August 2015

“Why Mankind Stands Guilty Before A Righteous God” Part Three

In Part Three, of this section on the Rational Sinner (Romans 1:17-32), Pastor Pete compares the rational sinners thinking to bass fishing. The Rational Sinner thinks his reason is reason enough. Jesus calls us to be fishers of men. Satan is also in the fishing business. At birth we are already caught up in the lies and deceit of the enemy and have bought into his lies hook, line, bait and sinker. There is no way to escape the net of Satan apart from the drawing power of the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul makes his case for the depravity of man that begins with a heart lifted up in pride leading to self-worship and idolatry and from that impurity and from that immorality and from that depravity and the verdict of God giving up on us completely. This is a scary place to be, to be proclaimed reprobate, where God gives us over to our darkened and sin filled hearts and lives. Listen for LIFE!



Why Mankind Stands Guilty Before a Righteous God. Part Two

“Why Mankind Stands Guilty Before a Righteous God” – (The Rational Sinner) Part Two – (Romans 1:17-23) In this second part of the passage, Pastor Pete outlines four major declarations: God’s Anger and Wrath, Man’s Foolish Reason, God’s Revealed Truth and Man’s Foolish Guilt. Salvation is truly a wondrous gift of God. We are wholly unable and unwilling to come to God on His terms. Apart from His drawing grace we would all joyfully choose hell and a life without God’s righteous scrutiny and ultimate judgment. As we approach the doctrine of Condemnation, we must do so humbly and broken over the utter depravity and unrighteousness of our fallen hearts. Only then and if God draws us, can we realize the depths of His grace and mercy and respond to His call on our lives. Listen for Life!



Why Mankind Stands Guilty Before A Righteous God

A person’s theology of sin and salvation speak volumes about what they believe about God and man. Most evangelicals begin their gospel message appealing to man’s felt needs: to be loved, to be needed, to be significant, to need approval. From there a theology is crafted, apart from the true claims of Scripture, that suggest God is responsible to save, redeem, justify and regenerate the fallen sinner. It’s as if sinners are not responsible for “falling into sin,” they are simply victims of the hole Satan and Adam left for them to fall into. If fallen humanity could only know God’s love, mercy, grace and loving-kindness in a non-judgmental, creative and loving presentation of their gospel they would inevitably respond in faith to such a compelling message. Any preaching of the cross, judgment, God’s righteousness, anger, retribution and accounting for sin is soundly rejected as being to condemning and judgmental. Isn’t it interesting, as the Apostle Paul begins this section in his book to the Romans on CONDEMNATION: Romans 1:18-3:20, that he begins with these words: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” Was Paul so naïve that he would fail to recognize the obvious marketing mistake? To start with God’s anger might suggest this message of the gospel is all about God and has very little to do with man. In fact, it is God’s righteousness and holiness that is being defended here. It is high time we as professing believers believe the gospel record as it was written and heed its warning for our hearts and lives. In this message Pastor Pete gives four declarations from God and Man’s perspectives, from Romans 1:17-23. Listen for LIFE!



July 2015

GOOD NEWS in a Bad News World: The Power of the Gospel (Part III – C)

As believers we have witnessed the alarming erosion of Christianity in the West. We have witnessed apostasy and the disintegration of the bedrock values that have made this nation great. We hear of more churches closing or in decline than ever before in our nation’s history. We feel as though the church and Christianity has lost its voice, it’s power and influence. We feel that we have become marginalized and deemed irrelevant to our culture. What are we to do? How do we regain what has been lost? How does God restore what the enemy and the locusts have stolen? As the church in America we must faithfully return to the powerful, Spirit filled preaching of the gospel without apology. We must stop apologizing for our faith and we must unleash the truth of God’s holy and powerful Word one word, one verse, one chapter, one book at a time. We must preach the whole counsel of God to anyone who will listen for our God is not intimidated with the news of the disintegration of the evangelical church in the West. He has given us Good News in a bad news world. We have been given the promise of the gospel in Romans 1:1-7; We are called to the gospel in Romans 1:8-15 and we are given the power of the gospel in Romans 1:17,18. Listen for LIFE!



June 2015

God’s Mighty Men

Younger Men, Older Men, Husbands and Fathers are increasingly coming under scrutiny and a falling out of favor in our society today. Even as professing believers we shun any authority over us whatsoever, especially male authority and headship. We are moving into a time of increasing apathy, apostasy, anarchy and lawlessness even within the church of Jesus Christ. The notion of male leadership and headship is anything but politically correct. How does the church address the attack on the family and specifically the role of the man, husband and father? We need to provide a thoroughly Biblical teaching on the role of godly men in our society and within our churches. This week’s message, on Father’s Day, Pastor Pete will address “God’s Mighty Men: How to Live With an A-Men Lifestyle” – Selected Scriptures. We will discuss eight powerful factors designed by God to make a man a mighty warrior for Jesus Christ: 1.) Men live best when they die: A-Men Die to Live. 2.) Men stand best when they kneel: A-Men Pray to Stand. 3.) Men speak best when they listen: A-Men Listen to Speak. 4.) Men work best when they rest: A-Men Work at Rest. 5.) Men lead best when they follow: A-Men Follow Their Leader. 6.) Men fight best when they surrender: A-Men Fight to Surrender. 7.) Men win best when they are willing to lose: A-Men Lose to Win. 8.) Men finish best when they start: A-Men Finish What They Start. Listen for LIFE!



“Hear Me When I Call, O God”

Remembering that many of the Psalms of David are songs to be sung in a choir with stringed instruments we can almost catch the tune here of David’s heart as he laments the heart of God and the hearts of unbelievers. Even people of faith often lose heart. We need to be reminded often of God’s presence and His heart as He pursues us we must in turn pursue Him. Often we give up and give in to unbelief and our light, joy, gladness of heart, peace, sleep and even our safety eludes us. Once again we must come to Him seeking to learn of Him and from Him, calling on Him, agreeing with Him, listening to Him in order to serve and trust Him once again. Our God is altogether trustworthy. God will indeed hear us if we call on Him. He is waiting for us… are we waiting for Him? Listen for Life!



Good News in a Bad World-Part Three

Pastor Pete in his third in a three part series on The Normal Christian Life, from Romans 1:8-14 shares the last five of ten points on the Anatomy of a Normal Christian's Life. What we consider to be normal is in truth the dysfunction of sin and possibly even ignorance in not understanding what God's expectations are for us. The Apostle Paul serves as a great example of what our new normal should look like. While most of us use our sinful human nature as an excuse for our flawed perception of normal we forget that we are in fact new creations in Christ. What God expects and inspects is for us to live supernatural Christian lives not from our will power or won't power but in the full sufficiency of Jesus Christ's life and power lived out in and through us to and for His glory. Listen for LIFE!



May 2015

Good News in a Bad News World: The CALLED to the Gospel

Have you ever wondered or considered what is the normal Christian life? We tend to compare our faith to others around us and we either feel the emotions of shame at not being good enough, as compared to the super Christians around us or we feel a sense of superiority that we at least have our act together as being better than most. What is the standard? Who do we go to so we can get an honest self-evaluation of the truth of the matter? This week’s message is taken from Romans 1:8-15 and the standard bearer for the normal Christian life is none other than the Apostle Paul himself. Lest you or I shrink from that lofty standard we must realize the same Holy Spirit that lived in him lives in us as well. What’s my, our excuse for not being faithful? Of course we are sinners saved by grace, but we must measure truth by God’s Word and His Holy Spirit that lives within us. Imagine what might happen if we were to actually take our lives seriously for the KING in His kingdom work? Listen for LIFE!



GOOD NEWS in a Bad News World

GOOD NEWS in a Bad News World. Pastor Pete continues with the sermon he started last week on the Promise of the Gospel. We will examine Romans 1:1-7, The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes hearts, can be trusted, is full of truth and power, is a free gift for all peoples and brings peace. Listen for LIFE!



April 2015

Good News in a Bad News World

Are you as sick and tired of all the bad news as I am? We live in a bad news world. It seems as if wherever we turn we are accosted with negativity and bad news. We’ve almost become numbed to it. What we all need is a good dose of GOOD NEWS. Here’s some good news for you: Jesus Christ was sent by His Father to bring a gospel message of GOOD NEWS to all who would hear it and receive it by faith! In this fourth message, in the book of Romans, Pastor Pete shares five good news truths about the gospel message of Jesus Christ. It is a great apologetic for the need for sharing the good news of the gospel message and the truth of the Jesus Christ for a sin sick, lost and hopeless world. Listen for life!