“New Year Resolution: God’s Perfection” (January 27, 2019)

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

“As For You: This Grace Was Given” (October 16, 2016)

from Ephesians 3:1-13

To have an understanding of Gods’ grace in your life is  to know the power of forgiveness, the power of hope, the deep value in knowing that you are loved and desired, and ultimately that the God of the universe is FIR YOU.  This is displayed in the lengths God was willing to go to in order to present His Son, Jesus as a sacrifice for your sin, thus opening the way for you to be invited into life with Him.

What if that grace wasn’t meant to stop with you?  What if it wasn’t so much about how it makes you feel loved and accepted and believed in?  What if you stewarded that grace in such a way that it wasn’t trivialized…rather it was leveraged for the transformation of lives around you?

w/ Vern Collins

“As For You: Grace” (October 2, 2016)

from Ephesians 2:1-10

We have somehow allowed the life of a Christ follower to be boiled down to doing more of the right things and less of the wrong things in hopes of looking like one is at least moderately connected to Jesus.  We make plans and ask God to bless them, and we go on living our lives keeping Jesus just close enough so that He is accessible in times of trouble.

What if, life were less about what you can get out of it and what you can accomplish and more about embracing the weight of the grace by which our small lives were saved?  Then perhaps it would be less about achieving your 5 year plan and more about realizing you have something to live for no matter where you land.

w/ Vern Collins

“Rhythms: Generosity” (March 13, 2016)

from 1 John 3:16-18

Ad campaigns that promise more with the purchase of a product only to leave us wanting more, political campaigns that promise something new is coming only to see things remain the same.

In a world full of empty promises talk has become cheap.

Has the Good News of the Gospel of Christ and the hope of new life found in Him suffered the same fate?  Has the claim lost its power?  Has the promise been diluted to simply another option for a different kind of life?

You have something to say about it.  The church has something to say about it.  A life lived poured out on behalf of the world around it points to something worth living for and invites the world to encounter Jesus…the hope of something new.

w/ Vern Collins

“Overwhelmed: Relationships” (October 4, 2015)

Ephesians 2:11-22

In the Creation story in Genesis we see that were not only born out of the relationship of Who God is in Three Persons, but we were created with relationship in mind.  Add to that science’s understanding that physically and emotionally we have to have relationship (because without it both the mental and physical state of our bodies suffer), and we know we need relationship.

If this is the case, then why are relationships often one of the biggest burdens and largest source of stress in our lives?  Because we are broken people trying to be connected to broken people.

What if you approached relationship differently based on the relationship God has mended with you through Jesus Christ?

w/ Vern Collins