Faith Mountain Church - Old

The effect of an asteroid of great size impacting Earth are unknown. Scientists speculate and theorize that such an impact would be a death sentence for Earth. And they may well be right. Not so with a collision between Heaven and Earth. The outcome of that collision is already known. The Divinity of Heaven collided with the Humanity of Earth in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The major difference between these cosmic events? One is theorized by science as a potential planet killer...the other is know with certainty to the planet's Savior. Our Easter message this morning will take a look at what happened when the Divinity of Heaven collided with the Humanity of Earth.

We live our lives looking for that next spiritual high. That next convicting message on Sunday morning, that next camp, or next retreat. We are not meant to live on mountain tops, but in the valleys. There is a reason that nothing grows on top of a mountain. Life happens in the valleys.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 2 Timothy 1:14. So what we guard, the good deposit, is our faith... More specifically, our confidence in our faith. But what does it need to be guarded from?

Faith and love center around passion and commitment. I "Heart" Learning centers around real life. We learn to trust and love Him - we are devoted to Him. This is where our faith is less about being dogmatic in what we believe and more about being devoted to whom we believe. Its about being passionate not only about the Word, but about what God has called us to do in His Word.

We believe God is good... all the time. But do we really believe it? If God is good all the time, why does He allow so much suffering? In order to walk this path of understanding suffering in a world created by a God we believe to be all good all the time, we need to look at where suffering began.

2 Timothy 1:9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. Hid did this not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from the beginning of time. For God saved us - that was the spark for our lesson on Salvation in week one. He called us live holy lives, which led to our second week on Sanctification. That was His plan from before the beginning of time. This is the basis for today's lesson - Sovereignty.

We began last week with the idea of Salvation. We came to an understanding that it's way more important to know in whom I believe than it is to know what I believe. Once we know the who, then we can and should spend the rest of our lives learning the what. Because if you know in whom you believe and truly believe what you know about Jesus and salvation...then once you become saved, you begin to live holy lives. The churchy word for that is 'sanctified'.

Most of us know the basics. Big God. Baby Jesus. Our sin. The cross. The resurrection. But beyond that, many of us don't really know much more about Christianity. We don't actually have answers when we get asked about our faith. In our series 'I Don't Know What I Believe' we'll look at the foundation of our beliefs and build a Christ-centered confidence as we learn why we believe what we believe.

David Roberts and his wife Beth are our guest speakers with an update on their four years as missionaries to Argentina.

Last week, we learned how David had a tactical advantage against Goliath. This week, we will discuss how he had another advantage, an ultimate advantage, one that assured him a victory - the spiritual advantage of fighting with and for God. We will also learn that we also have this advantage in fighting our own giants.

As we continue with the story of David versus Goliath, we learn that the constant companion of destiny is doubt. God anoints...the enemy attacks. You take a step the the direction of your God-ordained destiny and the enemy will immediately step in your way. He'll try to block your path, or get in your head, or even use others to get in your way. He doesn't like it when God's plan comes together and he'll do anything to try and stop it.

David is a man who is so passionate for God that he will do whatever God asks. God wants men and women who are just like David in their passion for Him. They're zealous, obsessive and fanatical! They're people who will do whatever God wants no matter how small and insignificant or how massive and challenging.

Our key word last week was Anointed. This week it is Ability. The Holy Spirit we received when we were anointed by God did not come empty-handed. He came in power and brought gifts and abilities. We have been gifted by God. Each one with talents and abilities. As we continue to look a David's journey toward his destiny with Goliath, our focus will be on his abilities, his gifts, and God's expectation that we "Grow In Our Gifts".

Many of us (Most of us?) resolve to make positive changes in our lives at the beginning of the new year. We think it, we say it, we commit to it...then almost immediately, doubt begins to creep in. Before you even get started, you are waving the white flag. This is first sermon in a series aimed at showing how you and God together can win these battles, no matter how many times you have fought them and lost in the past.

This week, we learn how the season really is all about the gifts.

Faith Mountain presents the Christmas story.

God gave his best gift to us in Jesus Christ. What should our response be in this season of giving.

Pastor Ben started off the series last week talking about seasons, and how every season has its struggles. This week, Pastor Pat speaks on time - there is a 'right time' for everything.

For many of us, Christmas is a time filled with celebration, gifts under the tree, cards in the mail, and gatherings with family and friends. For others, it can be a time of sorrow and struggle. In this series, we will learn how every season offers us the chance to embrace God's presence in our lives.

We all have dreams. Dreams are good. God wants to bless us with the joy of making our dreams come true. But when it comes to thing of faith, it appears Great Christians not only have dreams similar to the rest of us...but they also Dream Great Dreams for God and accomplish great things for Him.