One of the sweetest invitations of God to His people is to draw near. As the Psalmist said, “the nearness of God is my only good”. Many Christians, however, live at a distance from God. Some have become disillusioned because they have prayed a lot but it has not resulted in the joy of nearness. Why? This message teaches the important association between nearness and thinking rightly about sin. Psalm 34 tells us the Lord is near to the broken and contrite. We must address our sin thoroughly to experience intimacy with God. We can’t deny sin, downplay sin, justify sin or compensate for sin. Sin must be viewed as exceedingly sinful and a thing never to be tolerated in our hearts because sin hardens us and separates us from God. When we cultivate this sensitivity to sin we find mercy from the Lord and the tangible nearness of God’s presence becomes our delight.
God is For Providence
In everything we do at Ren, we are aiming to move people into the full expression of who God created them to be. People within the church are experiencing all the benefits of the transforming love of Christ, but what about the people in our city who don't go to church? Just as Jesus came not to be served but to serve, God calls us to pour ourselves out to demonstrate God's love in the city of Providence. In this message, Pastor Scott lays out the vision for an urban mission initiative called Citylove. Through Citylove, urban missionaries will dedicate at least one year to serve the city and creatively communicate the message of Jesus to people in Providence.
God is Generous
We’ve all met stingy people. They hoard, they don’t like to share and it’s painful to even ask them for something we need because we know they don’t really want to help. When we view God as stingy it makes us shy and reticent to approach Him. We almost feel bad asking. This message is an overview of the different tangible ways God has demonstrated generosity to us, not only as His children but as created beings. When we take time to deeply consider the generosity of God we begin to realize it’s far beyond what even the most generous person might be. When we see the generous heart of God we naturally are moved to pray, serve, give and pour our lives out in mission for Him. When we realize that the One who has been so generous to us considers our generosity to Him a fragrance, then we are motivated to go way beyond the minimum standard.
God is Happy
It seems that for one reason or other many Christians imagine God to be mostly sad, sometimes angry and very rarely happy. Because of this perception of God as gloomy and in a bad mood it’s no wonder they don’t want to draw close. As humans we don’t like spending time with people who are cranky. But the Bible paints a portrait of a God who rejoices over creation and who delights over His people. He rejoices over us with singing, the Bible says (Zephaniah 3:17). When we begin to understand the infinite joy between Father, Son and Spirit, it changes us. It gets inside of us. We become connected to that joy and it makes us strong. We draw near with excitement. We begin to reflect that joy of God to the world around us. This message given by Scott can really transform the heart and especially affect the practice of prayer.
God is Awesome
Many of us have learned about the peace, mercy and gentleness of Jesus. But to view God in simply comfortable and manageable ways betrays much of what the Bible teaches. Drawing from the prophet's vision of God in Ezekiel Chapter 1, REN elder John Michaelson challenges the way we often miss viewing God with awe and fear — full of mystery, grandeur and glory and worthy of our reverence.
God is Living Water
Many Christians testify that things like prayer, study of the Word and worship are not enjoyable. Despite not being their favorite thing to do many will do these things out of obligation because they know God wants them to. But does God get any pleasure from our begrudging service to Him? This message explores the wonderful promise of God to give us joy in His presence. We were created to know God and enjoy Him forever. God wants us to be happy. He promises to supply rivers of living water for our fulfillment. He is the Good Shepherd who leads us into green pastries and beside still waters. He doesn't force this joy upon us but warmly invites us to come to the waters and drink deeply of all He is.
God Is Love
One of the most effective ways the enemy weakens people and causes them to withdraw from God is through condemnation. Many of God's people struggle to believe that God loves them, likes them and really wants them. The Scriptures are abundant in declaring that God is passionate in His love for us. He has deep affections toward us. God's burning love extends to all people including the Church, those who have drifted away and every kind of sinner no matter how great their sin. God's love is like an ocean depth and cannot be quenched. At the end of this message Scott talks honestly about the need to pursue a genuine encounter of God's love that will transform the heart.
Knowing God
This is the first message in the "God Is" series, laying a foundation of what it means to know God. It's easy to think that knowing God equates with mere head knowledge but the Scriptures teach that the eyes of our hearts can be illuminated and we can experience who God is. This call to know God is not reserved for a select few but is open to all people. More than anything, this world needs men and women who know God intimately. Knowing God changes us and changes the world around us! Scott ends the talk with some practical insights on the way to know God and especially presses the importance of making the pursuit of God our one supreme passion in life. We exist to know God. This is a good message to ignite a fresh hunger and thirst.
Standalone Sermons: Our Glory
How does God regard our need to find significance, to feel valuable and confident? And what are we supposed to do with this need? Our guest missionary, Lorenna, discusses a story in the life of King David to find answers to these questions. Ultimately, it is Jesus’ death on the cross that unleashes the greatest confidence and the deepest humility we could ever experience.
Talents
Every human being created by God since Adam has been given life and breath and varying amounts of time, energy, gifting, opportunities and so on. Each person is responsible to do something to honor their Creator with what they've been given. God calls all people to Himself and each person chooses to respond in different ways. That's the point of the parable of the talents. What we do with what we've been given determines our end. This is a challenging message that aims to stir hearts toward greater stewardship and aims to awaken the person who presently is not truly serving God.