Journey Church :: Raleigh, Nc

There is a tension we all feel when it comes to our families, between the "ideal" of Jesus, and the "real" of the people who share your name or address. But the moment you try to resolve the tension, you lose something very important: it's not by abandoning the ideal that we improve the real, but instead, it's the pursuit of the ideal that has the most impact on what's real.

Most people would say, “I believe God exists, but I don’t know who He is, what He is like, or how to interact with Him in my life.” The goal, as we close out this series, is to introduce you to God and help you learn how to identify and recognize Him in our daily lives and then respond to Him in every way.

In a world that increasingly sees the Bible as unreliable, and even ridiculous, we must recapture the essence of its core message. Jesus is the central figure, and the resurrection is the central moment. You may have a lot of questions about the Bible, but at the end of the day, none of those things are central or relevant to the question of: what do you do with Jesus?

Christianity is seen by some as a narrow and mostly irrelevant belief system. Why? The Christian Church at one point in history was sought out for knowledge of reality. The Church was taken seriously by the wider culture. In many circles, that is no longer true. So is Christianity too narrow?

You may find yourself disappointed with God and/or your circumstances. We just don't have the mental and spiritual capacity to comprehend the meaning of all the circumstances of our lives. At the end of the day, it's a choice of trust or despair. Are you going to trust the God who loves us, who's in control, who wants to deepen our faith or are you going to live a life of despair over questions that you can't answer?

By and large, people are not rejecting the concept of God’s existence in our culture, they are rejecting organized religion and the institution of the church, particularly Christianity. People have found the God they inherited from Christianity to be unable to withstand the rigors of the real world and of adult life, but the truth is that many of us learned versions of God that are false versions or at best incomplete versions of who He is. Just because this version of God doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist.

In the first three weeks of this series, we have learned how to recognize, clarify, and respond to the voice of God through the Holy Spirit. But what if, after intentionally engaging and listening, there is still a lack of clarity, what do you do?

We have learned that the Holy Spirit is our power source for not only living the life of a follower of Jesus but also for clearly hearing the voice of God. This past weekend, Pastor Jimmy worked to get extremely practical in how to enhance your intimacy and clarity when it comes to hearing the voice of God in your life.

When throwing a baseball, follow-through is everything. Without it, there isn't power, accuracy, or velocity. Follow-through is also a big deal when it comes to hearing the voice of God in your life. Once you determine what God is saying to you, then how will you respond? Your response is the follow-through and it's rooted in obedience.

In our day, God is always speaking, acting, and working. If that is true, then why do we struggle to hear Him? Sometimes it is the fact we are consumed with self, sometimes it is the noise of all the voices around us, and sometimes it is because we refuse to own up to our sin and walk away from it. Whatever the reason, it does not change the character and nature of God. God desires to speak to us and has given us the Holy Spirit to speak truth to us and through us.

We all face storms and the darkness of the storm can make it difficult to find God. God is not as interested in our comfort as He is in our character. He is developing us to be more like Jesus. This does not mean that all suffering comes from God, but He can and will use all pain, testing and suffering to develop and grow you into being more like Jesus.

If you are a follower of Jesus, then you are an agent of the King. No matter where you are, you are called to represent God's kingdom. and God wants to extend His kingdom to all areas of your life.

Awareness of who we are in Jesus and what we have in Jesus alone isn't enough. Awareness of our enemy's tactics and his battle for our mind alone isn't enough. What makes the difference is when we act from who we are and what we have. It's time to act on your awareness.

We are living in an epic story that God wrote at the beginning of time. God, our enemy, Satan, and you, all play roles in that story. During this series we want you to understand that there are “unseen realities” that are at work all around you that are fighting for you and give you tools in order to be victorious. Understanding how to gain victory over your enemy begins by becoming aware that you have an enemy.

We don’t have control over how or when we die, but we do have total control over how we live. How would your life change if you knew you only had thirty days to live? How would you want to be remembered? What impact would you want your life to have? If you lead the Jesus life, you will have a legacy worth leaving.

We are going to dive into the day-to-day reality of our lives and how we make decisions. Our decision-making is where the rubber meets the road. It’s where self-denial and priorities are fleshed out in everyday life.

We began the Switch series by introducing the idea of self-denial versus self-improvement in the new year. This week we explore what it would look like to deny ourselves for the sake of others. God is calling us to love, serve, and disciple those around us.

At the beginning of the year, we are thinking about the person we are becoming. What if the best version of you had nothing to do with you? What if self-improvement is the wrong starting point? What if a better starting point was surrender? Jesus wants bigger and better for you, but you won’t get it as long as life is all about you.

At the start of Journey, we decided that we wanted to partner with fewer organizations and people around the world and really establish a true partnership with them so that we could truly invest in and see them as extensions of who we are. Here is a look at just some of the things your generosity has helped support over the last 12 years.

We are in a unique position to have a national impact for the Kingdom of God. We have been entrusted with this position of influence that could potentially contribute to a national movement that produces a revival in these last days.