Timothy Nguyen
Where do we get personal strength?
Whether you notice it or not, life actually confronts us with challenges and tests all the time. And your whole life is actually determined on whether or not you have personal strength.
Today, we get to learn from Abraham that we find personal strength through:
1. Godly training
2. Godly optimism
Pastor David Cay
Life can contain a lot of pitfalls, a lot of dangerous and risky situations. We all know people who have made bad decisions and if I’m honest – I’m one of them. Many times, our mistakes are result of moral failure and looking back it would have been wise and better to avoid these potential disasters.
So my question today is: How do we avoid disaster in life?
We started answering this question last week, where we concluded that it’s important to have commitment and ambition within your relationship with God. This week, we’ll talk about two things to guard against, because these two things can really let us down.
1. We need to guard against our culture’s opinion
2. We need to guard against our own opinion.
Pastor Enoch Chee
Today I want to tell the story of a man named Lot. It’s the story of an ordinary guy. Lot had a relationship with God, but he wasn’t like one of those super Christians. He was more like an average Christian.
Lot’s story teaches us two keys to avoiding disaster.
The first key is COMMITMENT.
The story of Lot reminds us that God’s way costs us everything. And there is no light option for the Christian life. But if we would commit fully to God’s plan for us we will find grace and security even in our darkest moments.
The second key to avoiding disaster is AMBITION.
To have eyes forward into God’s plan for us. To commit to making the most of the lifestyle that God wants you to live. To dream of things that make sense in eternity.
Let’s talk about big ideas and big dreams and you’ll probably be surprised at how powerful and accomplished it can be if you put your mind to it.
Tim Nguyen
What are signs that you have a right relationship with God?
Religion is full of invisible stuff, and it’s hard to know. There are a lot of contradicting opinions out there. Some people say you must have supernatural spiritual gifts (for example: the gift of tongues) to be considered a Christian. Others say it’s just impossible to know any of this spiritual stuff is real. However, as Christians we NEED to know because we are betting our life on this relationship with God. Our Bible passage helps us understand two signs that help indicate that you are right with God.
The right life is:
1. Undivided
2. Unusual
We’ve been following the life of Abraham, a man who God has chosen to save the world by turning them back to God. In our previous sermon in this series, we saw that God makes this huge promise to empower Abraham with a big family and lots of land, allowing his family to be this huge force in living out God’s mission.
However, after all these promises, God asked for something from Abraham in return. A badge. A symbol.
Pastor David Cay
We are going through dark and difficult times right now. If you’re not, the Bible tells us to expect hardship and trouble. It’s not a matter of if, but when.
My question today is this:
Where do we find hope in dark times? Where do we find light in the darkness?
This week’s passages teaches us two things:
1. Trouble and confusion are part of God’s plan.
2. We can be confident that God will keep his promises.
Pastor Tony Henshall
Lifeline Ministries, Edmonton
My big question for today is…
What happens when we stop following God’s plan?
The Big Idea I want us to reflect on today is that:
1.) We get into trouble, but…
2.) God does not abandon us in our trouble.
Pastor David Cay
There are churches out there that take the blessings God gives them, and use them to serve in big and bold ways. They are leading the way for other churches because Jesus said Christians should be so good that people would praise God because of us.
However, this doesn’t happen automatically. It takes a lot of intentionality, and without a clear intention and goals, we will miss out on God’s plan, and we won’t reach our full potential. Our Bible story today gives us the keys to making our lives count. We are starting a new series in the life of Abraham. Abraham’s story is a model of how we can live by faith and reach our full potential.