from Matthew 13:44-46
While the idea of the Kingdom of God may be a familiar one, it becomes easy to get tripped up when we are faced with the evil that exists in this world. If God’s Kingdom is present, what are we to do with all that doesn’t reflect His Kingdom in this world? What is our role in the evil that is so present?
In the final week of our “The Kingdom” series, we are invited to wrestle with what our ultimate treasure in this life is, and more, we are invited to consider the hard truth that if our ultimate treasure is not Jesus and His Kingdom, then we will never know the wholeness and satisfaction for which God makes a way.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 6:46-49
While the idea of the Kingdom of God may be a familiar one, it becomes easy to get tripped up when we are faced with the evil that exists in this world. If God’s Kingdom is present, what are we to do with all that doesn’t reflect His Kingdom in this world? What is our role in the evil that is so present?
What is the foundation upon which you have built and are living your life? It seems like an odd question, doesn’t it? A foundation is not something we generally give any thought to unless there is a problem with the foundation.
In Jesus’ parable of the wise and foolish builders, He is clear that it’s not a question of if the foundation upon which your life is built will be tested…it is a question of when. What does it take to build a firm foundation?
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
While the idea of the Kingdom of God may be a familiar one, it becomes easy to get tripped up when we are faced with the evil that exists in this world. If God’s Kingdom is present, what are we to do with all that doesn’t reflect His Kingdom in this world? What is our role in the evil that is so present?
In week one of our new series, “The Kingdom,” we consider what our role in God’s Kingdom is when faced with the kingdom of this world.
w/ Vern Collins
from Zechariah 8:1-8
While we long for God’s Kingdom to be made real on this earth, why is it that we have such a difficult time living like it is already present among us?
Perhaps we need to shift our understanding of what this Kingdom is meant to look like.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 2:1-12
Epiphany invites us to wrestle with the question, “Who is Jesus TO YOU?”
The build up through Advent to Christmas can seem immense considering how quickly it all seems to leave us…Christmas is packed away for another year…and yet if we are willing, we might just find that the Hope that has come, is present, and continues to come in Jesus…it might just mean something for us now.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 6:9-13
In the things you seek in life…even in the things you pray and ask God for…what if you are not aiming high enough? What if the things you are seeking, even the things you are asking God for are too small? What might it look like to reorient your desires and your wants to something that is already present…to God’s Kingdom. A Kingdom that is here and that is still coming!
What are those things that are keeping you from seeking God’s Kingdom FIRST? What would it look like to surrender those things, or to reorder the things you are seeking, to allow God to lead you in prioritizing the things you desire in your life?
How might things change if your chief desire was to be a part of seeing God’s Kingdom come on this earth?
w/ Vern Collins and Stewardship Testimony from Grace Koppenheffer
from Luke 12:13-21
We have a tendency to equate things like security, peace, worth, and identity with the accumulation of money or possessions. Or even more simply, maybe there’s just this one thing you feel like you have to have, and if you can somehow have that thing…
The question you must wrestle with is: While more wealth or more square footage or more possessions might change your circumstances, will they transform your heart?
We have from the beginning felt the tension of feeling like we need more…but what is it we really need more OF?
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 2:11-22
We could agree that walls are important in providing stability, creating a structure that is safe…and yet so often we erect walls that are harmful and divisive.
What if instead of building walls between you and the rest of the world, or adding bricks to those that already exist, you instead began to work to break them down, just as Christ has broken down the walls that separate us from God?
w/ David Hockett
from Matthew 5:1-12
Once we truly begin to wrap our minds and hearts around God’s dream for this world…that all will be made right…that even now, Christ, through His church is working to make things right, to bring hope, to bring healing, to offer something “more,” to a hurting world…once you find yourself open to that in your own life, it becomes a compelling invitation to make that dream real for the world around you.
But it is difficult.
While it is a dream the world needs, it is one that often seems out of place…like it is somehow competing with the dreams this world has and the things the world chases.
Perhaps a better understanding of the things Jesus values in the Kingdom He came to inaugurate gives us a better understanding of what God sees as beautiful…and a deeper willingness to embrace those things in your own life.
w/ Vern Collins
