Grace Community Church Sunday Morning Messages

VBS Sunday - Exploring God's Nature | Sermon 6/7/26

Adults and Kids have spent the week learning who our great God is by EXPLORING HIS NATURE!  *God is our Creator *God knows everything and is our safe place *God is love *God is forever.** From Genesis to Revelation, we surved the whole of Bible to explore the nature of God and what that means for us in our everyday. We see in the beginning how God is the only one who can create from nothing. Each of us has been created in His image reflecting the artistry of our amazing **Creator** God. In the Psalms we learned an incredible truths; **God knows every single thing about us and that we are safe in His presence and promises.** When Jesus came to earth He fulfilled so many promises and demonstrated the power of God's love for His creation. **God's love is more powerful than anything!** We see in Revelation that God's Kingdom, love, and promises will never end. **God's presence is everlasting and He will be the Shepherd of His people forever**.   ------------------------ Celebrate with us these truths that are for all ages and stages of life. From children to adults, we all can rest on the unchanging, amazing nature of God!  Let us give thanks and praise to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever! ------------------------ Prepare for this week’s teaching by reading **Psalm 103, 139, 136, and 115**

Letters to the Churches week 8 - Laodicea | Sermon 5/31/26

Laodicea, an important city of the Roman Empire, had a serious issue with drinkable water. Hot Springs filled with impurities were a main source of water for the city. Archaeological excavations have revealed an attempt to bring water from an outside source in through stone pipes containing limestone deposits which would have contaminated the water for drinking.  Just as lukewarm water is useless, the church in Laodicea is useless to Jesus. Dependency is a sign of maturity for a Christian. The danger of wealth is that it has the potential to create independent people. They may feel competent and successful but they are in actuality poor, and pitiful. Jesus strong words are a love gift to wake them up and reset their lives onto a new trajectory. They need only to repent, turn away from self-sufficiency and turn back to Jesus! ------------------------ By now we can see each church named is located in a real place with real temptations, hardships, and opposition. This is how it is for all Christians in all centuries – for we do have a very real enemy and this world is not our home. Additionally we have also seen how Jesus uses illustrations from the reader’s own environment to communicate deep spiritual truths for greater understanding among its hearers. He did this all throughout the gospels as well!   In Summary: • **Ephesus – drifting church:** right doctrine but did not have love • **Smyrna – suffering church:** going through persecution—encouraged to stay faithful • **Pergamum – compromising church:** held to the truth—exhorted to not compromise • **Thyatira – tolerant church:** tolerance led to unfaithfulness • **Sardis – defeated church:** apathy and material wealth lead to defeat • **Philadelphia—suffering church:** going through persecution—Jesus reminds them of His love. • **Laodicea—lukewarm church:** apathy and material wealth lead to uselessness The pattern laid out in these letters is: *who Jesus is, who the church is, exhortations and promises.* Let us take to heart the condition of each church, examining our own walk and the culture of our own church against each possible state. Let us receive both Jesus' words of encouragement in suffering and His warnings in apathy. Above all else let us wake up to and rejoice in our “great need for a Saviour and a great Saviour for our need!” (Spurgeon) Prepare for this week's teaching by reading Revelation 3:14-22

Letters to the Churches Week 8 - Laodicea | Sermon 10:30am

Laodicea, an important city of the Roman Empire, had a serious issue with drinkable water. Hot Springs filled with impurities were a main source of water for the city. Archaeological excavations have revealed an attempt to bring water from an outside source in through stone pipes containing limestone deposits which would have contaminated the water for drinking.  Just as lukewarm water is useless, the church in Laodicea is useless to Jesus. Dependency is a sign of maturity for a Christian. The danger of wealth is that it has the potential to create independent people. They may feel competent and successful but they are in actuality poor, and pitiful. Jesus strong words are a love gift to wake them up and reset their lives onto a new trajectory. They need only to repent, turn away from self-sufficiency and turn back to Jesus! ------------------------ By now we can see each church named is located in a real place with real temptations, hardships, and opposition. This is how it is for all Christians in all centuries – for we do have a very real enemy and this world is not our home. Additionally we have also seen how Jesus uses illustrations from the reader’s own environment to communicate deep spiritual truths for greater understanding among its hearers. He did this all throughout the gospels as well!   In Summary: • **Ephesus – drifting church:** right doctrine but did not have love • **Smyrna – suffering church:** going through persecution—encouraged to stay faithful • **Pergamum – compromising church:** held to the truth—exhorted to not compromise • **Thyatira – tolerant church:** tolerance led to unfaithfulness • **Sardis – defeated church:** apathy and material wealth lead to defeat • **Philadelphia—suffering church:** going through persecution—Jesus reminds them of His love. • **Laodicea—lukewarm church:** apathy and material wealth lead to uselessness The pattern laid out in these letters is: *who Jesus is, who the church is, exhortations and promises.* Let us take to heart the condition of each church, examining our own walk and the culture of our own church against each possible state. Let us receive both Jesus' words of encouragement in suffering and His warnings in apathy. Above all else let us wake up to and rejoice in our “great need for a Saviour and a great Saviour for our need!” (Spurgeon) Prepare for this week's teaching by reading Revelation 3:14-22

Letters to the Churches Week 7 - Philadelphia | Sermon 5/24/26

This week’s church is in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Yes that’s the tagline for the Philadelphia in the US, but we didn’t coin the phrase. Brotherly love is what Philadelphia means in the Greek. This is a place along a trade route linking Europe to Asia and where earthquakes are common.  This little church was harassed by what Jesus refers to as “the synagogue of Satan, those who claim to be Jews but are not” Jesus’ reassurance to this ‘church of little strength’ is poignant; “I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.” To be loved is a basic human need – we must have it and we try all sorts of ways to get it. When feeling crushed under the weight of pain, rejection, and suffering one of the most jarring accusations, whether it be from within or without, is the thought that God has forsaken, that I am not loved by Him. Alternately, one of the most strengthening, courage giving realities is that God does in fact love me – regardless of what the circumstances may be. God has loved me with an everlasting, unfailing, secure and steadfast love. This truth is often under attack when trials come our way. This question of being loved is common for us to ask when we are hurting. There is one place we can go for assurance of God’s love and that is the cross of Christ. It doesn’t answer our confusion or the why of our pain. But it does prove that we are in fact loved. We can trust Jesus because He has loved us. Let this truth sink in and give you strength to keep His word and declare His name. Prepare for this week’s teaching by reading Revelation 3:7-13 with Romans 8:31-39 ------ To keep the gospel in the forefront as we read these letters, we invite you to memorize Revelation 12:11: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” -----

Letters to the Churches Week 6 - Sardis | Sermon 5/17/26

Jesus has told us;   "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me….apart from Me you can do nothing. ---John 15   “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” ---John 6:60 After His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit before doing anything else. We know that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that anything a church or a pastor does bears any fruit that will last. And yet, the wealth we have as Americans enables us to function within our own power and strength – even Christian things can be powered by the flesh instead of the Spirit. This was the problem the church in had. Wealth, pleasure, luxury, and decadence are words that have been used to describe Sardis [http://www.britannica.com/place/Sardis]. Theirs was a culture of ease and comfort which prioritized earthly pleasures and afforded them easy money. If we can’t relate, we aren’t paying attention! The church in Sardis had a reputation for being alive, but this reputation was not accurate. From the outside it appeared everything was good and fruitful. A church may appear sound and successful, they may say the right things and do good deeds – all by the power of their own flesh and intellect rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus saw through all of this into what they really were – dead!   Jesus reminds this church of His authority and that it is from Him the Holy Spirit is made available to them as the Father’s gift. They need only to repent and receive Him! So it is for all of Jesus' disciples. We must remain connected to the giver of Life and we must be diligent about doing so. ------ To keep the gospel in the forefront as we read these letters, we invite you to memorize Revelation 12:11:   “*They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”* ---Revelation 12:11 ----- Prepare for this week’s teaching by reading **John 15 with Revelation 3:1-6**