Shake It Off

In Acts 28, we see that Paul is shipwrecked. He and his fellow prisoners are able to swim to the shore of the island of Malta. As they arrive on land, the natives of the island begin to help the desperate castaways. Sitting around the bonfire on the shore, warming up, a snake attaches itself to Paul's hand. Paul's response? He shakes off the creature and suffers no harm! This left the natives amazed. They even called him a god! There are things ALL OF US need to shake off in 2015.

God With Us - Part 3

During this Christmas season, let the truth of Jesus come alive in your hearts like never before. God is not some far off impersonal force - He's a personal God that loves us so much that He came to live among us. Even now, through His Spirit, God is with us!

God With Us - Part 2

Jesus came to this earth in human flesh - to be with us and to experience the things we experience. Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted, rejected, abandoned, stabbed in the back. How do we cope with suffering/persecution? Pastor Matt gives three points:

1. Realize that we will endure suffering

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. John 15:20

2. Realize that Jesus himself suffered

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Hebrews 2:9

3. Realize that eternity is our home

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:16-18

God With Us - Part 1

Matthew 1; John 14

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year! It's a time of lights, songs, food and family. But there's a reason why we do all these things - it's to celebrate Jesus. We celebrate the point in time when God humbled Himself and entered human history.

God desired to be with His people. He is not an impersonal force, but a person. He came to us that we might know Him. The major theme of the entire Bible is that God is redeeming us back to Himself so that "He will be our God and we will be His people." Unlike any other religion in the world, we can have a relationship with God.

Grace Alone - Part 13: Man's Accomplishments. Jesus' Cross.

Galatians 6:11-18

Galatians is the story of the transforming power of God's grace. False teachers had come into the church of Galatia with their own agenda, teaching Jesus + Something. Paul is going to lead us back to what really matters - the Cross of Jesus and the Grace of God.

Do our lives bear the marks of Jesus Christ? Do we love our neighbor? Do we extend grace? Our life should look like Jesus. We have to die to ourselves so that Christ might be formed in us. God's Grace is the transforming power we need! Listen to this powerful conclusion to the Grace Alone series.

Grace Alone - Part 12: Man's Investment. God's Reward.

Galatians 6:1-10

In this dynamic teaching on Galatians 6:1-10, Pastor Matt answers the question of what a Spirit-led community looks like. Paul captures this idea with a single phrase: burden bearing. This is the main idea of a Spirit-led community.

Sometimes it's so easy to think more of ourselves than we ought to. We see everyone else's problems, but not our own! Matthew 7:3 says, "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Bear long with one another. Suffer long with one another!

Pastor Matt also gives an update on what God is doing around the world. We invite you to join us at our 54th successive World Missions Conference on January 18-21, 2015. Make plans to be here!

Grace Alone - Part 11: Man's Work. God's Fruit.

Galatians 5:13-26

In Part 11 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt shares on the core message of Grace from the book of Galatians. There are two extremes to the message of Grace: rejecting it altogether or using Grace as a license to sin. Neither one is correct! We are not set free to sin, but to serve.

Grace empowers us to overcome sin! We have to walk in the fruit of the Spirit everyday so that we can become who God wants us to be. The true message of Grace is that Jesus + Nothing = Everything.

Grace Alone - Part 10: Man's Law. God's Love.

Galatians 5:1-15

In Part 10 of Grace Alone, Pastor Doug shares on man's law vs. God's love. God has freed us from all oppression from the evil one! Christ is ruling and reigning in our lives and hearts. We have freedom! We don't have to live on the same level as the world does. Jesus came to set us free.

God is thinking about us - he cares for us. We can stand on the liberty found in God's grace. We don't have to live according to the bondage of yesterday. Christ has freed us from the heavy burden of the law. It's impossible to be justified by your works and be justified by God's grace at the same time. Freedom can only be found in Christ Jesus.

Grace Alone - Part 9: Man's Lack. God's Abundance.

*No audio or video this week.

Has there every been a time in your life, where instead of waiting on God, you took matters into your own hands? What do we do when this happens? Abraham was a man who took matters into his own hands.

In Genesis 16, we see that Abraham tried to fulfill God's promise on his own. Relying on the advice of his wife Sarah, a child is conceived through his servant Hagar. This child's name was Ishmael. Ishmael was born according to the flesh, not the promise.

Sometimes you get good advice that's not God advice! Abraham listened to his wife, but didn't inquire of the Lord. So many times we get tired of waiting on God and act out in the flesh. It's not easy to wait on the promise. We must realize that nothing good is ever produced when we live out of our flesh.

This is the problem with the law. It enslaved everyone under a curse, because no one was able to keep it. Abraham's wife Sarah eventually gives birth to Isaac - the son of the promise. We cannot add anything to God's plan. Get rid of Jesus + Something! Sometimes people give us good ideas that are not God ideas. Like King David, we must inquire of the Lord and find out what His will is.

One of the best ways to find God's will is in God's Word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Another great way to find God's will is by seeking Godly counsel. Proverbs 11:14 says, "Where there is no guidance, a people fails, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety." Community groups are a great place to do this! Get around people that can help encourage you in your walk with the Lord.

Waiting on God's will isn't always easy. Waiting on God takes faith. Sometimes it takes more faith to wait on God than to make bold moves or to take risks. Abraham learned that there is nothing we can do to add to God's work. Jesus didn't go through what he went through on the cross, just so we would have to do more. His work as been completed. It's perfect. We don't receive the promise through our actions, we simply receive the promise through faith.

Grace Alone - Part 8: Man's Weakness. God's Power.

In Part 8 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt shares on the weakness of man vs. the power of God. When we live life legalistically, our right standing with God is based on what we do, not what Jesus has done. In Galatians, legalism was causing many believers to turn back to the world. This happened because they were putting their faith in something other than Jesus.

Paul is a man who has been totally transformed by the grace of God. Paul is willing to expose his own weakness so that the power of God might be made manifest. A grace filled environment creates a safe place for people to confess their sin and see God's power!

Grace Alone - Part 7: Man's Slave. God's Son.

In Part 7 of Grace Alone, Pastor Ted shared on the importance of understanding the Old Testament Law in its proper context. We are no longer held captive by the old rites and rituals!

Through Jesus Christ, we have been rescued from the Law. It is no longer bad news, but good news! We have been adopted into the family of God.

Grace Alone - Part 6: Man's Prison. God's Promise.

In Part 6 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt shares on the difficulty of following the rules. All rules and laws, even God's laws are given because of sin. The Old Testament law was put in place for the benefit of God's people until Jesus would come.

The problem with the law is the law doesn't give life! Laws and rules cannot change hearts. The law, while it might be helpful in restraining sin, does nothing to address our desire to sin. Only Jesus can set us free from a constant striving to be good. Our identity must be found in Christ, not our good works!

Grace Alone - Part 5: Man's Flesh. God's Spirit.

In Part 5 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt shares on the importance of reflecting on where we've come from. Remember the day God called you of darkness! Remember the day Jesus saved you by His grace! Remember the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We can do nothing on our own. We cannot earn salvation and we cannot make ourselves better through human efforts. We can do nothing without God's grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Are we putting faith in JESUS? Or are we putting faith in ourselves and our own holiness?

Grace Alone - Part 4: Man's Hypocrisy. God's Truth.

Uploaded by Destiny Church on 2014-09-30.

In Part 4 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt talks about the imperfection of mankind. We know that where imperfection exists, conflict abounds. We see this in our fallen world. We may think that once we're saved we'll never struggle with sin, but we see in the lives of the apostles that no one is perfect.

As Christians, we can't rely on our good deeds to save us. Are we trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our right standing before God? The expression of our lives should be from the overflow of the Gospel!

Grace Alone - Part 3: Man's Bondage. God's Liberty.

Uploaded by Destiny Church on 2014-09-24.

Galatians 2:1-10

In Part 3 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt shares on the importance of being part of a team instead of being out on your own. Even though Paul was an Apostle, he saw the value of submitting his revelations and work to spiritual authority. Paul was always part of a team - he had Titus, Barnabas and many others.

There were many false brothers in Galatia who were using the name of Jesus to advance their own agenda. They were leading people into bondage. But we see that the truth of the Gospel brings freedom.

Grace Alone - Part 2: Man's Approval. God's Glory.

Uploaded by Destiny Church on 2014-09-16.

Galatians 1:10-24

In Part 2 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt shares from Galatians on a trait we all have as humans - the desire for man's approval. The problem with this tendency occurs when this goes unchecked and we care more about what other people think about us than what God does. We end up serving ourself rather than Christ. Living for our own glory, rather than God's.

Living for the approval of others can lead you down a dangerous path. This caused some in the Galatian church to accept Jesus + Something. They distorted the Gospel because they were seeking man's approval. But when we  are willing to surrender the pursuit of our own glory, God is glorified. Who will receive praise for your life? YOU or GOD?

Grace Alone - Part 1: Man's Gospel. God's Grace.

Galatians 1:1-9

In Part 1 of Grace Alone, Pastor Matt gives an introduction to the book of Galatians. Even though Christianity is in it's infancy, it's already facing some serious problems. Persecution from the outside has caused the church to scatter.

Even more serious than the threat from the outside is the division that's taking place inside the church. Simply stated, the issue is this: Does a gentile need to convert to Judaism to be saved?

Galatians is the Apostle Paul's stunning rebuke of this teaching. Paul teaches that it's by God's grace alone, through faith alone that we're saved. Paul is emphatic, JESUS + NOTHING = EVERYTHING.

Ron Bishop - Apostle Paul (8/24/14)

Missionary Ron Bishop shares on the life of the Apostle Paul: God's Chosen Vessel.

People of Promise Part 3

People of Promise Part 2