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What To Focus On This Christmas

15 Wednesday Dec 2021

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MERRY CHRISTMAS! At Skyline Church it has been such a joy to experience Christmas with you this December at our Christmas Tree Lighting events, in worship, daily devotionals, and during services on Sunday. We’ve been talking about the Christmas story and how it applies to us today. Many of you may be familiar with this story but maybe you do not know how to apply it to your life. Every year, we revisit the historical story of Jesus’ birth so that it will become so deeply rooted in us that it transforms us. Because, it’s not just a story, it’s a story with a purpose. It has a life changing message for anyone who will apply it. So, this year we have been focused on the application of the Christmas story because we truly want you to Experience Christmas.

Here are three things the angels said to the shepherds for us to focus on this Christmas season:

1. Do Not Fear:

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.”

For every day of the year, there is a verse in the Bible that addresses this idea of fear. It’s almost like God knew how easily we would be tempted to hear. We talked about this a lot in our Faith Over Fear sermon series. So let me ask you, what are you worried about this Christmas season? Are you worried about bills For every day of the year, there is a verse in the Bible that addresses this idea of fear. It’s as if  God knew how easily we would be tempted to fear, hmmmm 🙂 We talked about this a lot in our Faith Over Fear sermon series. So let me ask you, what are you worried about this Christmas season? Are you worried about bills … the kids … your health … Omicron, Dexicron, Chevron … or any other variant that comes out next? The more you believe in what God is capable of, the less fear can come in!
Do. Not. Fear. 

2. Renew my faith:

“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

The good news keeps getting better and better because the bad news just gets worse and worse. Just take a look at the media. There is a large contrast from what you get from the rest of the world and what you get from Skyline Church. Good news is that you matter to God. He knows the good the bad and the ugly and he still loves you! 

Where are you in your relationship to the Lord? As we approach Christmas, we should be reflecting on the year and asking ourselves if we are closer to God this year than we were last year. Does the Christmas story sound better and better each year? Or does it seem less and less significant each year? When we’re growing in our relationship with the Lord, this story should cause greater and greater joy!

3. Receive Forgiveness

“Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born for you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

God didn’t sent us a salesman. It says He sent us a Savior. He sent us a Savior because we needed one! Why?… We need a Savior because Heaven is a perfect place where only perfect people are allowed. As you know, at Skyline Church, no perfect people are allowed here. Do you see the dilemma? Some of us are grading ourselves on a curve––thinking, I’m not as bad as that guy. But no one except Jesus has lived a perfect life. He is the only One who can get you and me into heaven (John 14:6). The angel brought great news “… for all the people.” We’re a church for imperfect people, because all people need to know about the one person who can get them into heaven. Jesus.

Maybe you’ve seen the famous John 3:16 verse on a bumper sticker or sports attire, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” But verse 17 is just as important as 16. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” God says He came to give forgiveness. This presents a huge opportunity for you and for me to restore our relationship with Him. And maybe you missed our Relationship Rehab series, and Jesus isn’t the only relationship in your life that needs reconciliation.

I gave this challenge this Sunday and I want to remind you, to give someone forgiveness this Christmas. That can be your gift to God. Because He wants the relationships in your life to be reconciled. Especially with your family.

Three Kings Follow A Star

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

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Have you taken down your Christmas lights yet? Me either! For many, the holiday season runs through January 6th, the 12th day of Christmas. If you’ve never celebrated Three King’s Day, this might be the year to start a new tradition! What I love about this holiday is the story behind it. This Bible story can be found in Matthew 1, where a group of incredibly intelligent men (aka kings) follow a star that leads them to Jesus Christ, the Ultimate King!

At Skyline Church, we also follow a star. We call it our North Star, and we’re constantly realigning ourselves to make sure we’re headed in the right direction. A North Star keeps you on track when things may seem dark and dim. When you feel like you’ve lost your way, your North Star affirms that you’re right where God wants you to be. When doubt creeps in, you can rest assured knowing you’re headed in the right direction. 

A North Star is an important aspect of church alignment. Can you imagine the wise men arguing over which star they ought to follow? That wouldn’t be very wise at all. Thus, we too must rally together and align ourselves to the same purpose. If everyone is doing their own thing, you can be sure that we won’t get very far. But, if we’re all working toward the same goal, focused on the same North Star, great things can be accomplished for God’s Kingdom!
You may be wondering, what is Skyline Church’s North Star? While you may not hear us call it the North Star every day, you’ve probably heard us say … we exist to help people find and follow Jesus seven days a week. THAT is our North Star!  

We emphasize three words in this phrase. Find. Follow. And Seven. 

We emphasize FIND because Jesus did.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus said, “I have come to seek and save the lost.” And in Luke 15:7 He states, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Jesus always emphasized reaching the lost. 

We also emphasize FOLLOW. 
Once people are found, we’re committed to teaching them the relevance of scripture to today’s generation. We find and follow, we reach and teach. Everyone needs a next step in their spiritual walk. It’s the only way to keep moving forward. We have an intentional process of discipleship we take people through to help them reach their potential in following Jesus.

Lastly, we emphasize SEVEN. 
We believe walking with Jesus is something we do seven days a week, not just on Sunday. God’s mercies are new every morning and He is always doing something new. His teachings are applicable to all aspects of our life and we hope to walk through it with you every day.  

As Three Kings day approaches, I’m reminded of our North Star. Just as the North Star led the wise men to the birthplace of Jesus, our North Star serves as a compass, leading us where God wants us to go. It’s a powerful tool to get us through our darkest nights. If you don’t have a North Star, we’d love for you to join us on the journey of helping people find a follow Jesus seven days a week. 

Do You Believe In Jeremy?

06 Wednesday Apr 2022

Posted by in Baptism, Christian Habits, Church, grow, Holiday, jeremy, language of God, Salvation, Worship

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My Ant Problem

The other day, I was sitting in my backyard and I was staring at my ant problem. We live on a verifiable ant hill. So, I am always seeing ants around. Believe me. Even though I try to keep them away, they are always around.

As I was sitting there, I decided to use a few fallen Plumaria leaves to redirect the ants and I sort of laughed to myself because the ants had no idea what I was doing. And then I got deep. I remembered the verse in Proverbs 3:5-6 about how God directs our steps and it made me think that we don’t even realize how often God is actual directing our steps. 

Do You Believe?

And then I noticed two ants had gotten on my hand and as I watched them my mind went even deeper. I thought to myself … what if one ant said to the other ant, “Hey, do you believe in Jeremy?” The second ant might respond, “Jeremy? That’s a myth.”

Am I the only one who does this? 

And then I wondered, how could I resolve this dilemma and prove that I exist? Only if I, with all of my knowledge and intelligence about the world, entered their world as an ant. 

An ant has such a finite mind that it could never comprehend what I am as a human being. When I become an ant and I come down to their level that’s when they’re going to realize that Jeremy exists. 

As Easter approaches, we’re reminded that just a few months ago we celebrated Christmas representing the fact that the mission began when God became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14). But on Easter, we celebrate the fact that the mission was accomplished! He came, He lived as one of us, He died for us and then He showed His power as God and He came back to life to prove He is God! 

Believe and Experience Good Friday

We Believe In Jesus!

Man could not comprehend God, so God became man. I guess if God wanted to relate to cows, he would have come back as a cow. If He wanted to relate to birds, he would have become a bird. If He wanted to relate to cats … well, even God can’t do that, cats are satan’s spawn! 🙂 

Believe and Experience Easter

I’m so glad that God took the time to come, to die, and to live … for you and me! I want to encourage you to celebrate Good Friday with us at 7:00PM at our Rancho San Diego campus and join us for Easter services in person and online at Rancho San Diego at 8:00am, 9:30am, and 11:00am; and at 9:00am and 10:45am in Lakeside–because we BELIEVE IN JESUS! 

2022 Word Of The Year

05 Wednesday Jan 2022

Posted by in Challenge, Church, Decisions For Christ, Holiday, Oikos, Salvation, small groups, Volunteer, Worship

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Every year I pray and go through a process for a Word of the Year for our church for the coming year.  For 2021 God gave me the word THRIVE. In all the chaos of the season when people were suffering and reeling from Covid and all the governmental mandates and division that came from it, people were just trying to survive in 2020.  We decided that wasn’t good enough, and God made it clear that we are to Thrive. We have certainly experienced a thriving at Skyline Church. Over 1,176 decisions for Christ, 233 baptisms, over 15,000 people at Christmas nights––we’re seeing God move, and Skyline is thriving with more and more people! Over the last several months as I’ve asked the Lord for the word of the year for 2022, it became clearer and clearer that Rooted is the word for Skyline Church.

2022 Word Of The Year: Rooted

Def:  To establish deeply and firmly 

I believe the main reason God gave me this word is because we have so many people that have made a decision for Jesus but are not connected any more than a Sunday service. Pre-covid the national average for church attendance was 1.3 times a month. This is someone who claims to be a Christian and claims a home church! There’s no way to establish a deep and firm root base at 1.3x a month.

Rooted In Scripture

At Skyline Church, we’re not interested in building a crowd. That’s where it starts for sure, and of course we want to see crowds of people saying YES to Jesus. But we don’t just want a Sunday event, we want a Sunday fellowship! We want to truly help people get rooted in their faith, rooted in the church, and rooted in our community.

We have to disciple people and show them how to live out the process. Colossians 2:6-7, “And now, just as you (1) accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must (2) continue to follow him. (3) Let your roots grow down into him, and (4) let your lives be built on him. (Result: 5) Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and (6) you will overflow with thankfulness” (Emphasis mine). 

Process

We see the process stated above in Col. 2:6-7. It all starts with a decision for Christ. But then, our work really begins. We’ve got to help them get connected and rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to teach them how to build their lives on Him. Only then, will their faith grow strong in the truth they are taught and that will cause them to overflow with thankfulness.

Are You Rooted?

I’m asking you to think through what rooted means in your walk with Christ. How can you get more rooted and how can you help others get more rooted (more connected) in 2022? Do you need to root yourself, your children, and your family? While we’ll always be focused on our Oikos, this year Skyline will be even more intentionally focused on helping people grow deeper roots whether they are brand new to the faith or have been a Christian for many years.

The first teaching series of the year will be called Rooted and it begins this Sunday January 9. We will look at key biblical practices that help people get rooted in the faith. Join us this Sunday at Skyline Church in Rancho San Diego, Lakeside, Kansas, or Online. 

This is going to be a GREAT YEAR as we see more and more people establishing deep and firm roots in their faith!

Beat Anxiety, Depression and Omicron

02 Thursday Dec 2021

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How do you beat anxiety, depression, coronavirus variants (omicron…really? come on!) and the negative news we get every day from the lamestream media?

The attitude of gratitude is a powerful pill against viruses of all kinds.

Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is more than a one-time holiday during the year. Biblically, we’re to give thanks consistently to the Lord. One verse that I repeatedly come back to is Psalm 107:1. “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His faithful love endures forever!” You cannot go very far in Scripture without being reminded of the importance of being appreciative. Being grateful is seeing things from a heavenly perspective. And as we approach the Christmas season, I want to encourage you to keep the heart of gratitude going strong into next year no matter how many variants or negative news viruses attack us next year.

During Thanksgiving, you likely gave thanks for what you have or what God has done for you throughout 2021. But today, I want to encourage you to give thanks for what God is doing right now that you may not be aware of. The ultimate form of faith is thanking God in advance for what you’re asking Him to do in the future. If you wait until after it happens, that’s not faith––that’s gratitude. While it is necessary and appropriate to thank God for what He has done, faith is thanking God in advance, trusting that He’s working right now as you wait for the answer to your prayer.

Expect God To Move

In Romans 4:20-21 it says, “Yet Abraham did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.” Abraham thanked God before it happened!

Let me ask you, in the situation that you are in right now, what are you expecting God to do? We’re all in a situation of some kind. Some of us aren’t expecting God to do anything. The Bible says, “According to your faith let it be done for you” (Matthew 9:29). Maybe God gave you a dream and when you went after it, you experienced delays and difficulties. That’s to be expected. But now you’re at a dead-end and you’re discouraged. 

Keep The Faith

Your next step is to keep the faith … expect God to move because being grateful displays our trust in the Lord. He may have a different answer than the one you are expecting. Hebrews 11:39-40 tells us that, “…yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us… sometimes the answer we thought we needed does not come because God has something better in mind.

Remember what God can do because He can do ANYTHING (Ephesians 3:20). Rely on Scripture. Memorize it! Here is one I’ve spent a considerable amount of time meditating on, 
“… but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

With a grateful heart, make your requests known to God and you can have a peace like no other that He WILL move. It’s a peace that cannot be explained, only experienced once you’ve stepped into that faith.

I have some God-sized dreams when I think of the future of Skyline Church. What is your God-sized dream? Dream big! And when you hit that dead-end, keep the faith and expect God to move mountains.