Life Mission Church

Life Mission Church

by Life Mission Church

Religion & Spirituality

March 13, 2022 - GOOD NEWS: JUSTICE AND MERCY

Standing Firm on the Rock - 2 Peter 2.4-10, 17-22 Jobey McGinty As Peter continues this letter to the church, he has clear and sobering warnings concerning the types of sins that we become stuck in and, worse yet, those that we return to.  Our enemy is never not working, as the commercial says, and is constantly seeking to gain a foothold in our hearts and minds.  So we must also constantly be at work...rooting out small sins before they grow into big sins, and then immediately backfilling the voids with gospel truths.  Thankfully, God does not leave us alone in this work, but gives us His Spirit as a helper and a guide.  As we read earlier in this letter, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness," and so we press on in our work to rid our lives of sin and fill our minds with His truth.

March 6, 2022 - HOW FALSE TEACHING SNEAKS IN

Standing Firm on the Rock - 2 Peter 2.1-3, 10-16, 19 Jobey McGinty The idols and false teachings we encounter, that can ultimately lead us down a path towards destruction, usually look harmless or even good when we first encounter them.  They make promises to fulfill desires, give significance, right wrongs and soothe hurts.  Our enemy uses these tools to exploit whatever weak spots we might have in our defenses and to gain access to our hearts.  Peter warns us of these things and of the destruction they can work in us.  We need God's truth to always be before us, in our ears, on our minds and on our lips, to help us discern when the false "good" and "truth" we are chasing are not what they seem.

February 27, 2022 - REMEMBER TO REMEMBER

Standing Firm on the Rock - 2 Peter 1.12-21 Jobey McGinty After Peter encourages us to not lose sight of Jesus, and to make growing in the knowledge of him our top priority, he goes on to remind us that we never move past the basics.  God's Word must remain the ultimate authority in our lives and the certainty of the return of Jesus must stir in us an urgency to know Him and to follow Him.  We can't trust our hearts or our intellect.  We can't trust in good circumstances or "fate".  But we can trust  in God's Word and in our returning Savior.

February 20, 2022 - EVERYTHING WE NEED

Standing Firm on the Rock - 2 Peter 1.1-11 Jobey McGinty Sometimes, as we survey the sin and weakness inside our own hearts and the evil and brokenness around us, we are tempted to think that God has somehow sent us out on a journey without all the tools we need...a journey that is doomed to fail.  Peter encourages us, however, with a reminder that God has given us all we need for life and godliness, in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior.  Our job is to simply respond to this certain knowledge by doing all we can to know him more and allowing this growing knowledge to lead to greater faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love.

February 13, 2022 - FACING FORWARD

Gospel of John - John 21.18-25 Jobey McGinty Peter's story is one of highs and lows, and at the lowest points we find him taking his eyes off of His Lord, and putting them on himself and those around him...trusting his own strength and "maturity" and trying to differentiate himself from others.  But when he takes his eyes off of Jesus he begins to sink into the water, and he takes matters into his own hands and cuts off the Centurion's ear, and he ultimately denies his Savior.  Even after Jesus restores Peter we find him, yet again, looking away and comparing his calling to that of the other disciples.  Jesus' kind rebuke is a soft reminder to refocus...to bring his eyes, focus, trust and attention back onto Jesus, and to simply follow Him, wherever He leads. Jesus' call to us today is the same; look away from everything else and "Follow me!"

February 6, 2022 - JESUS RESTORES THE BROKEN

Gospel of John - John 21.15-19 Jobey McGinty The story of Peter's denial and restoration should be precious to all of us, because it is our story, as well.  Each of us has denied our Savior and turned our back on Him, in thought, word and deed.  Each of us has relied on our own strength and convinced ourselves that "we've got this" or that it's at least possible for us to "got this" with enough work.  But because Jesus' love goes well beyond our sinful, human limitations, we see him move towards Peter (and us) in our sin and failure, not away.  He redirects the focus away from Peter's failures and onto His own faithfulness and love which will never fail, and He brings this same restoration to each of us today.

January 30, 2022 - FISH AND THE LIVING BREAD

Gospel of John - John 21.1-14 Tyler Willis This week we see Jesus revealing himself to the disciples for a third time. He helps them catch a miraculous haul of fish and calls them, once ashore, to join him for breakfast. The King Resurrected is still serving and providing for those He called.

January 23, 2022 - DO NOT DISBELIEVE, BUT BELIEVE

Gospel of John - John 20.24-31 Casey Barnes Was Thomas doubting or just unwilling to believe? In this sermon we learn how Christ's compassionate command meets Thomas where he is and ultimately brings Thomas to joyful faith.

January 16, 2022 - THE CHALLENGING GIFT OF COMMUNITY

Search Me, Know Me, Lead Me - Hebrews 3.13 Jobey McGinty Let's face it...living in community with others, even fellow believers, can be challenging and messy! Sometimes it's hard to understand why God would call us to specifically follow Him alongside others, and we can start to believe the lie that we can do this better on our own.  But, in God's wisdom, He designed us to live and follow and serve and to be served within a community of believers, and that means allowing others into the messes we'd often rather hide.  It's always easier to think of reasons to not seek out community...to hide, to fill our lives with hobbies, events and idols that crowd out this kind of life together...but when we do finally commit to living in true, vulnerable community with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we see Him bring truth, clarity and change in ways we will not find on our own.

January 9, 2022 - CONFORMING PRAYER

Search Me, Know Me, Lead Me - James 1.19-26 Jobey McGinty With most (all) aspects of the Christian life, when we start with "me" at the forefront of our minds we often find ourselves on a futile, frustrating, powerless path that leads to despair.  Our prayer lives are often Exhibit A for this demoralizing cycle.  Our prayers can drift into me-centric wish list and gripe sessions that better resemble conversations with a genie or Santa Claus rather than with God, our Father. While He wants to hear our hearts (wishes and gripes included) we should be quick to listen and slow to speak when we come before Him in prayer. If, through the work of the Spirit, we begin to treat prayer like it is the continuation of a "conversation that God has started through His Word and His grace" (J.I. Packer) we will find it to be a powerful, conforming force that goes well beyond what we could ever think to ask for when we start with "me" in mind.

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