Archive for Sermon Resources
The Bridge Podcast in iTunes
If you used to listen to sermon audio from The Bridge podcast in iTunes, then you know it has been out of date for some time now. Well, that problem has been fixed and you can now access the updated podcast!
Click here to go to the iTunes store. You can then subscribe and receive all new sermons automatically when they’re made available. Also, while you’re there on our podcast page, leave a review for others to see!
If you don’t use iTunes there are other ways you can listen to past messages.
Listen online. Past messages are always available at the podcast page. You can listen anytime!
Subscribe via email. Any time a new message is made available, you receive an email message with a link to listen online or download the audio file.
Subscribe to the RSS feed. If you regularly read blogs or listen to other podcasts, you subscribe to the feed of our podcast and access it through your preferred RSS feed reader.
If you’ve never used the podcast feature on our website before, why not take a minute and check it out, maybe even share it with a friend! A good place to start might be the recent series on prayer – all the messages in that series can be heard here.
Intimate, Persistent, Shameless Prayer
In our worship gathering yesterday, we began a series of teachings on prayer. We looked at Jesus’ words in Luke 11:1-13. I’m excited that we’ll be spending the next few weeks exploring prayer together as a church! If you missed Sunday’s message or if you want to follow along with the series, you can listen to the recordings on our podcast page.
As a “sending out” challenge, I asked that we accept Jesus’ offer to go to God in the intimate, persistent, and shameless way he teaches us in the Luke passage. As an encouragement to do that this week, I want to share with you some thoughts on prayer from Randy Orban, who’s part of our community. He sent this in an email a few weeks ago, but I thought it was especially timely:
God desires to have an intimate relationship with us; a love relationship that goes deeper and is fuller than the relationships we have with the ones we love the most here on earth.
Can you imagine having a deep long lasting relationship with your spouse, fiancee or good friend by only devoting 5 to 10 minutes a day in meaningful communication with him/her? Would you want to take the risk of raising your children by giving them sets of tasks and rules to follow while only spending 5 or 10 minutes a day devoted to developing their character and expressing your love for them?
And yet the average professing Christian spends only 5 to 10 minutes a day developing life’s most important love relationship. A relationship with our creator.
Are you praying 5 minutes? Try stretching it to 10. 10 minutes? Go for 15! The more time spent in God’s presence means the reward of being able to know God’s plan for your life while experiencing the joy and pleasures he has reserved for you.
Here’s a way to start: First, praise God for his desire to have a love relationship with you. Second, ask Him to strengthen your prayer life and deepen your relationship with Him. Third, ask Him to fill you with His joy, eternal pleasures, and knowledge of what He has made you for. Come before Him expecting to receive what you ask for!
Summer Reading: Galatians
If you do a Google search on “summer reading,” you’ll find a list of suggestions ranging from children’s classics to mystery thrillers. Amazon.com claims “everyone will be reading” The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Barnes & Noble offers Jane O’Connor’s Fancy Nancy for the kids, and Oprah’s summer reading list includes Dickens forgotten classic Dombey and Son. Whether it’s a full length novel, a magazine from the check-out line rack, or a set of short stories on your electronic reader of choice, summer is the season for people to “catch up on their reading.” The pace of the “dog days” of summer and the extended day-light hours make it the perfect time to curl up with a good read!
A few Sundays ago, I joined in with a “recommendation” of my own! The ancient letter to the church in Galatia, written by the Apostle Paul is my choice for this summer. It’s the kind of book you can read through in one setting, but it’s also the kind of book you can ponder and meditate on one passage at a time. I began teaching from this biblical book a few weeks ago (you can listen to that message here), and this Sunday I’ll be continuing this summer series.
Galatians 5:13 claims that we “have been called to live in freedom.” And what better subject for us to explore on this Sunday, July 4th than “freedom!” But it’s not the same kind of freedom you’ll hear about in patriotic songs or cable news documentaries on the United States’ independence. I want to invite you to gather for worship with The Bridge this Sunday and discover more about the true freedom offered by Jesus Christ – the kind of freedom that leads to giving your life away to something bigger than yourself! Oh, and don’t forget about your summer reading!
The “Mystery” of Christianity
I wanted to offer a follow-up thought from yesterday’s message. I hope this is an encouragement and challenge for us in the coming week!
So far, in our study of Colossians, the most obvious theme has been the “sufficiency of Jesus.” He is “all,” he is the head of the church, he is the image of God … and yesterday, we saw that he is “the mystery” of the ages. The hidden secret of the Christian faith is Christ himself! Jesus, living in you and me!
So, I want to encourage you this week to ask God to search your heart. Where are you adding to Jesus? Where are you taking away from Jesus?
In your spiritual journey, it’s all about Jesus and the fullness he brings!
Christ’s whole life in all its aspects must supply the norm for the life of the following Christian and thus for the life of the whole Church.
~ Soren Kierkegaard
