We are not the final destination of God’s favor! He lavishes his gifts on us so that we in turn might pass it on. And make no mistake — there is a critical need for his grace!

Many seem to preach about a Jesus who will return to this earth because he just can’t put up with us anymore! The Second Coming is coming, but Jesus’ motivation behind his return might be a “little different” from what you’ve heard.

What does the Bible have to say about battlefield slogans and war cries? Greg explains a Christ-centered lesson we can glean from Elijah’s confrontation with 850 false prophets on Mount Carmel.

What would you think of a king who invites anyone and everyone to his son’s wedding? Join us as Greg says, “It doesn’t matter which one of the many ‘one and only true churches’ you join, flashing your membership card at the door of the wedding banquet will only get you thrown out!”

Counterfeit, knock-off watches look like the real thing, but when people buy them, the fake gold plating fades, internal mechanisms break, and soon the watch stops completely. Has someone sold you a counterfeit relationship with God?

If Hollywood made a movie about Zacchaeus, Danny DeVito might be asked to play the role of this short man who made a ton of money. The plot? Jesus loved Zacchaeus even though no one else seemed to.

We can never say it too often or too dogmatically: all that we are and all that we will ever be is a product of God’s grace!

Join us as we give thanks that God doesn’t play by religious rules. That’s why the kingdom of God is such incredibly great news!

No humanly derived resources are accepted as valid currency in the kingdom of heaven. Religious currency is counterfeit money!

In one of the most startling promises he ever gave (John 14:12) Jesus told us that we will do even greater things than he did. What did he mean? What can be greater than opening the eyes of the blind or raising the dead?

Grace is the narrow road that leads to eternal life — it’s not crowded, it’s the road often not taken. Grace involves accepting God without any reservation(s). By contrast, the eight-lane religious freeway is bumper to bumper with people attempting to have a relationship with God on their own terms — it’s paved with good intentions, but it’s the highway to hell.

Join us for the first sermon of a two part series on grace. We examine the story of Esau and Jacob and what it teaches us about God’s scandalous grace.

The very idea of any kind of party, laughter, and enjoyment of life itself is suspect in some religious environments. However, the authentic body of Christ sings, dances and loves. It’s a Jesus kind of church! The Bible reveals God as the lavish giver, the life of the party and the Lord of the Dance.

As humans we are plagued by shortages and limitations. God, however, is without limitation; his love will never be subject to some kind of “heavenly warming” effect that could threaten to diminish his “reservoir” of love. God will never run out of love, neither will he ever take it back once he gives it.

Our keynote passage (Rev. 21:1-4) provides a snapshot of the picture presented to us throughout this fascinating book. Revelation contrasts religion and authentic Christianity, depicting our relationship with God on the basis of his love, rather than on religious performance.

As the sheep of the Lord’s pasture he enables us to come to know his voice (John 10:4). How can we attentively listen for the voice of the Master?

God invites us all to “come on over.” His house is our house, his doors are wide open. Discover what it means when Psalm 23 tells us that we “will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

We will ponder what it means to be a citizen of heaven while residing on planet earth.

Galatians 5:1 tells us that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In today’s sermon Pastor Greg highlights that freedom in contrast to the bondage of religion.

Loyalty to country — faith in God. Are they one and the same? Many, in the name of Jesus, tell you they are. But kingdoms are in conflict — and the greatest conflict of all is that between earthly kingdoms and our heavenly kingdom.

We can have political and economic freedom, but remain enslaved to false religion. Of all freedoms, freedom in Christ is the most cherished and prized of all.

As humans we learn to love by being loved — as Christians we are able to love others because God has first loved us. If we have not accepted God’s love, then we can do and do and do — and we will still never produce God’s love.

Join Greg as he rehearses Jeremiah’s sermon (Jeremiah 7:1-11) given as people were going “to” temple (church). God told Jeremiah to tell those who were merely fulfilling their religious obligation to be inside the four walls of a “holy place” that they were having a religious experience but missing the meaning.

It’s one of the most incredible, stupendous things about God — he will always love you. There is no place you can go, no depth to which you can sink, no low place you can inhabit that would cause God to end his relentless pursuit of you. God will never give up on you!

Jesus doesn’t break a bruised reed, nor did he extinguish a smoldering wick. He is our Great Physician who ministers to those who are at the end of their rope, those whose spirits who have been crushed — the walking wounded.

Forgiveness can be a difficult, painful subject because it involves some of the darkest places of our lives, while it can also be liberating and filled with joy because it can only be given by the Light of this world. We examine forgiveness and we consider what some mean when they speak of “forgiving God.”

Our sermon, based on Hebrews 2:5-12, considers our identity in Christ. As we focus on Jesus Greg recalls the haunting question posed in the title of the best record of the year in 1996. Was Jesus, as the lyrics of this song ask, “just a slob like one of us”?

We never say that two people are “at” love — why do we say that two parties are “at” peace? Why not talk about being “in” peace? Join Greg to talk about the peace (shalom) of God, a peace that is not simply the temporary end of some negative external experience or relationship, but an eternal assurance of well-being that is a gift of God.

God’s peace is not something humans produce externally. God’s peace is his gift given to us by his grace, and we experience it internally, in our hearts and in our souls.

This week as we celebrate Father’s Day we consider the high calling of human fatherhood, and we give thanks for our gracious and loving heavenly Father.

In Christ, fathers can be gracious without being weak, courageous but not insipid, and strong without being overbearing. As we honor earthly fathers let’s consider what God can do in and through them.

Fatherhood has fallen on hard times. This Father’s Day we need the viewpoint of God as self-imparting Father wholly devoted to those to whom he gives life.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is in its own league, entirely different from any and all religion. Our message invites you to discover why God isn’t interested in human attempts to “roll our own” gospel.

In this first of a two-part series about the gospel, we learn that the gospel is more than what Jesus said and did. The gospel was and is who Jesus is.
Jesus is the gospel, and the gospel is Jesus.

God’s unconditional love is refreshing and welcome news for all of us, especially as we live in an increasingly polarized, fragmented world. Greg talks about God’s grace, and why we have difficulty grasping and accepting it.

Greg discusses religious innovations, teachings, traditions and interpretations about prayer and contrasts them with Christ-centered, relational prayer. Prayer is a critical part of your relationship with God.

God speaks to us, through Paul, in 2 Corinthians 3:6-8. We have a choice: dead religion — formulaic, the same-old, menu-driven spiritual rituals and ceremonies— or — dynamic, exuberant relational life in Christ? Which will it be?

Come with us on a journey — a storm, a ship that encounters the storm and the harbor that awaits the end of a turbulent voyage. It’s all about your relationship with God.

Are you settling for religious bondage when you could have freedom in Christ? Are you choosing the mirage of safety in religion — or are you accepting Jesus, and the risk, as we humans might see it, of relationship with God?

Comedian Bob Newhart used to say, preparing his audience for his spoof of some event or practice, “it might have gone something like this.” Join Greg as he reconstructs what early Christians might have been thinking 15 years after the first Pentecost.