from Lamentations 3:22-24
In our seven week series, “All Things Made New,” we consider the work that Jesus is doing in this world…a work that we don’t have to wait until time has reached its fulfillment to experience, but that we can experience and be a part of now!
When trying to live into the new life that God has made possible in Christ…when trying to bring His New Kingdom to bear on this earth, what happens when the troubles and trials of life seem too much to bear?
We look to each day as a gift…and each rising of the sun as a tangible example of God’s mercy and faithfulness.
w/ Ed Glaize
from Lamentations 3:13-26 and Colossians 1:15-23, 2:6-7
In Isaiah 43:18-19a we read, “Forget the former things do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” In Revelation 21:5, we hear the words of Jesus captured by John, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” Since the beginning, God has been in the business and the process of taking that which is broken, and rebuilding it…making it new!
In the third week of our series we are invited to consider the integrity of the foundation on which we are seeking to build our lives, and even on which we are seeking to be about building God’s church. Following our time considering what it might look like to clear the way for God to build something new, when those things that we don’t need or that God doesn’t want for us are stripped away, we are brought face to face with the steadfastness or the integrity of our foundation.
What if the foundation on which you were building your life and on which we are seeking to build God’s church became the firm foundation of God’s faithfulness instead of the shifting sands of what this world prioritizes.
w/ Vern Collins
from Romans 3:22-28 and Luke 18:9-14
The season of Lent is a time of reflection. It is an opportunity to examine our lives before God and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those things that are hindering our relationship with God and with those around us…and it is an opportunity to invite God to go to work in our lives…the hope which makes all of this possible is the Cross of Jesus toward which we are journeying.
But what if Lent wasn’t just about seeking forgiveness for and repentance from our sin…what if God was able to take our mess and redeem it? What if it’s not just about doing away with something, but about God taking our lives and turning them into something beautiful for His Glory?
Perhaps the place to begin is by acknowledging the Mask of Perfection that so many of us wear…and that Jesus sees right through!
w/ Vern Collins
from Mark 5:21-43
In this week’s glimpse of Jesus, we find two similar yet very different encounters with Jesus. Both people who come to Jesus are seeking healing, and both experience healing in very different ways.
Perhaps you have longed to see healing in your life or in the life of someone you love. Perhaps you have sought God for that, praying that healing would indeed come. Maybe it did…maybe God answered those prayers in the way you hoped…praise God for that.
But what if it didn’t? What if healing didn’t come in the way you hoped for or expected? Is it possible that Jesus is working to bring healing in your life in places deeper than an injury or an illness? Is it possible that Jesus wants to heal completely…even if it means you may still bear the pain of injury or illness?
What if you sought that kind of healing? What if you trusted Jesus enough to heal in the way you or those you love need most?
w/ Lory Beth Huffman
from 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
Whether you are a follower of Jesus or not, your life is telling a story TOWARD SOMETHING. Another way of saying that is that all of us are evangelists for something…
If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, then whether you realize it or not, you are an evangelist for Christ. The question is, what kind of story are you telling about the Gospel? How are you representing Jesus for the world?
Are you willing actively proclaim the story of Jesus to those who need to hear it, or are you content to live your life and hope that somehow the Gospel will rub off on those around you?
What if you were willing to share the story of Who Jesus is to you? What if someone’s life could be transformed through that?
w/ Vern Collins
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Our Ambitious Prayer for the church (adapted from Jonathan Leeman’s “18 Things to Pray for Your Church”)
Heavenly Father, as we seek to be a church that reflects the hope of Your Son, Jesus in this world, our prayer for this church is…
That it would grow in being distinct from the world in love and holiness, even as it engages outsiders.
That faithful elders would use Scripture to train members to do the work of ministry.
That a hunger for studying the Gospel would form among members so that they can guide and guard one another in it.
That a culture of discipling would form in which making disciples is viewed as an ordinary part of the Christian life.
That adult members work to disciple children and teenagers and not just leave the journey of discipleship to programming.
That the church’s songs would teach members to biblically confess, lament, and praise.
That we would unity amid diversity-loving those with whom we have nothing in common but the Gospel.
That transparent, meaningful relationships would become normal, while remaining anonymous would be out of character for who we are.
That members would share the Gospel this week-and see more conversions!
That more members would use their careers to take the Gospel places it’s never been.
It is with the help of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of Jesus we ask these things, Amen.
from Philippians 2:12-13, 3:10-14
In the final week of our “New Year Resolution” series, we wrestle with the question, “now what?” Perhaps you’ve embraced the hopeful truth that God’s grace exists for you before you are even aware of it…perhaps you’ve said “yes” to your need for the sacrifice that Jesus so willingly gave on the cross that you might live a new life…but what does it mean to live into that new life? How are you transformed? How do you become the “new creation” that Paul talks about?
While God’s grace is always at work, the exciting thing about the life ahead of you is that YOU are called to be a part of it…to be a part of what God is doing in making you new!
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 1:5-10 and John 4:1-18
Many of us see the turn of the calendar year as an opportunity for a fresh start, a chance to make some changes, to improve some things about who we are. We enter a new year with a sense of hope and possibility.
What happens when we fall short of those things we want to see change?
What happens when this seems to be the pattern not only in our resolutions and goals, but more importantly in our walk with Jesus? How do you navigate the feeling of falling short once again? Is there guilt? Shame? Weariness? How does it affect your relationship with God? With others?
How might things begin to look different if you approached those disappointments with the understanding that…Jesus knows…and loves you anyway?
w/ Vern Collins
from Mark 16:1-8
In each of the Gospels we are given an account of the resurrection of Jesus…that moment, that event which took place on the third morning when Jesus walked out of the tomb. The event that changed everything. The hope of the church, and the world hangs on that one event. The one that says death and sin DO NOT have the final say.
We hear that story each year on Easter morning…hear that hope proclaimed. But how do you make more than just the retelling of an account of something that happened 2,000 years ago? How do you, like Peter for example, EXPERIENCE the resurrection…the LIVING HOPE of the resurrection…the hope that affects your life NOW right where you are?
Mark’s Gospel gives us an idea of how we might go from hearing an account to be transformed by this Savior!
w/ Vern Collins
from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
The foundation for our call to relationship with others is found in the relationship made possible by God’s willingness to look at our broken relationship with Him and move to make things right. Not because God had somehow wronged us, but because God is gracious to we who have wronged Him.
We are called to take up the cause of bringing the world around us to reconciliation with God…but in order to do that we have to be willing to step outside of our small worldview and live lives in response to the grace offered by God to us through Jesus.
When we view that sacrifice for what it is and what it accomplished, then our view of the world around us begins to change.
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Timothy 6:11-19
Time, Relationships, Headlines, Money…these are just SOME of the things in life that overwhelm us. For the past four weeks, we’ve considered what it looks like to navigate those times when you feel overwhelmed by one or any number of these things.
What if the key was not just to navigate the overwhelming things, what if the goal was not just to get through them…what if the goal was to live an overwhelmed life?
A life overwhelmed by the reality of the goodness, and faithfulness, and love of God…present right in the midst of the rest that you are carrying.
Perhaps then you would find as Paul says, “the life that is truly life.”
w/ Vern Collins
from Revelation 21:1-6
The dream fulfilled. Everything you hoped for, everything you wanted, right? What if the dream fulfilled wasn’t just about what you hoped to see happen in your own life, but about what God wants to see happen in the lives around you?
In the final week of our “Dreamers” series, we are challenged with the thought that being a part of God’s dream for this world, it not just about how it benefits you, but about you inviting others to in to the dream with you.
w/ Rev. Laura Beach
