Suncoast Community Church Sermons

In the continued story of Elisha and Naaman, we see Gehazi attempt to get paid for Elisha's healing of Naaman. This speaks to his greed and inability to obey. We can follow his path or greed and sin in our own mistakes in life.

The story of Elisha cleansing Naaman of his Leprosy, found in 2 Kings, has many elements regarding pride that we can apply to our own lives. Naaman has to overcome his own pride to follow the directions of a prophet. Often today we have to overcome what others think of us to be able to submit to God's commands.

In this sermon we discuss generosity, as shown in 2 Kings 4:8-37. This is the story of a woman who gives unconditionally to Elisha and receives blessings in return. Through this we can see three principles of grace which we can apply to our own lives.

In Becoming CEO week 2 we pickup with discussing the price of leadership. To illustrate the compromises becoming a leader requires, we discuss the life of Joanna wife of Chuza. Though only mentioned twice in the bible, her life is an excellent example of leadership.

In this weeks sermon we discuss the story of Eli (found in 1 Samuel chapter 2), and use his story as a model for how outward leadership can fall apart as a result of poor family leadership.

In 2 Kings 4:1-7 Elisha confronts a crisis situation. He performs a miracle with the small amount of oil that a widow owns to produce enough money to get her family out of debt and provide for their future. What do we do when we face our own calamities? We need to take inventory of what we have so that we can see what we are making available for God to use.

Too often it is our need to be rescued that initiates our cry to God for help. Today God wants us to reach out to him and thank him for all our blessing and not just come to him when we are in need. We also often see that God's response is more than we anticipate, because our God is a god of abundance.

After Elijah's ascension, Elisha begins his role as the prophet for the next generation. Elisha comes to a city where the people complained about the water. With God's power, Elisha takes ordinary objects (a bowl and salt) to cleanse the water. This story illustrates how God can take our ordinary selves and work miracles.

In this sermon, we look at the story of Elijah's ascension into heaven and the transferring of his spirit to Elisha. After Elijah was gone Elisha "took up his mantel" and his spirit. We can learn from this about how we can increase our own spiritual fitness.

Life is stressful, with busy schedules, illness, relationships, finances, etc. God gave us hope for peace with his son. Instead of allowing our stress and busy schedules to make us miss out on Christmas, we need to allow the meaning of Christmas to give us a deeper understanding of our relationship with God and the world.

The christmas season often can bring stress on relationships. This stress can lead to conflict and the need for reconciliation. As we are seeking forgiveness with friends and family we are reminded of the forgiveness that God offers us. Unlike legal or relational forgiveness, God offers us redemptive forgiveness. This is forgiveness that clears a way for a renewed relationship to take place.

What can we learn today to help us reduce the financial stress in our lives? What can we do to calm the stress that comes with this season of gift giving and spending? To calm this stress and find peace we need to realize three things: that all we have belongs to God, that we are more blessed when we give, and that our eternal security is not in money but in Christ.