Life Bible Church

The gospel is more than good advice—it's the power of God to rescue us from sin, raise us to new life, and send us into the world with Spirit-empowered purpose. When we root our lives in the gospel—not our feelings, performance, or circumstances—we live with confidence, power, and mission.

After the mountaintop moment of transfiguration, Jesus and His disciples descend into the valley of spiritual powerlessness and desperate need. The disciples' failure to cast out a demon wasn't due to lack of technique, but lack of dependence—a reminder that yesterday's faith can't power today's battles. True, mountain-moving faith flows not from past experience but from present connection to Jesus through prayer and fasting.

God calls elders to be steady, Christlike shepherds—men marked not by position or power, but by character, humility, and sacrificial leadership. Elders are tasked with guarding doctrine, caring for souls, and guiding the church with both conviction and compassion. Their lives must reflect the gospel they proclaim, for the health of the church depends on the faithfulness of its shepherds.

Mountaintop moments with Jesus are sacred, but they aren't the destination—they're preparation. God gives us glimpses of His glory not to keep us there, but to ground us in Christ and send us into the mission field. The goal isn't to stay on the mountain, but to come down changed—ready to follow Jesus, even through the valley.

Jesus doesn't just call us to a moment of surrender—He invites us into a lifestyle of daily, present-tense surrender. In a world that tells us to hold tightly to our lives, Jesus teaches that true life is found when we lay it down. The question isn't just have you surrendered, but are you still surrendered—because what we lay down for His sake will never be lost, but will bear eternal reward.

Following Jesus often means surrendering our expectations, especially when God's plan includes hardship or pain. Like Peter, we may resist what doesn't make sense to us—but sincere intentions aren't the same as spiritual insight. True faith chooses obedience even when the path includes a cross, trusting that God's will always leads to greater fruitfulness.

Jesus' question, “Who do you say I am?” demands more than borrowed beliefs—it calls for a personal revelation that transforms everything. When we confess Jesus as the Christ, we step into kingdom authority, identity, and purpose that hell itself cannot withstand.

Matthew 16:1-12 Summary: Jesus warns that dangerous doctrine often comes subtly, disguised in religious language but marked by hypocrisy, legalism, skepticism, and worldliness. True faith doesn't demand constant signs but trusts in Christ, remaining rooted in sound teaching and alert to spiritual deception.

Matthew 15:29-39  Summary: Jesus has compassion on the poor, the hungry, the needy. He also has compassion on us- the poor, unbelieving disciples! How often do we ask Jesus to prove Himself all over again when we have already seen Him work! He does not fail to be patient with us and give us a testimony of His sacrifice as the Bread of Heaven, and His power to multiply provision.

Jesus is risen! Don't just stand there looking up at the skies! This same Jesus will return in just the same way that He left. How are we living now to prepare for the return of the resurrected Christ?

Matthew 15:21-28-  The woman of Sidon whose daughter was possessed approached Jesus in boldness and desperation. But how she was tested! Can I be a dog, or an unworthy servant? If we find ourselves in DESPERATION, engage in EXALTATION, and accept HUMILIATION without OFFENSE, we will see His LIBERATION!

Matthew 15:15-20- it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean in God's eyes, but what proceeds out of Him. The irony of this teaching is that what we take in is also what will inevitably also come out. Jesus is shifting our focus from the shallow externals of earthly life to the weighty eternals of a truly spiritual life.

Matthew 15:1-14- The Pharisees were offended when Jesus called them blind guides. He had confronted them about their hypocrisy and was calling them to make a change. How do I respond when something is pointed out where I may need to change? Ownership is the mature alternative to offense.

Matthew 14:34-36- Jesus wants to work in all "regions" of our lives. We try to make a law out of our experiences only to find later that Jesus has moved on! Once we recognize Him in the new "region", things begin to change very quickly- not the same work, but the same Jesus working!

Walking in faith doesn't mean ignoring challenges, but rather trusting God in the midst of them. Storms of life  cause our faith to grow as they force us to rely on God in ways that calm seas never would.

Matthew 14:1-12 : John the Baptist's Life seems almost arbitrarily thrown away. Yet, when we consider all that Jesus said about him, he was afforded the highest honors that heaven could confer. We need perspective! If we are not careful, we will miss the greater purpose we were created for!

Change comes directly from the things we see now that we could not see before. For 2025: We Desire for Life Bible Church to be the Happiest, Healthiest Church in our Community.

Matthew 14:1-12 : John the Baptist's Life seems almost arbitrarily thrown away. Yet, when we consider all that Jesus said about him, he was afforded the highest honors that heaven could confer. We need perspective! If we are not careful, we will miss the greater purpose we were created for!

“Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold.” Friendships- real ones- are essential to survival on the journey of life and faith in Jesus. How can we care for them in a way that ensures they are longlasting? Jonathan and David are a picture of deep, lasting friendship.

Time is like money, in that we budget and spend it, and cannot get it back once it is gone. Time is unique, though, because there is a limited amount apportioned to each person, it is always being spent, and more cannot be earned! Time is a stewardship we manage well by prioritizing eternity, investing in people and God's Kingdom.

Christians often have false beliefs that affect our relationship with money. What mindset shifts do we need to make so that we can honor God by stewarding well the money He entrusts to us?

Christians should be the healthiest people on earth. How do we seek the Lord first and honor Him with our physical fitness?

Christians should be the healthiest people on earth. How do we seek the Lord first in our health, honoring Him with out diet?

A yearly vision needs to begin with a heavenly vision. Having looked to God FIRST, we turn to the things down here. A heavenly vision ensures we have an eternal reward where nothing can destroy it and it cannot be stolen from us. We find and keep the heavenly vision by spending the FIRST PART DAILY with Jesus, in the Word of God and prayer.

Fasting is the desperate measure that God prescribes for desperate times, when the ordinary means have failed. Fasting brings breakthrough wherever any stronghold exists!

The death of Stephen as it mirrors the death of Jesus gives us two essential elements to finishing well, forgiveness and surrender.

Humanity is changed because Jesus came. He loved the world, lived in the world, died for the world, and is working redemption in the world, and will one day remake the world. His love for the world is so immense, but only the faithful will experience it!

Jesus surprises us again and again with His choice of companions, friends, the objects of His compassion, and the instruments of His grace. Jesus came to reveal the love of God for the unlovely.

Darkness does not intimidate God. Rather, He is drawn to it! He loves to expose the untapped potential of a dark place to the light of His redemption. In Jesus, a people sitting in darkness have seen a GREAT light!

The God of the universe wants to be known by name by His people. What is even more remarkable, however, is His willingness to KNOW His people, not by sovereign or divine knowledge, but by personal experience as one of us.

We are all given white garments to wear- the Righteousness of Christ. Some, however, WALK WITH HIM in white and are living a life worthy of His name. The great need today is for believers to hear the call to WAKE UP! and stop sleepwalking their lives away.

For our faith to grow, we have 3 essential needs: To be made good, to do good deeds (out of the overflow), and for those deeds to be done in power!

God loves YOU. If you have wandered away from God, becoming entangled and trapped; the Shepherd wants to bring you back home.

The political arena is not a holy place like a church, nor is it an unholy place like a pagan temple. It is the Areopagus, a theater of ideas, where a battle is taking place for the soul of a nation. Christians must repent of the sin of apathy toward public affairs and begin to pray and serve and vote.

Earthly worship prepares us for heavenly glory. What we practice here, we will do forever on that beautiful shore. Worship can be hard here, but it's easy over there! Sin is removed, Satan is vanquished, and we are free to praise!

Many blessings are reserved for only when God's people come together to serve and minister to Him. Praise is beautiful in solitude and silence, but corporate praise is a time when God comes to visit us in His glory, to be enthroned upon the praises of His people.

Worship is not just our expression to God, but a sword in our hand against the enemy. Sometimes the worst enemy is my own heart. How should we respond to the inner turmoil that is so common to man? Begin to praise God, to worship His character and His Word, and see what happens!

God is the great giver and Jesus is the indescribable gift. God wants His grace to work in us until we grow out of the OBLIGATION of giving into the OPPORTUNITY of giving. How can our minds be changed in this important matter?

As we walk with God and surrender our finances to Him, we discover that giving tithes, and their counterpart, special offerings, is a vital part of our worship and an opportunity to participate in His Kingdom here on earth.

The right response to all that God has done, is to offer our bodies through worship as a living sacrifice. With a heart posture of praise, our physical posture will surely follow.

Missions is a form of worship as an overflow of our delight in God. As we worship Him and seek our own relationship with God, we also invite others to know and experience God for themselves. When all the nations of the world worship God, the Gospel will be fulfilled. 

Sincerity in our relationship with God is one of the most valuable qualities, and this certainly extends into our worship. Do all acts of worship require the right feelings? Can worship be simple obedience and the feelings follow after?

Worship is a word that evokes different things for many people. Is it singing in church? Is it sacrificial giving? Is it the sacrifice of animals? There is a great opportunity for the church to grow in our understanding of our response to God's call for an offering.

Barriers to belief are often formed from personal experience. What can we do to overcome these barriers?

The Kingdom of God gathers all kinds of people, good and evil. Jesus will sort them all out in the end. Disciples of the kingdom get to enjoy all the old revelation along with the new!

The treasure and the Pearl are precious, and to get them, it will cost a great deal. God bought us at a high price and we obtain Him at a high cost, but all is worth it in the end!

The Kingdom of God is sown in obscurity and smallness, but give it time: it becomes the greatest kingdom in all the world!

Pretenders in the Faith have been sown in the world by our enemy, and they look a lot like the real children of God. We have to let them grow up alongside us until God sorts us all out on the harvest of the last day.

Jesus did not want all things pertaining to God to be just a matter of common sense. Parables were a kind of code that would be deciphered by the Spirit in the hearts and minds of the believing. 

The Word of God is sown widely and generously, but there are many obstacles to it bearing fruit. When it does take hold, it bears much fruit for the glory of God.

All children of God share a simple identity: we are those who listen to the Word of God and obey it.