What do we take for granted being able to see each day? Or are there things we are still blind to even though we are able to clearly see the world around us? Having eyesight but no insight. Famous author and educator Helen Keller who was both deaf and blind her whole life said: “The most pitiable person in the world is one who has sight but no vision. The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” And I would add: “seen with eyes of faith.” We are in a sermon series called “Seen” looking at people in the Bible who were seen by God in unique ways and how that changed their life. This morning we will meet a man blind from birth and hopefully get to see what he was able to see with eyes of faith.

Everyone likes to be seen, to be found and noticed. And when we feel lost, we have the haunting feeling that perhaps no one is looking for us. That no one sees us. We are in a series called “Seen” looking at men and women throughout Scripture who were seen or found by God in a special way and how that changed their life. And the hope is that WE would also know that we are seen by God and that WE can begin to seek for others and see others around us as well just like God does.

Nobody likes to be unseen, nobody likes to be overlooked. Unchosen. We are in a series called “Seen” looking at men and women throughout Scripture who were seen or found by God in a special way and how that changed their life. Today we are looking at the life of a man who encountered Jesus named Zaccheus, a man of small stature overlooked because he was considered a sinner. And hopefully we can learn from Luke 19 about the God who sees and the God who saw Zaccheus’ life.

How Big Is Your God? You see, when we have a view of God that is way too small: we offer prayers without faith, we worship without awe, we serve without joy and we suffer without hope. And the result is a little life lived cautiously and fearfully; a life with little vision & purpose, a life without much perseverance, and a life without joy or honoring God. And it’s against this backdrop the writers of Scripture never tire of telling us God is a Big God: He’s in control, He’s unstoppable, He’s trustworthy, and He’s working for your good. (ft. Duane Cory, Lead Pastor at Deer Creek Church).

No one likes to be unseen. We are starting a new series as a church called “Seen.” We will be looking at men and women in the Bible who were seen by God, who had an encounter with Him in a special way that changed their life. And I hope by the end of the series we will all know that we are seen by God. And that we will begin to see others whom God sees who might be feeling unseen. So we start out with one of my favorite people in the Bible. And I hope she will become one of your favorite people too. She was a foreigner and a slave, used and mistreated, with no one to see her or defend her. No one to plead her case. But she was the first person recorded in Scripture to be visited by the Angel of the Lord. And she is the first person in Scripture to ascribe a personal name to God. Her name is Hagar. And she names God ‘El-Roi’ in Hebrew, which means, “The God Who Sees Me.”

It is great to gather on this Resurrection Sunday! On Easter, and every other day of the year, we must confront the fact that Scripture records that a man actually rose from the dead. And that He didn’t just crawl and kick His way out of of a botched funeral attempt, but arose out of the tomb claiming to have triumphed over death itself. And He offers that same triumph to anyone who would ask Him for it by faith as well. And not only that but the Christian faith stakes the entirety of its truthfulness on this one belief. So Easter Sunday is a day that we should either feel a great sense of pity for the poor souls that believe this man rose from the dead. Or it should be the most exciting day of the year where we celebrate exceedingly that because of Jesus we might finally be able to truly live.

We have been going through the book of Jonah as a church together. We’ve read about miraculous events. A storm sent by God. A fish sent by God to swallow Jonah and save him. But last week we discovered together from Chapters 2 and 3 that the real miracle of Jonah is the changed lives. Nineveh, one of the most violent cities on the planet, legendary among historians even today almost 3000 years later for its violence and evil repents and turns to God as a whole city in less than 40 days. What could have brought on such a change? Equally as baffling is what is it about God’s character that would let Him spare an entire city filled with some of the most heinous sinners on the face of the planet? Let’s look at the final chapter of Jonah together this morning.

We are going through the book of Jonah together as a church before Easter. Today’s chapter is everyone’s favorite part, or at least the most familiar. The part about the whale. But more than just a tale of a whale, Jonah is a tale of the miracle of undeserved grace. And of how God works in our world and in our lives and in the lives of those around us. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Chapter 1 ends with Jonah thrown overboard and sinking down beneath the waves of the storm, seemingly abandoned by God in judgement of Jonah for running away. But we join Jonah in the deep waters about to not be swallowed by judgement, but rather swallowed by grace.

Have you ever ran away from home? Maybe you wanted to but never did. The truth is, we have all wanted to run away from something at some point. And there is a part of us deep down that wants to be pursued even when we run. We are in our second week going through the book of Jonah together. Jonah is the only time recorded in the Bible where a prophet simply just runs away from God. It tells us a lot about who we are as runaways and about who God is as our Father who pursues us back.

Chances are, if you have been a kid in the last two THOUSAND years you have heard parts of the book of Jonah read to you as a child. Jonah is God’s story of a runaway prophet who He pursues with all the passion of a mother wanting to save her child. In modern times, Jonah has become just a children’s fable about a whale. Because who doesn’t love whales? We don’t like murderous empires, unpredictable deities or prodigal prophets, but kids love whales. Adults love whales. The Christian bath toy industry loves whales. There is even a Children’s book entitled: “The Whale Tells His Side of the Story.” But more than just a whale tale Jonah is a book about us. But more than that even it’s a book about God. In fact it may be one of the most important books in the Bible for understanding God. If you are struggling to understand why God is allowing things to happen in your life, you need to understand Jonah. If you are struggling to believe that God is good or that He cares, you need to understand Jonah. Or maybe you think you have God sort of all figured out. You need to understand Jonah. Or maybe you just love whales…so let’s dive in as we start our new sermon series on the book of Jonah.

Being at war changes things. It changes our plans, our priorities and our prayers. It changes how we view our freedoms. War suspends certain privileges and makes us re-evaluate life. War brings an urgency and a reorienting of all of our resources around stopping whatever it is we are at war with. It’s no surprise then, that the Bible uses the imagery of war when talking about good and evil in our world. We can say we don’t like certain things, or something is bad or messed up. But when we are really serious about stopping it, we declare war on those things that need to be stopped. Over the last few decades our country has declared war on drugs, on poverty and on terror. But somehow when we begin speaking in terms of a war with evil we as good sensible Americans begin to get uncomfortable. So what do we do with all of this war and battle imagery in the Bible? Should we try to find kinder, gentler ways to communicate Biblical truths? Or is it one of the keys to understanding our messed up world? Today we are in the last week of our series going through the book of Ephesians. And we end with one of the most famous passages of Scripture on the spiritual battle that we face in this world.

We all have to serve someone, whether that is God, the devil or ourselves. Jesus says in Matthew 6 that “No one can serve two masters. For he will either hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ____” (fill in the blank, whatever it may be for you). We are going through a series as a church called, “The Secret To Healthy Relationships,” and in this final part we will look at relationships of authority: those who serve and those who are served. And we will see the eternal perspective the Bible gives us on power and control, on service and submission.

Matthew 5:38-48 shows us that those who have a deep spiritual life with God are able to love everyone whose life intersects with their own, even those who hate them or have hurt them. (ft. Caleb Knedlik, Pastoral Assistant at Elevate Hope Centennial).

It is hard to be a parent on display, responsible for guiding your kids in righteousness and goodness. It is also hard to be a child, watching and having to obey an imperfect, flawed and sometimes downright ungodly parent try their best to parent successfully. We are in a series as a church called, “The Secret to Healthy Relationships” looking at what the book of Ephesians has to say for us in a variety of relationships. This morning we will look at the beginning of Ephesians 6 as we talk about healthy relationships between parents and children. This is one of the most remarkable passages in Scripture, equally difficult to fulfill as both parents and children - and God’s Word has something to say for all of us as His children.

We are in a series called “The Secret to Healthy Relationships,” going through the book of Ephesians verse by verse. Our passage today deals with relationships between husbands and wives. Marriage can be one of our greatest sources of joy and fulfillment. Or it can be our greatest source of pain and misery. Just like tandem kayaking. One of the articles online you can find on Tandem Kayaking is an article entitled: How to Paddle a Tandem Kayak (and Avoid Opposition, Mutiny and Divorce). And it says this: “Two people both trying to steer a tandem kayak is a recipe for misery. You can only be successful if you and your partner are willing to come together, to sacrifice the idea of full control and to exercise patience with each other’s shortcomings. If you can do this, then paddling a tandem kayak can be magnificently fun.” What the Bible will tell us today is that no matter your past, your present situation or what the future throws at you in terms of marriage there are some secrets to having a healthy marriage relationship that brings joy and laughter, rather than strife, stress and paddling around in passive aggressive circles.

Relationships can often be the source of some of our greatest joys in this life, but they can also often be a source of our greatest sorrow, anxiety and exhaustion. And the common denominator for unsuccessful relationships in our lives is simple: us. Many of us have wounds, shortcomings, insecurities and sins in our lives that make us capable of making a mess of some if not all of the relationships in our lives. We are going through a series as a church called, “The Secret to Healthy Relationships,” and this week we will look at what the Bible has to offer us as the genuine power to change in relationships; a power that doesn’t start with others, and doesn’t even start with each of ourselves, but rather starts with the God who made us.

What does a spiritual life feel like? The Psalms, and the life and teaching of Jesus, are our guides, in a world that has forgotten the truth of who we are: not just possessors, but persons. (ft. Caleb Knedlik, Pastoral Assistant at Elevate Hope Centennial).

We are a people in love with love. And yet few have any idea what real and lasting love looks like or how it acts. It would be easy to sum up healthy relationships, whether it is romantic relationships or relationships between family or friends or neighbors, with something like “All we need is love.” But that brings up the question: What KIND of love is foundational to healthy relationships? What does that kind of love look like? Are we basing our relationships on something that looks like love, but really isn’t love at all? Is that why they are failing or stressed out? We are in a series called “The Secret to Healthy Relationships,” looking at what the Bible says about how to have relationships that are strong, growing and reflect God’s best for us. And we are doing that by going verse by verse through a book of the Bible called Ephesians. Last week we talked about forgiving others and realizing our own need to be forgiven as one of the secrets of a healthy relationship. This morning we’ll talk about our second secret to healthy relationships: having a love that gives and is satisfied, rather than a love that takes and always wants more.