Life Bridge Sermons Podcast

ACTS || Doing Good In Dark Places ||

An encounter with Jesus should profoundly TRANSFORM the actions of your life!

ACTS || Blinded By Glory ||

When we surrender to God we give ourselves to His agenda and begin the journey of learning to depend on Him and not ourselves!

ACTS || Trials and Challenges of the Gospel ||

ACTS || No Turning Back ||

Stephen's final words to the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem were a scathing indictment. They were so stuck in the past that they were resistingand even opposing God Himself! Because they had an unhealthy obsession or relationship with the past, they couldn't embrace Jesus. Our past is often a source of problems. There are many ways our relationship with past hurts, sins, or experiences can impact and warp our present. One danger Stephen's message can serve to warn us of is the danger of turning back to old ways. As apprentices, we're called to a life of moving forward with Jesus, our Master, taking the lead. No turning back. Because Christ Himself never turned back from His mission to save us.

ACTS || Christ Breaking the Cycle ||

We are creatures of habit. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. Our lives are built around familiar patterns of behavior that are reinforced by incentives. Unfortunately, because of sin, we often find ourselves stuck in patterns that are destructive and undesirable. At the same time, we have a hard time breaking out of these. That's what it means to be held under the power of sin. Whether it's addiction, shame, or something else, we need help from someone who can act as our deliverer. In this week's passage, Stephen makes an appeal to the Sanhedrin on the basis of their history as a people to trust Jesus Christ, the one God appointed to save us from the cycle of sin and death. God's promise of freedom is available for us if we will look to Jesus as our cycle-breaker.

ACTS || Courageous Faith ||

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to act in spite of it. There are many examples in the Bible of people who demonstratedcourageous faith, and Stephen is one of them. He courageously preaches and defends the Gospel of Christ even in spite of intense opposition. His example serves as a reminder that Gospel courage is something Jesus calls each of us to. What does it mean to be a courageous Christian? Where is courage found? The answer to both is found in Christ Himself, who will give us the peace we so badly need if we will heed his call to courageous faith!

ACTS || The Ministry of all Believers ||

Four practical steps to be a minister for Jesus.
1. Make time in your busy schedule to be with Jesus
2. Order you life around God's priorities, not the world's
3. Seek to be filled with, directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit
4. Dwell on the fact that God loves you and He always will
 
 

ACTS || Our Exceptional Jesus ||

Not many things can truly be called "exceptional. To be exceptional, something (or someone) has to be unique and stand out among the rest. It has to be in a category all its own. In this week's passage, we read about the debate between the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem about how to dealwith the early Christian Church. This movement didn't fit their normalcategories. It was EXCEPTIONAL, and it still is, because Jesus Himself is. In this Sunday message, we'll learn about the many things that make our Jesus exceptional.

ACTS || All About That Life ||

This week's passage features a showdown between the apostlesand the Jerusalem priests that finally boils over. Peter and the other apostles are thrown in prison for preaching as the high priest initiates a crackdown on preaching in "this name." After a miraculous jailbreak, the apostles go right back to street preaching anyway. Why? Because the life that comes from obeying God is better than a life of pleasing people. If confronted with a choice between the two, we are to obey God, because the life that Jesus offers is so much better. It's worth it to be all about that life.

ACTS || Holding Nothing Back ||

The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a cautionary tale that is shocking to read in the book of Acts. In many ways it servers as a litmus test about how we view sin. This whole incident clearly displays that even though we are under grace because of Jesus, God's character, holiness, and hatred of sin has not changed. It's simply not worth it to hold back from the Lord. His holiness makes it unwise, but His grace, kindness, and love make it unnecessary. God invites us into the glorious joy of an unhidden life with Him.