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WALKING IN THE REIGN - BUYER'S REMORSE
I would bet that the disciples, when Jesus was off praying by himself, would discuss among themselves whether all this was worth it. Have we been scammed? I bet they had some buyer’s remorse. Some anxiety. Some uncertainty about their choice. I would!!
[more] | | WALKING IN THE REIGN #4
The disciples are probably feeling a little insignificant – overwhelmed with their responsibility yet underwhelmed by the response they have received from people. I suspect they expected something more than what they were seeing. Where was the kingdom?[more] |
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WALKING IN THE REIGN #2 – THE FARMER
It’s a messy, confusing business we are in. We sometimes wonder if what we are doing is producing any results. We see so many failures, so many rejections – but we must not give up. For one day we will stand around the throne of God joined by thousands upon thousands of believers. A crowd the size of which we have never seen before. Everyone of them there because someone planted a seed.[more] | | WALKING IN THE REIGN - AN INTRODUCTION
We talk about Jesus reigning, we talk about the kingdom of God and many times we look around and it doesn’t seem like the kingdom is actually here. I believe there’s as much confusion today about the Kingdom as there was in Jesus’ day. So we too need to be educated about the kingdom, we need to know how it works. We need to know what it’s like to walk in the reign of God. And to help us we’re going to look at the parables in Matthew 13.[more] |
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XHOPE
Christ makes our hope something more than just a theory – He makes it tangible, he makes it real. God, through the OT prophets talks of a hope – Christ embodied that hope. His birth makes Hope real. His birth teaches us things about God that we would perhaps know in theory, but would be lacking in a definitive way.
[more] | | WHY HOPE
I believe that Scripture gives us some real valid reasons why we can place our hope in God.[more] |
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BIBLICAL ELDERSHIP #3
The term leader implies that they are to move us from one place to another. And to lead effectively, to move people from one place to another, leaders have to have a vision of where their people need to be. I heard this a while ago and share it with you. There are different types of leaders – risk-takers, caretakers, and undertakers
[more] | | PRINCES AND PAUPERS
There’s no one too common, too smelly, too ordinary who is not welcomed to the manger to worship Christ. There’s no one too important, too elite, too great that they can refuse to bow a knee to the new-born king.
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JONAH - GROWING CONCERN
The only way a church will be a going concern is if it’s growing in concern.
Many churches have gone out of business because they ceased to be a going concern
The same goes for us individually – if we are to grow we must grow in concern for people.
[more] | | JONAH- RELUCTANT TO WILLING
Do you know what your life would be like without God?
Do you know what your future is without God?
We’ll never transform from reluctant to willing until we know.
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JONAH: LACK OF CONCERN
You can’t be a good prophet if you don’t care about people. You will always be reluctant if you don’t have concern.
[more] | | JONAH – THE RELUCTANT PROPHET #1
The first in a series of sermons from the OT prophet Jonah.
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BAPTISM 101 - OOH AND DO
Both the oooh and the do are responses to the reality that Jesus is our savior
But the ooooh is no good without the do
And the do is no good without the ooooh
And neither the oooooh or the do are any good without the blood of Jesus
Salvation is a free gift from God, but it must be received.
[more] | | JOURNEY TO JOY #3 - FINDING JOY IN AFFLICTION AND OPPOSITION
We can get so obsessed with how other churches are doing things that we become over critical and lose focus on what is the central issue – Christ being preached. I believe that there are some churches and individuals spend way too much time, energy and resources criticizing the means, methods, and motives of other churches. There’s not much joy in that type of Christianity.[more] |
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JOURNEY TO JOY #2
God has put you in this church because he wants you to feel the incredible joy of working together with other believers in the most important work you’ll ever be involved in. [more] | | JOURNEY TO JOY #1
Philippi was a good church and Paul was proud of them. In many ways this letter is different than Paul’s other letters
No harsh warning -- No dire predictions, No looming disasters. It’s not perfect, they have their issues, but for the most part Philippi is a church to be proud of. So why even write a letter – because Paul knows that good churches can go bad.[more] |
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WHEN CHRIST RETURNS – WRAP UP
I see the destruction of Jerusalem as the visible end of the Old Covenant
No longer could sacrifices be made
The temple was no longer standing
And although Jesus made invalid the sacrificial system of the OT, it became real in AD 70[more] | | WHEN CHRIST RETURNS: KINGDOM COME?
Regardless of what we believe about the millennium it is of great importance that we take a look at our lives. Does Christ really reign in my heart? Is he the King of Kings and Lord of lords in my life? Do I take my orders from him and him alone? Do I seek the kingdom of God above all other things in my life?[more] |
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WHEN CHRIST RETURNS #3 - IDIOM ALERT
Today I want us to consider the implications of knowing the language and culture of the Bible in order to begin to understand the prophecies we read about in both the old and New Testaments. Important aspect of interpretation is to understand the language and the culture of the original documents. Anyone who has studied a foreign language knows that simply knowing vocabulary does not unsure that you will have a complete understanding of a language. Language is given meaning by both definition and culture.
When Christ Returns #3[more] [media] | | WHEN CHRIST RETURNS: PREPARATION VS. SPECULATION
When will Christ return – I don’t know. But When Christ Returns I want to be found prepared, doing what he wants me to do – loving others, caring for the needy, being an instrument of grace and love. When Christ Returns I don’t think he will quiz me on when I thought he would come back, but he will ask me what I did for the hungry, what I did for the naked, those in prison, those who sick. I pray that I can love like I am loved by him.[more] [media] |
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WHEN CHRIST RETURNS #1
John Calvin, great theologian of the reformation, wrote a commentary on every book in the Bible except Revelation. He attributed with saying, "The study of prophecy either finds a man crazy or it leaves him that way." Let's see how we fare![more] [media] | | DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
Even though I believe there are some lingering doubts and questions about miracles. You may have the same questions, you may have different ones, but here are some of my questions and how I’ve come to terms with them.[more] |
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PARALYSIS OF THE SOUL
When Jesus saw the lame man he thinks, Man was not created to lay by a pool. That’s not life. When Jesus sees a religious system that has been crippled by legalism he thinks, That’s not what this nation or what religion was created for. And when Jesus looks at us and we are crippled by tradition, or by blaming others, or by fear he thinks, That’s not life. And just as Jesus made the lame man whole he wants the same for us. He wants us to be alive!! He wants to make us better. Do you want to be better?
[more] | | PURSUING PURITY - THE IZE HAVE IT!
Satan has a strategy to lure us into sin, especially lust! Fortunatley, God uncovers Satan's strategies to enable us to devise a successful plan of attack.[more] |
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PUSUING PURITY IN A POLLUTED WORLD
By our silence and timidity, the church has allowed the culture to snatch this God-given gift right out of our hands and wave it around as if it belongs only to them. Something is wrong when church is the only place in our culture people don’t hear about sex, and it’s doubly wrong, when the only thing they do hear from us is “no!”
Leadership Journal – Winter 2006
[more] | | 3 LESSONS FROM 9/11
The anniversary of this tragic event has brought back many of the feelings we all had on that Tuesday, 5 years ago. And even though this was a national tragedy it had spiritual implications and it’s those spiritual implications that I want to discuss.
There were spiritual implications because on that day the people turned to God for answers, for strength, and for comfort. [more] |
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IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL IT'S OVER
Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish I wasn’t a Christian.”? I have. Sometimes I think it would be great to free from all the restrictions holiness puts on my life. Sometimes I wish I could just go out there and do whatever I wanted to do and feel no guilt. That’s how these people feel. [more] | | MALACHI: GOD’S CLOSING ARGUMENT #5
These are two ways that we reflect God's word – get busy doing the appeasement ritual or point the finger at someone else. What God really wants is for his word to take heart and for you to be refined when exposed to your faults.[more] |
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MALACHI: GOD’S CLOSING ARGUMENT -- LACKING LOYALTY
The Jews of Malachi's day are not keeping their word, they’re not living up to their obligations, they are not serious about their commitments and God cannot bless a community or an individual who takes commitments so lightly. He couldn't then and he can't now![more] | | MALACHI: DELIGHT OR DRAG?
God doesn’t want our relationship with him to be a chore. He really wants us to experience the great joy and blessing of having a relationship with him. God doesn’t want us to live in the muck and mire of mediocrity. He wants us to experience the delight of a devoted disciple.[more] |
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Todd Catteau has been the preaching minister for the Park Avenue Church since January 1994. Below are links to his news and articles found weekly in The Messenger, recent sermon outlines, and a sermon player to listen to Sunday messages. Sermons are also available at a separate site or by podcast/rss feed.