City Church Garland

God is faithful to His promises and worthy of our trust. The life of Abraham illustrates the faitfulness of God and exemplifies one who who trusted God to fulfill His promises. God worked through Abrham's faith but God also worked to bring about His plan and fulfill His promises regardless of Abraham's failure.

God invites His people to meet with Him every day in prayer. Jesus modeled for us what it looks like not only to value meeting with His Heavenly Father in prayer but also to prioritize it. In this sermon on Mark chapter 1 Pastor Mike shares on the importance of rising early to seek God in prayer like Jesus did.

The book of Genesis answers the big questions of how mankind got here and why on earth we are here. It teaches that God is the Creator of all creation and the author of all human life. He has beautifully desinged humanity in His likeness with purpose and value. God the Creator designed mankind to reflection His image, reporduce His image, be responsible and relational beings, and get rest. In this sermon Pastor Keith Dollar explains each of these aspects of God's beautiful design for humanity.

God the Father gave the ultimate gift ever given, namely His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16). And the appropriate response to that great gift is to recieve Him & joyfully worship. In Luke chaper 1 Mary the mother of Jesus modeled this appropraite response with a hymn of praise known as the Magnifact. In it she magnified who God is & the great things He has done.

Everyone's heart longs for peace, especially in times of trouble. The world offers its own solution for peace through selfish actions like the accumulation of material goods or the possession of power. But what is God's solution for peace? God has provided each and every person who has trusted in His Son Jesus Christ with His gift of peace. If this is true, then why are so many Christians filled with such anxiety and worry? Listen as Pastor Mike teaches us about the peace of Christ provided for all Christians and how we are able to live in that peace, even in troubled times.

For many, the Christmas Season is a time of pain and despair as the brokenness of their lives is magnified when contrasted with the happiness of others that seems to surround them. As people of God, let's consider how can we respond to this need in the lives of others this Christmas season. Listen in as Pastor Keith explains to us from Luke 2 and Romans 15 how we can be people of live with hope as we we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus modeled the perfect prayer life by which His followers were not only inspired by His unhindred communion with God by they also experinced the benefits of His intercession. Jesus prayed that His followers would be kept from the evil one, that they would be sanctified by truth and that they would be unified. This prayer not only included the disciples who were with Christ physically while he was on earth but Jesus also included those who would believe in His prayer recorded in John 17. This includes those of us who are Christ follwers in the 21st century. May you be encouraged by the truth that Christ has prayed for you and is at this very moment interceding on your behalf.

In Matthew 6, the Lord instructed His disciples how to pray as citizens of God's Kingdom. The Lord's instructions to His disciples then is relevent and authoritative for us today. In this sermon, Pastor Keith teaches us how we can lead effective and in depth prayer lives according to the instructions of the Master Himself from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus taught His followers to pray to the Father in sincerity, in solitude and with simplicity.

Jesus teaches in Luke 11 and 18 that prayer is vital to the Christian life. Prayer is God's mean of us communing with Him and is how we seek after Him. If it is so important, then why is it that we neglect this component of our walk with God? Listen as Pastor Keith explains to us from Luke 11 and 18 the importance of prayer and why we are to pray.

We are in a spiritual war. We are confident in our ultimate victory because of Christ's victory on the cross. But how do we live our present lives in this daily battle? In Ephesians 6, Paul teaches us about our spiritual armor and how God has equipped us to stand firm against Satan and his demons as well as to prevail so that God's Kingdom is advanced in this hostile world.

The Christian marriage symbolizes the union of Christ with His church. Within the Christian marriage husbands are to love their wives self-sacrificially and wives are to submit to the headship of their husbands. These two roles can be compared to a dance, which takes work, but is beautiful and thrilling when done with care. Also, families and workplaces are to reflect the grace of the gospel and to be orchastrated in such a way that Christ reigns as head over all.

As beloved children, God calls us to imitate him in how we live our lives. When we choose to imitate our heavenly Father, we maximize our joy and God's glory in our lives. In this passage God calls us to imitate him by walking in love, light, and wisdom. Thankfully our walk is not in our strength, but in the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Christ followers are new creations, so they are to live like Christ by renewing theirs minds and decisively put off the old self and put on the new self. Holiness does develop in the life of a Christian by them spiritually coasting along in life rather they must intentionally pursure holiness with the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Christians possess the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, and thus the fruit of His dwelling within them will become more and more evident by the fruit of holiness brought forth in their lives.

God has a purpose and plan that He is working out in history through His Church (3:1-13) & Paul's prayer is for that purpose and plan to come to fruition in the life of the Ephesian church (3:14-21).

The gospel of Jesus Christ tears down walls that separate mankind from God and from one another and it brings reconciliation and peace in place of hostility.

Grace is not something we are accustomed to in our present society. We value hard work and success, but not grace. How do we respond to God's grace that saves sinners. In Ephesians 2:1-10, we will see a major contrast between our old life in sin and our new life in Christ as well as God's purposes in showing us saving grace.

Paul prayed to the Father of Glory asking that the Church may gain deep spiritual insight of who God is, what He has done, what He will do and what the Church has. Paul's prayer was that they might know God and have the eyes of thier hearts enlightened to know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints and the greatness of His power that works towards us who believe.

God deserves all praise, glory and honor in view of His gracious blessings of election, adoption, redemption and salvation, which He has graciously given us in Christ Jesus.

A community that is centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ will live distinctively different lives from the world. Because of the work that Christ has done in their lives, they will be increasingly marked by virtues such as humility, love, generosity, hospitality, passion, compassion and many others. In Romans chapter 12 the Apostle Paul gives several imperatives that are to be lived out by those whose lives have been truly impacted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In it he describes what real Christianity looks like on the ground.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ Powerfully transforms the lives of those who have believed it and have had their minds renewed by it. The gospel leads people to surrender to God and live theirs lives set apart for Him.