You may have been here before but you are not stuck here. Through Jesus, in this test you can embrace the freedom of knowing you are "Not A Hostage."
There will be a day of freedom when we can see how the plans God had were so much better than the plans we had. Until that day, we have the opportunity to be practicing patience.
God offers us the opportunity to become what He created us to be with each and every one of these tests, starting with the first.
There's risk...but it's worth it! Jesus gives you the ability to take hold of "The Opportunity of Your Life."
God has entrusted you with some incredible gifts. Ask yourself, what am I going to do with what God has placed, "In My Hands?"
God is greater than our hearts. God is greater than our burdens. Live courageously in Christ! Guest Pastor Prof. Joel Russow shares a message from Genesis 39:6b-10.
When life puts you in a challenging situation, what guides your next step? It's time to "Calibrate Your Compass."
Like Jacob, God comes to us with His tremendously loving heart, allowing these turning points in our lives to teach us this truth, it's better to trust in Him than ourselves!
When you face that "turning point" moment this week, try this.... trust God!
In those moments where it's difficult to trust God, in more ways than one, "Actually, We're A Lot Like Abraham."
Pastor Krause kick-starts our new "Turning Points" Trinity season series with a study of Genesis 4:3-7.
You're turning red, heating up and feeling down.... in those moments ask yourself, "Who's Driving?"
The one thing you probably never thought to repurpose....
Watch this year's Ash Wednesday message to learn how God repurposed death because "Lent Means Love."
When there's a battle before you and challenges around you, everything can change with just "A Glimpse of Hope."
What does Eve's temptation have to do with Christmas? God wants our affections directed away from false gods that make us happy for the moment to focus on Him, His love. He wants to give us a new heart this New Year.
So it got a bit emotional... and that's OK. A grieving season is a difficult season. But when going through this difficult process, we can find "Good Medicine. Seeing God At Work In Our Grief."
Even as God's children, we will endure pain, suffering and grief. When we stop depending on ourselves we ultimately find true comfort in no other place than in the arms of our Lord, who whispers to us "It's OK to not be OK".
Often God can send tests to teach us patience, so we stop looking to ourselves and we are compelled to look to Him. He limits our tests to encourage us to look forward to something better, one of His greatest gifts - hope!
Waiting Is So Hard... Why?
God is at work in those times of waiting and gives us reason to embrace "the Wonderful Wait."
We are tested on a daily basis so we no longer focus on ourselves and our own strength but shift our focus to Christ and the cross - because He passed the test for us!
When the rain is falling and there's more on the way...
...there may actually be blessings coming and opportunity ahead! When going through a season of testing, keep your eyes open for what God may be doing because when it rains, it pours.
It's often said, "When God shuts a door He opens a window."
But what do you do when the door is closing? See how we get to live as people of hope by digging into what God does in the lives of Moses' parents in Exodus 2:1-3.
If You've Ever Been Hurt By Someone, This Is For You. One of life's most difficult challenges is dealing with the ways people have hurt us. Thankfully, Jesus made reconciliation possible not just between God and us, but between us and others. He is "Healing Hearts."
1) When someone wrongs you, ask, "Am I in the place of God?" Then remind yourself what God's place is in all of this.
2) Christian forgiveness is not saying that the wrong someone did is okay or not a big deal. It means trusting that God is a God of justice who is setting everything right.
3) Our God is so big and so amazing that He can use the ways people break His world to bring healing to this world. That's what happened on the cross.
4) There is no wrong too awful that God won't use it to achieve something good.
5) There will be a day when your heart is completely healed and you are reconciled with others. The God who will heal you completely then is already at work in you now.
Life is hard. Forgiveness is hard. As we study the life of Joseph, we see what he (and we!) can learn through hardship - 3 Godly life lessons:
1. Humility
2. Perspective
3. Freedom
Big Choices!
God has given you the opportunity to make choices and to trust Him as you step forward in faith!
1) God often doesn't take us where we're going immediately. It's a process. He is patient with us. Are we patient with God?
2) Along the way God gives us the opportunity to make sanctified choices.
3) We have more than the promises of God to rest on. We can hang onto the character and nature of God.
4) We are so quick to replace God's ways with our ways. We want God to follow our plan.
5) Fear is not defeated by our good plans but by God's presence.
You're Going Somewhere
God has called you out so you can step forward in faith. Like Abraham, you're on "The Incredible Journey."
The Key to Significance
God worked through Noah to preserve humanity on the face of the earth. Talk about significant! What was central to Noah's life of significance can be central to ours as well. We are oBEdient.
Heroic!
We all love heroes. But it can be a tall order trying to live up to them! Jesus, however, makes us heroic like Noah!
1) Some might say that Noah wasn't all that heroic. He just followed directions. But humans are notoriously bad at following directions, especially from God!
2) God has given us very simple directions in the 10 commandments but none of us follow them.
3) Jesus perfectly obeyed for us. We are saved through Him!
4) As Christians we aren't afraid because we're wrapped in Christ. We're safe in the ark!
5) We get to do something Noah didn't. We get to throw a lifeline out to others so they can be saved with us. We get to be heroic!
Our Advent series ends with a message from Pastor Krause on Christmas Eve - "Impossible?", from Genesis 18:14A, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?"
We begin our Lenten mid-week sermon series "OUCH - 7 deadly stings of sin" with a lesson from Genesis 3:14-19, "Cursed",