One City Church

Frequently, when we read scripture there’s a difference between the people’s experience with God then and people’s experience with God now. When it comes to God and His church, most people are asking this question: Is There More?

It’s a valid question. The answer is "Yes!" The pages of Scripture and testimonies throughout history, prove one hundred percent that the answer is “Yes!” In this series we will look at the third member of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, the Holy Spirit is frequently misunderstood and taken out of context. It is our goal in this series to give you a confident understanding of WHO the Holy Spirit is and WHAT the Holy Spirit does.

Again, our aim isn’t to over emphasize the Holy Spirit, but we are tired of under emphasizing the Holy Spirit. Once Jesus ascended, He gave us the Holy Spirit to indwell us for the purpose of guiding us, growing us, and gifting us. Listen to this series, apply the truths, and you will discover, there is more.

In many respects the church feels outdated and out of touch with today’s values and beliefs. That’s true from man’s perspective, but that’s not true from God’s perspective. God’s church has faced all types of adversity and opposition through the years, but the church has done more than survive.

In fact, God uses the challenges to purify and prune His church.

Ultimately, that means God purifies and prune us because we are His church. We are the family of God, the sons and daughters that He uses to reveal His glory and to increase His goodness.

When we battle doubt and even discouragement, it is vitally important for us to remember of Jesus said in Matthew 16:18b, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Listen to this message and regain your confidence in Jesus commitment to build his church, to build us to be people who advance heaven and stop hell.

In this second message in the series Understanding God’s Delays, we wrestle with the big questions. Why does God push pause on His promises to us? What good is to be gained from going nowhere? What am I supposed to do in the doldrums of delay?

From this well-known passage in Isaiah, William explores an unconventional path to not merely surviving delays but finding purpose, power and engagement in them! This message will open your eyes and expand your horizon of hope for what God intends for you.

In this second half of our series on Timing, we will turn the tables from looking at our role in stepping out in faith to look at Scripture to understand what often feels like God’s delays. If you have prayed for anything and not seen an answer, it can leave you frustrated and confused. In this message Karin looks at God’s encounter with Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:1-15 to explore the timeless truths that can help us trust in a good Father even when we don’t understand His timing.

When you think about an Easter message, what do you think about? If you have history in church, then you might think, I know that story. Yes, I venture to say that over 90% of people know the story about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, what percentage of people have experienced the power of Jesus’ resurrection personally? That is a radically different question.

This message isn’t about Jesus’ resurrection as much as it is about your resurrection. Jesus’s resurrection is about so much more growing up or growing wise; it is about walking in newness of life (Rom 6:4). Tune into this message and find out how you can live out these five truths from Romans 6:1-23.

(1) Walk in newness of life (6:4).
(2) Be set free from sin (6:7).
(3) Believe that you will live with Him (6:8).
(4) Consider yourself Dead to Sin and Alive to God (6:11).
(5) Become Obedient from the Heart (6:17-18).

In this fourth message, we consider the critical role of attention in seeing and seizing opportunities. In consideration of Palm Sunday, we take the events of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, as described in John 12:12-19, and pose 3 distinct challenges Jesus faced and learn from the Master how to handle them.

While it’s easy to look at the moments leading up to and following this historic day with eyes of praise for the King and songs of joy, there is a very different and very powerful narrative underlying this time as experienced from the perspective of Christ as He started the clock

counting down to His ultimate trial and crucifixion. We will dive into the 3 traps that could have caused Jesus to miss His own opportunity, and why that is very relevant for us today.

In the third message of this series, we will look at the need for restoration.

All of us miss the wave from time to time. Some waves are bigger and stronger than others. Wipeouts are not only possible, but if you surf long enough, they are also probable. Some wipeouts have an easy recovery, while other wipeouts can destroy your confidence and courage.
If Peter was a surfer, he would be known for the extremes. He had some major wipeouts, but he also had some wild rides. In John 21:1-17, we’ll look at Peter’s three denials, but also his three affirmations. This passage is one of the greatest stories in the pages of scripture. It’s extremely important to tune into this message because all of us make decisions in life we regret, but not all of us recover from those decisions. This message is about one of the greatest comeback stories in history.

In the second message of this series, we will look at the timing elements of God’s vision for the Israelites in Habakkuk 2:1-4. “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”

Do you see the roller coaster in those verses? The visions waits, but yet the vision hastens to the end. There are times it feels slow, but it will not delay. Tune in as we aim to make sense of God’s timing.

Time is tricky. In some seasons, it moves too fast, and in other seasons, it moves too slowly. In the hard seasons, we might accidentally believe we are wasting our time.

In week one of Timing: Don’t Miss Your Opportunity, we will examine Joshua's life and learn how to use the time God has given us and how timing is even more important than time. Get ready to learn how to catch the waves of God’s activity. His waves will take us further and faster than we could ever go in our own strength.

In the eighth message of this series, we look at the famous passage from Ezekiel 37 about the valley of dry bones. This chapter is an amazing picture of the promised fulfilled of the restoration of God’s people to Israel.

The exiled people were dead in their idolatry. Here’s the amazing thing about the dead people; dead people can’t help dead people not be dead. They were completely helpless and hopeless apart from God’s intervention.

Once again in this chapter we see God’s amazing commitment to restoring His holy name and holy promises. However, it is important for us to remember that we’re the recipient of His commitment. God never quits. His character won’t allow Him to quit or give up on His love because He is love. He can’t stop being who He is.

When you listen to this message, please prioritize the following questions:

· What do you do as you were commanded?
· Where do you obey without compromise?
· What is the last prompting of the Spirit you obeyed?
· What is the last prompting of the Spirit you delayed?
· What looks alive in your life but isn’t truly alive?
· Where are you going through the motions?
· What do you do with your God ideas?