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August 24, 2025
Series: Sundays after Pentecost, Wounds That Heal
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
When it comes to the uncomfortable topic of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, it is natural to want to avoid the issue. One way we do that is to direct our attention to more theoretical questions. “What is heaven like?” “How old will we be there?” Today someone asks, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” Jesus brushes all such questions aside. Instead, he answers the question we should be asking. “How might I be saved?” Jesus explains there is only one way—entering through a very narrow door. Jesus’ words cut deep! For he teaches that it is very easy to develop a false sense of security about our standing before God based on some superficial familiarity we have with him. Jesus warns that many who think they are on the path to heaven will end up shut out. These wounding words of Jesus provide healing, pushing us toward that narrow door: faith in him.
April 6, 2025
Series: Lent, Open Door Policies
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
Topic: Christ, Crowd, Door, Faith, Finish Line, Follow, forgiveness, Fuel, Grace, Hiding, hope, Identity, Jesus, Love, mercy, Movement, Open, Passion, Peace, Policies, power, Race, Resurrection, Right, Run, Salvation, sin, Strive, Struggle, Stuff, Suffering, Thankful, Trash, Treasure, Value, Wrong, Zeal, Zealous
This week we see how our Father makes the treasures of his house available to any and all. He places them in the last place we’d expect—the trash. In God’s family, the things the world prizes and pursues are counted as worthless. Conversely, what the world rejects and discards is considered priceless and worth pursuing.
The best example of this is Jesus Christ himself. The Father sent his greatest treasure—God the Son—to earth. And many considered Jesus to be a trash that needed to be taken out. . . a troublemaker that needed to be killed. In truth, Christ is the precious cornerstone that God used to build his house, the one with the open door.
March 30, 2025
Series: Lent, Open Door Policies, Sundays in Lent
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
We assume people get what they deserve. We assume that what goes around comes around. We assume God helps those who help themselves. Those assumptions are false. God does not operate on the principle of merit but of grace. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. God never turns it off. At the entrance of God’s open door is not a Father looking to condemn us, but a Father who has eagerly longed for our return. When we do, he takes us in his loving arms and assures us we are still his child. When the weight of our sin makes us fearful of God’s condemnation, he reveals his grace yet again.
March 23, 2025
Series: Lent, Open Door Policies
Speaker: Pastor James Enderle
Topic: Always, Bad, Change, Death, Door, Dying, Faith, Forgiving, God, Good, hope, Jesus, Karma, Living, Loving, Nature, Open, Patient, Peace, Policies, Prepared, Present, Protect, Punish, Purpose, Repent, Repentance, Signs, sin, Sinners, Stubborn, Think, Thoughts, Threat, Tragedy, Truth, Warning, Why
The heavenly Father is always present in the lives of His children. He sees every sorrow we endure. He also sees every sin that we commit, even if it’s only in our thoughts. He is always present. Yet, He is also always patient. God does not snap at us the second we turn from Him. He gives us time to see the error of our ways. He assures us that the door back to Him remains always open. By giving us room to share our struggles and shortcomings, He works in us the very repentance He desires and saves us from the judgment that would otherwise be ours.