Grace-Snellville - Teachings | gfc.tv

John 14:23 - Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” How beautiful a thought that God would make Himself at home not only with us, but IN us. For Christ-followers, the wondrous reality is our God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, indwells us. He is a constant companion with whom we can enjoy constant conversation. This extravagant grace was something even His own disciples could not begin to comprehend..., until they experienced Him. The Holy Spirit is the movemental catalyst that propels believers and the church to the neighborhoods, the nations and the next generation. The Holy Spirit is mysterious, personal, controversial, knowable, essential, yet He is magnificently and majestically ours! Come Holy Spirit! Help us Journey Home! Downloads

At some point, we’ve all felt like we didn’t quite belong. But God wants to show us a place where we’re surrounded by love and approval, a place where we can find rest, protection and hope. What is it like to be at home? Because of an ancient tragedy that occurred in our family lines, our default mode of operation is living as abandoned orphans. But that can be changed—God’s greatest desire is that we would all come Home. As we continue in the third week of our Journey Home series from John 14-15, we will see how Jesus invites us to move from a life of desperate striving for approval, acceptance, and significance to a life of freedom, hope, and love. What if you could wake up every morning confident in your knowledge that you are a beloved son or daughter of God, ready to step into his mission, observing his works and doing what he does—not to earn his love—but because you already have it? Downloads

I once heard the story of a teacher who called the home of a student that had not come to school that day and said, “Is it true Billy can’t come to class today because of a cold?” On the other end of the line, a young voice replied, “Yes...” “To whom am I speaking?” the teacher asked. The same voice answered, “This is my father.” Sunday is Father’s Day, which will give occasion for many of us to celebrate, honor, and perhaps even impersonate our dads. But for some of us, Father’s Day also provokes complicated or even negative emotions. How do we see our dads well? And how does this impact the way we love our heavenly Father? As we continue in the second week of our Journey Home series from John 14-15, we will see Jesus radically reshape the way most of us view fatherhood. But these few, simple statements contain words we all need to hear because they profoundly impact the way we know God as Father. Downloads

Our culture is full of ideas about home. Magazines tell us how to have better ones (and gardens), our cliches tell us we can find it where the heart is (behind our ribcage?!?), and websites send us to a home page (though they usually aren’t very good to live in). It’s where we bring the bacon, it’s where we head after rounding third, and we all know there’s no place like it. But what is home, really? In this series, we are going to take a journey toward answering that question. The words of Jesus in John 14-15 will be our guide, and along the way God’s Spirit will lead us into a truer, deeper experience of home than we’ve ever known before. By the time it’s all said and done, we’re pretty sure this summer will definitely be something to write home about. Downloads

This Sunday we welcome Dr. Bob Roberts, Jr. to Grace. He is the founding Pastor of NorthWood Church near Dallas, TX. NorthWood has started over 173 churches in the US and is a center for training new pastors. Bob has worked extensively in Vietnam, Afghanistan, West Bank and Gaza, Indonesia, Syria, Belize and other countries. He is the author of several books including his most recent effort, Bold as Love - What can happen when we see people the way God does. He will be preaching Bold as Love content from Colossians 4:2-6. Bob is a graduate of Baylor University (BA), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div), and Fuller Seminary (D.Min). Bob is married to Niki, his wife of 30+ years, and they have two children, Ben and Jill. Downloads

The Bible is quite clear—there is an end to the Story. It’s an end to evil. An end to suffering. An end to tears. An end to feeling far from God. And yet, at the same time, that end is also a beginning. It’s a beginning of life so clear and pure and beautiful that we can scarcely imagine it from where we live in the midst of a broken world. But imagine it we must, for the Scripture calls us to orient everything in our lives around the reality of eternity. So with the help of God’s Spirit and guided by the words of one of the Bible’s most spectacular passages, we will try to imagine the life of the New Creation. And perhaps, along the way, God will even be so gracious as to let each of us taste or touch or glimpse a bit of that glory right now. Downloads

We will continue in the final section of our One Story series, and our text is from the book of Revelation. From a vision that Jesus gives to the disciple John comes maybe the most misunderstood book in the Bible. Many people come up with different ways of trying to understand Revelation and most of these methods center on what is called the millennium, which refers to the reign of Jesus on the earth. But it’s helpful to think of Revelation more like a picture book than a puzzle book. We are going to look at the picture of the Kingdom that God shows John. When you read Revelation you see the Kingdom and although there will be battles, it is going to be just fine. To get ready, read through chapter 5 and if you missed it, listen to Jon Stallsmith’s sermon from last week–it was excellent! Downloads

In Hebrews 11 we are inspired by the men and women of faith who have partnered with God in the past, being worthy of mention throughout the generations. The end of the chapter leaves our current generation with an intriguing challenge: the heroes’ works of faith in the past are not complete without...us. Unless our generation accomplishes God's calling for our lives— which means stepping into our unique works of faith— their journey will never be complete. Every generation must be awakened and play their part if we are to see God's Kingdom purposes fulfilled on the earth. You represent the next generation of leaders and your time is now. Are you ready? Downloads

In preparation for this sermon, take a moment to read the following statements and evaluate on a scale of 1-10 to what extent you and your family would agree with them: Our work is meaningful and significant. We know what we are called to do. We are confident about the people and the places God has given us to love. Our friendships and community are flourishing. We have clear direction as a family. We know the battles we are facing and engage them with faithful confidence. As we read the book of Acts, we catch glimpses of how the early church would have responded to these same statements. At times, it seems they had it all sorted out—9s and 10s across the board!—while at others, they wrestled deeply with work, community, meaning. But what does this life following Jesus look like? This week, we will look at Acts 18 to see a portrait of a group of people in Corinth working out the answer to that question in the midst of a multi-cultural, immoral, affluent city full of strong and varied religious opinions. Sound familiar? Join us as our One Story continues in the chapter of the Church. Downloads

This week, almost all of us heard the news that Buddy was in the hospital to undergo emergency, potentially life-threatening surgery. And we were shocked; perhaps we were even shaken. How could something like this happen? What can we do? What will happen next? The prayers of the saints have been mobilized throughout Gwinnett, Atlanta, Monroe, and Athens. Members of other churches and schools and businesses throughout the community have told us they’re interceding for the Hoffmans. Emails from around the globe have streamed in saying, “We’re praying for Buddy.” Thankfully, he is making good progress in his recovery and resting well. But the questions remain. What do we do when disaster is at our door? And what is God doing? What will happen next? This Sunday, we will hear a full update on Buddy’s condition and testimony of how God has been at work. We will open our Bibles to the book of Acts to see how the first believers responded to the very same questions when tragedy gripped their leaders. We will pray. And we will worship, giving God the glory that he is due because, in the Kingdom of God, even death does not have the final word. Downloads

Have you ever glanced down at your fuel gauge and suddenly discovered you were running on empty? One thing is certain, you did not find the experience enjoyable. If you are driving, there is only one solution: refuel. But what about personally? What do you do when you find yourself running on fumes? Our tendency is dig down a bit deeper and attempt to push through. That is not God’s plan. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and have it in abundance.” Sunday we are going to explore another option to toughing out and and pushing through. Downloads