Arrows Church Weekend Messages

For Better Or Worse (Week 2) • Genesis 2:21-25 (NIV)• Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)• Hebrews 10:24 (NIV)Five Elements to Reflection1. Reflection must begin with Love2. Each must be willing to look into the mirror3. Reflection requires Clarity4. Know the difference between Aspiration and Assassination5. Understand that real Change rarely happens quickly.• 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (NIV)How to reflect in real life:1. Learn to ask for Feedback2. Ask for Permission to share your feedback3. Lead by example4. Celebrate the growth you do see.Need Prayer?

Falling in love is easy… all you need is a pulse. Staying in love is hard. That takes intentionality and work. Into the difficulty and darkness that is and was difficult relationships, Jesus speaks words of hope and lays out the foundation for enduring love. We all expect the ideal… We end up with an ordeal and because our idea of love is so distorted, We think the answer is a new deal.Truth: You are actually powerless to love your spouse the way you promised you would, the way they dreamed you would and the way God designed that you should.The Concept of the One-Eighty: The only way marriage works, longterm, is to both be headed toward each other.There is a major difference between Falling in love vs Staying in love.Here is the Tension in marriage... We are equipped to fall in love, but we are not equipped to stay in love.Where’s the Hope?• John 13:34 (NIV)• Matthew 5:46 (NLT)The foundation of staying in love is making love………a verb.Need Prayer?

God has created us to rely on each other, as is shown by the "one another" commands in the Scripture. These commands include loving, serving, helping each other bear burdens, encouraging, and confessing to one another. By practicing these one another’s, we become more like Christ and strengthen our devotion to each other.Need Prayer?

Resurrection Sunday! The Cross of Christ is wonderful because the cross won! The cross of Christ gives us life, forgives our sin, cancels the charges against us, takes our sin away, nails our sin to the cross, disarms the devil, shames the evil powers, and claims our forever victory! Need Prayer?

The Holy Spirit is the agent of Creation The Holy Spirit is the agent of Scripture The Holy Spirit is the agent of Salvation The Holy Spirit is God with UsNeed Prayer?

"Confused" is a word many would use to describe their understanding of the Holy Spirit. However, the Holy Spirit doesn't need to be confusing. Using the definition of the Trinity, along with how the Spirit Empowers, Purifies, Reveals, and Unifies, we can know well the third person of the trinity.  And in knowing Him well we can be obedient to His calling.  The Trinity  = God is one in being and three in person.Being = that which makes you WHAT you are.Person = that which makes you WHO you are.• Think less about the ‘What’, and more about the Work of the Holy SpiritThe Holy Spirit Empowers Life Physical Life - Job 34:14-15Spiritual Life - Romans 8:11Our Life - Acts 1:8The Holy Spirit Purifies Hearts1 Corinthians 6:11The Holy Spirit Reveals TruthGalatians 5:16Ephesians 1:17-18The Holy Spirit Unifies AllWhat would the Holy Spirit have you do?Need Prayer?

Who is the Holy Spirit? Is it a bird? Is it a fire? Is it a person? Drawing on what the Bible says regarding the person and work of the Holy Spirit, this three-week series looks at the third person of the Trinity, and asks why we tend to erase him from our churches and personal lives and how we can reverse this pattern of neglect. Big Idea: The Holy Spirit’s indwelling of the tabernacle, then the temple, and ultimately us.Everything left up to chance - Acts 1:23-26The Tabernacle - Exodus 40:34-35The Temple - 2 Chronicles 7:1-3The Rebuilt Temple - Haggai 2:6-9Holy Spirit Arrives - Acts 2:1-4We are the new temple!Realize your own value?Realize the power within you!Need Prayer?

"What are you going to do in light of what you've heard?" This is the application to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Since the beginning of the sermon we have seen clearly that there are only two options from which we must make one choice. Matthew 7:13-29 (NIV)Two Roads… (Wide / Narrow)Two Gates… (Wide / Narrow)Two Destinations… (Destruction / Life)Two Crowds… (Busy / Empty) Our discomfort doesn't make Jesus uncomfortable!Claiming to know Jesus… is not same as Jesus claiming to know youDon’t put your hope in anything you can build… put it in the firm foundation of Jesus.Which foundation are you building everything on? Which road do you choose?Need Prayer?

Jesus tells us in the Sermon On The Mount to Ask and keep on asking... Seek and keep seeking, knock and continue to knock. With continued and increasing persistence, Jesus tells us to call out to God and to pray for 'Big Ask' Prayers. Matthew 7:7-12 (NIV)Prayer is a first priority, not a last resort.Jesus not only teaches the importance of praying to our Father… He addresses the frequency of those prayers.Jesus’ promises are attached to the direct commands of Asking, Seeking, and Knocking. Objections to Prayer1) Doesn’t prayer seem Inappropriate?The question is not… is He ready to give, but rather are we ready to receive? Prayer is God’s chosen method for us expressing our total dependance on Him.2) Isn’t Prayer Unnecessary?There is a difference in God’s creation-gifts and His redemption-gifts.3) Isn’t Prayer Unproductive?Apply this:What is your ‘Big Ask’ Prayer?Need Prayer?

There is a major difference between critiquing something or someone and criticizing something or someone. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls believers to stop being judging hypocrites and to begin being brothers and sisters to others. A Different Kind of SightMatthew 7:1-6 (NIV)1. A Christian should not be a Judge (v1,2)Jesus does not say don’t assess people critically, but rather not to judge them harshly. We need to understand… there is a difference b/w Critique and CriticismCritiquing helps… Criticizing hurtsJesus’ command to “Judge not, lest ye be Judged…”) is not a command to be blind… it is a command to be generous.2. A Christian should not be a Hypocrite (v3,4)3. A Christian should be a Brother (v5)Apply this:Do you need forgiveness for being a judge or hypocrite?Is there someone you can be a ‘brother’ to?Need Prayer?

Upon what are you building your life? Jesus is addressing a heart issue in Matthew 6:25-34. A life built on our own strength will be a life full of anxiety, but a life built on God's strength is a life of faith. Christ gives us a command, “Do not be anxious,” but He also gives us comfort. As His children, He promises to provide provision and protection when we seek Him and His righteousness.Matthew 6:25-34Need Prayer?

In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, His assumption was that the believer would be praying and would be fasting. Though often uncertain about both,  Christians are still called and expected to practice both regularly.  Matthew 6:5-18 (NIV)Jesus again is calling out improper motives in people. Verses 14-15 - How does conditional forgiveness fit with the gospel of free and unmerited grace? God forgives the debt we forgive the debtorThis is why forgiveness is so powerful. PRAYERPrayer is communing with God and confronting the enemy.Prayer should be a first priority, not a last resort.Prayer can change events here on earth even when we doubt they can. Pray through your struggles rather than praying them away.God wants us to move from a Prayer List to a Prayer Life. FASTINGThe goal of fasting is to draw near to God.Fasting detaches you from the world and prayer attaches you to God. Common types of Fasting:  Selective Fast Partial FastComplete Fast Soul FastNeed Prayer?

Jesus said where our treasure is our heart will be also. That means what happens to our treasure, happens to us. In this sermon we take a look at Jesus teaching on giving and generosity and how to navigate where our treasures may be. Matthew 6:1-4, 19-21 (NIV)As humans, we are driven by motive... It is the sin of cowardice that made him say, “Let your light shine before others...” It is the sin of vanity that made him say, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others...” Show out when you are tempted to hide... Hide when you are tempted to show out. Be secret in what you give, not that you give. Jesus isn’t against people having control over money... He’s against money having control over people.  Application: Discover where your treasure is: Ask yourself these questions: What occupies my thoughts when I have nothing else to do?What do I worry about the most? What do I most dread losing?What are the things I measure others by? What can I not be happy without?Need Prayer?

Are we loving people the wrong way? Is our love for others based on what they have to offer us or on a covenantal pursuit after their heart? Matthew 5:31-48 (NIV)Jesus teaches us... Divorce has never been easy. Covenants are stronger than contracts. You are truly unique... just like everybody else. There is a right way to love. Our empty words become a declaration of our pride,  arrogance, and selfishnesses.Every heart is created with the capacity to love... only hearts made alive in Christ have the ability to love. Need Prayer?

Psalm 19:7-14Scripture is without fault. Ps 19:7Scripture Is Food for our Souls Ps 19:7-8Scripture: Reviving to the SoulScripture: Makes wise the SimpleScripture: Rejoices the HeartScripture: Enlightens the EyesNeed Prayer?

Into the darkness comes God's light. John 1:4-5"In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can not comprehend it." Christmas is complicated.Christmas has always been complicated. We can't fix complicated... but Jesus overcame the darkness! Need Prayer?

Heaven came down so we could come home. Where is your eternal home? Jesus gives us the way for us to come home this Christmas and the way is through him. John 14:1-6Let not your hearts be troubled... Prayer Reading ScriptureCommunity Promises of Jesus Jesus and the Father have an eternal home for us.Jesus is preparing that eternal home.Jesus is coming again to take us home. Need Prayer?

Heaven came down so we could come home. Using the Parable of the Lost Son we see how God's heart is always on that which is lost. No matter where we are in life we can come home to the Father and be received with open and welcoming arms. Luke 15:11-31 (NIV)The word 'Prodigal' is primarily an adjective, not a noun. Definition 1 - “reckless & wasteful in spending”Definition 2 - “extremely generous and lavish” Ask yourself, “What part do I play in this story?” The Younger brother The Father The older brotherThe gospel = the good news of a prodigal God who rushes to meet sinners with his love! Ask yourself, “Where am I in this story?" Are you sick of home? Are you sick?Are you homesick? Are you home?Need Prayer?

In Genesis we read how God created the first 'home'. A loving community between Himself, man, woman, and child. A community where everyone loves and is loved. And since we've been created in the likeness and image of God, this loving home community exists in each of us. Yet, because of sin, the only way we can truly be 'home' for Christmas is to accept the forgiveness and salvation offered through Jesus. For this Christmas… come home. Genesis 1:26-28Genesis 3:6-7, 21Colossians 1:15, 19-22Need Prayer?

Jesus takes the narrow audience of adultery and opens it up to the larger audience of lust. Not all of us have experienced the pain of adultery, but all of us has experienced the fallout of lust. Jesus wanted our response to sexual temptation and sin to be radical. A Different Kind of Purity (Matthew 5:27-30) • Do not equate looking with lusting• Lust is not a casual look or momentary desire... it is a persistent look and acherished desire.• Our response to sexual sin and temptation should be radical. 1. “No be there”2. Create appropriate boundaries3. Seek purity over everything else• Focusing on virginity is overrated.• What if purity became the goal?Need Prayer?