Risen Church Nc

Pentecost delivered to believers everything that Jesus purchased. From that day on, the Holy Spirit has been dwelling with God's people and showing us how to live a bold, new brand of life. Listen as we look back on the crooked arc of the world before Pentecost, and how everything changed for the better after that day. Truthfully, every day is Pentecost for God's people. His Spirit still moves as strongly and intentionally as ever. By His Spirit, we can come together as His church and for His cause. Dedicated to Jesus, God can demonstrate His nature and power through us and help us discover a better belonging.

The Bible's description of Heaven reveals what drives and motivates God every day - reaching and saving people of all kinds, seeing us all united together around Him. The early church struggled with expansion and evangelism beyond Judea. Acts 11 is a turning point, wherein Peter confesses his own resistance to God's plan and why he eventually surrendered to it. Listen as we consider what it means to stand in God's way and determine if we are guilty of any measure of it.

God's people can approach life differently. God's people can react to life differently. If our hearts have been made whole through spiritual devotion and maturation, we will be prepared for anything. More specifically, we will be able to navigate the greatest of challenges and be better for it in the end.

Sometimes God seems silent, absent, late, or even careless. However, the Scriptures make it clear that God remembers and keeps His promises.

A call to humility and simplicity before God. We're never too old to be nurtured by Him.

A message about God's faithfulness and the endurance of the saints

Many of us are introduced, motivated, and choose to come to Jesus on the basis of a fairly simple and selfish basis. In short, we don't want to go to Hell. On this same note, Heaven is mostly talked about as a place for reunions and luxury. The Christian life is reduced down to having little to do with what the New Testament actually teaches. While we are certainly saved FROM Hell, Christianity is actually more about being saved FOR something. The Bible teaches that we are saved for God's glory, to live a life that will honor Him and serve His purposes. This is why the New Testament has so much to say about how our lives should be radically transformed by Jesus. Salvation is the starting point of a life that should be sanctified for God's glory. This doesn't put pressure on us to perform, but emphasizes the power of the Holy Spirit within any true believer's heart. In this message, we talk about the first steps we should take as a New Creation in Christ. We listen to Peter cast his vision over us regard

The world had become a dark, corrupt place by Genesis 6. God expresses emotions not recorded anywhere else in the Bible and the human race is indicted as being totally, utterly depraved. But one man found favor in the eyes of God. But God had mercy for one man amidst the multitude of rebels. In this message, we put a spotlight on the grace of God which spared an unraveling world. Years later, God's grace continues to endure and overcome the persistent sin of humanity. Listen as we unpack God's mercy, Noah's salvation, and much more!

Isaiah the prophet once wrote that no one has seen, heard, or imagined the things that has prepared for His own to experience once freed from this fallen world. This is often circulated to refer to what Heaven has in store for us in our *next* life. However, the Apostle Paul makes a bold declaration that those who are in Christ can experience these things *right now*... Jesus' Resurrection brought about a new age for all creation. Those who trust in Him and receive His Spirit can enter into His New Creation here and now. We don't have to wait until we get to Heaven to be filled with and led by God's Spirit. What is life like as part of this New Creation? What can we experience now? What things still await us in Heaven? Listen to this first of many conversations about how our longing for more is answered and realized in Christ.

In this message, we see both pictures of Jesus and patterns to mimic as His followers in the lives of Enoch and Noah. They both stood out in their godless generation because they "walked with God". Listen as we learn how walking with God is possible and expected of God's people, even in an ungodly world.

Jesus' Resurrection changed everything. It signed and sealed everything that the Cross accomplished. It proved everything Jesus had ever said and did, and authenticated Him as God's Messiah. While Good Friday would have secured our forgiveness, without the Resurrection there would have been so many outstanding concerns. From the paradox of suffering, our persistent sinful impulses, and the questions about death and the afterlife - only Jesus' Resurrection brings clarity and certainty. In this message, we observe how the Disciples wrestled with their unbelief and came to true faith in Jesus because of Easter Sunday. We also learn about these major promises of the Resurrection: Hope for our Trials, Freedom from our Sin, and Victory over Death.

Good Friday defines and illustrates goodness. It also makes it clear that true, pure goodness is found in Jesus alone. Listen as we reflect on Jesus and His Cross and learn how this day brought favor and hope to us all. We could never be good enough on our own, but Jesus proved that He is good enough. That's why Good Friday will always be enough for us. Jesus forever settled on earth and in Heaven our relationship with God, when His extraordinary, unending goodness met our excessive, unrelenting sin.

How could someone who spent so much time with Jesus remain lost and ultimately decide to betray Him? The story of Judas is both baffling and typical. He wasn't the only person who followed Jesus for selfish reasons, as many sought to make Him their personalized lord and savior. In the end, the reason Judas followed Jesus became the very reason he betrayed Him. He followed Jesus for personal gain, and then turned Him over when that seemed to promise a better reward. Judas refused to surrender to Jesus as King and saw no need to cling to Jesus as his Savior. He believed the lie that the devil ensnares so many with, and was left hopeless and full of regret.

Palm Sunday is the intersection of what we often want Jesus to be and who Jesus actually is... What we often envision Christianity to be about and what it actually is about. Everyone expected a king and a kingdom to rise up during the events of Passover 33 AD, and it certainly did. However, nobody could have imagined the way Jesus introduced His rule nor the nature of His Kingdom. Listen as we follow Jesus through the events of Palm Sunday and see how He subverted every expectation that day. His words and actions in the face of such an opportunity reveal the heartbeat of His Kingdom and show us the way forward as God's people. Palm Sunday’s outcome is why we can be saved and it outlines how every saved person must live.

John 6 is a crossroads in the early Christian movement. The masses assumed they understood Jesus and believed that He could be easily manipulated to get whatever they wanted from God. Perceiving that His signs had been woefully misinterpreted, Jesus sought to clarify His message to His thousands of followers. Alas, at the end of the day, the majority unfollowed Him. In this message, we discuss the motives of the crowds that followed Jesus in those early days. We learn why it was so urgent and necessary that Jesus correct the narrative surrounding His movement, even if it did end up costing Him greatly. He knew that the greater cost would be that which His followers would pay, if they remained so misguided. Listen as we learn about the true, pure, and most fulfilling incentives for following Jesus. His primary purpose isn't to enrich us with temporary stuff, but rather to fill us with Eternal Life. Many turn to Jesus to obtain and consume more, but the true prize comes from following, sacrificing, and surr

For God so loves our rebel race that He continues to have mercy for those who deliberately turn against Him. In the immediate aftermath of the Fall, Cain begs for relief from his self-induced burden and God gives him grace. If we ever question how God feels about sinners like us, Genesis 4 makes that very clear. in response to this grace, Cain's offspring react with even more defiance. Things continue to look bleak for the human race. Yet, God had a plan - He always does. God would raise up a remnant that would live in contrast to the children of man. Even in our generation, God has a remnant and will preserve a people for Himself.

Jesus came into a world that was so misinformed, misguided when it came to God. Attempts at reconciling with Him had only created further distance and separation between the average person and God. Religious leaders were delusional in their quest to earn God's favor, while common people were downcast in their own sin, guilt, and shame. People were waiting in lines that never took them anywhere good, but only left them with less hope and more questions. In this message, we see Jesus encounter people on both sides of the spectrum, but extending the exact same message. Listen and see how the same Gospel comes to all us, whether in our self-righteousness or self-defeat. Jesus issues the same invitation to us, one of grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation with God.

In this message we discuss divine appointments, risk vs reward, and the boldness of Christian hope. In one of the most memorable chapters in the Bible, Jesus demonstrates His mastery over demons, disease, and even death.

As hard as it to imagine, there was a time when "Jesus" wasn't synonymous with God and when Christianity wasn't an global institution of grace and truth. 2000 years ago, a line was drawn in history when Jesus entered this world and changed everything. While many generations since haven't worshipped Him as Savior and Lord, they've lived in a world that has been undeniably touched and impacted by Him. That truth alone ought to make everyone take a second look. Even believers should consider Jesus more seriously and sacredly than ever. In this series, we follow the eyewitness account of Jesus' original follower, John, as he details how Jesus began to change the world. In this opening message, we see Jesus encounter John and his friends for the first time and consider John's initial observations of who Jesus was. Together, with the witness of history, we marvel at how Jesus revealed God to a lost, desperate world and kickstarted a movement that has yet to slow down.

The breakdown of our world was a direct result of the breakdown of the family - the very first family, that is. In this message, we look at God's original mandate given to Adam and Eve pertaining their complementary design and purpose in reflecting the full image of God. We see how both were made in equality, yet given unique responsibilities, for the good of each other and the Kingdom of God. A failure to meet those responsibilities is what caused the first of many dominos to fall in the world, leading to the disorder we still feel today. Listen as we discuss all of this and more - including a quick mention of dinosaurs and some concluding thoughts on God's promise to clean up the mess we had made.