Grace Chapel Knoxville Sermons

This Sunday we kicked off a 4-week series all being taught by women in our church - each of them focusing on women in the Bible who had life-changing encounters with Jesus. Our dear friend Kristen Panella started the series by sharing the power and freedom that comes when our identity is based on who we are in Christ above all else.

Today we explore the story of the Fall of Jericho. God’s plan seems to defy logic, yet Joshua, the people of Israel, and Rahab all take big steps of faith as they trust God to deliver them. The true measure of success isn’t about getting the outcome we think is right, but walking in faith trusting God’s plan and timing no matter how foolish it may seem or we may look.

On Sunday, we heard from Bob Spencer on how important the Father’s presence is to His children. This applies to our earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father. We learned that one of the key roles of a father is to teach his kids in all things.

In today’s sermon, you’ll hear the incredible story of how God is providing a more permanent home for our local church body. As we explore Joshua chapters 3-5 there is much to learn about stepping into God’s promises! We pray you are blessed by this message and will join us in ongoing prayer for this journey, praise for what God has done! May we all be prepared for radical obedience as we follow Him in the days ahead.

This week, we are looking at a key moment in Joshua’s life, as Moses is passing the baton of leadership on to him. While it is a pivotal moment, it is rooted in a long-term relationship where Moses invested in Joshua, and Joshua learned from and served his mentor. May we all learn to invest, serve, and embrace the key relationships the Lord has placed in our life so we may be the people we are called to be in our generation.

Sermon Description: In today’s sermon we focus on the story found in Numbers 13-14, when 12 spies go into the promised land to bring back a report. God has given clear instruction that the land is good and He is giving it to them, yet an entire generation misses out on stepping into their heritage as a result of their response to the bad report they receive. May we learn to walk with our eyes fixed upon our faithful God and His promises, even when the obstacles appear overwhelming.

This week we took a brief break from our Joshua series, as Pastor Dave Buehring brought a challenging and encouraging word about how to walk in a season of waiting. God wants to use these times to strengthen our dependence on Him, align our hearts in unity around His purposes, and teach us to trust in His perfect timing. We pray you will be encouraged by this message from our dear friend Pastor Dave.

In Part 2 of our Joshua series, we see the crucial role that spending time in God’s presence played in Joshua’s life. Before Joshua was ready to lead, he first learned to follow Moses’ example by cultivating his own walk with the Lord. It is essential that we prioritize time in the Lord’s presence, and one of the great gifts we have is learning how to do this from each other. Let’s purpose to draw near to God, with full assurance that He will draw near to us.

There is great power in confession, but what is true confession? What does it sound like to truly confess and why is it important? This week we discussed the importance of being a confessing community, the great value of pursuing righteousness, and how we can facilitate confession in others by pursuing them in love. In order for us to encourage confession, we must be willing to confess ourselves, but also be a safe place that creates an environment free from gossip or judgment.

In Sunday’s message, we explored some key verses in James 5 on the role of prayer and faith to bring healing and wholeness to those who are suffering. One of the biggest issues in our culture is how individualistic it is, and therefore in our reading of scripture, we often apply them as individuals instead of in the context of community. James writes to a community of believers on how they can pray and care for the suffering among them. May we all come to understand and operate in the great power that is available in a prayerful, caring community of faith & righteousness.

He has Risen! What a beautiful weekend to remember the death and resurrection of our savior, Jesus. On Easter Sunday we look at the everlasting joy that is received by beholding the face of God when we turn away from the distractions and hindrances of this life and look to him.

Patient endurance is a difficult topic. It is easy to want it to end when we are enduring difficulty. James challenges us though to establish hearts that are steadfastly focused on the Lord and waiting on him instead of seeking control or turning to idols. How do we do that though? Deuteronomy 11 gives us detailed instructions that include actively seeking the Lord and studying his words. Being in a season of waiting isn’t easy, but as believers, we have a hope that our struggles and waiting have a purpose, and a God who wants to walk closely with us as he invites us into his plans for our times of waiting; we need not worry, He is coming.

This Sunday, we had the great privilege to commission our dear friends and ministry partners Andrew and Dira Soreano, and their beautiful family, as they move to Indonesia. We spent lots of time and tears as we shared words and scriptures and prayed over them. If you were unable to join us in person this week, we pray that you are blessed by this service and ask that you join us in ongoing prayer and support of the Soreanos.

In this week’s sermon, we tackle the all-important topic of our finances. James shares some strong words on this subject that are meant to challenge us to pause & consider who is really in charge of our money. We are called to have a Kingdom perspective in how we prioritize, earn, and spend our money. Ultimately all that we have belongs to the Lord, and He wants us to learn to be faithful stewards of what He gives us. While this may seem very difficult and restrictive at first glance, the reality is that God is inviting us into a deeper walk with Him. Jesus longs to provide us with real security and satisfaction that earthly wealth can never fully give.

In Part 8 this week, we pause to consider James’ challenge to us regarding how we manage our time. In light of how uncertain, fragile, and short life is, we can often struggle to trust the Lord. Instead, we settle for taking the reins of life ourselves or getting overwhelmed with anxiety and fear as we try to manage it all. In this passage, James reminds us of the beautiful invitation to walk in freedom from our pride and our fear, by walking daily in the fear of the Lord.

In our study of the book of James, we have heard over and over ways that we should be relating to one another. This week we discussed the importance of being peacemakers. Our society is full of people judging one another and the American church is not exempt. We put ourselves in the place of God and think that we know what is right and wrong, but James tells us that when we do this, we are opposing the law of God, which is the law of love. As Christians, we should be stepping down from the role of judge and instead work to love people where they are.

This week, Krystal brought us a message from James chapter 3 about the importance of our tongues. The tongue holds great power in our lives, but it is something that we often forget to control. Our tongues have the ability to keep our lives on course, steer us into the rocks, lift up our brothers and sister, or destroy someone’s self-esteem. The tongue is small but holds great influence, so let us seek to use our tongues to glorify God and lift up one another.

In this week’s study of James we discuss the central role that faith and works play as we grow in maturity. The scripture makes it clear that we do not work for our salvation, it is a precious gift from God. However, we are called to an active faith that co-operates with the work Jesus is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. May we never settle for mere belief in God, instead let’s embrace an active faith that says yes to the work He wants to do in and through us.

As Christians, we are supposed to be welcoming and loving towards everyone we encounter, but it is in our human nature to show partiality or favoritism towards certain people. We make snap judgments based on appearance, but Jesus calls us to love everyone the way he loves them. How do we let go of the skewed lens through which we perceive strangers and gain his perspective on our fellow humans? This week, we discussed James 2 and how the law of love instead of the prison of partiality allows us to look like Jesus in our relationships as individuals as a church body.

James instructs believers to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. However, that is the opposite of how the Church looks in America today. We are quick to identify when we are wronged or believe that someone should be doing something differently, and we are slow to realize how we should be modifying our own behavior to look more like Jesus. This week we discussed the value of slowing down, looking into ourselves, and allowing Jesus to be in control of how we react to those around us.