#6 It ends with a question

series: Jonah

title: It ends with a question

teacher: Jacob Bender

date: November 20, 2016

scriptures: Jonah 4, Isaiah 58:12, Nahum 2:10, Nahum 3:1-5, Genesis 4, 

#4 A bigger picture

series: Cultivate the Romance

title: A Bigger Picture

teacher: Jacob Bender

date: January 24, 2016

scriptures: Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 3:20, Isaiah 9:2, 2 Corinthians 5, Proverbs 31:8-9, Acts 10:34-35, Hababbuk 2:2-3, Ephesians 4:12, Mark 12:41-44

In this message, Pastor Jacob shares from his dream journal about the direction we believe God is directing Courage Church in 2016.

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#4 Grace in Exile

series: The narrative of Grace

title: Grace in Exile

teacher: Jacob Bender

date: December 6, 2015

scriptures: Matthew 1, Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 41:41, Jeremiah 29:11, Jeremiah 29:4-6, Leviticus 25:3-4, 2 Chronicles 36:18-21, Jeremiah 29:7, 1 Corinthians 9:22, Jeremiah 29:8-10, Jeremiah 29:11-14

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

This is one of the most quoted verses in the entire bible. Everybody makes this verse their own.

They speak it over their life every time things get hard and suddenly the certain things begin to feel uncertain. They speak it over their friends every time someone feels like they are in a rut, or not where they should be, or not understanding why things are they way that they are in their life. So they say “I know the plans that I have for you…”

“maybe you don’t understand your circumstances, but God has a plan, and its good.”

That is the idea. And it is true. You should speak Jeremiah 29:11 over your life, but you should speak Jeremiah 29:4-10 over your life too. And you should speak Jeremiah 29:12-14 over your life too.

Because one verse sandwiched in the middle of an amazing set of scriptures says something incredible, but everything that it is nestled between is your guide for how you get verse 11. It is how you actually see that hope and that future that God has laid out for you.

It is your guide for how you, as a citizen of Detroit but ultimately as a citizen of the city of God, can claim your inheritance as an heir of the King.

But it may be different than you think.

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#7 Goodness

Date: August 16, 2015
Series: The Fruit of the Spirit
Title: Goodness
Teacher: Jacob Bender

scriptures: Ezekiel 22:30, Genesis 1:3-4, Genesis 1:27, Ephesians 2:10, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:5, Genesis 6:9, Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3, Exodus 32, Genesis 6:17-18, Genesis 18:22-33, 1 Peter 2:20-22, John 8

Goodness.

I like to think of goodness as integrity, but with a little more punch. Typically when I think of integrity, one of the main words that comes to my mind is the word consistency. The person that you are in your home when nobody is around and nobody can see, is the same person that we see. You don’t put on a new self for the sake of the public.

But goodness adds on to that in several ways. Goodness is consistently doing the right thing, not just the same thing. It is doing the right thing when you are by yourself, and doing the right thing when you are in public. But it goes even beyond and strikes an even deeper core.

It is doing the right thing whether it is what is best for you, or it its not. Its making the right decision even when its not what you want, and even when it may have a negative affect on your life.

Goodness, as Paul uses it when he is listing the Fruit of the Spirit, is the Greek word agothosune and it means “Uprightness of Heart and Life.” Your noble heart is matched identically by your noble way of life.

As simple as this may sound as you read it in a few short sentences, there is a lot to this concept, and I encourage you to join us as we journey through it in our series “Fruit of the Spirit”

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Come and See

Date: May 3, 2015

Teacher: Jacob Bender

Title: Come and See

scriptures: Isaiah 61:1-2, John 1:43-46, Genesis 33, 2 Corinthians 5:17-19, Luke 4:16-21, John 12:47-48, 2 Corinthians 6:2

“optimum remedium contra opiniones praeconceptas”

Bengel in his commentary of the conversation recorded in John 1:43-46 between Philip and Nathaniel, uses this latin phrase to describe Philips response to Nathaniel’s question “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

It means “The best remedy against a pre-conceived opinion.” The only remedy to a pre-conceived opinion is to show him something different.

Well, we have only been here, living in Detroit for a few days now, so we don’t want to pretend like we know everything about this city yet, but one thing is for sure. We live in a place that has a lot of pre-conceived opinions formed against it.

It kind of sounds like the church.

People who draw conclusions about the church based on past experiences, probably in most cases justified. About the way someone treated them in the “name of Jesus” – someone who didn’t act like Jesus but did so while claiming to represent Jesus. And I think that its time that those people “come and see” – but when they do come and see, will they see anything different than what they saw in the past? Will we be any different than the pre-conceived opinions that they have already formulated in their minds? What will they see?

By the grace of God, when they do come and see, I want them to see Jesus.

I want them to see a place that is all about restoring them back to Jesus.

A place that is all about reconciliation.

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