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When I was young and coming out of college, I was pretty idealistic. I thought I knew all the answers. It didn’t take me long, however, to be humbled by life. I realized pretty quickly that I needed to lean into the promises of God, seeking His wisdom and guidance to navigate this world.

The fact that God will take care of those who believe and follow Jesus is found throughout Scripture. Matthew 6:33 says that if we seek first the Kingdom of God, everything else will fall into place.

The Holy Spirit is one of the great promises from God to those who believe and follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit can be found mentioned throughout the Bible, but in Acts 2:2-4, we see Jesus’ promise of a helper come true. The Holy Spirit is promised to live in, around, and flow out of us. But there’s more to it….

Forgiveness is one of the great promises from God to those who believe and follow Jesus.

When I was a child, our Sunday school teacher told us his definition of forever. It was something I’ve never forgotten. He said, “if a bird flew to the mountains every year, took a bite of the ground, then flew to the ocean and dropped it in, when the mountain finally became flat, that wouldn’t even be the beginning of forever.” I remember thinking that it would take forever for that bird to get that mountain flat. But then I got it, that was the point he was making. Forever is a very, very long time.

We’ve been going through the Book of Acts here at the Pizza Ranch Support Center. In Acts 28:23-31 we find Paul finishing out the Book of Acts strong. He arrives in Rome, the place Jesus had said Paul would bear witness to him, calling together the leaders of the Jews to meet.

We’ve been going through the Book of Acts here at the Pizza Ranch Support Center. In (Acts 19:23-41) we see a “great commotion” that was created by a man named Demetrius. Demetrius was a silversmith who made idols and trinkets representing Diana, an Ephesian goddess, of the Temple of Diana. Because Christianity had grown so much in his part of the world, his livelihood was being threatened. He called a meeting with the other silversmiths, got everyone upset, and worked them up into an angry mob. Christians were then targeted and persecuted.

We’ve been going through the Book of Acts here at the Pizza Ranch Support Center. In Acts 15:36-41 we see a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, two great men of the Christian faith. They wanted to go back to visit the believers they had led to Christ on their first missionary journey to encourage and love on them in person. Barnabas wanted to take Mark along with them, but Paul was determined not to take him because he had left them in the middle of a prior trip. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.

We’ve been going through the Book of Acts here at the Pizza Ranch Support Center. In Acts 12:6-11 we see an angel being used to deliver Peter from captivity. He had been put in jail by Herod Agrippa, who intended to put him to death after the big feast. An amazing story of what prayer can do. Today we asked two questions:

Matthew 28: 16-20 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

As you grow in your faith and the years continue to pass, the amount of times that you have heard some of the most famous Bible stories and verses continues to multiply. Among that list may be, the creation story, the parable of the Good Samaritan, Cain and Abel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Jesus walking on water… the list goes on. Among some of the most famous stories lies the Parable of the Talents. Many of you already understand the meaning and the premise of this story, but I have always enjoyed sermons, messages, or conversations that explain or elaborated on it in a way that completely opens it up in a new way to me.

Don't you just love a comeback story? I oftentimes think of the NFL's comeback players of the year. Typically the winning athlete endures some sort of physical or emotional adversity, and amidst the suffering- they embrace the challenge to overcome. These stories are inspiring and heartwarming. Today's scripture was James 1:2-12- Trials and Temptations. A few verses that stick out to me: