Waterbrooke Church

”Lord, Let Me Recover My Sight” Luke 18:31-43 by Pastor Kevin Dibbley

This week we returned to the subject of prayer in Luke 18:31-43. We have seen the prayer of the tenacious widow at the beginning of his chapter who cried for justice. We have seen the humble prayer of the tax collector who cried out “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”. Now, we see the blind man who is pleading with Jesus for eyes to see. He pleads “Lord, let me recover my sight.”  What we are going to see is that spiritual sight is different than physical sight. In this passage, there is a direct contrast between those who could see with their eyes but were blind to the wonder of who Jesus was and why He had come and this blind man who could not see with his eyes but who clearly knew who Jesus was. 
Our sermon this week is called "Lord, Let Me Recover My Sight" and there is no doubt that this is what God wants us to be praying. Ask yourself how different your life, your priorities and your joy would be if you could see Jesus clearly as He really is for us in the gospel. Waterbrooke let’s pray this together this week – Open our eyes to see Jesus! 
 
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”How Good is Our God?” by Pastor Kevin Dibbley

This Sunday, we looked at the story of the rich ruler in Luke 18:18-30. It is a powerful passage to study because Jesus intends to bring us to terms with our great need for His saving hand and Jesus' incredible love in coming to save us. I have called the sermon "How Good is Our God?"What we often think is that God's goodness is shown to us by how blessed we are with success, wealth, health, power, influence, and recognition. We say to one another, "Isn't God good?" when things go well in our lives. What Jesus teaches is that the markers that we look to in order to feel affirmed by God are often the very things that we ought to fear most. What if the signs of God's favor and love are not the things that make us feel good about ourselves but rather the things that make us feel desperate for Jesus? Let's come and look at the goodness of God as revealed in the story of the rich ruler and pray that God might show us the glory of His goodness in and through Jesus Christ this Sunday.
 
How good is God? Looking forward to a fresh work of God's Spirit in our midst this week.

”Entering the Kingdom Like a Child” by Pastor Kevin Dibbley

This Sunday was New Year's Eve. Often the symbolic picture of the new year is a baby. The past year goes out like an old man. The new year begins like a baby. That is fitting for the text this week in Luke 18:15-17 where Jesus tells his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."Entering the new year, it should be our ambition to make sure we enter the Kingdom of God. This passage is one of the best ways to think about how we go about entering and advancing the kingdom of God. We really hope you can join us for worship as you learn one of the simplest and most powerful ways to think about how to live your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Our sermon is called "Entering the Kingdom Like a Child". Jesus says - this is an absolute must!
 
We have a new website!  Check it out at www.waterbrooke.church

You Are Not Alone - Merry Christmas from Waterbrooke Church

Merry Christmas Waterbrooke friends,
Christmas can feel acutely lonely for many of us. However, the truest truth of every Christian's life is this: God never forsakes His children. 
Have a blessed day with your friends and family and know you are never alone in Jesus who loves and cares for you.
Waterbrooke Church

Pray Humbly by Pastor Kevin Dibbley

This week our sermon, from Luke 18:9-14, is called Pray Humbly.Jesus recognized that we have a tendency to fall into two ditches in our spiritual lives.  On the one hand, we can give into religious despair. We doubt that God actually cares about the needs of His people or He would have answered the way we expected. Jesus calls us to be bold and determined by faith in our praying. He wants us to be indefatigable prayer warriors who believe in the power and promise of God to bring His kingdom to its fulfillment at the day of Jesus Christ. The other ditch that we can slide into is that of religious pride or self-righteousness. We become confident in ourselves, not realizing that it is not our prayers but God's mercy that is the ground of our hope. Most of us have to recognize that we have to battle those two dangers - spiritual discouragement and spiritual pride.In this passage, Jesus gives us a helpful diagnostic tool for discovering spiritual pride and motivating us to humble and faith-filled prayer. Would you pray for Waterbrooke to be filled with humble and hopeful prayer warriors? Let's look forward to being helped by the Holy Spirit as we gather to celebrate the grace of God towards undeserving sinner and saints through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
 
Check out our new website at www.waterbrooke.church and check out our resources page.

Pray Tenaciously Luke 18:1-8

This Sunday’s message, from Luke 18:1-8,  is entitled “Pray Tenaciously”. One of the common experiences for many of us as Christians is that we lose heart. Life in a fallen world is hard and what really causes us to stumble is the unfairness of life. We suffer injustice. Evil seems to prevail. We become cynical and disillusioned. Jesus knows this and he speaks to us as His disciples and tells us “to pray and to not lose heart.” Pray tenaciously. You would think if anyone would have lost heart in the face of persistent hostility and slander and evil, it would have been Jesus. He was constantly harassed and slandered. However, he didn’t stop praying and pursuing God’s call on His life. Why? It is because Jesus knew the One to whom He prayed. Jesus knew why He himself had come. Jesus knew that He was not on a fool’s errand but God’s will would prosper in His hand. Do you have that same confidence and hope? Have you begun to lose heart in your life as a Christian? Pray that this Sunday, God would reignite your prayer life or ignite your prayer life for the very first time. We ought to pray and not lose heart.

”Fostering a Kingdom First Focus” Luke 17:20-37 by Pastor Kevin Dibbley

This Sunday’s message, from Luke 17:20-37, is called “Fostering a Kingdom First Focus”. Luke 17 is a great chapter for teaching the local church about how to make disciples to the glory of God. This week, we will hear Jesus teach his disciples how to stay on focus to advance the kingdom of God. There are so many ways that we can lose a sharp focus on why we are here as a church. What we will learn from Jesus is that just as he is focused on pressing on to Jerusalem for our sake, we are to press on and press into the New Jerusalem for Jesus’ sake.December is a great month to love others, to serve Christ, and to prayerfully and joyfully advance the kingdom of God. Let’s ask God to help us become increasingly focused on the Kingdom of God when we feel pulled by so many competing ambitions. Look forward to the joy of worshipping together with you this Sunday.

Making Disciples to the Glory of God Luke 17:1-10 by Pastor Kevin Dibbley

This Sunday, our message is from Luke 17:1-10 and is entitled, Making Disciples to the Glory of God. Jesus calls us into His kingdom ministry of making disciples and to put it plainly, it ain’t easy. It ain’t pretty… but it is glorious.Here’s the amazing truth of the gospel – Christ comes down into the middle of our sinful, broken world and takes upon Himself our guilt and shame in order that we might be set free! Then he sends out into a world of struggle and brokenness to announce there is a “Way” out of sin, shame, and guilt, and you are welcome to come home to God. Redeemed sinners are sent to yet to be redeemed sinners announcing the forgiveness of God. Announcing forgiveness and extending forgiveness go hand in hand. We go hand in hand into battle to rescue one another from the sin, guilt, and shame that has too long held us. Discipleship is a beautiful, messy, merciful ministry and we need one another. Come this Sunday and be encouraged in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus.
Join us for Christmas Eve Service at the Chaska Community Center at 5pm.  www.waterbrooke.church

Hard Truths for Hard Hearts by Pastor John Hall

This Sunday the sermon is from Luke 16:14-31 and is entitled "Hard Truths for Hard Hearts". This passage of scripture is one of the most sobering, alarming, and graphic in all the Bible.There are only two reasons someone would speak such blunt, clear words of warning. The first is because they want to prove people wrong and show themselves to be a know-it-all. The second reason is a deep and profound love for those who are in danger. Jesus is looking at the Pharisees and going right to the heart of their sin and then warning them of the danger to come. He does this because he is holding out hope for all of us and urgently telling us to flee to Him before it's too late.These are hard truths to look at. But they are so good for us to embrace. Pray that Jesus would begin, even now, to prepare us to worship Him as a church family together on Sunday as we sing, pray, listen to His word and take the Lord's Supper together.
In Christ,John Hall, Pastor of Student and Young Adult Ministries

The Elder Brother in Me, Luke 15

This week’s message is called “The Elder Brother in Me".  As we study Luke 15 and the famous parable about the “prodigal son”, Luke makes it clear that the main focus of Jesus’ teaching is actually the elder brother. Jesus is responding to the grumbling Pharisees and scribes who are offended that Jesus actually welcomes and dines with tax collectors and sinners. The elder brother is offended at the grace and love and approval that the Father shows towards the reckless and disreputable younger brother. All of us have a little of both brothers in us. Some of us lean towards trying to save our lives by throwing off all restraint and the shackles of religion and family expectations. We want to be free to live without anyone telling us how we ought to live. Others of us are decent, moral, hardworking elder brothers. We are respectable, reliable, and religious. Both brothers have a problem. Their path to self-salvation doesn’t work. The younger brother sees his lusts leave him empty-handed and alone. The elder brother feels that his sacrifice and hard work isn’t appropriately rewarded. So, the pendulum often swings within us. We get frustrated with trying to be good so we give ourselves to sin and self-indulgence. Or we are frustrated with the emptiness of sin and self-indulgence so we try to compensate by serving and working at being a better person. The answer in Jesus’ parable is not religion or irreligion. It is the grace of God in the gospel of the kingdom. Come this Sunday as we look at the elder brother tendency in each of us and flee to our only hope for true joy – Jesus Himself.
 
Find out more about Waterbrooke Church at www.waterbrooke.church

RUN HOME, Luke 15: 11-32 (Part 2 of 2)

This Sunday’s message is called “Run Home”. This is part of a two week series in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. This is one of those blow you away with the grace of God passages! The two brothers in the parable are both resisting their Father’s loving appeals. One, the younger brother, is trying to save himself through “freedom” from any restraint. Sinning with reckless abandon is the goal of life for him. However, it also ends up ruining him. The other brother, the elder, is trying to save himself through religion. That is just as deadly and disappointing. It makes him bitter and angry and resistant to the pleas of His Father. Thankfully, Jesus teaches us there is another way. The arms of the Father are opened wide to self-indulging rebels and to self-righteous religionists. The call is to the broken and the embittered, the ashamed and the self-assured: Come home. Run Home. This week, we are going to look at the younger brother. Though his sin is great and grievous, his Father’s love is far greater and far more glorious than all his sin. Come to worship this week and find yourself running joyfully to the open grace-abounding arms of your heavenly Father. Look forward to seeing you!

RUN HOME! Part 1 of 2 - LUKE 15:11-32

This Sunday’s message is called “Run Home”. This is part of a two week series in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. This is one of those blow you away with the grace of God passages! The two brothers in the parable are both resisting their Father’s loving appeals. One, the younger brother, is trying to save himself through “freedom” from any restraint. Sinning with reckless abandon is the goal of life for him. However, it also ends up ruining him. The other brother, the elder, is trying to save himself through religion. That is just as deadly and disappointing. It makes him bitter and angry and resistant to the pleas of His Father. Thankfully, Jesus teaches us there is another way. The arms of the Father are opened wide to self-indulging rebels and to self-righteous religionists. The call is to the broken and the embittered, the ashamed and the self-assured: Come home. Run Home. This week, we are going to look at the younger brother. Though his sin is great and grievous, his Father’s love is far greater and far more glorious than all his sin. Come to worship this week and find yourself running joyfully to the open grace-abounding arms of your heavenly Father. Look forward to seeing you!

When Heaven Celebrates - Luke 15

This week’s message is called: When Heaven Celebrates. Luke 15 is one of the all-time favorite passages of Scripture in the Bible primarily due to the parable of the “prodigal son.” We will look at that parable next week. However, this Sunday, we will see that this passage (Luke 15:1-10) draws back the curtain and reveals to us the impact that Jesus’ earthly ministry was having not merely in Israel but, more importantly, in heaven.What on earth creates the greatest stir in heaven? The drama of redemption, of which we are all a part, unfolds before the eager eyes of the angels in heaven. The elation of the angels is something we should all be amazed at. Heaven is absolutely ecstatic over one sinner that repents. Are we? What does this passage teach us about how Waterbrooke should go about its ministry and mission on earth? What great hope does this offer to those who feel that they are too guilty, too broken, and too ashamed to come to God? Let’s come and rejoice with the angels this Sunday over the glorious hope of the gospel offered to a world full of broken and weary sinners.
 
Find out more about our church at www.waterbrooke.church 

Everybody Loves a Parade, Luke 14:25-35

This Sunday, our sermon was entitled “Everybody Loves a Parade.” In Luke 14:25-35, the multitudes, being impressed by Jesus, begin to flock to him on His journey towards Jerusalem. As one writer put it “Everybody loves a parade.” However, this is no parade. This is the road that leads to the cross.To join Jesus as a disciple is to align yourself with the Prince of Peace who lays down his life to save sinners. Jesus stops and calls them and us to carefully consider the cost of following him. That’s what we are going to do together this week. The Lord’s Supper is the perfect occasion to remember Jesus and His sacrifice for us and to recalibrate our expectations of what it looks like to follow Him. Would you prepare your hearts by praying “God, help me to count the cross and follow Christ …for He is worthy!” Our hearts are drawn to easier paths but the way of the cross is the miraculous and powerful instrument that Christ used to rescue us and it is how He intends to save the world.

Fostering Gospel Humility, Luke 14: 7-24

This Sunday, our message was called “Fostering Gospel Humility”. In Luke 14, Jesus is making it really clear that you can’t be His disciple if you won’t humble yourself and serve God by sacrificially serving others. He tells three banquet parables to address three different groups of people who manifest three different expressions of pride. What He shows us is that pride really is a failure to believe in the goodness and grace of God. One of the most freeing things that you and I can know is that God has got your back forever. God is for you. God is with you. God will never let you go. In this passage of Scripture, Jesus calls for humble Christian disciples by pointing out the goodness of God. It is, of course, that goodness that enables Jesus to humble Himself and go to the cross. If we are going to truly follow Christ and serve others, we must believe what the cross displays – God is so good. Come as we continue to prayerfully seek the kind of humility that only the gospel can produce.

Healing Our Spiritual Edema, Luke 14: 1-6

This Sunday’s message is called “Healing our Spiritual Edema”. Edema is a symptom/complication in our health where we become puffed up by fluid in our limbs, abdomen, and/or face. It can be a mild effect of medication or other health issues. It can be a consequence of something more serious.In Luke 14, the edema that Jesus must address is cruel spiritual pride. It is that, unfortunately too common, problem in the religiously self-righteous and the cynical. Instead of looking and praying for Jesus to be gracious and merciful, we sit in judgment. We watch and wait to see flaws and point out sins. We stop seeing those in need of grace and mercy with hearts of compassion and kindness. What do you see when you are around others? What is your posture when you are with Christians or attend worship? Do you show up looking for those in need of the restoration of Jesus, praying for the privilege of being an instrument of mercy? Or, do you show up seeing flaws and failures and waiting and expecting to be disappointed?May the compassion of Jesus come and heal our spiritual edema through the worship and testimony of Teen Challenge and the words and ministry of Jesus this Sunday. Will you pray for the Holy Spirit to work powerfully in Waterbrooke Church?
 
To find out more or to watch this sermon online, go to www.waterbrooke.church

Life in the Kingdom for the Next Generation, Matthew 5:1-16

This Sunday as we gather for worship we are going to take a step away from Luke's gospel and move over to the gospel of Matthew. The fall season is full of launching ministries and this week we are jumping back into Youth Group and Sunday School for elementary students. For the Youth Group at the beginning of the year we are going to be studying Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), which is Jesus' proclamation as to what life in the kingdom of God is like in a fallen world. We live in a cultural moment that is loudly telling us what we should value, what we should pursue, who we are... and as followers of Jesus, we realize much of it is totally upside and backwards in comparison to what Jesus says.For the sermon this weekend, we are going to take a big picture look at the Sermon on the Mount and go back to the basics of life in the kingdom. If we are going to pass on the faith to the next generation, we need to continually reestablish and live in light of what God says, rather than what our culture is saying. The Sermon on the Mount is the good news of what God is producing in us and through us by the power of His gospel.
 
Want more information on Waterbrooke Church go to www.waterbrooke.church

The Fox and the Hen Luke 13:31-35

This Sunday’s message was entitled “The Fox and the Hen.” It comes from our passage in Luke 13:31-35 when Jesus angrily calls Herod “that fox” and Jesus sorrowfully compares himself to a hen seeking to gather her chicks under her wings. When Jesus uses these words, He is on fire for the lost! He is expressing in the strongest way how passionate He is about rescuing us, as His people, from our sins.Often, Jesus is depicted as this passive, peaceful Savior who seems to serenely make his way through life to Calvary. Thank God, Jesus is nothing like that! As he makes his way to Jerusalem on our behalf, he has fire in his soul to deliver you and me and nothing will stop in His way.The question that we are going to ask this Sunday is how do we kindle a passion for the lost like Jesus? Do we have the fire of the gospel in our hearts like Jesus does? I invite you to start praying now that the Lord might be pleased to fuel your zeal and my zeal to see lost sinners rescued and brought into the kingdom of heaven. If your heart has grown cold in a lost and broken world, may the Holy Spirit place within you a passion to passionately pursue the salvation of others. I am looking forward to being captivated again by Jesus and being compelled to love and pursue others, the way Jesus has loved and pursued me. We will be taking communion so prepare your hearts to remember and to rejoice in the Savior’s redemptive love.
 
To find out more about Waterbrooke Church go to www.waterbrooke.church

The Wide Kingdom With the Narrow Door, Luke 13:18-30

This Sunday, The message was from Luke 13:18-30. It is called “The Wide Kingdom with the Narrow Door.” In this passage, Luke tells us that Jesus is still determined to make his way to Jerusalem (Luke 13:22). We should be amazed that despite the hostility and accusations that increasingly mount against Jesus and his ministry, Jesus doesn’t lose focus and He doesn’t lose faith. His resolve to be our Savior and to go to the cross never wanes. Despite the fact that there are few serious disciples around Him, Jesus is absolutely confident in His calling, His cause, and His kingdom. As we enter into the Fall, how is your level of resolution, confidence, and hope for what God has called you to be and to do? As you seek to return to school, how hopeful and energized are you to live as a faithful disciple and witness for Christ? As you teach Sunday School, or jump into small group ministry, or homeschool your kids, what is it that gives you confidence and resolve?
Don’t you find that at times, you really wonder if you are ready, willing, or able to press on in what you have been called to do? Most of us find that our zeal can wane because the demands never stop, the difficulties may multiply, or the results can be less than what we have hoped. 
Thank God that Jesus perseveres. Our goal this Sunday is to ask the question, “What does Jesus know that we don’t?” Our goal in the midst of the demands of kingdom life and ministry is to learn from Jesus, to look to Jesus, and to lean upon Jesus as He blazes the trail of the kingdom of heaven on our behalf. If you are weary, uncertain, hesitant, or even mildly hopeful, Luke has a good word for all of us. Looking forward to worshiping with you on Sunday!

A Clash of Kingdoms, Luke 13:10-21

Have you ever found yourself being greatly annoyed that someone does something that doesn't fit your expectations? Of course we all have. That's an experience that we all go through. If we slow down long enough and actually consider what's happening in the moment, oftentimes we realize we respond that way because we are bent towards self-righteousness and building our own kingdoms. We inevitably see people as either helps, or hindrances to our kingdom building projects. This is dangerous.In our sermon text this weekend, Jesus goes face to face with the self-righteous hypocrisy that is in all of our hearts. And what we see is that Jesus has come to set us free and keep us free from the unrelenting tendency towards legalism and in the process he is determined to build his kingdom.Read ahead Luke 13:10-21 as we prepare to study God's word together, and be in prayer as we prepare to partake in the Lord's supper as a church family.