City Church Garland

This is the 3rd sermon in our series on Stewardship. In the sermon Pastor Mike Ward highlights how God is generous and gracious towards His people and one of the effects of grace in the lives of Christians is radical generosity. Christians are called not only to be recipients of grace but also conduits of God's grace into the lives of others.

There are great dangers and opportunities that accompany wealth.The Scripture warns us against the dangers of wealth and instructs us in how to make the greatest investment with what we have. In this sermon Pastor Keith explores the problems money can bring and the biblical solution to avoiding it's pitfalls.

Recognizing that everything belongs to God is foundational to being a good steward of your finances. In this sermon Pastor Keith explains how God is the owner and ruler of all things, and all that we have is to be faithfully stewarded under his authority. There are many pains that occur through handling finances foolishly. Having a biblical perspective of money and possessions can help save you much pain and devastation and free you up to be generous with what you've been entrusted with. It can also free you of worry about having enough and from seeking the satisfy the monster of greed, always wanting more.

God has displayed in glory in creation and in the Scripture. And we must give our attention to His beauty and truth revealed so that we might give God the glory He is due.

There is power to change things in prayer that is offered up in faith by the righteous. In this simple and practical message from James 5 Pastor Keith explains how God works powerfully through the prayers of His people.

God calls Christians to be people devoted to prayer who not only petition for their own needs but faithfully and fervently pray for others. In this sermon Pastor Keith explains how praying for others is hard work and it is expression of the love of Christ.

Fasting is a practice that has lost popularity among Christians today. It was something Jesus did and the early church did and many church leaders today that we most respect do as well. Jesus taught His disciples about fasting saying that "when' they fast they were to do it secretly to be seen by God and God would reward them. He taught them not to fast be seen by people because that would become their reward.

In this message Pastor Keith explains how and why Jesus came to earth and what our appropriate response should be. Jesus is the King who came miraculously and humbly to the earth to save us from our sins and reconcile us to God.

It is God's will for His people to be filled with joy and His reign in His people brings great joy into their lives, which is also a testimony to the world that God is enough to satisfy the human heart. In this sermon Pastor Keith explained how joy is a requirement for God's people and yet it is result of God's work in their lives. Joy is a commanded by God (Philippians 4:4, Matt. 5:12) yet it is produced by God's Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Joy is a manifestation of the Kingdom of God reigning in His people. The last portion of this sermon did not get recorded. In that part of the sermon Pastor shared how joy is also something that Christians must fight for in their lives.

God has designed His people to display and advance His Kingdom in the world through being peacemakers in every relationship.

The Kingdom of God is to be the priority of every follower of Christ and the point of view from which all of life is seen. In this sermon Pastor Keith addresses the problem of worry and anxiety, which tends to be magnified around the holidays. Looking at the teaching of Christ in the sermon on the mount he explains how we all need a Kingdom perspective to effectively combat anxiety. He also unpacks what it looks like to prioritize the Kingdom of God in our lives.

The gospel leads believers to put off pride and see themselves accurately according to the grace of God. Saints find their value and significance on the basis of the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ not upon their performance or comparison to others. In this sermon Pastor Mike address the problem of pride that even mature saints battle with and he gives reasons why one should live in humility and how they can live humbly in the grace of God.

Every Christian has great reason to be confident in the goodness and love of God towards them. God has been good to them in many ways throughout their life but ultimately God has demonstrated His goodness and love through the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered and died for us. He was raised to life and is at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us in this moment. God has been good to us and He promises to be good to us. In this sermon Pastor Keith highlights the greater lesser logic of Romans 8:32, that if God gave us the greatest gift of His Son than we can be confident that He will also give us all things. God has been good to us by giving us salvation through the gospel, God will be good to us by the glorification that He has promised us and God is being good to us through the intercession that the Son and the Spirit are currently making for us. God is for us! Are you convinced and "sure" that He is for you and that nothing can separate you from His love?

Christians have a glorious and certain future though there is suffering on their way to glory. In this sermon Pastor Keith expounds on what that glorious future is for the Child of God and he gives some frame work for the suffering that we experience in this life from Romans chapter 8.

The Apostle Paul models for us in his ministry many aspects of what it looks like to be an effective minster of the gospel. In this training Pastor Keith teaches on three aspects of Paul's ministry that made him an effective minster of the gospel, namely; simplicity, sincerity and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit helps us Christians be who we are made to be and do what we are made to do. In this sermon on Romans chapter 8 Pastor Keith Dollar explains 5 ways that the Holy Spirit helps Christians be who they are created to be and do what they are made to do.

The Christian life is marked by the presence and work of the Holy Spirit who brings freedom, life and peace. In this sermon Pastor Keith gives hope for those struggling against sin from the gospel truth that there is not only the penalty of our sin (condemnation) taken care of but also there is power to live in freedom from sin dominion through work of the Holy Spirit.

Christian's possess a new life, identity and status in Christ that should lead them to a new way of living. In Roman' chapter 6 the Apostle Paul explains some things that every Christian needs to know, namely that they died with Christ. They must consider themselves to be dead to sin and alive to God and they must respond to this good news by presenting their body to God as instruments of righteousness.

There are glorious results of being justified by faith in Christ. Romans chapter 5 lists several of the effects or results in the lives of those who put their faith in Jesus and are made right with God through faith. Here are some of those effects that Pastor Keith expounds on in this sermon: We have peace with God V1, We have grace sustaining us (V2), We rejoice in hope of the glory of God (V2b), We rejoice in suffering (V3), We have the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and we get the indwelling presence of the Spirit (V5), We have assurance of God's love and our salvation (V6-10), We rejoice in God (V11) and we have friendship with God (V11).

Justification by faith is a foundational gospel truth that every Christian must grasp and build upon. In this sermon from Roman's chapter 3 Kevin Diaz explains how God, who is righteous can justify unrighteous mankind.