This is a message for those of you who are crushed with disappointment to the point that your hope died. Jesus wants to tenderly get you back to simply loving Him just for Him and He want you to understand He loves you just for you. Today is a good day to fall in love with Jesus all over again.
Pastor Gary Wilkerson concludes our Freeway sermon series with a call to all who have found freedom to begin bringing freedom to others. When you are truly free, your heart and life will be full of God's praises. We see in Scripture that when people began to praise, chains fell off and prison doors swung open. You'll become a life saver, rescuing those in need. And your story is no longer about you, but about bringing other people to Christ. None of this is possible of course, unless you are first filled with the spirit of Jesus.
We are the temple of God in which He is developing a song. This song doesn’t come from what we can do for Him, but what He has done and continues to do in and through us. Everyone will shout and proclaim that only God could do this.
Believers must work constantly not to lose sight of God's work in our lives and will for our communities and world. In this week's sermon, Pastor Carter Conlon shares how believers can defend their minds and spirits against daily erosion and spiritual blindness. He encourages us to constantly remind ourselves of God's promises and past work so that we can remain aware of God's presence around us.
As we continue our Freeway sermon series, Pastor Gary Wilkerson shares about the importance of forgiveness in our road to freedom. In Luke 7, Jesus is interacting with two people, one who knows she is a sinner and the other who is self righteous. Jesus then shares a story contrasting two people who owed a debt of varying amounts. The one who was forgiven the most is the one who shows the most love. Unforgiveness hinders our relationship with others. Jesus said it is your faith that saves you. It is our faith in the complete forgiveness from Jesus that gives us freedom to love as God intends.
Pastor Gary Wilkerson continues our Freeway series talking about awareness. When the Bible says to examine ourselves we tend to focus on the negative, but it also means seeing if something is acceptable by looking for the good. Yes, there is a time to look for weights that slow us down or things that hinder the fullness of God in our life, but we are not to grovel in our sin and failure, but rest in the finished work of Christ.
Pastor Gary Wilkerson kicks off our Freeway sermon series talking about prodigals. In Luke 15, we see an all-out prodigal who blew his entire inheritance on wild living. Partway prodigals are more common though. They maintain a form of right behavior, while self-managing "small" sin that no one knows about. Whether an all-out prodigal or a partway prodigal, the remedy is the same; come into the house and celebrate the Father's love.
Those who make right choices, will have a bright testimony. We will live in mediocrity, if we choose to walk by our own reasoning. We are invited to petition God for the power to stay away from everything that would dull our spirit. God is looking for a people who will shine like sign posts so they can lead people into His heart.
How is the church to respond when the world around us seems to be coming apart? Pastor Gary Wilkerson draws the answer from 1 Peter 4:7–11 in what he calls "The 7-11 Vision." In these verses, Peter encourages Christians to continue loving deeply, to have disciplined and earnest prayer, to host friends as well as strangers, and to use our spiritual gifts to serve others.
The call of God involves change. It leads us to the unknown and the uncomfortable. The will for self-preservation can be our fiercest enemy. Jesus understands what it means to struggle with weakness and fear, that is why He invites us to come boldly to the thrown of grace. In these last days our cry should be, “not my will but yours, here I am Lord what would you have me to do?”