Sermons

Posted: 09 Sep, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be […]

Posted: 26 Aug, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

1 Peter 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. NIV11 Sometimes suffering is […]

Posted: 12 Aug, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

God doesn’t want to keep us in the dark. He is a loving father who wants to guide us down His good path. In this message we explore some of the ways he directs us and confirms His will. Download Handout: With blanks / Without blanks

Posted: 08 Aug, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Our relationship with God is more than a list of dos and don’ts. God wants a deep, authentic, and committed relationship! He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of that. We’ll take a look at how that relates to this passage of Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 It is God’s will that you should […]

Posted: 15 Jul, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

One of the difficulties in discerning God’s will is that our own will causes interference that makes it challenging to be impartial in decision making. By identifying some of the ways we misidentify God’s will, we can avoid making bad decision that favors our will instead of His. Download Handout: With blanks / Without blanks

Posted: 01 Jul, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Love is complicated. Sometimes people can be so rude, mean, or insensitive! Yet understanding people’s back stories, helps make sense of why they do what they do. When grasp our own shortcomings, it helps us be sympathetic, because our struggles are not really all that different. Download Handout: With blanks / Without blanks Video from message: Chick-fil-A: Every […]

Posted: 17 Jun, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Relational conflict is normal, and God gives lots of helpful instruction on how to develop deeper and closer relationships as we work through conflict. Download Handout: With blanks/Without blanks

Posted: 03 Jun, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:7 NIV Is that the kind of love you desire? Sometimes instead of being “protected,” we get hurt by those we love. “Trust” is something that we value, but once that trust gets violated, it is hard to get it back. As long as […]

Posted: 20 May, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Having healthy relationships with every coworker, friend, and neighbor is nearly impossible. There is no way. It’s too hard. And that is why we need supernatural help. Thankfully, with God’s help, he can transform us (not them) into lovers of people. Download Handout: With blanks / Without blanks

Posted: 06 May, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

CT Studd, missionary to Africa, found a tract which was reportedly written by an atheist. It read as follows: Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean to me everything. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as […]

Posted: 22 Apr, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

What you do makes a difference to God. You profoundly impact others. And the effect of your life has a rippling impact into the world. Download Handout: With blanks / Without blanks

Posted: 08 Apr, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Psalms 16:5-6 Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. NIV84 It is important for us, as a church, to be thankful for the special things God has given us, and […]

Posted: 01 Apr, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

1 Corinthians 5:7b For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. NIV The Passover is a celebration commemorating the last of the Egyptian plagues, when the judgement of God “passed over” the homes that had lamb’s blood on the door frames. In a similar way, Jesus, the Lamb of God, shed his blood so that […]

Posted: 25 Mar, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ESV Sometimes in the midst of difficulty we can feel like something must be wrong. We aren’t naive. We know life is hard; but we don’t expect it to be this hard. When we try to make […]

Posted: 11 Mar, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Romans 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! NIV Romans 5 talks about how we used to be and how we are, and it addresses the kind of treatment we can expect from God. We used to be ungodly. We […]

Posted: 25 Feb, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ESV In human relationships, when we assess someone’s love, we don’t just take their word for it. It is not enough. We consider a wide variety of factors. How have they treated us? How have […]

Posted: 11 Feb, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

It is important to keep our mission ever before us. As a church, we want to help people connect to the source, God, experience life, and to have that life flow through us and into the world. In this message, Steve explains how the prophet’s vision in Ezekiel 47 relates to our church name and […]

Posted: 28 Jan, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

Jesus’ heart is that all the world would hear His message of hope and grace. Our call is to spread this message. We don’t need to feel guilty about how we’ve failed at this in the past, but it would be good to think about how we can take steps down this path so that […]

Posted: 14 Jan, 2018 | Author: Steve Nelson

We are all good about praying when we are desperate. Can we bring that desperation back into everyday life? When we don’t know what to do, God is there for us! Download Handout: With blanks / Without blanks For further study: Prayer reference sheet  

Posted: 10 Dec, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

Jesus gave instructions to be generous, promised blessings for our giving, and implied that giving impacts our hearts! Luke 6:38 [Jesus said, ] “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will […]

Posted: 26 Nov, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

What does it look like to follow Jesus? In this message, Steve uses the story of Ruth to illustrate the devotion of a follower of Jesus. Ruth's heart was to follow Naomi into a completely new life. When we become Christians, we do the same. Baptism is simply our first step at following Jesus lead […]

Posted: 12 Nov, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

To embrace God’s call to love others, we must commit ourselves to loving those who are difficult, inconvenient, and uncomfortable for us. God is not simply calling us to love those who give us the warm fuzzies, but to love the unfuzzy. Mark 12:29-31 “The most important [command],” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, […]

Posted: 29 Oct, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

God has given each of us amazing stories of how He has worked in our lives. Fear can keep us from telling people about these incredible events, and as a result, they miss out on learning from us and being encourage by what God has done in our lives. However, through him, we can be […]

Posted: 15 Oct, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

Christians are not just messengers of God’s plan of mercy and forgiveness, but we are witnesses of how He has worked in our lives! Each of us has a story of how God saved, healed, or met us in some critical life event. In fact, if we stop to think about it, we likely have […]

Posted: 01 Oct, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

We may not normally see things this way, but God clearly communicates that there are two types of people in the world. One group of people is cursed. The other is blessed. The great news is that God doesn’t want people to be in the cursed group. He wants us all to be in the […]

Posted: 17 Sep, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

“Common people become uncommon standing on the promises of God.” (Dawson Trotman) Do you have the sense that you were created for uncommon purposes? Or perhaps that you have some unfulfilled potential? In reality, God has designed you with certain purposes in mind (Ephesians 2:10). What are these things? What are we supposed to be […]

Posted: 03 Sep, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

We all find plenty to complain about, whether it is genuine hardships like sickness, suffering, and death, or it is the little stuff like having to eat the same thing for dinner that we had for lunch. As we see in the example of the Israelites (Numbers 11:1-6), complaining leads to misery, even in times […]

Posted: 20 Aug, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

Not only does God love you, but he likes you. He enjoys you. He is glad that you are His. In this study of Ephesians 1, we find many reasons to find joy and peace in our relationship with God, even though relationships are complicated, and we are fully aware of our shortcomings. Download Handout: Blanks / No […]

Posted: 30 Jul, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

The good life that really counts for something is not just found in a brief interaction with Jesus, but in a journey of trusting Him and following His lead! Download Handout: No blanks/Blanks

Posted: 16 Jul, 2017 | Author: Steve Nelson

We are all busy people. We want our lives to count and so we fill them up with all sorts of activities. One of the most fulfilling things we can dedicate ourselves to is loving others, but we need to be careful that the busyness of life doesn’t choke out the things we really want […]