Forest Lake Church Sermon Podcast

Life isn't always easy, and we all get to the border of promise at some point. Do we have enough trust in God that He will carry us through (even if it seems impossible), or do we give up and turn back?

We have the freedom to do whatever we wish, but not everything is to our benefit. God calls us to use our freedom to love those around us with everything we have, which will benefit us beyond measure!

Our church is a community in transition, and the most important thing we can do moving forward is love each other first and foremost. Elders love younger leadership (even when the ideas seem foreign) and younger leaders love their elders (even if they seem out of touch sometimes). That is the kind of community that makes church a place for lost people to feel as if they are home.

Living on the "farm" means investing in the farm with our time and resources. When we do, we'll reap the abundant rewards of working with God.

The church belongs to older brothers, what are they going to do with it? Will it just be an exclusive club, or will the church be used to accomplish the mission of Jesus? A place that welcomes the lost and the prodigals back again with open arms?

You can't chase after a prodigal son or daughter like you can find a lost sheep or lost coin, but that doesn't mean you stop praying for them every day that when they hit rock bottom they come back....even if you're not still alive to receive them.

The core problem of the lost coin is that you don't even know what gives value, either to yourself or to the church. But the value of a coin comes from the value of whose symbol is stamped on it, and your value of as a Christian comes from being marked by the value Jesus places on your life.

A sheep is capable of knowing that it's lost, but it has no idea how to get back. So if a lost sheep is ever to be found, someone has to go and get it. When the missing sheep is someone you love, you do whatever it takes to bring it back. And when it does, you rejoice.

The Lord's table is open to everyone. There is nothing any of us can do to ever be worthy enough to be at the table, but Jesus makes anyone who wishes to come worthy because of His sacrifice.

Instead of resolving to do or change things, let's instead resolve to leave all of this year's mistakes and problems in the past and start fresh. After all, Jesus has forgiven you and wiped your slate clean, so let's look forward and reflect that grace to everyone around us.

When we think of Christmas, can we see the face of our Redeemer in a small newborn child surrounded by shepherds and farm animals? The light of the world lying in humble surroundings so that we could all be saved. Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth!

If we have given our hearts to Jesus, we also shall bring our gifts to Him. Our gold, our silver; our most precious earthly possessions. Our highest mental and spiritual endowments will be freely devoted to Him who loves us and gave Himself for us.

In taking our nature, the Savior has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. "For God so loved the world that He gave..." And through endless ages as the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord, they will praise Him for His unspeakable gift--Immanuel, "God with us."

Jesus came to build up the church and the church is sent forth to witness about Jesus to the world. And in order to achieve this witness, it takes all of us participating in what Jesus established.

We want to be grateful, we don't want to be stuck in grief while everybody else is celebrating, but you can't skip right from grief to gratitude and have the gratitude be real or have any depth. You have to sit with your grief for awhile and mourn what is not before you can celebrate what is.

God loves you. So why not put your faith in Him? Because faith leads to hope, and love pours out of the one who lives in faith and hope. It just so happens that faith, hope, and love together make you glad, and when you're glad you'll be thankful regardless of the challenges we face.

God loves you with a love that will not let you go. He knows how weak and feeble you are, and how imperfectly you love others, but throughout all of it, His love for you has never faltered. His love for you will never fail because God is love. Will you let Him love you today?

We often read "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son..." and it seems so simple. But that gift was no small measure, that gift was beyond what we understand. God sacrificed more than we can imagine in the hope that we would respond to Him.

We are commanded to have faith. And it is an incredibly important commandment. But it is not the most important commandment. And we are exhorted to have hope. And it is a critical exhortation, the right response to what God, through Jesus, has done for us. But not even hope is the most important commandment. Instead, it is love. Love for God, and love for each other. Love, working in the hearts of God’s people, is the only force strong enough to hold together the Kingdom of God.

While sometimes the humanity of the church can leave us feeling somewhat despairing, remember, our hope is not built upon some mythical notion of a perfectly functional institutional church. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and Jesus’ righteousness. And such a hope will never disappoint us, for the love of God is poured out upon all who have this hope.