12.15.2025

Sermon Summary

Our tendency is to read the Bible as if we are the main character. We read it to affirm what we already know, infer our own presence as the hero of the story, and get our ego stroked by false affirmations. Instead, the Word offers another function in reading: it trains, it equips, and it shapes like fire and a hammer. The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 may be better titled if the focus is not on us, but on God. It’s a story about a father who recklessly loves his two sons. He showers the one with unrestrained celebration and offers all he has to the other as an excessive act of mercy. Our hearts are prone to connect with the younger or the older son, but the real connection is to keep our hearts dwelling on the central character of the story, the prodigal's father.

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Books Referenced in the Podcast

The Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer

Forgotten God - Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, by Francis Chan

The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World, by Rosaria Butterfield

Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life, by Jeff Vanderstelt

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus

December 8, 2025

Sermon Summary

In this message, we explore what God is doing in our generation and how He is calling His people to step into His purposes with clarity, boldness, and surrender. We are called to recognize that God is raising up a new movement marked by holiness, prayer, flexibility, and a readiness for the next outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Building on the past, God forms new wineskins to carry new wine.

Before He calls us to do something, He calls us to be with Him. We are created for salvation, sanctification, and service. Throughout Scripture we see that God shapes ordinary people into vessels for extraordinary assignments. And each calling demands a response: surrender, and the courage to say, “Here am I—send me.”

As we respond to His voice with humility and obedience, we position ourselves to be part of what God is doing now—in our generation and in His expanding Kingdom.

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus

12.01.2025

Sermon Summary

There is a great deception occurring in the church today. Many assume they are saved, but they are not. Others are saved but live constantly trying to assure themselves of this gift. Today we are talking about the great gift of salvation that Jesus won for us on the cross. We are an equipping church that gives our people resources to help examine the true life of faith. Use today's teaching to examine yourself and to walk others through the teaching if they need assurance. The testing comes through the Apostle John's letter. Five short chapters that are geared around one main teaching of how you may know you have eternal life. Let's look at a few different scriptures, and use the Word as a mirror to examine if we are actually in the faith.

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus

11.24.2025

Sermon Summary

God uses our weakness and need for community to form us and reveal His glory, and sometimes calls us to embrace our neediness. Just as Paul needed the earthly confirmation of others and begged for prayer despite his spiritual greatness, believers are taught that God's power is perfected in weakness and that growth and "becoming" often involve suffering and pain, which shouldn't be resisted as it is part of God's plan. This vulnerability is crucial not only for individual strength–because when one is weak, then they are strong–but also for true connection and submission within the church community, where relationships with Pauls, Barnabases, and Timothys are essential for navigating life's hardships and ultimately finding joy and strength, because your calling requires community.

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus

November 17, 2025

Sermon Summary

We are concluding the Slow Burn Series with our final installment, exploring a few more stories that kindle our love for Jesus. These stories, along with others in the Gospels, focus on Jesus as the central figure. Too often, we read Scripture wanting to get something out of it, focusing on our own needs instead of God's Presence. A.W. Tozer says, “The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems…” This is how we are to read the Bible, not primarily for answers to our problems, but to gain a right view of God. To encounter God is worth a million sermons we listen to. Instead of simply coming back to this series to rekindle the first love, use the tool of “Entering the Story, Experience Jesus, and Kindle the Flame” to stoke the fire. This week in your Groups, take some time falling in love with a God who is worthy of worship.

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus

November 10, 2025

Sermon Summary

The messaging of this world specializes in noise, crowds, and busyness, and we are all surrounded by it. Messages telling you to be more, that you deserve more, and to get what you want. The solution for years has been for us to attempt to suppress those desires, hoping they will go away. Rather than suppression, Thomas Chalmers offers substitution as a solution—substituting a lesser affection with a greater love of Jesus. The best way to do this is by entering the story of Scripture, experiencing Jesus, and keeping the fire of our hearts kindled. We look to John 5 as an example of how our affections for Jesus can be stirred as His power, grace, love, and vision are fully on display. As we read this story, we are reminded that whether God shows you His heart or His hand, we are being invited deeper into His presence.

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus

10.30.2025

For the Sermon Guide Review, go to 38:30

Sermon Summary

We have been in a slow burn series about stewarding the passion and Presence of God in our hearts, like a fire. Fires do not remain lit by accident; it takes diligence and time and fuel. With every encounter of God's Presence, there is an equal demand for a response. When God's Presence comes down to encounter with people, there may be two totally different responses. One response draws us closer to God, and the other draws us away. How we respond makes the difference in entering more into the heart of God, the will of God, the peace and love of God, as opposed to being bitter, immature, isolated, and weary. God doesn't change; His heart, character, and Presence remain true, absolute, and True. How will you respond?

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus

10.23.2025

Sermon Summary

There was once a gospel that shook the world around it to its core, turning over societies, bringing a revolt, and inverting the culture. This gospel that was first introduced upon the arrival of Jesus was a seriously offensive gospel, compelling many to forsake their entire life to obtain the one great prize—Jesus. We need to come back to the power and love of this message again, returning not just to its simplicity and genuine call but to the center of the Good News, God Himself. This gospel once pushed so hard on its current society it actively opposed anyone who held its message, to the point of riots, imprisonment, and even death. Paul said that he is not ashamed of that gospel, for it has the power of salvation. We need to return to the God of the gospel by identifying any false gospels in our life and evict them making room only for the one true gospel of Jesus.

You can find this week's sermon notes and Sermon Guide here: https://gracechurchsp.org/resources/sermon-guides/

Fill the city with Jesus. This is the vision not just for our church, but for our people. The city is not just a physical location, but a collection of our family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. How can you bring Jesus to your city?

——

Stay Connected

Website: http://www.gracechurchsp.org

Grace Church Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gracechurchsp

Grace Church Instagram: @gracechurch_sp

#fillthecitywithjesus