theroad.tv

The wisest man who ever lived was a guy named Solomon.  In 1 Kings 3 God gave Solomon the chance to ask for whatever he wanted—-great moment.   Solomon asked for wisdom to guide God's people.  Because he did not ask for riches, victory or long life—God gave him wisdom and all those things.   Did you know that during the reign of Solomon silver and gold because as common place as stones.  (2 Chron 1:15)   Today as we talk about sex I want us to go to God's book and the wisest man who ever lived said about God's gift of sex to married couples.   

So we are in a marriage series and Mother's Day just happened to fall in the middle of the series.  We are planning what we address in marriage on Mother's Day and we decided on a sermon called MARRIED WITH CHILDREN.   So I begin to do some research on the topic and I will tell you that I was literally thrown into a tailspin by what I found.  Then I began to talk to couples and found out that the research was spot on…So here we go.     James 1:2-4.   I want to give you the big picture of what these verses are saying to us—-Everything that happens is happening to make us more like Christ.   I need you to put those glasses on right now—What ever happens in your life is happening, or can be used to move us toward Christlikeness.   Loss, struggle, frustration, conflict—all of it is moving us to become more like Jesus.   This gives new insight into Romans 8:28l AND WE KNOW THAT GOD CAUSES ALL THINGS TO WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.  Think of that verse in terms, not of all things working out, but of God working His will in your life—which is you and I becoming conformed to the image of Christ.      With that in mind let's pray and talk marriage…

This week I'm going to break from my normal way of preaching and talk to us about 3 questions that will help us all have a better marriage. I mean that's what we want right? We want our marriage to be the best they can be! I want my marriage to be the best it can be. And I want you to have the best marriage you can have. I think it's safe to say this, but I don't think any of us got married and before hand thought to ourselves, how can I have the worst marriage possible? Yet, I wonder how many of us got married thinking we're about to get our needs met, over thinking I can't wait to get to meet my spouse's need.   The reality for each of us is that if we aren't careful, intentional and work on our marriage to love and care for our spouse's correctly, our marriages can become more like roommates than lovers, enemies rather than friends, competition over helpmates, and at worst indifferent over passionate.

What is happiness? If you asked someone to quickly define happiness they might say—Happiness is feeling good.   Well yes, but if that is all happiness is than a cocaine addict would be the happiest person on the planet.   Right, staying high is a “feeling good” but how many happy addicts do we know?  Not many.     Happiness is much deeper than feeling.   Much science and research has gone into the study of happiness.   One definition is that Happiness is the feeling that life is good, meaningful and worthwhile.   While that may be true researchers have discovered a couple of really interesting realities about happiness.

We are calling our celebration of Easter, the day that changed everything.  Why is that?  Better yet is it really true that Easter changed everything.   I want to share a few facts with you about the life of Jesus to get us started…   There are 2.4 billion Christians in the world today—out of a world population of 7.9 billion people.   That is just slightly less that 1/3 of the worlds population that identify as a follower of Jesus.      Jesus never wrote a book—-More books written about Jesus than any other topic in the world.  The Best selling book in all the world is the Bible with over 5 Billion copies sold—the runner up is Don Quixote with 500 million.   The Bible has sold 10 times more copies than the runner up.   That doesn't count all the free versions of the Bible.    Jesus never wrote any songs—yet more songs are written about him than all other subjects combined.   Jesus never built a building—yet more architecture is built to honor him than anything else in the world.    Jesus never created any art—more art dedicated to Jesus than anything in history.   Jesus never traveled more than 200 miles from his hometown—yet his followers are in every place on the planet.     What happened?   The resurrection.  We split our history by the resurrection.  Your Birthday is dated by the resurrection.   The resurrection is the day that changed everything!   That's a really broad statement, what did it change for me, what can it change for you?  

I've done some really dumb things in my life and have made some really bad decisions, and it's encouraging to know and see that throughout the pages of Scripture we see that the people that God used most was the ones we naturally would think that God would use least. Today, we're going to look at the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15. I love this story. I've been reading and listening to sermons about this Scripture what seems like my entire life. The title of today's message is this: Bad to the Bone - Reckless Living The Truth of today's message is this: No matter how far from God you may go, you are never too far to come back home.

We are not designed to live from an empty cup—when we run dry we reach for the easy and temporary source of comfort.   That means that everyday we need to drink from water that truly satisfies.  That we must sit in the presence of Jesus daily

This week we start our second quarter of the BRP—I have been so encouraged by how many people are doing this.  I believe one of the reasons we are seeing God do what God is doing is that we are all on the same page, hearing God speak through the same passage.   If you haven't picked up your reading plan do so today or get it online.    We are doing the Bible Reading plan because of how we define discipleship.  We believe a follower of Jesus Learns about Jesus, Lives like Jesus and Leads others to Jesus.   So today we are going Hebrews 11 and we are going to see what we learn, how we live, and then how we can use that to lead others to Jesus. 

We are in this series called Bad to the Bone.  We are looking at the lives of men and women who were—well they were bad.  What we are discovering is that their bad wasn't bigger than God's grace.   That some of the baddest, became some of the greatest.   Today we are looking at the life of a man who sunk as low as anyone in all of scripture.  This is a message that is burdensome to share it contains so much evil.  And yet in the end we find that what Paul said is true, where sin did abound, grace did much more abound.   This bad man is named Lot, if this man can make heaven you and I can make heaven.

There's just something about David. He seems to be a mirror for the world and almost a reflection of our hearts. I often feel like David is a clueless character in some crazy action and adventure story that should be played by Ryan Reynolds and yet I'm bewildered that he provokes such ruin that could easily be avoided. If I'm being really vulnerable with you: What I hate about David is what I hate about me, and yet what I love about David is what I hope to become.    Listen to me very carefully, David had a profound understanding of the weight of his own personal sin, and yet he also had an uncommon understanding of God's love. David's story is a rags to riches story; It's a good ole Underdog story; it's the story of an ordinary guy that God used in extraordinary ways; it's the story of a no-one becoming some-one by knowing the Only-One. Listen to me: It's our story.

We are in this series Bad to the Bone where we are looking at some of the really bad men and women of the Bible.   We have discovered some truths—The Bible is clear there is no one that does good, no not one.   We are broken.  We do a great job of covering up our brokenness, but the truth remains—Matthew said it this way—-None of us are good enough to get in heaven, yet all of us are bad enough to go to hell.  But Hell is not God's heart nor desire for us His people. So, God sent His Son Jesus to come and die on the cross for our sins, so we can be made right with God and be free from the sin that condemns us.  And here's why we want you to know these stories: If there's hope for them, then there's hope for me and you.

Samson had God going for him.  God had a plan for Samson's life before he was born.  Here is the thing about God's plan, it's always going to work.  How differently could Samson's life have been if he had worked with God rather than against God.   Samson had parents that were in his corner.  Parents that did the best they could to instill a spiritual heritage into Samson's life, but he refused to listen.   Ultimately, Samson was bad to the bone because he choose to be bad to the bone.   The pain in Samson's life was the result of Samson's choices.    There are going to be some of us here to today and we have chosen to be bad to the bone.   Here is what I want you to know—Bad to the bone can be fun for a while, but ultimately as we will see in Samson's life the end is painful. The most important lesson we learn from the life of this man who was bad to the bone is that you are never too bad to find freedom in Jesus.  Maybe your life is like Samson's.  Maybe you feel as though you have lost it all because of bad choices.  Our maybe you see your life in how you respond to the rules, your love for dangerous places, the people you call your friends.  Today is a day to come home. If you have any questions, needs, or prayer requests, our ministers are here for you! Visit theroad.tv/response and let us know. A minister will connect with you as soon as possible.

This morning we're in week 2 of our latest series entitled “Bad to the Bone.” As a kid, I loved putting my George Thorogood tape in my tape deck and listening to his single entitled the same. You remember the song? This is how it goes… SING “On the day I was born…The nurses all gathered ‘round…And they gazed in wide wonder…At the joy they had found…The head nurse spoke up…And she said leave this one alone…She could tell right away…That I was bad to the bone…”    Although the song is catchy and fun to sing, most of us probably don't like to think of ourselves as being a bad person. And yet the Bible tells us the truth of each of our lives is that we are bad to the bone. The Bible says it this way: In Psalm 14:3, David writes even of his day, “All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Paul says in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” John adds to this in 1 John 1:8 and says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”   If the Bible is clear on anything it's this: None of us are good enough to get in heaven, yet all of us are bad enough to go to hell. But Hell is not God's heart nor desire for us His people. So, God sent His Son Jesus to come and die on the cross for our sins, so we can be made right with God and be free from the sin that condemns us.   In this eight-week series we are looking at eight different Bible characters that have eight very different stories of life change. And here's why we want you to know these stories: If there's hope for them, then there's hope for me and you.

What defines you?   All of us are defined by something—sometimes it is an accomplishment or achievement.   Something about which we are proud, something positive.  But often than not what defines us is not what we have done well, but where we have failed.   More often than not our bad defines us.   Our marriage fails and we are the divorcee.   There was a season of life that was out of control and we become the addict.   We fail at business and we are person who declared bankruptcy.   Far too often it is what we wish no one new that becomes the definition of who we are in this broken world.   

Last week we began to defined discipleship.   We discovered there are three things that will be true if you are following Jesus, if you are truly a disciple—You will be learning about Jesus, you will be living like Jesus, you will be leading others to Jesus.  Learn.  Live.  Lead.    Today I want to take you to one of the most important passages on discipleship in scripture.  John 15—READ.  John 15 is an allegory.   Allegory is a story in which everything has meaning.   Jesus even explains the allegory.   Jesus tells a story of a vine, a vine dresser and the branches.      In this allegory all the main characters are clearly identified.   In verse 1 Jesus identifies himself as the vine.    Then there is the vine dresser—God the Father.   The role of the Vine Dresser is to maximize the impact of the vine.   I want to call your attention to verse 2 to the words “Takes away” from the Greek AIRO.   The primary definition is “to lift from the ground.”   Which may be truer to the text since the job of the Vine Dresser is to nurture the vine.   Rarely did a vine dresser ever cut away a vine, but would lift it and tie it to the trellis in order to train the vine.  This was called “training.”   Their secondary priority was to snip shoots from the vine called pruning.    You will understand why this is important when we get into the message.   Then there is the branches—look at verse 5—I am the vine, you are the branches.   This passage is not about salvation, this passage is about growth in our relationship with Jesus.   This passage is about following Jesus, what it means to be a disciple.   Jesus is going to address our position, production and purpose in the kingdom. 

We are starting our year out with a series called Disciple:  The year that changed everything.   Last week Matthew shared about our reading plan called ROAD.  If you have not started the reading plan pick up the materials today at the HUB and join us as we read God's Word together.  If you complete the year, you will have made your way through the entire NT.   In addition you will be leaving a spiritual heritage for your family, you will have connected with God and others in a deeper way.      We have spent the past few years giving emphasis to our DNA—Connect, Reach, Build and Care.  Who we are as a church, this series gives emphasis to our mission statement—We exist to make disciples.  What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?  Jesus' invitation to people in the NT was to follow and in following they became disciples.  So what is a disciple?   We throw the word around but we don't often define the word.   If you step back from the Bible and look at it as a whole three things emerge that define a follower or disciple of Jesus.     The Great Commission that Jesus left us to fulfill says MATT 28:19-20—GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL THE NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I COMMANDED YOU, AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS , EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.    If you break that passage down you will see that there are three steps to discipleship.  There is the learning, the living and the leading.   Teach them (Learn) to observe (Live) make disciples (Lead).  

Title: How to experience life to the full in 2022. Truth: When I make God all I want, He will give me all I need. Scripture: John 10:10; John 15:1-5; Galatians 5   Time is measured in minutes; life is measured in moments.   If we aren't careful in life, we can find routines and rhythms that don't help us live life to the full, but live life safely getting by.   Jesus didn't come for us to endure life and get by; He came for us to experience life to the full.   If we're not “in Christ” then we cannot experience the things of Christ nor experience the life He gives. To be “in Christ” is to be in the Word of God.   It is impossible for 2022 to go how you desire it to go if you aren't connected to the source that can provide what you need. In Christ, we find that God freely gives us what we all desire and want for our lives.   Life change isn't the result of known Truth but applied Truth.   The best way to increase your quality of life is to be on the ROAD with a few of your closest friends. R - READ   O - OBSERVE   A - APPLY   D - DO   Questions to answer on the car ride home:   How much life do I think I will live in 2022? In Galatians 5, we read about the fruit of the Spirit. Which of those fruit would I like to see more of, in 2022, in my life? Am I going to do our church's Bible Reading Plan (BRP) to help raise my quality of life? Why/Why not?  Who am I going to ask to do the BRP with me?

Begin the new year—We are going to launch one of the most important series of our church next week.   It's called DISCIPLE:  The year that changed everything.      There will be some who are excited about being part of this, others will be fearful.   I want to encourage you to decide now that this year you will follow Jesus more completely than you ever have.   Part of that decision is to join your church as we begin reading together through the NT.   Can you image as all of God's people are reading the same thing what potential that opens to the church of God.     We start The Road reading plan tomorrow.  If you have not picked up instructions you can get them at the Welcome Center or online at theroad.tv/road    What I want to make sure for our lives is that we have all the momentum of our life taking us in a direction that will benefit our lives.   So here is our beginning question—Where is the momentum of your life taking you?   Momentum is defined as the strength or force gained by motion or a series of events.   Are the habits and disciplines of your life putting you in a place where if you took your foot off the gas the momentum of your life will continue in the right direction? 

We are in a much needed series about Peace.  We are learning that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of Jesus.   Matthew did a great job last week by leading us through the name Immanuel—God with Us.  Did you know that there are 790 verses about peace in the Bible?   If you were to study all of those verses you would find that there are three kinds of peace the Bible talks about.  There is spiritual peace, there is emotional peace, and there is relational peace.   If you want to think about those another way you could say the Bible addresses eternal peace, internal peace and external peace.     I want to make this as practical and simple as I possibly can—eternal peace is peace with God.  Internal peace is peace with self.   External peace is peace with others.   Wouldn't it be great to go into this Christmas season and in your life to experience all three kinds of peace?  To know that you are at peace with God, Internally you have peace, and especially this time of year when everyone gathers, that you have peace with those around you.   That is what we are going to look at today. 

When times get hard or scary it's easy to get to the point that we simply start asking for God to come back and either take us to Heaven with Him or intervene in our circumstance so we can avoid it. Does that make sense? I've heard Pastor Rick say this and it's so true: We want to avoid hardship and yet God is experienced most vividly during hard times. Can I just submit to you to you today, the reason I believe the Christmas story is so relevant in our world right now is because there are some hardships that we're having to endure in our nation that we can't avoid, and God wants us to all see and know that He has come and is right here with us in the midst of it all, holding our hand?   This entire series that we're beginning this week is about peace. And I can personally think of no better time to hear a message about peace than right now. In this entire series we're going to teach you biblical principles that will help you have the right mindset to show you that you can be in peace even when the world seems to be in pieces.

This may have been one of the most practical series we have done on parenting.   We have talked about how quickly our families can fall away from pursuing Jesus, we talked about the spiritual war going on for our families, the influence of media on our families and today we are talking about one of the most difficult issues facing families—discipline and authority in a message called WHO'S THE BOSS?

Last week Matthew shared about going to spiritual war for your family.  If there is a front line in the battle for our children it would be media.   Media has become our default.   We have become addicted to reality shows that are the furthest thing from reality.   Media in one form or another has become a surrogate parent for many of our children.   What are the long term effects of over indulgence in media?  What happens to a child who spends 4-6 hours a day on some form of media?      When it comes to technology and media the Bible doesn't have any specific verses that mention media or technology.  So as a follower of Jesus we begin to look for principles that apply to our lives.  That is what we are going to do today—what principles does Bible give us for raising a Jesus follower in a post Christian culture?   If you have any questions, needs, or prayer requests, our ministers are here for you! Visit theroad.tv/response and let us know. A minister will connect with you as soon as possible.

I don't know how strong in the faith and bold and courageous your children, or even your friends children are, but I do know this: At some point, our children, will experience some really scary difficulties, hardships, and battles. However, God doesn't want you to be overwhelmed in caring for them. He wants you to be confident in what He can do through your willingness to be obedient to Him and His Word. AND ultimately, He wants your children to be full of faith and confident in God's ultimate victory.   The title of today's message is this: Our children are at war. The truth of today's message is this: We can't help our children win their war, when we fight the wrong battles.

Every year we do a parenting series that is one of most requested series we do. We do that because parenting is tough. But the reality of the world in which we live is that if you are going to raise a child to follow Jesus the job of parenting is becoming tougher by the moment. There was a time when culture worked with you to raise a child who honored God and pursued faith. Those days are over.   At this point in our world culture is working against you, not with you to raise a follower of Jesus.   Our world has changed. That led us to name this series COUNTER CULTURE:  RAISING A FOLLOWER OF JESUS IN A POST CHRISTIAN CULTURE. I'm going to tell you that this series will probably make you uncomfortable, at the same time I will tell you that it may be one of the most important series we have ever done on parenting.