Chandler First Church of the Nazarene
a Christian family sharing the love of Jesus
Sermon SummaryRead Hebrews 11:1-2, 23-29; Exodus 1-40; Acts 7:23-29
In Exodus 3 and 4 Moses is confronted by God in a pretty spectacular manner, and yet he argues with God about how God has made a mistake! We would never do that, of course. And yet…think back on some times when you have felt like maybe you were supposed to do something that seemed either crazy or impossible.
Did you talk yourself out of it? What excuses did you give?
Sermon SummaryRead Hebrews 11:1-2, 20-22; Genesis 37, 39-50; Matthew 7:24-27
Read this passage in Matthew and think about what it means to build something. What are the steps you need to take?
How far do you get just thinking about building something?
Faith can be like that. We can lay out the promises, we can practice the pretty words, we can go to church and sing about them, but if we don’t pick up those promises and actually do something with them, we have no foundation, just like that house that fell apart when the storm came.
[Read more…]
Sermon SummaryRead Hebrews 11:1-2, 20-22 and Genesis 37, 39-50
The author of the book of Hebrews wrote it to the new and struggling people we call “the Church” to encourage, educate, empower, and equip them to live a successful, fruitful life in the middle of their difficult world. A world that was oppressed by a world superpower (The Romans), added to the religious persecution by their own “father religion,” the Jews. Or, the Hebrews.
Life can be so difficult and discouraging – we all experience that, don’t we? And yet, there IS home in the middle of our muddle. This is a good place, a good time to allow God, through this chapter of Hebrews, to remind us of our hope. Because we are a people of faith.
Sermon SummaryHebrews 11:20 It was by faith that Isaac blessed his two sons, Jacob and Esau. He had confidence in what God was going to do in the future (NLT).
God remains faithful to His promises, even when circumstances might seem contradictory. Pastor Denise Burns explains how Isaac holds onto faith through the story of Jacob and Esau.
Sermon SummaryRead Romans 4
The apostle Paul has a lot to say about faith using Abraham as a blessed example. Paul makes an argument that doing things does not make us righteous. And yet, Abraham’s actions showed his righteousness.
Abraham’s faith was tested a number of times, and each of his responses was a step of faith. These “steps” are not “works” in that they earn God’s approval—rather, they are the natural outflowing of the inward faith that God counts as righteousness.