Grace Community Church Podcast

As Christmas comes, we look at one of the most foundational truths in our Christian faith: Jesus first and foremost wants us to receive from him.

God's love for us is the foundation of everything that we might think or know about him. In this sermon, we explore how God loves us and how this love can have a deep and meaningful impact on our lives.

In today's world we are often told to love to love ourselves, but what does this really mean? In this sermon we look at how to love ourselves in light of God and his truth.

One of the most important ways we give and receive love happens within our friendships. In this sermon, we look at why friendships are so important and the difference Jesus can make within them.

The impact of the Good News of Jesus is verified in my love towards others. Through original Christian hospitality we begin to see strangers as neighbors, and neighbors as part of the family of God. This hospitality beckons mystery, births community, and bequeaths truth telling to those God has called us to love. 

Raising kids is filled with joy, pain, and countless sacrifices. In this sermon, we see how love can shape who we are as parents.

We all carry standards and expectations that must be met to receive or give love, because of this we naturally treat our relationship with God the same. But what if we don’t have to earn His love, but simply receive it?

Typically read at weddings, 1 Corinthians makes an astounding claim that goes far beyond a marriage ceremony: love is the highest calling for our lives. In this sermon, we look at how the pursuit of love is meant to shape everything that we do.

The Bible is one long, grand story that begins and ends with the same thing: hope for the future. In this sermon, we will look at how hope in a God-filled future can lead us to hope for today.

Change is constant in the world in which we live, and yet we doubt sometimes if true change can happen in our own lives. We can have hope for ourselves, when we receive a new life through Christ. Real change is hard, but we do not wait alone. The reward of our rebirth is being with God while we change.

Pain has the power to cloud our view of God. In this sermon, we will look at how we can still put our hope in God, even in the midst of suffering.

We are hope-based creatures.  In this sermon we look at how hope helps us face our lives while we wait for Jesus to make all things new.

Jesus has made forgiveness an important part of his Kingdom. Forgiveness offers us the personal freedom from our own vindictive or vengeful response to pain; Our hope is that forgiveness becomes a fruit of our faith in Jesus.

What does it mean to pray with faith?  In this sermon we see that how we pray is ultimately an expression of how we see God.

The temptation to worry is all around us.  In this sermon, we look at how faith intersects with worry and can lead us to a life of surrender and trust.

If we are saved by faith alone, why do good works matter?  In this sermon, we see how a living faith should lead us to faithful living.

Paul writes that our spiritual lives should be marked by three things: faith, hope, and love.  In this sermon, we begin a news series on faith as we explore what it means to "live by faith."

This Sunday we look at one of Jesus' most famous parables - the Prodigal Son.  in this parable, we see how God deals welcomes us home and calls us to love.

In this parable, we see that God gives us all that we have in our lives.  He calls us to use whatever he has given to us in service to his Kingdom agenda.

Scriptures: Matthew 25:14-30

Keywords: parables, comparison, envy, jealousy, stewardship, joy, Matthew

Through the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus reveals to us that to love God is to unquestionably live out his love in a self-sacrificial way to those around us. To love God is to respond to the needs around us at every level.

Scriptures: Luke 10:29-37

Keywords: compassion, parable, love, questions, mercy

Scriptures: Luke 9:18-25  

Parenting is one of the most beautiful, rewarding, stressful, and scary jobs. How do I know if I’m doing it right? How do I parent? How do I respond to my parents? Thankfully we have the greatest example from the greatest Father, God, to show us the way.

Scriptures: Ephesians 3:14-15  

Keywords: Parent, Child, Parenting, Child of God, Responsibility, Role, Authority, Teaching, Discipline

There is a true and forever joy that is found only in Christ and we have an opportunity to live in joyful response to the abundance of God. This joy begins with our trust in Him, and grows as we know him more.

Scriptures: Psalm 126:1-6

Keywords: Joy, Hope, Trust, Psalms, Anticipation

What does it mean to be blessed by God?  In this sermon we look at Numbers 6 and see how God blesses us with what we need most - his willingness to be near to us.

Scriptures: Numbers 6:22-27

Keywords: blessing, peace, kindness, Aaron, Numbers, security, grace

The Bible is full of stories of people who heard God's voice.  In this sermon we look at why we struggle to hear God's voice and how to cultivate an ability to hear from him.

Scriptures: Isaiah 58:6-12

Keywords: God's voice, guidance, spiritual growth, Isaiah

We can all agree that love is big, beautiful, important, life changing, but when it comes to loving in the way that Jesus loves us, and calls us to love, we don’t all agree how. We all have a measure of how we love people, a specific standard for who we will give our love to, and how much, but at some point we all fall short of our own standard of love, and at some point we will question the love God has for us too. How can we begin to truly understand love, and the measure of love we are supposed to give?

Scriptures: Luke 19:1-7 

Keywords: Love, Measure, Zacchaeus, People, God, Grace

Paul concludes his thoughts on personal growth with one, chiefly important truth: God loves us.  In this sermon we see how believing this truth can help us truly change.

Scriptures: Romans 8:31-39 

Keywords: love, acceptance, Paul, Romans, growth

In this sermon, we see how the Spirit helps us grow through our weaknesses.  He intercedes for us and gives us a deep and hopeful assurance of God’s will.

Scriptures: Romans 8:26-30 

Keywords: change, growth, intercession, prayer, assurance, Spirit, help, Romans

Suffering and Pain is not meaningless, it carries with it the hope of future glory. The divine intention for creation and us is not death, it is new life.

Scriptures: Romans 8:18-25 

Keywords: Suffering, Hope, Promises, Glory, Creation

Jesus promises us a powerful reality: that, through his work, God adopts us into his family.  In this sermon we see how the Spirit helps us realize this truth and, because of it, leads us to change.

Scriptures: Romans 8:12-17 

Keywords: growth, guidance, adoption, spiritual formation, Romans, identity

Paul shows us that how we think determines how we life.  With the Spirit’s help, we can change how we think, which leads to change in how we live.

Scriptures: Romans 8:5-11 

Keywords: change, growth, Spirit, formation, Romans, Paul, flesh, mind

God’s Spirit reminds us that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus - we are pardoned and set free.  From this place of freedom, we can now experience the Holy Spirit’s constant help in our growth.

Scriptures: Romans 8:1-4 

Keywords: change, growth, Paul, Romans 8, condemnation, shame, Holy Spirit, freedom

Before we look at how the Spirit helps us with our spiritual growth, we first look at why we need to grow - and why growth is so hard.

Scriptures: Romans 7:14-25 

Keywords: personal growth, spiritual growth, Romans, Paul, sin, change, health

When Jesus rises from the grave, his resurrection not only gives us a powerful reason to worship him, but also a powerful opportunity to join him in this new life.

Scriptures: Mark 16:1-8 

Keywords: Easter, resurrection, new life, Jesus, Mark, hope

Before Jesus faces his death on the cross, he prays to God in a garden.  In this sermon, we see how Jesus prepare his soul for suffering.

Scriptures: Mark 14:32-42 

Keywords: Suffering, pain, comfort, Jesus, Mark, Palm Sunday, Gethsemane, prayer

Before Jesus faces his death, he takes the ordinary elements of bread and wine and transforms them into powerful symbols of what we most deeply need - his provision and grace.

Scriptures: Mark 14:12-16, 22-25 

Keywords: Mark, Jesus, Communion, Lord's Supper, Last Supper, grace

A religious leader asks Jesus what he has to do to please God.  Jesus responds with two great commandments: love God and love your neighbor.

Scriptures: Mark 12:28-34 

Keywords: Jesus, Mark, love, greatest commandments, neighbor

As Jesus enters Jerusalem to face his own death, he does so as king who is about to give us the greatest of gifts - freedom. 

Scriptures: Mark 11:1-11 

Keywords: Jesus, Mark, freedom, kingdom

We all struggle with giving. We struggle to pour out to those in need. But what if the real life that Jesus has for his calls us to be willing to give of everything? We might see that we all have something to give.

Scriptures: Mark 10:46-52 

Keywords: Giving, Mark, Sacrifice, Blind, Life

In Mark 10, Jesus doesn't offer us warnings about greed or encouragements towards generosity. He instead is saying that there is something radically wrong with us and that money has a particular power to blind us to the mistake of finding our identity in a savior other than himself alone.

Scriptures: Mark 10:17-27 

Keywords: Wealth, possessions, savior, identity

Divorce is a common experience in today's world.  In this sermon, we look at one of the places in which Jesus addresses divorce and see how it can shape our thinking about marriage and divorce today.

Scriptures: Mark 10:1-10 

Keywords: Divorce, marriage, discipleship, Jesus, Mark, legalism, relationships

The Kingdom of God is defined to us by Jesus in more than terms of a reward, He speaks to us also of the costly sacrifices required. The demanding requirements of discipleship provide both an escape from the destructive ways of sin, and the grace fueled adventure of living for his purpose.

Scriptures: Mark 9:42-50 

Keywords: Sin, Repentance, Persecution, Reward, Jesus

We all want to be successful - and to have others see us as successful.  In this sermon, we see how Jesus defines success and encourages us to place our truest identities in him.

Scriptures: Mark 9:33-37 

Keywords: Pride, humility, Jesus, Mark, success, greatness

How do we make sense of Jesus?  In this sermon, we see that because Jesus is the Son of God and because he gives us a resurrection from the dead, we can trust him with our lives.

Scriptures: Mark 9:2-13 

Keywords: Jesus, Mark, transfiguration, Moses, Elijah, law, prophets, spiritual growth

What does it really mean to follow Jesus? In this passage, Jesus tells us that it (at least) means we need to deny ourselves, take the lower places in life, and keep close to him.

Scriptures: Mark 8:31-28 

Keywords: Mark, Jesus, self-denial, discipleship, suffering, spiritual growth

New Years Eve, one of the most hopeful days of the year. It’s a day where we take time to plan out our goals, dreams, and resolutions for the next year. But what if we were setting ourselves up to waste another year before it even began based on our resolutions, dreams, and goals? What should we truly be living for in 2018, to not only give us a year, but the beginning of a life, where we truly live?

Scriptures: Matthew 22:36-40

Keywords: New, Years, Eve, 2017, 2018, Matthew 22:36-40, Resolutions, Dreams, Goals, Living, Life, Love, Love God, Love people