Granite Creek Community Church Sermons: Audio Podcast

Pastor Josh is Continuing our series with Leviticus. Leviticus has a very simple structure and message. It's intent is to define the boundaries of godly human sexual realtionships. There are three of them, which i call the inner, middle, and outer boundaries of godly sexuality. Verses 6 through 18 define the "inner boundary," prohibiting sexual relationships with close relatives. Verses 19 and 20 define the "middle boundary," which limits sexual relations within marriage and prehibits them outside marriage. Verses 21 through 23 define the "outer boundary" of unnatural sexual relations. Verses 24 through 29 tell us about God's judgment upon a nation that crosses these boundaries. 

We are on our Journey through the bible and we are on week 2. Pastor Josh is talking about Exodus Part 1. He talks about the blood of the spirit. 

We are on our Journey through the bible and we are on week 2. Pastor Josh is talking about Exodus Part 2. He talks about the ten commandments. 

Pastor Josh starts a new 2 part series Route 66 starting with Genesis and he will continue for 66 weeks. Here is part 1 of Genesis. 

Pastor Josh talks about Part 2 of the new series which is Genesis. The new series is Route 66 a 66 week Journey through the bible. 

Pastor Josh talks about the parable of the rich fool. Jesus told a parable about a man who had riches to a man who wanted riches. A man in the crowed approached Jesus as an authority figure that the man's brother might listen to. He asked Jesus to tell his brother to give him his share of the family inheritance. The family inheritance was much more important to first century israel than we can imagine it meant their future. The man in today's parable is pronounced a "fool" by God. The remarkable thing is that this person that God calls a fool, we would very often call a success. A fool in biblical language was not a description of mental ability but of spiritual discernment.  

Pastor Josh talks about Prayer and talking with God. When we decide to talk with God, we should find a quiet spot. Jesus instructed His followers to go into a room and shut the door to enjoy privacy in communication with God—our communication is not for show, after all (Matthew 6:6). Make sure all distractions like radios or televisions are turned off. At first we may feel embarrassed to kneel to pray. That’s okay. We just need to realize that our Father wants to hear from His children. We do not need to be embarrassed in any way when we come to Him in prayer. Some people try to set aside a regular time of the day to pray. Both King David and the prophet Daniel found time to pray three times a day (Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10). We can be very thankful that we can go to God at any time—we don’t have to have an appointment!Why do we harbor such thoughts? The Bible reveals that God wants us to talk with Him and have a personal relationship with Him. But how do we do that?

Pastor Josh talks about His Story Our Hope it was Easter Sunday. This is the morning when the Christian church celebrates what we have come to know as Easter. It is the day when we commemorate and celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. However, instead of Easter, I prefer the name "Resurrection Sunday. May I remind you that Resurrection Sunday is not about Easter bunnies, Easter eggs or the giving of gifts. It is about celebrating the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead on the first Resurrection Sunday. With that in our minds this morning, let's journey back to that first Resurrection Sunday morning. Let's look in on the events at the tomb of Jesus that day and see what happened and what it means for you and me! Some Came To Look - Matt. 28:1 - Maybe they were coming to pray or to meditate near the place where His body had been buried. Maybe they were coming to make sure that everything was in order at the tomb. Whatev

Pastor Josh Continues on Storytime with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. According to the Gospel of Luke a traveler (who may or may not have been a jew) is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead along the road. First a priest and then a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan comes by. Samraitans and Jews generally despised each other, but the Samaritan helps the injured man. Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to the question from a lawyer, "ANd who is my neighbor?" whom Leviticus says should be loved. This parable is interpreted allegorically, with the Samritan representing Jesus Christ, who saves the sinful soul.

Pastor Meko talks about the parable of the wedding feast prepared by a king. In the parable, Jesus tells of a king who prepares a great marriage feast for his son. None of the first round of invitees is willing to come, and a second group is invited. While everyone who comes is sitting at the tables enjoying the occasion, one man is singled out for attention because he does not have on the right garments. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12). It doesn't say he was naked, but he was missing something. He did not have on a wedding garment. 

Pastor Meko continues with Storytime and talks about the Persistant Widow and the Unjust Judge. In the parable of the persistent widow, a poor, powerless person persists in nagging a corrupt, powerful person to do justice for her. The parable assumes John the Baptist's teaching that holding a position of power and leadership obligates  you to work justly, especially on behalf of the poor and weak. But jesus focuses the parable on a different point, that we are "to pray always and to not lose heart". He identifies the hearers-us- with the woman, and the prayed to person -GOD- with the corrupt judge, a strange combination. Assuming that jesus doesn't mean that God is corrupt, the point must be that if persistence pays off with a corrupt human of limited power, how much more will it pay off with a just God of infinite power. The purpose of the parable is to encourage Christians to persevere in their faith against all odds. Also is that only God can bring about justice in a corrupt world. T

Pastor Josh Talks about the parable of the talents. In the parable of the talents, it appears that Jesus is stressing the importance of a person using their talents. The Parable of the talents is given by Jesus right after he talks about his second coming and that no one know the day or the hour and so a believer must be using their talents. So which one are you a faithful servant or one that hides their talent and their profession of faith in christ. You can find this parable in Matthew 25: 14-30

Pastor Josh talks about The Parable Of The Prodigal Son. The Parable Of The Prodigal Son is one of the parables of jesus. According to the story, a father has two sons. The younger son asks for his inheritance before the father dies, and the father agrees. The younger son, after wasting his fortune, goes hungry during a famine, and becomes so destitute he longs to eat the same food given to hogs, unclean animals in jewish culture. He then returns home with the intention of repenting and begging his father to be made one of his hired servants, expecting his relationship with his father is likely severed. Regardless, the father finds him on the road and immediately welcomes him back as his son and holds a feast to celebrate his return, which includes killing a fattened calf usually reserved for special occasions. The older son refuses to participate, stating that in all the time he has worked for the father, he never disobyed him; yet, he did not even receive a goat to celebrate with his friends. The father rem

Pastor Josh started a new series called Storytime. We all have a story to tell and we talked about the seeds of love through the parables. Today we talked about The Parable of the Sower. The parable of the sower conerns a sower who scatters seed, which falls on four different types of ground. The hard ground "by the way side" prevents the seed from sprouting at all, and the seed becomes nothing more than bird food. The stony ground provides enough soil for the seeds to germinate and begin to grow, but because there is "no deepness of earth," the plants do not take root and are soon withered in the sun. The thorny ground allows the seed to grow, but the competing thorns choke the life out of the beneficial plants. The good ground recieves the seed and produces much fruit. To summareize the point of the Parable of the Sower. " A man's reception of God's Word is determined by the condition of his heart." A secondary lesson would be " Salvation is more than a superficial

Pastor Josh talks about how your past leads or determines our identity. Also that we are not our past and today is a new day. One thing God does is forget. He also talks about how we can win the victory and the mindset of present future. Like in Napolean Dynamite Uncle Rico says that he could have gone pro and buys a time machine to go back in time. 

Pastor Meko taught us about the evils of anger. Seeking dark global agendas stream rolling over goodness, truth, and freedom throughout the world is more than enough to make anyone feel angry, negative, and even enraged. We as a humanity, along with all our rights, are under siege and the most common response to being attacked is either through anger and aggression, or fear and retreat-which is based on a raw fight or flight reaction. While it sometimes seems there is no other way to respond, there is danger of becoming the very thing we've set out to defeat if we act through aggression or hatered in any way. Just like in the video when anakin starts to turn. He let his anger become the best of him. 

The value that stood out the most was "believing the best" about other people. Think about that for a minute. What does believing the best actually mean? How often when we talk or relate with someone do we believe or assume the absolute best about the other person? What could happen if we did? What would it take to get there? I believe there are three areas we can all improve that will make a difference. Those areas are: How We View Ourselves, How We View Others, and How We Relate and Communicate With Others. The apostle Paul understood as well as anyone what it was like to be deserted, doubted, envied, distrusted and disdained — even by his fellow Christians. If anyone should have had a guarded, cynical view of people, it was Paul. Paul’s confidence wasn’t in God’s people, but in God who indwells his people. He learned to see fallible people through God’s infallible eyes. He was also living out the Golden Rule of treating people how he would want to be treate

Pastor Josh talks about good v evil. With the help of Yoda they also talk about that God is everywhere, faith, force and how you have to believe and how you view God. 

Pastor Josh talks about the gospel according to star wars called discovering who you really are. Who we really are is buried under layers of a protective shield created by years of building a defense against society around us. Most of us have been conditioned by the world, friends, family and others to think like the world. Or we have been in dysfunctional families that didn't give us a chance to love ourslves unconditionally.  God put a piece of divine nature or creative energy inside us. If we meditate and look for this, we will discover who we really are. We are a beautiful being, a child of Light often smothered by darkness. Negative, dark and evil forces try to destroy us from birth. This is to put out the spark of creative energy inside us, so we will be miserable and fearful in a world of evil doers. Self forgiveness, acceptance and unconditional love of self and others sets us free to see who we really are. 

Pastor Larry talks about Living With Victorious Intent. Living with intent is living a life that is healthy and purposeful, but also joyful. It's asking ourselves what will make ourselves happy. Intents come from our soul, whereas goals come from our mind. Finding Intent is about asking yourself three main questions: Who am I? What do I want? How can I serve? Ultimately you have to ask yourself what makes you happy, it's often very different from all the external expectations people have. We don't have to be the Superhero, but we can do great things in our everyday lives. Intent doesn't have to be all about meditation and sould searching. It's supposed to be fun. It's all about being joyful and happy and free.