Claim OwnershipMelbourne Heights - Sermons
Subscribed: 0Played: 26
Subscribe
© Melbourne Heights
Description
Be challenged, encouraged, and inspired to take your faith to new heights.
284 Episodes
Reverse
Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday with crowds cheering "Hosanna!" and welcoming Jesus like a king. But by Good Friday the cheers of "Hosanna!" were replaced by calls to "Crucify him!" So what happened during those 5 days?
The crowds realized that instead of being who they wanted him to be, Jesus was different. And Jesus wanted them and us to become more like him.
In the book of John, a woman named Mary annoints Jesus' feet with a bottle of perfume that costs about as much money as the average person makes in a year. And Mary was willing to do that because of everything Jesus had done for her (including raising her brother from the dead).
Jesus laid down his life for us. So what are we willing to give for him?
Every kid may dream of winning an Olympic medal or a Super Bowl ring...but no one dreams of coming in last. But Jesus tells us, "The first will be last and the last will be first."
And this isn't just something Jesus said, it's something he did when he laid down his life for us on the cross. So, if we want to be more like Jesus, we have to learn how to put ourselves last and to put God and others first.
We all know that our world can be a messed up place filled with violence and hatred. But none of us want the world to be that way. So is there some way that we can overcome violence with mercy? Is there some way that we can learn to love instead of hate?
Jesus tells us there is. But just because there's a way to do it, that doesn't mean it's easy...but it is possible if we practice what Jesus preached.
We’ve all experienced things that have caused us to lose our temper or hold a grudge. We've all experienced things that have made us bitter.
But, if we want to be more like Jesus, we have to let go of our bitterness. Instead, we need to learn to be more kind, more compassionate, and more forgiving.
In Acts 8:29, we're reminded that God wants us to "be like his Son" Jesus. But we all have times when we don't really act like Jesus. Things happen in life that make us angry, or jealous, or greedy. Or, to put it another way, we get dirty.
So we need to clean up. And that's what Lent is all about. Lent reminds us that we need to clean up to become more like Jesus.
Sometimes it feels like there are a million things to get done on our to-do lists. And all of the things we want to get done are important...they wouldn't make it onto our to-do list if they weren't.
But, in our busyness, we need to make sure we don't let things that are important get in the way of things that are imperative.
No matter how hard we try to keep up with all of our commitments, things always end up on the back burner. Sadly, our relationship with God tends to be one of the first things we put on the back burner when life gets busy.
So what can we do to make sure God remains a priority in our lives when life gets busy? We can slow down and remember who God is.
Many of us struggle to tell other people "no." Because of this, we fill up our time and schedules with things that aren't that important to us.
So if we want to overcome our busyness, we need to learn to set boundaries. And we need to learn to make sure that all of our yeses count.
We live in a culture that often tells us that our worth comes from our work. So, we think that we have to be constantly busy just to show how valuable we are.
So if we want to be able to slow down and make time for what really matters, we have to understand where our value truly comes from.
Even though the New Year has only just begun, many of our calendars are already filling up. But no matter how busy we get, we still try to cram more events and activities into our lives.
But our chronic busyness is taking a toll on our lives. So we need to find ways to slow down and make time for what matters the most in our lives.
In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving each year, it feels like everyone has tips and tricks to make us more thankful. But the truth is that in spite of all of these tips and tricks, we still aren't great at being grateful.
And we're never going to be great at being grateful until we realize just how blessed we are.
Though diversity divides, the Holy Spirit unites. At Pentecost, people from countless cultures heard one message in their own tongues through the Spirit's power. Despite our differences, we gather as one body, filled with the same Spirit that descended at Pentecost.
No matter where we're from, who we are, or what we've done, there's always room for one more in the Spirit's community.
When the ghost of Jacob Marley came to visit Ebenezer Scrooge, it seemed unlikely that Scrooge would ever change his ways. But as three other ghosts visited that Christmas Eve, Scrooge saw the error of his ways and changed forever.
There are times when it feels like we'll never be the people God created us to be. But the Holy Spirit is constantly at work in our lives, showing us where we mess up, so that we can become more like Jesus.
There's no such thing as a perfect person. We all mess up. We all make mistakes. We're all still works in progress. But even though we aren't perfect, that doesn't mean that God gives up on us.
The Holy Spirit is constantly at work in everyone who follows Jesus, helping us become more like Christ.
Halloween is a time for trick-or-treating, scary movies, and ghost stories. But not all ghost stories are about spooky specters of things that go bump in the night.
Our faith is filled with stories about the Holy Ghost (or the Holy Spirit). And these aren't stories we tell around campfires to creep each other out. These are stories we tell in church to help us understand who God is and how God works in our lives.
In the Bible, names reveal something about a person's nature or character. That's also true for the names of God we find in the Bible. The names of God we find in the Bible tell us that our God is great and powerful and that there is no one like our God.
But there is one name for God we find in the Bible that reveals as much about how God sees us as it does about who God is...and that's the name Father.
We all know how rare it can be for someone to keep their promises. Politicians break their promises. Parents break their promises. People break their promises. And, in Genesis 17, it looks like God might just break a promise too.
But instead of breaking a promise that God made to Abraham and Sara, God proves that he is a God that can make a way where there is no way. God shows that he is a God who will never let us down.
There is an old adage that tells us, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." This piece of advice is true whether you're interviewing for a job, going on a date, or just introducing yourself to someone for the first time.
And it's even true for when we're first introduced to God in the Bible. When we're first introduced to God in Genesis 1, God wants to make an impression that we'll never forget.
In Exodus 3, God tells Moses that God's name is "I am." And this isn't a one time thing, this is the same name for God that is used more than 6,500 times in the Bible.
But it still seems like a strange way to introduce yourself. So why does God introduce himself as "I am"? Well, that name has a lot to teach us about who God is.
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States