The Story - Deliverance Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Oh, Oh, Let My People Go!

Focus Passage: Book of Exodus

We all have them. You know, those tough stretches in life. The car breaks down, the company cuts back on salaries or benefits, someone you love gets sick. You may not be having one of those times, now, but you know you will. What will it take you to cry out to the Lord? How bad does it have to get before you pray about it for five minutes or for an hour? How bad does it have to be before you ask others to really pray about it? Usually it has to be pretty bad and that is a shame. We cause ourselves a lot of pain by not crying out to the Lord. The book of Exodus is the story of a nation crying out and a God who delivered them. God was waiting to help, but it took a long time for them to call.

The Story - Joseph, put down that selfie stick

Focus passage: Genesis 37-50

Athletes have them. Politicians have them. Even high school graduates sometimes have them. They all have dreams. It may be to win the World Series or to make lots of money as a doctor. Yet the problem with many of those pictures is that they are all about the dreamer. Great dreams include others. It is the person who wants to find a spouse and have a family. It is the person who wants to find a cure for cancer or feed the hungry in a third world country. These require surrendering something of ourselves for the good of others. Joseph starts with a dream that is all about him like a picture taken with a selfie stick. God gives him a big picture dream that will change the history of the world. His life is a lesson in why we need to stop focusing on ourselves and look at God’s big dreams for us. 

"Who Is God?", Part I: God Is Love

Focus passage: 1 John 4:7-21

As a pastor, one of the most popular questions I get asked is,

“Who is God?”

There is great confusion about who God is. One of the Bible’s answers is that God is Love!

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”- 1 John 4:16

God’s nature is filled with love so that His words and actions define love. Our world twists the truth and makes love “a god” in order to feel better about themselves. Yet, “love is not manufactured by men. God IS real love.”

In reading today’s focus verse: 1 John 4:7-21, we see what God says about Himself.

• God wants you to experience what real love is (v.7). 
  When you were baptized, God took you into His family and offered you a whole new way of living. He gave you a life that is filled with real love from Him and others. This starts with your parents and continues with other Christians around the world. God wants you to know what it is like to feel loved every day.

• God’s love begins at the cross. (v.9.)
  God loves us so much that He makes sacrifices for us like the sacrifice Jesus made by dying on the cross. It is love because there are no strings attached. God loved his people through the good and the bad. People are free to live in this love or ignore it. Of course, people who ignore God will miss a lot of blessings and have to go through their struggles without God as a friend.
 
• God desires for us to experience His love in every moment. (v. 13).
   
God’s words to us that He loves us are not satisfactory enough. He has chosen to prove that love. He wants to walk with us daily as our companion, helper, and guide. This love is an experience that envelops our existence. It transforms our attitudes and perceptions on life.

• God’s love is a privilege that changes our lives (v. 16).

  The ancient Jews felt the love and protection of their God. Just like them, He makes us feel safe and secure. We can hold onto Him and be confident that He’ll never let go.

Since our God is love, it reminds us that our God is different. We can respect Him because of all that He has done and will continue to do for us.

“God IS and always will be the personification of Love.”