Awake Us Now

Feel all done in? God isn't finished with you. At the end of your rope? He's on the other end, lifting you up!

This teaching is from Matthew 22:1-40 and continues our exploration into Jesus’ final week of his ministry before his death and resurrection. While there is rising anger against Him Jesus’ heart is to continue to work to call those against Him to the truth of the Scriptures and to God.  Jesus makes it clear that it is possible to be incredibly religious and yet have no real genuine relationship with God. Pastor finishes exploring the 3 parables in Matthew 21 and 22 with today’s dive starting with the third parable where we see that these individuals, the religious leaders, truly did not understand the scripture and did not respond to the obvious. 3 Parables     1.    Indictment (Matthew 21:28-32)     2.    Sentencing (Matthew 21:33-46) These two parables were discussed in last week’s teaching. Use the links below to listen to Matthew Week 30)     3.     Execution (Matthew 22:1-14) is shown in the Parable of the Marriage Feast. It starts by saying the kingdom of heaven is like a King (God) who prepared a weddi

Forbearance is defined as restraint and patient endurance in the face of provocation. Got Forbearance?

We all face giants in our lives, but where does the confidence come from for us to do so?

Luke 2:41-52: “Jesus at the Age of Twelve.” Today we ask, “Why is this story of Jesus at age 12 in the Bible?” There is no mention of Jesus from age 2 -30 except this one story in the Gospel of Luke. Here’s how this story goes: In the one and only account we have of Jesus as a child we’re told he went with His parents to Jerusalem to worship and praise the Lord at Passover. This story is a foreshadowing of what is to come. The only time He’s mentioned as a child is at the Feast of the Passover. Jesus is described elsewhere in Hebrew Scriptures as the Passover Lamb who was slain for us and now as a 12 year old He and we get a glimpse of what is to come. After the Feast, unbeknownst to His parents, Jesus had stayed in Jerusalem when the rest of the family was heading home. When Mary and Joseph realized Jesus was not together with the family caravan, they turned back to Jerusalem to find Him. Three days later they find Him in the Temple Courts sitting with the teachers and asking and answering questions. Did you

Is listening to God easy, or difficult? What are the sacrifices and benefits of doing what He says? This message includes personal testimony of both the costs and blessings of listening to God's voice.

When enemies and dangers assail us, where do we find the valor to defeat them? Ask Gideon.

The battle of Jericho, the battles waged by Jesus, and our own daily battles are surprisingly (or, perhaps unsurprisingly?) all interconnected.

Fear paralyzes us, both throughout history and still today. The good news is, however, that God's perfect love casts out all fear!

Too often we seek a "God" who is recast in our own image; one who is comfortable with who we are and with whatever we want to do. We look for a little "sprinkling of religion" to season our everyday lives, but God wants us to turn to Him alone and receive real life, both now and forever.

The word "holiness" should not intimidate us. Through His Holy Spirit, God works changes in each of us to bring a new life in Christ: a life of both holiness and wholeness.

Luke 1:1-25. Today we begin a study of the Gospel of Luke with a look at Zechariah who was a devout man who thought he was prepared to meet the Living God - but reacted with fear and doubt when God showed up. God graciously gave him a second chance to respond with faith, and extends that same grace to us when we falter and fail. This story of Zechariah is a story that still speaks to us today. There are lessons to learn from this story - All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correction and training in righteousness so that we can be thoroughly equipped for every good work. - God wants us to KNOW HIM not just know about him. - When we read the scriptures God desires that we not only look at it and say, “what happened?” He desires that we look at the story and say, “What does this say to me today?” In examining what this story has to do with us today, we start by going through what we know about Zechariah: 1. He was a devout priest 2. He was praying 3. He knew this was from God 4. He

God's promise to deliver us is both in the future, and in the present time. What deliverance do you need today?

"The most foolish thing anyone can do is fight the only war you will never be able to win, and that is a war against God."

God had an assignment for Moses, but Moses had objections for God. Sound familiar?

God faithfully takes us through the difficult to prepare us to do the even more difficult.

The tale of Joseph is a great story. Yet there is more -- for all of Joseph points toward all of Jesus.

Luke 16:1-13. Jesus warns that no one can serve two masters. Will you be devoted to God - or to "stuff?" This Parable of the Shrewd Manager is one of Jesus’ most controversial parables and one of the most difficult parable to understand. Join us a Pastor Dodge digs deep into this parable and pulls out some amazing nuggets of the wisdom Jesus is sharing in the challenging parable. Luke 16:8, Jesus says, “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourself, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” What Jesus is saying? He’s saying that many times unbelieving people are very shrewd in their daily dealings. They look out into the distance, rather than being preoccupied with the here and now and the immediate. This manager recognizes that he was soon to be out of a job and he had a limited window of time left. So he willingly sacrifices his own commission, in order to ingr

Until we forgive, we remain prisoners of our demand for vengeance. How can we gain release?

God can use your suffering, intense persecution, and even false accusation to work wonders.