescue others caught in the trap.

Conflict is everywhere in life and how we as Christ-followers handle those difficult situations either brings us closer in relationship, or pushes us farther apart.This Sunday, Pastor Tim focuses on the difficult "one anothers" encouraging us to seek out those who we are at odds with and repair / mend the brokenness.

The Bible references the phrase "one another" many times and in both positive and negative situations. All are for us to learn how to care, love, and respond to people in our lives and on earth.But one of the most challenging part of living the "one anothers" is knowing "which" people we're supposed to treat in which way. This Sunday, Pastor Tim walks us though how Jesus treated one another's, from Pharisees, to his disciples, to people he meets on the streets. There's nobody that was outside of God's love -- and Jesus not only shows us the way, He IS the way.

One of the first interactions Jonathan (the son of Saul and next to rule Israel) and David had reveals to us how Jonathan submitted to the chosen and anointed King of Israel.Christian friendships are just as challenging today as they were then. We have our own struggles and we sought to be cared for like David was. But the Lord calls us to be "Jonathan's" in other people's lives. Elevate them and promote them instead of ourselves.

To fully embrace relationships in the way they did in Acts chapter 2, we have to allow the Holy Spirit in to each of our relationships.

God's relationship with each of us is often, unintentionally, placed into a category that is based on relational experiences we have with each other. BUT, the simple truth is that our relationship with God is nothing like we experience on earth.

Having left the Garden of Eden, Adam and Even pass down their relational brokenness to their children Cain and Abel -- where even MORE relational sin is introduced into the world.

Pastor Tim continues his look at pride and shame and how they started in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3 -- and continue today in the very same ways!

The birth of relationships is revealed in Genesis chapters one and two, and as a result of the enemy lying to Adam and Eve, the breaking of relationships takes place in Genesis three. Which leads us to where we are now!As a result of the decisions Adam & Eve took in the garden, we are plagued by shame and pride. This Sunday, Pastor Tim calls us to repent of how shame and pride has placed a rift between us and others -- and most importantly between us and God.

In this first session, Pastor Tim starts in the beginning reminding us of the need for relationships at the creation of humanity and God's desire to be in relationship with us.

This Sunday, Pastor Tim reminds us that our mindset drives our perception of the world around us. And that to help us shape how we see, interact, and engage with the world around us, we need to be in God's Word and spending time with him.

God reminds his people, throughout the Bible, to "remember." This Sunday, Pastor Tim takes time to look back at the amazing things God has done in and through Grace Church, and a look forward to a few exciting things God is doing in 2025.

God loves you. And this is more than the love you have for a favorite meal, or your car, or any person on earth.Pastor Jack shares how God's love for you, and the sacrifice made through Jesus is the perfect example of love -- for ALL of us.

Joy is quite different from happiness. This Sunday, Marissa teaches us how JOY can only be found in the Lord and that we have to intentionally choose Him.

Thom reminds us that peace isn't easily achieved. We have to put in effort to find the peace that God has for each of us.

Pastor Susan May shares with us the HOPE of Jesus and how He is the only way to salvation.

Western culture often isn't really good at being "thankful" or expressing gratitude. This Sunday, Pastor Tim reminds us that expressing gratitude can actually help us walk through difficult times in our lives.

This Sunday we get to hear from the team we sent to Austria and the amazing things God did in and through them.

In this final session of this series, Pastor Tim focuses our attention on the older brother and how his selfishness and desire to earn righteousness in the fathers eyes resulted in him missing out on so much that the father offered BOTH of his sons.

In this session, we learn that the father allows his son to take half of his inheritance, leave, and squander it away. This isn't something we would allow! It just seems reckless and wasteful! And all without a word of warning fromBut, the father does it willingly, without a lecture or guilt. And as the son returns, he not only runs to him, he throws a huge party to celebrate his return.

In this session, Pastor Tim shares with us three specific insights when looking at the story of the Prodigal Son, specifically with the son, and how despite his confidence of the decisions he made, things had to get worse and worse before transformation took place.

The story of the "Prodigal Son" is all of us. And for many of us, there are still friends or family members in our lives that are lost. They've known the love of Jesus and turned away.This Sunday, Pastor Tim encourages us to renew our faith in Jesus and pray, together throughout the series, for all the prodigals in our lives to return.

What we DO is just as important as what we SAY. And the difficult (but necessary!) challenge for followers of Christ is to walk the fine line of participating in political conversation and remaining true and faithful to God's word.

As followers of Christ, how we respond to political authority and, more importantly, how we show honor and respect towards political offices can either show how we "fit" into the cultural norm, OR can set us apart. Our response speaks volume to our walk with Christ and our love for His people.

It's our responsibility to steward our voice in a way that shows the love, grace, and truth of our faith in Jesus. This isn't accomplished through shouting matches, or endless debates, or fights over opinions. It's done by seeking Kingdom perspective in all things.

In this first session, Pastor Tim reminds us that real change doesn't happen through political power or having the right person in office. It happens through the love of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Tim takes time to revisit our values here at Grace Church and digs a little deeper into HOW we think about community.

Pastor Lisa Fisher, Co-Pastor of Unite Church shares with us the wonder of God's works as he works in and through each of us.

Pastor Jack Gilbert, our NextGen Ministry Pastor, takes the stage and shares with us some of the incredible things our NextGen students experienced this summer.

In this final week, Pastor Tim reminds us of the value and importance of sharing the good news prior to taking a few questions from the congregation.

Of the core elements of our faith, prayer and worship are towards the top of the list. This Sunday Pastor Tim begins by asking, and answering, general questions about these two elements and then takes a few questions from the congregation.

Spirit gifts and fruit are talked about often in today's church. Pastor Tim takes some time to explore both individually with a few basic questions and then takes questions from the congregation.