Celebration Center

Prayer is not the least we can do; prayer is the best we can do. May we be quick to respond to the brokenness of our world with targeted prayer and powerful faith. With thankfulness in our hearts that God hears the prayers of His people, we must be quick to bring our concerns to Him.

The world needs genuine followers of Christ who are ready to respond to the injustices in the world. Life comes at us fast, and often we don’t have time to think before we respond. We need to be ready to react from a place of deep faith and strong convictions. Keep an eye out for darkness in the world that is in need of light.

We have an amazing responsibility as followers of Jesus to be quick to share the hope that we have with others. When we have so internalized our love for God, we can respond to others with gentleness and respect, trusting that God will make himself known to them. We must prepare our hearts and live ready to share the hope we have in Christ.

It is easy to get “stuck” in life. We can experience things that so impact our lives that it is hard to move forward. It could be the loss of a loved one, it could be our own failures, it could be someone else’s failure and we just don’t know how to move forward in life, we are stuck. It could even be something that was spectacularly good. We are uncomfortable with the changes and transitions that come in our lives. We want what used to be but since things have changed, now we are stuck. How do we move forward. God has made certain promises and decisions that free us up to move forward in life. We are “Stuck No More”.

The most important aspect of being ready is having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We do not know when He will return, but one day He will. We must all take an honest assessment of our hearts and lives and ask ourselves if we have placed our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus and the saving work He did on the cross. Once we make this decision, we don’t have to be afraid of anything that might come our way.

In the midst of a 3 year drought, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to ask their gods for rain.  He could see that it was a big ask, and that only a BIG GOD could deliver.  He offered up a mighty prayer to the only one true God in a huge moment, showing us that God is ready and able to rain down blessing on us if we are willing to faithfully make the big ask with the right heart.

Ask anyone and we’ll all answer the same—we want to be free.  But what if the thing that’s chaining us up lives inside our own minds?  In this message we’ll look at Jesus’ heart to free us from worry and explore two shifts in thinking we can make as we accept His invitation to a freedom we would never find on our own.

The Golden Rule, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” (Matthew 7:12) We all know the rule, but do we really follow that rule? Sometimes we don’t think about what we say, do, or post online, when in reality we should always be making sure that our actions, words, and posts are done with this question in mind... “Would I say this if the person was standing right in front of me, and is what i am saying or doing bringing out the BEST in people?

One way or the other, there comes a moment when you need to cut the rope and take a step or a leap of faith. At the end of our lives, according to psychologist Tom Gilovich, 84% of our regrets will be the things we would have, could have, and should have done but did not do. It’s not the mistakes we made, as painful as that is. It’s the opportunities we miss. Yes, you will experience a few fails, a few falls. But cutting the rope is the way we cut the ribbon on our dreams. We aren’t called to play life safe, we are called to take risks!

How you do anything is how you’ll do everything. God has given each of us dreams in life, and called us to various ways to serve Him. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy and make excuses like “I don’t have the time, money, skills.” Actually, you have everything you need, you just have to start small and be consistent, and watch how He faithfully steps in every time!

Almost anyone can accomplish almost anything if they work at it long enough, hard enough, and smart enough. If we set our sights on accomplishing a goal, God has said that we can accomplish almost anything we set our minds to, the trick is to set good Godly habits to help us along the way.

When we set out to Win the Day, often we are faced with daily challenges, and some of those come in the forms of our fears. Fears can be big, or small, but fear has the ability to cripple us if we don’t learn to overcome it, and we do that by taking one step at a time. Something we need to realize is that You have to take the FIRST STEP of faith, and then God reveals the second step.

Life happens every day, and we have to choose. Do we accept life as tough, or do we see it through a lens of victory? If we want to see change in our lives, we have to take a step and change our story. God is always working and moving, so do we give Him the reigns and let Him steer, or focus on the bad and become subject to our situation?

Jesus and Peter gave us an amazing example to follow by looking at several interactions between them when it comes to discipling someone. There is not one single way to make a disciple but there are specific things we must do if our disciples will become disciple makers themselves. Today we will be learning what to do once you’ve found someone to disciple… its something that ALL of us can do!

God has intentionally placed us around the people in our lives to share with them about Him. John 4 shows how Jesus did this in his encounter with the woman at the well, with truth and grace. We have the ability through Jesus to be equipped and empowered to take next steps with the people they have been praying for, and show them the truth about the God who loves them more than anything!

The first habit of a disciple maker is a vibrant prayer life. Whether you are a prayer warrior already or you struggle to keep your mind focused while blessing the meal, God will meet you where you’re at. Disciple Making is a spiritual activity that the devil doesn’t like and our greatest weapons are the Word of God and prayer. Today we will learn some practical prayer habits that are the first step from moving from the thorns of busyness to the fruitful good soil that produces a harvest.

We often know the process of being close to Jesus and making that jump, but sometimes it’s the first step that’s the hardest. As followers of Jesus we long for the “walk on water” moment, but before we ever get there we have to take the first step out of the boat.

Jesus shared clearly in the parable of the soils that there is only one soil you want to be on. As Jesus followers, we want to be on the fruitful & good soil but honestly, we better identify with the thorns. We will look at how this isn’t just a “next best” option for life, but rather that the two soils are the difference between death and life for you and generations to come.

A faith in Jesus that does not result in action is worthless. The Bible seems to suggest that true faith is demonstrated by our deeds. A powerful example of faith in the scriptures is that of the Centurion in Luke 7. This man asks for Jesus to come to His house because he believes Jesus is the only hope of healing for his servant. The centurion’s faith was not something that he only held in his heart; it was something he was willing to act upon. Jesus actually comments on how amazed he is by the man’s faith.

The early church shared a deep sense of fellowship around their belief in the risen Christ. They supported each other’s faith based on their shared love for Jesus and their commitment to living out His teachings. They shared with anyone who had a need, spent time reading the scripture, and fellowshipped together. This spirit of community was what allowed their numbers to grow each day and for the Gospel to spread far and wide. Today, believers can enjoy the community that comes from faith. Being a part of God’s family helps us experience all that God has for us.