Sunrise Community Church

God has graced our church tremendously with growth in both breadth and depth. The Elders speak with the church about some exciting new oppportunities that we will begin to embark on, by faith, in the coming year. Appx. 20 minutes.

People often walk away from the church and the Christian life who have convinced themselves, "I'm just taking a break from things." What is meant but often not admitted is that person is taking a break from God. Getting to this point is a not-to-hard-to-imagine scenario - as it certainly was a stark reality 2000 years ago in the Church at Colossae. How do we, 2000 years later, begin to guard against such deception?

Through John 11:25-26, Consider the misconceptions about Christianity that the resurrection of Jesus defeats.

Throughout the BIble you get these anticipations or foretastes of the great drama of the sacrifice & vinidcation ofo God's Messiah because is pushing toward this climactic event.Such is the case in John 11. In deliving into this chapter, we can glean 4 reasons why death is so necessary for everyday living.

Having spoken about the 1st degree of Deception that many Colossians endured, Paul turns his attention to the 2nd degree of Deception:"Once it works, I put it into my system." Of course, what we call "my system" God calls "self-made religion."

The Apostle Paul reveals how he takes everything he learns about Christ and imparts it to others.In doing so, we address the question: To what extent can you truly love someone you don't know well?

Can my faith fall apart? Answers and hope from Colossians 1:21-23.

Rooted, built up, established in the midst of life's pressures and trials - this is the end goal with which the Apostle Paul begins this passage in Colossians.And he tells us how to become such a person.

As we seek to continue to learn Christ first-hand, we realize the depth of His plan and His great love for us.But if we expect to have happy endings to our life, we can only do so with new beginnings.

Paul provides a 1st degree antidote for a subtle but deadly deception.Learning about Christ may seem counterintuitive as a "solution" or as "practical advice" but from the beginning it has been God's design for growth.

Paul organizes Colossians by a 3-pronged approach: Learning, Loving, Living Christ. He does this in accordance with the 3 degrees of deception that was affecting many in the Colossian church.Pastor Ryan examines the 1st of 3 degrees of deceptions that occurs both in the Colossian church and in our lives as well: Good advice from a good source is like Good News from THE Source.

Part I of our new series:Colossians: Learning, Loving, Living Christ

Having examined the concept of "remaining" in Part I, this week we examine God’s day-to-day calling when we do remain & how walking in that will likely be the determining factor in knowing when those who/what/where life shifts are needed. 1 Corinthians 7:17-24

Where do You want me?What should I do with my life?With whom should I do it?The Bible contains a fair share of wisdom with regard to these questions and there are indeed plenty of real-life examples of God leading people according to them. But only one place definitive direction & teaching God's call in such matters - 1 Corinthians 7: 17-24.

From SCC's Christmas Day Service.

From Luke 1:35-56, Pastor Ryan shares of the only gift required to celebrate Christmas.

When it comes to prayer, we often settle into one of two extremes: (1) Some lean so heavily in the sovereignty of God that we leave prayer behind just as we leave it all up to Him. (2) Others believe strongly that humanity's freedom & responsibility to pray shapes the future.Pastor Ryan shows us, through the guidance of Psalms 4 & 5 as companion Psalms, how these two seemingly contradictory realities can actually create an opportunity to deepen our prayer lives.

Some of the both the requests we ask the most and the deepest longings that we pray are met only with silence?Why is this?Pastor Ryan gives us 3 possibilities from the details of Jesus' two parables on Prayer - The friend at midnight (Luke 13: 5-13) & The Persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).

SCC's 2nd Annual Testiomonies of Thanksgiving Service: Reflect 2011.First we let God speak to us. Psalm 107 testifies God's calling upon people from all different kinds of places & contexts of life to gather together and "say so." "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so" (Psalm 107:2).Second, the people of SCC "say so" - speaking testimonies of thanksgiving to God and to one another. A time to encourage & be encouraged. *Apologies for final 2 testimonies getting 'cut off' by the audio.