The First Baptist Church of Granada Hills

“What We’re Up Against” (Luke 4:1-13)
Jesus faced the temptations that broke his predecessors, only to break them.
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“Putting God in a Box” (Luke 9:28-36)
The Transfiguration was a time of change, both literal and figurative.
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This is the first video recorded sermon for the church.  The intro sequence and other production aspects could stand some improvement (we’re working on it), but it’s still pretty exciting!

            February has a way of reminding us of love; it’s host to Valentine’s Day after all.  No doubt, those of us in relationships will happily exchange little reminders of our love with that “someone special” this month.  Some will give chocolates, others will give cards, and still others will give depressingly over-priced flowers. 

            For Christians, though, the idea of love is something that transcends mere candy-grams and rose bouquets.  For, as the Apostle John would twice write in his first letter, “God is love.”  Now that’s a beautiful sentiment, and it isn’t particularly controversial.  In fact, it’s among the better liked and more widely embraced beliefs about God, even among non-Christians.  But this little unassuming statement very naturally leads us from a simple and uncontroversial truth to something else entirely.  For if God is love—not, that is, that God simply does love, or that God merely approves of love—then this simple statement is just another way of presenting one of the great mysteries of God: the Trinity. 

            To say that God is love is to say that, in some sense, God is a relationship, that interconnectedness exists at his very core.  The doctrine of the Trinity (or at least it’s most controversial element—the co-equality of the Father and the Son), while not as snappy or as widely received as John’s little maxim, stands out, then, as little more than the intellectual analysis of his slogan.  As another man once wrote, “The barren dogma is only the logical way of stating the beautiful sentiment.”  So while the affirmations of the Nicene Creed may not make for romantic Valentine’s Day reading, they are worth considering at this time of year.  Think about it.

“Deep Water” (Luke 5:1-11)
Like with Peter, Jesus calls each of us to “deep water” as we seek a relationship with him.
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“The Partial and the Complete” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
The Apostle Paul declared that love is even more important that faith itself; how could that possibly be?
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