Simple Church

Wednesday, October 11, 2017 -Rooted

As a follower of Christ, can we become uprooted?

Our "Rooted" series continues with an interactive message involving some of our students and their perspectives on honoring God while living in daily situations.

 

Galatians 5:17-26

Kenny Nix, Pastor 

Wednesday, October 4, 2017 -Rooted

Santification is simply being set apart. Once we pursue a life with Christ, we are new through the power of the Holy Spirit. In this message, we hear from Peter how important it is to supplement our faith with things that will not only make the roots of our faith grow deep, they will outwardly show we no longer belong to ourselves. As we make every effort to live for Christ, we continually see the reality of our deep need for Him.

 

1 Peter 2:1-13

Dawn Hedgepeth

Sunday October 1, 2017 -Though He Slay Me

In the fourth message in our series "Though He Slay Me", we continue to see one central truth. God cares. The more we read God's Word, the more intimately we get to know Him. When we have a connection with God through spending time with Him through His Word, we can see how close He really is and how much He cares for each of us. 

Psalm 56 explains that God loves us so much He keeps our tears in a bottle and remembers each one of them. He is not only the Creator of the universe and all that is within it, He created each of us with love and intentionality. We each have a purpose and a plan for our lives and when we hurt, God hurts with us. 

We will all face hardships during our journey here. The joy and hope in our times of difficulty is God cares about every single struggle we face. He stops to lean His ear to His children when they call out to Him. Take heart and do not lose faith if everything in your life seems to be unraveled. Remember the truth of God and know He sees and loves you where you are today. 

 

Psalm 116:1-19

Kenny Nix, Pastor

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 -Rooted

As we walk with Jesus, we grow in our wisdom and love. We become rooted in Christ. As we begin our series, we immediately see the need for nourishment to achieve spiritual growth. Keith explains this spiritual milk is essential for our roots of faith to grow deep in God's Word. It is the only way we can live as if we are not living for this world, but the next. If we are in pursuit of a life for Christ, we are called to "be holy just as God is holy". 1 Peter 13-16

 

1 Peter 1:13-25, 1 Peter 2:1-3

Keith Wilson, Youth Pastor

Sunday September 24, 2017 -Though He Slay Me

God's Word tells us repeatedly that although we are unable to see it many times, He is our hope. God wants us to depend on Him with our whole heart and trust in His faithfulness to see us through. In our total dependence on God, our faith is actually being strengthened. We can lean into God for our strength, believe there is a purpose in our pain and others around us can see it is for His glory that we carry on.

This passage is vital to a follower of Christ. It not only encourages each of us to remember what we have inside of us, it also shows us that nothing we walk through in this life can remove the light that shines in our heart. 

"I believed in God, so I spoke." 

 

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

Kenny Nix, Pastor

Wednesday, September 20, 2017 -Taboo

Lies.

Every person has lied. We have all been lied to. What makes this such a big deal is the origin of the lie itself. Lies are a direct representation of our character. Lies show who we are at our core and they prove how in need we are of redemption for our rebel hearts.

"All lies begin with jealousy and self ambition." James 3:14 

As we conclude our Taboo series, Keith walks us through the truth that when we surrender our lives to Christ and follow Him, we are set free from the bondage holding us back. Being a child of God means our lives will no longer be characterized by our sin. Jesus came to set all of us free from the lies keeping us from living the life He has placed before us. If we allow this world to consume us, we cannot tell the world of the mercy and grace of God through the sacrifice of Christ. We lose sight of our mission when we take our focus from Jesus to ourselves. 

 

John 8:31-58

Keith Wilson, Youth Pastor

Sunday September 17, 2017 -Though He Slay Me"

In our daily lives, we can become short-sighted. We tend to focus on what is impacting our lives in the present moment and less on the bigger picture. When circumstances surrounding us become too great for us to see any hope of overcoming them or any way out, we can take heart. God is always near. Elijah cried out to God and God was as present for Elijah then as He had been when fire was called down from heaven. God is with us in the fire. He speaks in the raging storms of life and He sometimes whispers to us in our time of great need. There are moments in all of our lives when we wonder where our help will come from. We have to recognize in times of trouble and struggle that God challenges us and can strengthen us. Oftentimes, in our seasons of uncertainty and pain, God is closest to us; what breaks us today can bring glory to God tomorrow. Our lives are so much more than the moment we are living in. They are about the overarching story that God is unfolding for the world. 

Our pain is not meaningless. 

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:17

 

1 Kings 19:7

Kenny Nix, Pastor

Wednesday, September 13, 2017 -Taboo

As our Taboo series continues, we see one overaching certainty in every message. Regardless of what we want or think, we cannot change the truth of what God's word says. God's plan has been perfect since the beginning and His truth has never changed. 

Paul reminds us who we have surrendered to and why we push forward instead of looking back. It is vital to keep our hearts clean before God. Our purpose as Christians is to reach the world with the unchanging love of Christ, coupled with the righteousness we strive toward as God's children. We are all in need of God's grace and because of Jesus, it is offered to everyone who recognizes this need and surrenders everything to follow Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 5:9-11

Kenny Nix, Pastor

Sunday September 10, 2017 -Though He Slay Me"

Our first message in the series, Though He Slay Me, we immediately see the reality we would like to dismiss in life. Depression is real and it affects every one of us, whether directly or indirectly. 

As Kenny leads us through the story of Elijah, he openly shares his own story of struggle and pain. We see through the truth of God's word and in the life experience of our own Pastor, God not only sees us in our darkest hours, He ministers to our broken hearts. Many times on the very day we do not think we can go on, He shows us truth that changes everything. 

 

1 Kings 19:1-7

Kenny Nix, Pastor

 

Wednesday, September 6, 2017 -Taboo

In our powerful conclusion to the "Taboo" series, Keith delivers both a difficult and crucial talk about a topic that touches all of us. If we have not battled with depression or suicidal struggles ourselves, we have been affected indirectly in the least. 

We see in scripture over and over that God sees us, loves us and has a plan for each of us, even in our deepest pain. We can trust God's word and know He is faithful. He satisfies all that we need and He will never leave us.

"Not even death can stop God from getting glory from our life."

 

Psalm 23:1-6

Keith Wilson, Youth Pastor