Sermons at Granite Creek Community Church

Today we are starting a new series Living in God's Balance. Come join me on this new journey and lets learn about Living in God's Balance. As a woman, are there days when you feel that your life has gotten out of balance? Between working long hours at the office, rushing to get the children off to school, or writing your latest novel, have you felt that there are just not enough hours in the day to get it all done? You are not alone. Many of us feel the pressures of everyday life more and more these days. Many women are especially sensitive to how full their days have become and how little they seem to accomplish during “normal” waking hours. If you are feeling this way, then it’s probably a good time to take inventory of your life so that you can get back on track. We’ve all heard the old adage that life is a “balance of mind, body, and spirit.” Hearing that phrase is one thing. Living that principle is quite another in our often hectic world. Many people, both men and women, seek this balance in their lives. The solution can often feel elusive once our lives have gotten off a healthy path. There are many paths to living a balanced life. A Christian perspective to having a balanced life begins by examining your relationship with God. How close are you to God? Do you seek His wisdom often or are you trying to go through life on your own? We can often feel alone when life becomes overwhelming. A relationship with God means that you are never alone (Romans 8:35; Psalms 91:10-11). The more intimate your relationship with God the more faith you have that He will help you through even the toughest times. Knowing someone is always there who understands what you are going through is a major component in the process of healing and getting our lives in balance. Often we are plagued by a need to “control” our environment and our lives. Looming deadlines at work and conflicts with our spouse, our families, or people with whom we work are just a few examples of circumstances that can cause our lives to feel “out of control”. In turn, feeling “out of control” increases our anxiety and causes us to search for an end to our frustrations. Left unchecked, anxiety can lead to depression, further complicating our desire for balance. A relationship with God does not require any special knowledge. Nor must you be anyone other than yourself. Everyone can have a relationship with God. All that is required is that you have a desire to foster your relationship with Him. God can then begin to assist you in receiving what you need in order to live life more fully and more balanced (Luke 11:9-13; 1 John 5:14-15). Reading the Bible on a daily basis is another way to grow your relationship with God. Your faith in allowing God to help you through all aspects of your life will expand as you begin to understand God’s wisdom and His plan for you. As your faith grows, you will begin to experience a positive change in your life. Once the change occurs, you will begin to recapture the “balance” you’ve been missing.

Today we end our journey in Romans. With the new year coming our journey is going to end with us getting new life and forgetting the old in our past. “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 CEV). Can a butterfly go back into a cocoon after it’s come out as a caterpillar? Of course not. It can’t happen. Once the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it is what it is — a butterfly.
When you become a believer, you’re like that butterfly — you come out of your cocoon. It may take you some time to fly spiritually, but once you become a new creation in Christ, you are what you are. You are a new creation.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new” (CEV). So what does it mean to become a new creation in Christ? The moment you believe in Christ, there’s a spiritual metamorphosis — everything changes! This is a matter of faith and not sight.The greatest step of faith we can take in our lives is to believe what God says about who Jesus is and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. I believe the second greatest step you can take is to believe what God says about who you are. You are a new creation in Christ! The Bible says in Romans 6:14, “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (NLT). A true life, a better life, a wonderful life is only found in Christ. When you become a Christian, you have a new life in him.

Today we are going on a different journey through Luke and learning about the real christmas story. We have been on many journeys and each of them very meaningful and this story will be the very reason why we go on these journeys. So in honor of Christmas today I give you the real christmas story. Mary, a young teenager living in the village of Nazareth, was engaged to be married to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter. One day God sent an angel to visit Mary. The angel told Mary that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She would give birth to this child and name him Jesus. At first, Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel's words. Being a virgin, Mary questioned the angel, "How can this happen?" The angel explained that the child would be God's own Son and that nothing is impossible with God. Humbled and in awe, Mary believed the angel of the Lord and rejoiced in God her Savior. Surely Mary reflected with wonder on the words of Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV). So, while Mary was still engaged to Joseph, she miraculously became pregnant just as the angel had said. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he must have felt disgraced. He knew the child was not his own, and Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a grave social stigma. Joseph had the right to divorce Mary, and under Jewish law, she could be put to death by stoning. Although Joseph's initial reaction was to break the engagement, the appropriate thing for a righteous man to do, he treated Mary with extreme kindness. He did not want to cause her further shame and decided to act quietly. But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to verify Mary's story and reassure him that his marriage to her was God's will. The angel explained that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that his name would be Jesus, and that he was the Messiah. When Joseph woke from his dream, he willingly obeyed God and took Mary to be his wife in spite of the public humiliation he would face. Joseph's noble character was one reason God chose him to be Messiah's earthly father. At that time, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census would be taken. Every person in the Roman world had to return to his or her hometown to register. Joseph, being of the line of David, was required to go to Bethlehem to register with Mary. While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus. Because of the census, the inn was overcrowded, and Mary gave birth in a crude stable. She wrapped the baby in cloths and placed him in a manger.

Today we are going on our Journey into Romans and we will be on this very short series for a few weeks. Today when we stop in Romans we will be talking about Strength. Romans 8:31-39 may be the most comforting and encouraging passage in the entire Bible.1 These verses definitively declare that: Security leads to stability and productivity. Paul offers three hopeful assurances: (1) There is no opposition (8:31-32); (2) there is no condemnation (8:33-34); and (3) there is no separation (8:35-39). 1. There Is No Opposition (8:31-32) In spite of who or what comes against you, God is for you. In 8:31a Paul writes, “What then shall we say to these things?” This is the first of seven questions in this passage. Seven is the number of completion and perfection in the Bible. Throughout this passage, Paul’s goal is to exhaust any and every objection. “These things” (tauta) likely refers to the previous contents of his letter (1:18-8:30).This section is the Cliff Notes on Romans 1-8. Since Paul is astounded by God’s unconditional love he writes in 8:31b, “If God is for us, who is against us?” Notice Paul doesn’t ask the question, “Who is against us?” Rather, he qualifies the question with the phrase: “If God is for us . . .” The Greek word “if” (ei) is not a term of uncertainty, but of certainty. Paul is saying, “If God is working on our behalf (and He is), then who could succeed in opposing us?” His point is that no adversary or enemy is of any account when God is for us. Romans 8:31 was John Calvin’s life verse because it brought him much comfort and confidence. Today you may feel defeated, but Paul’s encouraging truth is that evil will never ultimately prevail. You will always be led to victory in Christ because God is for you. Today personalize the verse by adding your name: “If God is for ________, who is against__________?” In the movie, The Lion King, the young cub Simba is being surrounded by hyenas, and he gets ready to defend himself, when his father jumps up behind Simba and roars. At that great roar, the hyenas scatter. Now the truth is, sometimes hyenas do gang up on and defeat adult male lions. But, if every created being in the universe were to gang up on God, they still would not be able to defeat Him. With that kind of God for you, who can possibly be against you? Who or what do you have to fear? No one. Nothing. Security leads to stability and productivity. 2. There Is No Condemnation (8:33-34) Although you may feel condemned from time to time, God’s love for you is timeless and He will never condemn you. Paul writes in 8:33, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?17 God is the one who justifies.” This is a rhetorical question, equivalent to an emphatic denial. So the question is: Who would dare “bring a charge against God’s elect?” The answer, of course, is no one. This question is from a courtroom setting. No one can charge you with sin crimes because God has justified you. God has acquitted you and declared you righteous before His perfect justice. If God pronounced this verdict, who can resurrect the charges of wrong doing that would bring you before Him again? There is no double jeopardy in God’s legal system! As a believer, you can be sure you are eternally secure because there is no sin that has not already been dealt with by Christ. Therefore, if God the Father went to all this work to save you, it is nonsensical to contemplate the remote possibility that you could somehow be lost. If “God is the one who justifies,” who is able to “unjustify” you? Absolutely no one! There Is No Separation (8:35-39) Since God set His love upon you in eternity past, He will continue to love you for all eternity. Paul makes this point inextricably clear by emphasizing the love of God or Christ three times in this section (8:35, 37, 39; cf. 5:5-8). Furthermore, the verb “separate” (chorizo) bookends this section (8:35, 39), confirming that there is no separation in your relationship with God. Paul begins with the question that is potentially the most critical question a Christian can ask: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” (8:35a) Of course, the answer is: No one can separate us from the love of Christ. However, you may say, “But I don’t feel like I love Christ all the time.” No, you misread 8:35a. It’s not who is going to separate us from our love for Christ, but who is going to separate us from Christ’s love for us. I don’t know about you, but my love for Christ can fluctuate between hot and cold. If my salvation depends upon the fervency of my love for Christ, I would have already been cast into hell. Thankfully, my salvation does not depend upon my love for Christ; rather, it depends upon Christ’s love for me. His life, death, resurrection, and intercession have secured my eternal destiny. The only reason that I will spend eternity with God is because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. In closing There are three pairs in 8:38-39: (1) Death/life: Nothing in this life and nothing in death can separate a believer from God’s love. The two things we fear most, living and dying, are not threats to our eternal life. Whether we live or die, we are in God’s love. (2) Things present/things to come: Nothing in our present experience, nor anything to come, can separate us from God’s love in Christ. (3) Height/depth: If we were to travel to the “highest” or “lowest” points in the universe, or anywhere in between, we would never arrive at a place where we could escape Christ’s love. There is nowhere we can go where anyone or anything can take our eternal salvation away from us. By using these three pairs Paul could not be any plainer or clearer. Eternal life is eternal: Nothing in life or in death, nothing in our present or in our future, nothing in the entire universe, no matter how “high” or “low” we might go—nothing can separate us from His love. Paul selected these pairs because each represents the extreme of something dear to us (i.e., existence, time, and location). Just like we can’t cease being the children of our earthly parents once we are born, so we can’t cease being children of God once we are born again. We can no more be unborn spiritually than we can go back and be unborn physically. When we trust in Christ for salvation, by His grace, at that very moment, we become members of God’s family forever.

Today we are going on our Journey into Romans and we will be on this very short series for a few weeks. Today when we stop in Romans we will be talking about transformation. Romans 12 transitions from teaching about what God has done for his people to what God expects from his people. How are the new people of God (the true Israel) supposed to live out their faith in the world? It appears that the first two verses of Romans 12 are the general commands on how to live out our faith in the world. Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God — which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2; NET). The first thing Paul is calling for is a total commitment. We are to present our bodies as the sacrifice to God. God is calling for us to give ourselves wholly to God. We are to offer ourselves to God. We are not to offer some of our lives or some of our bodies. We are to commit 100% of our lives and bodies to God. Sacrifice is the ultimate proof of true love. God proved his love for us through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). We are called to give ourselves completely to God. Paul has already taught this idea earlier in his letter to the Romans. When we were children we had a phrase, "Don’t be a copycat!" As kids, we like to mimic other kids. Of course, if you were the kid with originality, you did not like someone copying you. Paul’s instruction in verse 2 amplifies what Paul taught in verse 1. Being a sacrifice for God means that we will not be copycats of this world. The NLT reads, "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world." This is what it looks like to be alive to God, holy to God, and pleasing to God. Do not copy the world’s behavior and customs. Do not do the things they do. Do not think the way the world thinks. If we fit in with the world, then there is a problem. We have been conformed to the world if we fit in. Instead, Christians are to be transformed. Christians are not to allow the world’s pressures to change them. Rather they are be changed inwardly in the mind. Paul calls this the "renewing of your mind." It is a radical transformation that must take place. It is interesting to observe that the only other time this word translated "transform" is used in the New Testament is in reference to the transfiguration of Jesus. We are not be changed by the world, but radically changed by God by renewing our minds.

Today we are going on very great journey and we will be traveling for 4 weeks on this journey. Today we are taking that journey back to The Beginning. So will you travel with me on this journey as we learn about Creation. Today we are learning where in the bible it talks about Gideon and the Angel of the Lord. The account of Gideon’s life is recorded in Judges 6:11-8:32. The backdrop for Gideon’s biography begins with the Israelites being ravaged by the Midianites as a consequence of their disobedience to God (Judges 6:1). For seven years they faced invasions from the Midianites, Amalekites, and Eastern foreigners who ruined their crops and destroyed their cattle. Although they had been unfaithful to God by worshipping the gods of the Amorites, they cried out to God for His help without realizing why this was happening to them (Judges 6:6). And so God sends them a prophet to remind them of how the one true God had provided for them in the past and yet how quickly they had forsaken Him (Judges 6:8-10). God hears their cries and graciously intervenes by sending an angel to Gideon to call him into service (vss. 11-14). Gideon, whose name means “cutter” or “cutter of trees,” belonged to an undistinguished family of the Abiezrites, but from the angel’s greeting we can assume that Gideon had already proved to be a mighty warrior (Judges 6:12). Though Gideon was a willing servant of God, he needed assurance that it was, in fact, God calling him to this divine service (vs.17). In accomplishing the mission set before him by God, Gideon proves himself to be faithful, a mighty warrior, a strong leader of men (Judges 7:17), and a diplomat (Judges 8:1-3). As such, he is included in a fitting testimonial for the great men of faith in Hebrews 11:32-34. Gideon was the fifth judge and renowned as the greatest of Israel. The highlights of Gideon’s life include his victorious battle against Israel’s enemies. However, we mustn’t overlook his amazing faith, by which he carried out God’s mission and which was first put to the test and confirmed when he destroyed the Baal idols his father and the community had been worshipping (Judges 6:25-27). Gideon’s battle triumph is preceded by God’s anointing (Judges 6:34). It was no small feat that Gideon managed to enlist his tribesmen, the Abiezerites, to go into battle with him. These were the men whose idols he had destroyed and who had renamed him “Jerub-baal” (Judges 6:32). Before entering battle, Gideon’s troops number 32,000, but in obedience to God he reduces them by 22,000 (Judges 7:2-3). Again in obedience to God he decreases the remaining 10,000 by a further 9,700, leaving him with just 300 men (vss. 7-8). This was against an enemy that is described as “thick as locusts” with “camels as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore” (Judges 7:12). With the battle finally won, the people suggest that Gideon rule over them as their king, but he declines their accolades and tells them the Lord will rule over them (Judges 8:22-23).

Today we are going on very great journey and we will be traveling for 4 weeks on this journey. Today we are taking that journey back to The Beginning. So will you travel with me on this journey as we learn about Creation. Today we are learning where in the bible it talks about Bad Language. What should our speech be like? What should be our usual way of talking? It’s in the Bible, Colossians 4:6, NIV. “Let your conversation be always full of grace, . . . so that you may know how to answer everyone.” God asks us to rid ourselves of foul language. It’s in the Bible, Colossians 3:8, NIV. “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” What we believe is reflected in what we say. It’s in the Bible, Matthew 12:34, 35, NIV. “How can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”

Today we are going on very great journey and we will be traveling for 4 weeks on this journey. Today we are taking that journey back to The Beginning. So will you travel with me on this journey as we learn about Creation. Today we are learning where else in the bible it talks about In The Beginning and in the bible it starts in John 1.

The answer to this question is found by first understanding the reason why John wrote his gospel. We find his purpose clearly stated in John 20:30-31. “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Once we understand that John’s purpose was to introduce the readers of his gospel to Jesus Christ, establishing Who Jesus is (God in the flesh) and what He did, all with the sole aim of leading them to embrace the saving work of Christ in faith, we will be better able to understand why John introduces Jesus as “The Word” in John 1:1.
By starting out his gospel stating, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John is introducing Jesus with a word or a term that both his Jewish and Gentile readers would have been familiar with. The Greek word translated “Word” in this passage is Logos, and it was common in both Greek philosophy and Jewish thought of that day. For example, in the Old Testament the “word” of God is often personified as an instrument for the execution of God’s will (Psalm 33:6; 107:20; 119:89; 147:15-18). So, for his Jewish readers, by introducing Jesus as the “Word,” John is in a sense pointing them back to the Old Testament where the Logos or “Word” of God is associated with the personification of God’s revelation. And in Greek philosophy, the term Logos was used to describe the intermediate agency by which God created material things and communicated with them. In the Greek worldview, the Logos was thought of as a bridge between the transcendent God and the material universe. Therefore, for his Greek readers the use of the term Logos would have likely brought forth the idea of a mediating principle between God and the world.

Today we are going on very great journey and we will be traveling for 4 weeks on this journey. Today we are taking that journey back to The Beginning. So will you travel with me on this journey as we learn about Creation. The basic creation story is found in Genesis 1 and 2, with the account of what happened in the Garden of Eden in chapter 3. Genesis 1 begins before the existence of anything except God Himself. God’s revelation of Himself and His will for mankind is the beginning of the creation story. In this beginning, God created everything in the universe (Genesis 1:1). This includes all the heavenly bodies (including every star and planet), as well as everything on the earth. While the triune nature of God is not explicit in the Genesis account, God does reveal an “us” within the Godhead (Genesis 1:26). The Spirit is active in creation (Genesis 1:2) as is Christ (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:15–17). In the six days of creation, God formed light, the universe, and the earth (day 1); the sky and the atmosphere (day 2); dry land and all plant life (day 3); the stars and heavenly bodies, including the sun and moon (day 4); birds and water creatures (day 5); and all the land animals and man (day 6). Mankind is special above all other creatures because he bears the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and has the responsibility to steward and subdue the earth (verse 28). All of creation was completed in six days in all its vast array and wondrous beauty. God announced that His creation was “very good” (verse 31). Genesis 2 sees the ending of God’s creative work and gives a more detailed account of the creation of man. The seventh day is marked by God’s resting. The rest does not suggest that God was tired; rather, His “rest” was simply a cessation of work. God was done, and the universe was just as He wanted it to be. God’s six days of work, followed by a day of no work, establishes a pattern of taking one day in seven for rest and sets the number of days in the week still in use today. The keeping of the Sabbath later became a distinguishing mark of God’s chosen people (Exodus 20:8–11.)

Today we are going on very great journey and we will be traveling for 5 weeks on this journey. Today we are going to see how Grace Changes Everything and How Martin Luther Changed The World. Martin Luther remains one of the most important and influential people in the western world. The year 2017 will see both scholarship and popular media reflect and comment on Martin Luther and his legacy—sometimes negatively. His reform of the church, his translation of the Bible, and his reshaping of Christian life changed the religious, social, and political face of Europe. These reverberations are still felt today—even here in far-away America, where Christianity and even the nation itself would look very different were it not for Martin Luther. Grace is a word that believers sing about all over the world. Sadly though, many people fail to understand the full meaning of God's grace and how it applies to their daily lives. As a result, they spend their days with no real sense of peace, joy, or happiness. This is an answer to the question why grace changes everything. The word freedom as defined by Dictionary.com is "the condition of being free of restraints". To a believer freedom means we are free from the restraint of sins. We no longer have to obey what our flesh desires. We can choose to follow after our Spirit and thus denying our flesh. Without the freedom that we receive through the blood of Christ, this is not possible. Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV) "1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." We were all incapable of living righteously because we had to gratify the cravings of our sinful nature. We were forced to do what it wanted. There was no choice, no freedom. Why? Because we had no ability to turn from sin. To remain free in the liberty of Christ we must choose not to do any that will bring us back into bondage. When we are saved, we are freed from the restraints of our sin. But we can choose to give up areas we have freedom over. We can choose to do what the flesh wants. In doing so we are giving our freedom in that area away. But if we turn to God, and ask for His help we can regain that freedom again.