HSm SerMON SERIES

Pastor Doug will be walking the students through some of the major themes in the Bible's first book.

There are several topics we find students consistently wrestling with and asking questions about their faith. One set of questions fall under the theme of hearing and following God’s leading:

• What is God’s will for my life?
• Does God speak to us?
• How do you know if God is speaking to you?
• How do I know what God wants me to do?
• When do you know it’s something God wants you to do?

In this series it is our prayer that our students would discover a vibrant relationship with Jesus and, in turn, that their identities would be shaped by Him.  As we go through this series we will be asking two questions repeatedly: Who is Jesus? Who are we because of Him?

Everyone you meet lives somewhere between the poles of passion and pain.  Sharing Jesus is as simple as connecting with others around their passion or their pain.  It’s in our everyday conversations that we can help people see that their life matters, that their passion to live comes from God, and that the good news of Jesus can rescue them from pain.  In this series we’re going to help our students unpack how share their faith with those the interact with everyday . . . without freaking out!

A spiritual leader is passionate about God and seeing His kingdom manifest on earth.  It’s this passion that causes a spiritual leader to 1) take ownership and responsibility for change, 2) act courageously to bring change about, and 3) demonstrate a “dynamic determination” to see the task through.  Unfortunately, what is more common is that we passively accommodate our spiritual decay, degeneration and compromise, rather than avail ourselves to lead transformation and godly change.  In our series through Nehemiah we will challenge students be their own spiritual leader and to become influencers in their schools, peer-groups, and places of work.

God has designed us to need community.  Community allows us to experience life-transforming grace, protects us from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and spurs us on toward love and good deeds.  Unfortunately, the world around us promotes isolation and independence. In this series we are going to discuss the reality that we need each other and that they are needed in the lives of others.  Our hope is that our students will experience life-transforming grace, protection from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and encouragement to persevere in their walks with God.

Because the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, we can place our full trust and confidence in it for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.  But, our apathetic hearts treat the Scripture as far less than the Word of God, reducing it to a rule book and merely the counsel of man.
As we begin this journey through our new series, IT IS WRITTEN, our hope is that our students will learn to have confidence in Scripture (Old Testament and New), trust it as the inerrant words of God (which it is) and to use it in ministry with great authority and effectiveness.  Additionally, we want our students to take the Word to heart in their personal lives by submitting to its authority.God has designed us to need community.  Community allows us to experience life-transforming grace, protects us from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and spurs us on toward love and good deeds.  Unfortunately, the world around us promotes isolation and independence. In this series we are going to discuss the reality that we need each other and that they are needed in the lives of others.  Our hope is that our students will experience life-transforming grace, protection from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and encouragement to persevere in their walks with God.

In trials, we’re inclined to become frustrated with our circumstances and believe that God is either against us or disinterested. We are all prone to: disregard God’s perspective of trials and our circumstances (James 1:5-8), to look around and wish that we had it as good as the rich (James 1:9-11), to allow a trial to turn into a temptation by not trusting God in the midst of it (James 1:12-15), and to believe trials aren’t good, and therefore, God isn’t good. (James 1:16-18). But, instead our aim is to go through trials by considering God’s unchanging nature, His loving purposes, His provisions, and His forgiveness.God has designed us to need community.  Community allows us to experience life-transforming grace, protects us from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and spurs us on toward love and good deeds.  Unfortunately, the world around us promotes isolation and independence. In this series we are going to discuss the reality that we need each other and that they are needed in the lives of others.  Our hope is that our students will experience life-transforming grace, protection from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and encouragement to persevere in their walks with God.

The word advent comes from the Latin word adventus, which simply means “The Coming.”  The season of Advent is a time set apart by Christians to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ in two important ways.  On one hand, we reflect back on and celebrate Jesus’ first coming.  God became a man, in the person of Jesus Christ, He lived a perfect life and He died in our place on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins.  On the other hand, we celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, ascended back into heaven and is coming back to earth again in glory.God has designed us to need community.  Community allows us to experience life-transforming grace, protects us from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and spurs us on toward love and good deeds.  Unfortunately, the world around us promotes isolation and independence. In this series we are going to discuss the reality that we need each other and that they are needed in the lives of others.  Our hope is that our students will experience life-transforming grace, protection from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and encouragement to persevere in their walks with God.

We are inclined to pridefully live in isolated independence, which is the opposite of humble, prayerful reliance.  A sincere relationship with God should manifest itself in faith that produces fruit, love that is willing to toil and hope that fuels perseverance.  This is how we see that a person has turned from the idols of their old life to serve the living and true God.  Such a faith is contagious; it spreads and multiplies. God has designed us to need community.  Community allows us to experience life-transforming grace, protects us from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and spurs us on toward love and good deeds.  Unfortunately, the world around us promotes isolation and independence. In this series we are going to discuss the reality that we need each other and that they are needed in the lives of others.  Our hope is that our students will experience life-transforming grace, protection from the hardening and deceitfulness of sin and encouragement to persevere in their walks with God.

We often lives as spiritual orphans trying to find meaning, love and purpose apart from God.  However, the moment we trusted Christ we inherited a great deal of spiritual riches and blessings, all of which were purchased for us by Christ.  Tonight, we will dive into the book of Ephesians and discuss the great riches we now have because we are in Christ and the glory that is His due.

We cannot live the holy lives God wants us to live in our own power.  Like Paul in Romans 7, we desperately need help.  Tonight, as we take a pause in Romans 8 we will get to encounter the life changing power of the Holy Spirit.  When we trust in Christ, we are immediately forgiven from the penalty of sin, and are given freedom from the power of sin.  It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to live righteous lives consistent with our faith in Christ.

Pastor Doug walks the students through the beginnings of the Christian Church and the empowerment that every believer has through the Holy Spirit.