Author: Todd Baker

God has called us to a certain way of life and a purpose for life, but do we make excuses for not living that out?  Isn’t it easy to look at what God has called us to do and say “I can’t”?  What we need to realize is that is a lie.  It is only true if you were expected to do it apart from Christ and His supply.  That, however, is not case for believers.  God has given us the equipping we need to live out His mission for us.  He has supplied the trainers and the power.  Watch …

We were a mess; we had nothing good enough for God. The prophet Isaiah said it well: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like fithy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NKJV) When held in comparison to God’s holiness, our best deeds are like scribbles compared to a Rembrandt and they don’t begin to counteract the many wrongs that we have done. In Ephesians 2 we are reminded of this bad news, that we are spiritualy dead, part of an anti-God world system, under the sway of Satan, and guided by our lusts. A lot of …

We all like to think we are pretty good.  Sometimes we might think that we became Christians in part because of the good that is in us.  Maybe you think that the way to heaven is by having more good works banked up in your past that bad ones.  Ephesians chapter 2 shatters all those ideas and lets us know just how bad our congenital sin problem is.  It’s a lot of bad news, thankfully verse 4 starts with the words “But God”.  Listen to hear both the bad news and the good – the helplessness and the hope.  

There are many things we would like to ask God “Why” about, but have you ever thought about “Why did He save me”?  Or maybe for you the question is, “Why would He want to save me?”  The good news is He does, but even more than that, He tells us why in Ephesians 1 and I invite you to join me as we find those answers.

We pray for many things.  Sometimes ourprayers are spur-of-the-moment silent prayers for help, sometimes they are prayers for the health needs of others, sometimes they are brief thank-yous to God.  I wonder though, how much time is spent praying for the spiritual health and well being of others?  In this sermon, I encourage us all to follow the example of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 and pray spefically for some key spiritual needs of your fellow believers.  I give you the same challenge that I gave the church at the end of the service when I preached this: pick …

Have you ever wondered, does the God of the universe really know and care about me Have you ever wondered, does the God of the universe really know and care about me?  Does He have time for me?  Does He even know about me in this world of nearly 8 billion people?  If He does know me, does He love me or is God’s love contingent on how well I am behaving? Maybe you believe in God and have asked Him to save you, but you wonder, will I only experience His care when I get to heaven?  And does …

Possible one of the most contentious issue that has been regularly covered this year in the news is the issue of immigration.  Who should we let into our country, if anyone?  How many should we let in?  How closed should our borders be?  What should we make them do to get in?  The debate is packed with emotion and sadly, many times with ignorance.  This message doesn’t try to present a solution or a political opinion but rather it asks followers of Jesus to stop for a minute, get a more accurate view of the situation and look at the …

Jesus calls us to come and follow Him.  What does that mean? You might be very familiar with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”, and you may have even put your trust in Jesus Christ to save you.  That, however, is not the end, it is the beginning.  In this series we look at 4 stages in the believer’s walk with God.  They are taken from the Gospels and illustrated by four chairs, following the metaphor made popular by Dan …