Generations Community Church

Our world is set up to compare ourselves to others and to get to the “middle” where all the power and influence and resources are. vThe problem is that when we play this comparison game it robs us of our hope and our true identity. It actually keeps us from being ourselves and from seeing others. And, while this comparison game (for most of us) STARTS in middle school, it carries on into our adult lives. Jesus, however, shows and models and invites us to a different way, a way of hope - a way that keeps us in the margins. Do we REALLY have to play the comparison game?

What do you do when all hope is dashed? If you're religious, you've probably assumed that, if you do your part, God will do His part. And so you try harder and harder to get God's attention and get into His good graces - so that the WORST won't (or doesn't) happen. But that's not how things work - and that's not the kind of God that God is. In this message, Brian Hull draws the parallels between those moments in our lives when we lose hope and what God's people experienced in the (Old Testament book of) Ezekiel. As it turns out, you cannot EARN God's love or favor - and that's a very good thing.

Commitment: Making a plan to be like Jesus and putting it into practice. And one of the BIG WAYS we do that is by TALKING about God - at church, at home, and with our friends and family.

Teens and young people are fun to watch. They have their WHOLE lives in front of them. And they are determined - that they will always or they will never or they will not be like their parents or they WILL be like their parents. Should we warn them? Should we tell them? Do they need to know that they are going to fail sometimes? That they are going to let people down sometimes? That the FUTURE version of them is going to need a lot of grace, mercy, and forgiveness? In this message, Max Vanderpool unpacks what it means to forgive yourself (and receive forgiveness) - because, in life, you're going to need it.

When someone has hurt you, betrayed you, or taken something from you - it's hard to see anything in them but a villain - a bad guy - a jerk - an adulterer - a deadbeat dad - a demanding boss - a Harry Black. But people are complicated - even the people who do terrible things. In this message, Max Vanderpool unpacks an often-forgotten aspect of forgiveness - re-humanizing the person who hurt us (even IF we decide to release the relationship).

Do you know anyone who's telling a grievance story? Chances are, you do. And the story they tell has a clear victim (that's THEM) and a one-dimensional villain - someone who hurt them, ignored them, passed them over, mistreated them, betrayed them, or took something from them they could NEVER give back. And this grievance story is told OVER and OVER again - to anyone who will listen. And you know something? They're RIGHT. They WERE hurt. What was done to them WAS wrong - but telling that story over and over again isn't helping them. Why? In this message, Max Vanderpool unpacks an important part of the process of forgiveness - learning to tell a BETTER story.

If you lend your car out to someone and they TOTAL it, but they have no insurance and no way to financially reimburse you the cost, what does it mean to forgive them? Is there a magic "car fairy" that shows up and provides you with the money to make up for what they did to you? Who (ultimately) bears the brunt of it? And what does forgiveness really mean? Does it mean you don't feel hurt? Does it mean you have to forget what they did? Does it mean you have to "kiss and make up" (and restore the relationship)? In this message, Max Vanderpool tackles the brain and heart aspects of forgiveness and why it's both a decision and a process.

In life, those closest to you have the capacity to hurt you the most. Your family. Your partner. Your "best friend." But we don't all respond to hurt the same way. Some of us verbalize it and tell everyone who will listen how we've been wronged - how we've been hurt. Others of us, however, bury it deep inside and pretend to be "okay," dismissing how we were mistreated with excuses. Both get it wrong. You cannot excuse the inexcusable, and you cannot forgive what is unnamed. In this message, Max Vanderpool outlines the FIRST STEP any of us should take when we've been hurt or wronged in life. It may not be easy - but, in the long run, it's worth it - because it's a step that leads to freedom.

Tucked away in the book of 1 Kings is the encounter between Elijah and the prophets of Ba'al. And in that contest, we are reminded of something very important: God can do the impossible.

We're living at a time of tremendous INSTABILITY and UNCERTAINTY. And, when facing the unknown, we tend to respond with fear and with faith. Fear says that we're not sure of the outcome, but we have a feeling it's going to be bad. Faith says that we're not sure of the outcome, but that we know God is with us and for us and will take care of us. So we (simply) take another step. Another breath. In this message, Max Vanderpool spells out why God's people have ALWAYS had a hard time trusting God - and why, despite how we might feel internally - God CAN be trusted.

Elon Musk is arguably the world's richest man, and he has given away roughly $7 BILLION. He's given MORE money away than railroad tycoon Andrew Carnegie who, adjusted for inflation to today's dollars, managed to amass a fortune of only $6.9 BILLION. But there's a HUGE difference in the percentage of each man's overall wealth that they have given away. Elon Musk has given away 1.4% - but Andrew Carnegie gave away more than 90%. WHO was more generous? And why is it that we tend to judge generosity in porportion to what someone has? In this message, Max Vanderpool makes a case for why it NEVER really matters the amount of money you give away - whether it's $5 or $5 MILLION. Because, as Jesus tells it, money and hearts are linked.

Think about your digital life for a moment. What do you actually OWN anymore? Microsoft Office? Music? Movies? Your social media accounts? WRONG! In all of those spaces (and more), you're just a digital sharecropper. Americans have become more like the coal miners and sharecroppers we read about it history - not really owning much of anything and trapped in cycles of debt. God never wanted His people to be trapped in cycles of debt - and God has a lot to say about it. In this message, Max Vanderpool offers practical advice for handling debt.

Because wages have not kept up with the price of housing or healthcare or tuition or groceries or electricity, you and I cannot afford to simply “wing it" when it comes to our finances - when it comes to the money that enters and exits our checking account each month. Winging it leads to these moments at home: (1) "Where did all the money in the checkbook go? I need to pay for Maddie’s field trip." and (2) "Wait. When did we subscribe to Hulu? Did you know anything about this?" Jesus commends someone in the New Testament - for having a PLAN. And it's the SAME reason Joseph is promoted to vice-pharaoh in the Old Testament. As it turns out, having a PLAN is one way we mimick our Heavenly Father.

Since, 2019, groceries prices are up 30.8%, housing prices are UP 60%, healthcare costs are UP 60%, and child-care costs are UP 32%. Want to guess how much wages are up? That's right - ONLY 23%. For the average American, wages simply haven't kept pace with the bigger ticket items in life - and that presents a problems. It's why many young people feel a sense of despair - that they will NEVER get ahead. Ladies & gentlemen, what we have here is an AFFORDABILITY CRISIS! Ironically, God has a LOT to say about money and finances - and God is bothered when the rich and powerful play by a different set of rules or when they systematically oppress the poor, so that they can become richer and more powerful. In this message, Max Vanderpool explains that the rich rule over the poor - it's true - but that doesn't mean God's happy about it.

America has an affordability crisis...in housing, with healthcare, with college tuition, and with child-care. It's just not possible for many families to have the SAME purchasing power as families did a generation ago. And yet, there IS one category that's become more affordable. And that's all the cheap stuff from China. It's filling our dressers, clogging our closets, and filling our cabinets and garages. So what's a person to do? In this message, Max Vanderpool tackles the boats from China - and how you can I can become more free.

Can you learn to love Christians who are NOT like you? That's the questin put to Ananias when God told him to go lay hands on Paul of Tarsus, so that Paul could regain his sight. That's the question put to Peter when he had that vision of a sheet filled with unclean animals. Will you enter the home of Cornelius (a Gentile AND the captain of the Italian reigment), break bread with him, and BAPTIZE him when you see that he is filled with the Holy Spirit? The call to the American church today is, in part, a call to love each other in such a way that the rest of the country asks, "How in the world can these people love each other like that?"

Smartphones. It seems like they're always in our hands - and always making it hard to be fully present with our friends and family. And maybe that's why prayer is hard for us. How do you spend time with an invisible being that you can't see with your eyes? In this message, Max Vanderpool makes a case for why there is another kind of prayer - one where you aren't talking and God's not talking - and that's okay.

In life, you either have authority or you don't. And if you need to tell people that you're in charge, you probably don't have the authority you think you do. And no matter how old you get, you NEVER outgrow authority or authority structures. (The IRS can make you pay taxes, and the Kentucky State Police can make you stay under the speed limit - or, watch out!) In this message, Max Vanderpool makes a case for why ALL authority is God's authority - and that, because God speaks through the Bible, we should listen (and obey).

Be nice. Play nice. Yeah - we've all been told that. And being nice typically means speaking softly, deferring to others, and smiling (even when you're sad or angry). Most of all, being nice means avoiding conflict - don't debate or argue - just get along and go along. But what if Jesus was, in fact, NOT a nice man? And what if it's NOT in God’s character to “be nice” (certainly in ways WE think of the term)? What then? What if walking in the way of Jesus means standing up and speaking out? After all, nice guys aren't crucified.

The Choluteca Bridge stands as a testament to how things can change. Originally built in 1935 and completely rebuilt in 1996 - the Choluteca Bridge no longer spans the Choluteca River. Why is that? Because in 1998, Hurricane Mitch dumped 75 INCHES of rain - and all that water CHANGED the course of the river. The American church faces a similar situation. All our programming and efforts from the 1950s to the 1990s was designed for a river that has MOVED (and that river is American culture). The good news? Jesus is already at work. In fact, he never stopped working in the lives of Americans to redeem and restore humanity - one human being at a time. Are you ready to join Jesus on his mission?