When you find your way by visual landmarks it's difficult to navigate when the things that you rely on are hidden. You become completely lost. God’s people oriented their life around God for a time but began to lose sight of Him because of turning away and choosing sin. As Pastor Ricky will point out today, they no longer had God as their guide spot and reference point in how to live their lives and they became quite lost. Don't lose sight of your Savior. Frequently, continually orient your life around Jesus.
Behold - Twist Ending, Part 2
There's no source of power on this earth that can ever compare to God and His infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. Pastor Ricky will explain today how God can and will strike down the things that people put their trust and hope in, in this world. But He is harsh for a good purpose. He tears down false security so that you'll turn to Him for security. He strikes down earthly wisdom so that you’ll trust Him entirely. He can take away everything in your life that draws you away in order for you to recognize that He is all you need.
Behold - Twist Ending, Part 1
Political power, national strength, or a good economy can cause a country or an individual to feel invincible. These things give a false sense of security, strength, and comfort. But today, Pastor Ricky will challenge you to examine what you put your trust and hope in. Does your joy and stability ebb and flow based on the state of your environment? None of these things have any power and none can save you. God may strike down these false sources of power in your life in order to draw you back to Himself.
Behold - The Kingdom of Self, Part 2
If you live your life seeking your own honor, glory, comfort, and desires you’re building up a kingdom of self, instead of building the kingdom of God. It's satisfying and impressive for a moment but God promises that it will not last. Today, Pastor Ricky will instead encourage you to seek to live your life building up the kingdom of God and glorifying His name instead of your own. God's kingdom is worthy. It alone will last into eternity. So take up your cross, live a sacrificial and humble life to bring honor to Him.
Behold - The Kingdom of Self, Part 1
If God were only just and not loving, all of humanity would be doomed to be eternally separated from Him. The great news however is that Jesus came to earth and took the punishment of humanity’s sin to satisfy God's holy justice. Today, Pastor Ricky will challenge you to now take this good news and make known His deeds and proclaim His glory. Share what He's done in your life and how He's transformed you. This is news that the world needs to hear. It's what God can and will use to bring others to Himself.
Behold - Good News Changes Everything, Part 2
If God were only just and not loving, all of humanity would be doomed to be eternally separated from Him. The great news however is that Jesus came to earth and took the punishment of humanity’s sin to satisfy God's holy justice. Today, Pastor Ricky will challenge you to now take this good news and make known His deeds and proclaim His glory. Share what He's done in your life and how He's transformed you. This is news that the world needs to hear. It's what God can and will use to bring others to Himself.
Behold - Good News Changes Everything, Part 1
There's a spectrum of good news. There can be sort of good news and then there can be really, really good news. The better the news, the more that it changes your life. The news of the cross and resurrection of Jesus is so very good that it'll change your entire life and eternity. Today Pastor Ricky will explain the good news that God's anger has turned away from the sin and rebellion in humanity because of the sacrifice of Jesus. This news has the power to change you from the inside out and transform your life.
Behold - The Once and Future King, Part 2
There is so much brokenness and pain in the world today. Since the first sin in the garden, creation has caused terrible destruction. Yet humans deeply long for a king or power to come in and make things right. Today, Pastor Ricky will explain how Jesus is the king that everyone longs for because He alone is good, powerful, and wise enough to change anything in creation. He’ll judge justly, help the powerless, and destroy all evil and He'll bring true everlasting peace to all of creation.
Behold - The Once and Future King, Part 1
God has created mankind to worship. In true unbroken creation, you were made to worship Him. However, in our broken sinful world, it's easy to long for and worship everything but God. Today Pastor Ricky will challenge you to examine who or what you put as king and priority in your life. The worldly things you trust to secure you, the people you hope will rescue you from pain, and the values you trust to guide you, will all betray you. Only God is worth giving your whole life to. He is good, faithful, and worthy of your devotion.
Behold - Good and Angry, Part 3
When you see the evil and injustice in the world, do you get angry? Anger can be right and appropriate. God doesn't oppose all anger but as Pastor Ricky will warn you today, you must be careful. Humans are sinful and what begins as righteous anger that reflects God’s justice can quickly turn to sin. Even the unrighteous anger in your heart is the same as murder, according to Jesus. As you see evil yes, be angry because it goes against God but keep it in check and don't allow it to fester into sin.
Behold - Good and Angry, Part 2
God created the world good and perfect as a reflection of Himself. He's holy and full of love for His creation. Yet humanity chose to turn away from God to do evil. This spread wickedness to all of creation. Today, Pastor Ricky will explain how it's because of God's holiness and deep love that He responds in anger towards evil. If He didn't respond to sin with anger, He wouldn't be good, He wouldn’t be holy. It’s impossible for Him to be unmoved by sin. He can't do nothing. He must get rid of sin forever.
Behold - Good and Angry, Part 1
Accepting the anger of God presented in the Bible can be a barrier to the unbelieving world. Actually, God’s anger and wrath can even keep believers away from passages explaining this aspect of Him. However as Pastor Ricky will point out today, God will use His anger towards sin to wake up His people and to cause them to return to Him. Because all creation has sinned, His response is anger towards that evil. This anger towards sin proves that He's good. He will not let that which ruins His Creation to forever continue.
Behold - Keep Calm and Carry On, Part 3
All people will eventually have to stand before the Lord and face Him. He will either be your sanctuary or the rock on which you’re smashed. Today Pastor Ricky will explain that if you fear the Lord and trust Him as your Savior, He’ll be your safe sanctuary both now and forever. You have nothing to fear in this world. Put your hope in God, not in the enticing things of the world. He reigns and is in control of all things. Go to the Lord first. Go to the Lord often. Seek Him when your world feels out of control.
Behold - Keep Calm and Carry On, Part 2
It's difficult to not let fear overwhelm you when the scary things of this world are threatening to undo you. God is calling you to look to Him as the most prominent and important thing in life and to honor Him as holy, and mighty, and all-powerful. Today, Pastor Ricky will challenge you to worship the Lord, be humble, and acknowledge God is king and judge over all. There's nothing out of God's control. Seek to follow and please the Lord and let that be your first concern, above the circumstances around you.
Behold - Keep Calm and Carry On, Part 1
In an effort to keep his people from panic, as trouble began to surround them, God through Isaiah communicated truth of who He is and the truth of their circumstances. Pastor Ricky will challenge you today to not fear your current situation and a future that hasn't happened without including God in your thoughts and desires. He encourages you today to recognize the power and might of God that far surpasses anything that the world has for you. Don't allow your thoughts to run away with the what-ifs, instead seek God.
The Perfect Family? - The Perfect Child, Part 2
What a beautiful truth. As Pastor Ricky leads us through the story of Christ's humble birth, we’re reminded that no one would have been turned away from that manger. Jesus came for you. He knew full well the brokenness that He was being born into and He willingly took it so that you and I could be made clean, once and for all in the eyes of God. You don't have to get yourself right. Just come to the humble King who longs to embrace you and make you whole.
The Perfect Family? - The Perfect Child, Part 1
The shepherds that watched their flocks nearby as Jesus was being born into this world were blessed to be one of the first messengers of the Gospel. As Pastor Ricky explains in today's message, to be a shepherd was a humble but important job. They not only provided meat and wool but they would have raised the spotless sheep that would have gone to the temple as a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Their role in welcoming the final spotless lamb has a beautiful significance that is often overlooked.
The Perfect Family? - The Perfect Husband? Part 2
Jesus came to earth in the midst of scandal. While Mary was innocent of her suspected sin, most of her community didn't know that. She would have been the subject of gossip and rumors and Joseph took that on himself when he agreed to be the father to her child. As Pastor Ricky illustrates in today's message, Jesus is not afraid of your scandal. He doesn't care about the opinion of men. He cares about you and He'll come to you in the midst of your sin, embrace you and pull you out of that mess.
The Perfect Family? - The Perfect Husband? Part 1
Was Jesus' father Joseph perfect? No, of course not. He was a flawed, humble man yet God had a great purpose for him. He was a necessary part of fulfilling prophecy and raising God's very own son, as he took on human form. As Pastor Ricky will point out in today's message, many men would have walked away from Mary and the scandal of her pregnancy out of wedlock. Joseph even considered it. But because he had faith in God, he took on the task he was called to and helped raise our Savior.
The Perfect Family? - The Perfect Family? Part 2
This broken world is like a long night in the wilderness. If you imagine yourself cold and hungry, with the sounds of wild animals all around, it's a place of vulnerability. But then the sky gradually fades from black to a smokey blue, followed by tinges of orange, and then at last the sun breaks over the horizon. As Pastor Ricky illustrates in today's message, as a believer the horizon is glowing with that orange light, and true to God's promise, Christ is going to return and bring light that will put our sun to shame.