from Philippians 4:4-7
Anxiety and worry have become so deeply woven into the fabric of our culture and our daily lives, and we often try to do little more than keep those feelings at bay in order to be able to function…yet, there is a promise in Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi that invites us to live and operate, not from a place of trying to stay of anxiety in order to function, rather to live in the promise of God’s peace and presence with us regardless our circumstances.
w/ Vern Collins
from John 14:25-27, Luke 2:8-20, Mark 4:35-41, Ephesians 4:1-6
*includes an invitation to Communion
Perhaps more than ever we are desperate for Christmas to mean something more than gifts under the tree and time spent with family. What if, in this season of Advent, we didn’t just go through the motions of preparing for Christmas…what if we didn’t celebrate an “Almost Christmas,” but instead gave ourselves fully to the expectation…to the anticipation of what Christ’s coming means for this world?
In the second week of Advent we consider the Peace that is meant to mark both the coming of Jesus and the presence of His Kingdom. It is certainly easier to believe this promise of Peace when things are going smoothly in our lives, but when life is difficult or chaotic are we to believe that the promise of Peace is negated? What if the problem is not with the promise of Peace, but the problem is with our understanding of the Peace that is promised?
w/ Vern Collins
from Mark 4:35-41
That there will be challenges in life is unavoidable. The question becomes not, “what if?” but “when?” When you find yourself faced with one of life’s storms, something that is out of your control…where do you turn? Do you seek the expertise of others? Do you rely on your own wisdom or ability or pure determination to weather the storm? Or might you be willing to turn to the One Who is Lord over the storm?
The One Who is in the midst of the storm with you!
What if God doesn’t just have in mind to rescue you FROM the storm, but to deliver you THROUGH the storm? How might your faith…how might your life be transformed as a result?
Who would you know God to be on the other side?
w/ Vern Collins
from John 14:22-31
What keeps you awake at night? What makes you nervous or anxious? Is it a relationship, concern for a loved one? Is it the state of the world right now, or our country?
How do you navigate that anxiety or unrest? Where do you turn? Do you just hope to survive it, or are you willing to believe that God is present in it? Imagine how things might begin to change if you believed that not only was God present in your worry, but offers you peace in the midst of it.
w/ Vern Collins
from Romans 12
Loving well is not like sleep well. IF things go smoothly during the night, if there are no worries, if kids don’t wake you up, if there are no nightmares then maybe you will sleep well.
But loving well should not be left up to such chance. God is not a God of luck, God is a God of intentionality…in the way He loves us and in the way He calls us to love others.
Paul gives us a model for how we are to achieve the kind of love that is a reflection of the relationship from which we were created…the relationship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
It begins with grace.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 24:36-53
Paul promises in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians that if anyone is in Christ then they are a new creation…he goes on to say that the old has gone and the new has come (from 2nd Corinthians 5).
That is quite a promise for those desperate for change. It is a promise that is full of hope that things don’t have to continue to be as they are…that the struggles we currently have we might just be able to lay down, right? Well, yes…sort of.
What if the change that is promised does not have anything to do with your circumstances, but you within them…or your perspective about them?
We tend to get frustrated when we don’t see the change we long for as followers of Christ, but perhaps we are looking for change in the wrong place.
What if the reality were you were just few adjustments away from experiencing the change you long for in Jesus…change that sets you loose on this world as one who can shape it for God’s Kingdom?
Things change when things have changed.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 2:1-20
Order. We spend a great deal of time and energy in our lives seeking to achieve and maintain some sort of order. And yet, all it takes is a phone call, a meeting at work, a notice in the mail, a visit to the doctor to realize that at any given moment we are a breath away from chaos breaking in and disrupting our safe, calculated lives.
The good news is, as a census was being taken in the Roman Empire…as order was being set…Jesus was entering the world…not in the midst of order, but on the fringe of it…on the edge of chaos.
In unexpected ways to unlikely people the birth of Jesus and news of His birth came…with a proclamation that through Christ, God is coming to make peace in the midst of the chaos…
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 24:1-8, Mark 4:35-40
How long, O Lord…how long? So many around the world, those affected by the events told in the headlines and those who watch from afar, find themselves asking this question.
How long? How long must this go on…this hurt and pain?
As we begin our 5 week “Overwhelmed” series, we do so by looking at the headlines. We are overwhelmed with difficulty in this world…a world that is beginning to look much like that which Jesus describes to His Disciples in Matthew 24.
Perhaps, though, rather than worry about when, we would do well to worry about where.
Where is Jesus in the midst of this? What if you lived knowing He was right in the middle of the storm with you? In a place of peace, and faith?
w/ Vern Collins
