from Romans 12:9-21
Over the course of these 7 weeks, our prayer is that we are able to wrestle back from the world, and allow Scripture as well as the life of Jesus redeem for us what we understand love to be.
What would it look like to begin to prioritize seeking the loving heart of God over other things that we tend to make more important in our lives? What would it look like to allow ourselves to be truly loved by God…to prioritize reaching out in love for those around us? How might your life begin to look different? How might the church begin to look different if this is where the emphasis were placed? Not that seeking wisdom and the exercising of the gifts ceased to be important, but were never MORE important than the task of loving God and loving others…
w/ Vern Collins
from Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Peter 4:10-11
While we have a tendency to hear the discussion of stewardship (that is, how we use out Time our Talent and our Treasure) as little more than an ask or a demand on what can feel like an already strained life, the reality is that the way we steward what we’ve been given is about so much more than what we GIVE…it’s about what we believe is happening when we do.
Imagine what the world could begin to look like if we saw the gifts that w have been given as being not for our benefit, but for the benefit of others and for the building up of the church. You have a role to play and a gift to offer.
w/ Vern Collins
from Romans 12:3-8
When you say yes to the gift of life made possible by Jesus on the cross, when you walk in salvation, when you are adopted into the family of God…you are NOT meant to be an only child! And yet far too many of us attempt to walk this journey of faith and life in isolation from those we are meant to walk alongside.
In this first week of our “Belonging” series, we consider why belonging in the midst of life’s transitions is not only good…it is vital to our remaining rooted in who we are in Christ and remaining connected in relationship to God and what God is doing in this world.
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
