Life Journey Church Podcast

Today, we'll see the 4th promise of this New Covenant! It's so important that if we don't see it and believe it, we may never see the fruit of Christ's life within us being lived out through us. In other words, the key to seeing His fruit is to believe He has forgotten our sins!

Regardless of your experience with Christianity, it is very likely that you've been taught "to seek after God" and "to pursue intimacy with God." Sounds like a good thing, but what if the very thing that we've spent so much of our time in pursuit of is actually right under our nose? You see, Christianity All Natural with no add-ons reveals that we already know God in the most intimate level. The question really is, "Do we even know what we already have now in Christ?"

As we continue our series "Christianity: ALL NATURAL" we dive into the question of "What is at the heart of Christianity?" What we'll discover is the heart of Christianity is a new HEART! So many believers don't know they have a new heart. We're taught our hearts are deceitfully wicked. Yes, it was! But now it's NEW!

Who of us is without some sort of nagging sin that we hate but seem to do over and over? Maybe it's a critical spirit...a hot temper...or a sexual sin. Sin is alive in our flesh and its desires are against us. As we continue our new series, Christianity: ALL NATURAL, we see how the New Covenant is totally different from the Old Covenant. In the Old, they were fixated on their sins. In the New, we are fixated on our Savior. It's only by being fixated on the size of our Savior and not the size of our sins that our sinful habits will be fixed!

What is the basis for Christianity? Many may say "Judaism" thinking that Judaism and the Laws given to the Jews form the moral basis of Christianity. Well, that's not really what the Apostles taught! In fact, we'll see on Sunday that the promises of this "New Convent" predate the Laws given to the Jews as well as Judaism itself. That means the basis for Christianity is not Judaism, but rather some incredible promises God made decades before Moses and the "Israelites" were ever around! We are a part of something much older than Sinai. We are inheritors of God’s ancient promise to Jesus!

For many of us, our Christian experience is filled with a history of church cliches and preaching that sounded good but was not quite true. For some of us, the Bible feels like 66 books full of puzzle pieces that seem difficult to put together. However, if we let the Holy Spirit inside of us be our teacher, we may discover the amazing simplicity of the gospel. In Paul's letters we find that he repeatedly claims that his gospel message is unique and based on a direct revelation from Christ Himself. He claims that his gospel unveils a mystery about God that had been hidden through the ages but is now for the world to see. While digging into these claims may seem like a daunting task, Paul helps us by clearly describing a few basic principles concerning how to become a Christian, what to know as a Christian, and how to live as a Christian. Let's look at these specific instances where Paul seems to be making himself very clear in his communication with the early Christians. Would we pass Paul's Christi

Who among us wants to be persecuted, alienated, ostracized, or rejected because of what we believe? None of us WANTS that! But as we kick off our new series "Christianity: ALL NATURAL", we have to come to terms with the fact that if we teach what the early apostles and christians taught, we may very well get treated they they got treated. Here's the crazy part. The first and foremost persecutors of the early christians wasn't the Romans--the wicked pagans. It was the religious! The religious crowd of the day just couldn't stand what the Christians were teaching. They weren't willing to part with Moses so they could have Jesus alone. What shall our response be as we are certain to face rejection by the religious crowd of our day who embrace a "Jesus Plus Moses" mentality rather than a "Jesus Alone?"

Today more people will think about Jesus than any other day this year. But what is it truly all about? What did Jesus actually accomplish in His death, burial, & resurrection? Was it just something He did FOR us? Or was there something He does TO us when we trust Him? You see, Jesus doesn't just have life and He gives it to those to trust Him. Jesus IS life, and He gives HIMSELF to all who trust Him! Big difference. But sometimes we look for LIFE in all the wrong places. We look for life in stone tablets (the 10 Commandments). We look for life in dead works (living good lives). These are great things, but they are not LIFE. There's only one source of LIFE and it's Jesus!We invite you to come and discover the reality of our new life in Christ!

Did you know Jesus prayed for you? He really did! John 17 records Jesus' prayer the night He was arrested, and YOU were on His mind! But the most amazing thing of it all is what Jesus was actually praying about for you. From these short verses we discover something that seems almost absent in our version of American Christianity. He prays for our oneness with the Father, our protection from the Enemy, and even says that He has given us the very same Glory the Father gave HIM. We invite you to discover what all Jesus prayed for you! Do you think Jesus' prayers were answered? If so, then we have something we could never dream of having on our own--the same relationship with the Father that Jesus Himself has! Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? That's why it's called the "Good News!"

There are almost as many views on the Holy Spirit as there are denominations! To some, He's been nearly written off (of course, except to point out every time a believer sins). Whereas with others, He's become the means to wealth and health. So what's the truth?How about we check out what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit and why He sent Him! Instead of relying on what denominations and teachers say now 2000 years later, it just makes good sense to go back to see, in Jesus' own words, what the Holy Spirit is here to do! We may be surprised!

We have probably heard the story of Mary anointing Jesus with oil many times, but what if it is a symbol of so much more? What if this story has less to do with Mary and so much more to do with Jesus? For what did this anointing set Jesus apart? Is it important that this event happens the night before Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem ? Over what did Jesus triumph? How does it affect us today? We hope to answer all of these questions and gain a greater understanding of who Jesus is as we dig deeper into the words of this story.

Most of the time, when we think of Jesus, we see him as lovely, gentile, peaceful, kind, and so on...as we certainly should! Well, then there's the time He drove people out of the temple! You don't see "lovely, gentile, peaceful, nor kindness" there! You see someone so upset that He's knocking tables and chairs over. He's not allowing anyone to carry anything. He's gone mad. Or had the people gone mad and Jesus was reminding them and us today of what the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament really pointed to--Jesus Himself. Do we find ourselves today diverting from Jesus' blood alone as the basis of our ok'ness with God by replacing His blood with our works, our obedience, our efforts, our anything as the means by which we are right with Him? If so, we might need a reminder of what it's really all about!

What did Jesus mean when He said, "The first shall be last and the last shall be first?" Was Jesus acknowledging there is hierarchy in the Kingdom of Heaven, but it's just that it's reversed from the hierarchical order we are familiar with on earth? Maybe (that's certainly what most people would say). However, we actually get a completely different picture when we read the context of what Jesus is saying. What if it's not about reverse hierarchy, but rather equality? The first is the last and the last is the first! All who place their faith in Jesus get Jesus 100% equally--the same! So maybe, instead of thinking of each other in some sort of hierarchical order of first to last or last to first, maybe we should see what Jesus is saying that everyone in His kingdom equally gets Him! Isn't Jesus Himself the prize?

Let's be honest. Can you perfectly see clearly all that Jesus says you now are in Him? He says you are holy, righteous, complete, perfect, and even glorious. Can you see that perfectly? Of course not! Jesus healed a guy who was blind but did it in a unique way that shows us that even though we might not see perfectly who we are, it doesn't change who we are!

Matthew 25:31-45

So if the Law does not give life and is even the ministry of death (2 Cor 3), then how do we know what to do? How do we know what is sin and isn't sin? Jesus answers that in His own words! Looking to law to know how to live produces weariness and is heavy-laden, but Jesus promises REST to all those who come to Him to find how to live! Which do you want: a weary and heavy-laden burden or REST?

Is the parable of the Good Samaritan meant to motivate us to try our best to love as many people as possible, or is it a parable of life and death?

We're looking at some of the "hard teachings of Jesus." Today, Jesus tells a man that the only way to have eternal life is for him to sell all his stuff and give it to the poor. What does that mean? Why didn't the Apostles write about that? I thought salvation was by grace through faith? What is Jesus saying?

What do you do when you read Jesus saying things like He says here in Matthew 18? Do we shake in our boots? Do we double down our efforts? Or do we thank Jesus that we are not under the Old Covenant that He is teaching for we are under grace and not law?

The "hard teachings of Jesus" - What do you do when Jesus calls a woman a dog?