from Luke 5:36-39
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 2 of our series, we consider that for God’s Kingdom to continue to grow, God has and continues to be faithful to bring “new wine”-that is, new revelation, new insight, new understanding of Who He is and what His Kingdom looks like…the question then is not, is the wine “good,” the question is-are we willing to and ready to receive it or are we inhibited because we are trying to cram God’s new work into an old wineskin?
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 Mark 4:1-11
*this sermon is from our Sanctuary Service on January 10th, due to Crossroads having to take a week away as a result of awaiting COVID test results.
May it bless you.
w/ Lory Beth Huffman
from 2 Kings 23:1-3, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Matthew 22:34-40
As much as we want to see things change AROUND us, and as much as we might like to see some things change ABOUT us in this New Year…the reality is that we will never truly find fulfillment unless we are willing to see things first change WITHIN us.
As we begin this new year, let us consider what it might mean to renew our commitment to relationship with God…or let us consider what it might mean to be open to a relationship with God for the fist time.
Wesley Covenant Prayer:
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 2:22-40
As much as we look ahead at the coming year and want so much to be different..and rightly so…what if instead of wanting to change everything about the life we are living…we considered practicing some things that are so familiar that they have been a part of the lives of the faithful for generations…for millennia?
Perhaps the thing that needs to change for you in the coming year is to pick up some familiar practice and pattern, and see where God might meet you in that!
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 2:1-20
There is much we make of the birth of Jesus. And while there should be…while it is a pivotal point in the history of the world, have you ever considered that for all of the build up in Luke’s Gospel leading up to that birth, he spends very little time focusing on the actual moment?
Perhaps it is not the birth of Jesus that Luke wants us to stop short at…perhaps it what that birth means for the life that will transform the world.
What if you allowed yourself to say yes to the fullness of what the life of Jesus could mean for you? What it means for the world?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 1:26-38 and Colossians 3:12-15
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?
We are all desperate to know that we are loved, and desperate to BE loved…yet, why is love such a difficult thing for us to receive and to extend? Perhaps it’s not that love is somehow “broken,” it’s that we are broken people trying to give and receive love. Our ability to love well, to offer anything other than an “Almost Love” begins with our willingness to receive the “Altogether Love” of God.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 1:46-55, Psalm 30:1-5
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?
More than ever, it seems like the Advent theme we need to be most true is the theme of Joy…and yet, it may seem like it is the most elusive. Sure there are moments that we might feel happiness, or there are joyful moments…but they are often fleeting. Certainly this can’t be what is offered in Christ…a feeling sense of happiness.
What if it’s not the gift that is bad, but our lack of understanding the fullness of what Joy in Christ means.
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 Isaiah 9:1-7
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 our first week of Advent we are invited to wrestle with the question, “What are you hopeful FOR…and more importantly, who or what are you placing your hope IN?” Is your hope rooted in something eternal, or is your hope misplaced, leaving you desperate? Shackled? In the dark? Isaiah reminds us that into that darkness of our misplaced hope, light shines.
w/ Vern Collins
from John 13:1-17
As we approach the season of Advent, we approach a season in which (among other things), we consider the significance of the Kingdom that was inaugurated in His birth and through His ministry…but what does it mean to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom? What should mark our lives?
In His final moments with His disciples before His Passion, Jesus set an example of what posture in His Kingdom should look like. It is a posture of humility and self-giving love that is bent toward forgiveness and reconciliation.
Imagine how this could change not only your life but the lives of those around you.
w/ Vern Collins
from 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, 9:6-11
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.
In our final week of stewardship series, we consider how the way we view and use our finances is directly connected to the impact the Gospel has had on our lives.
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 Ephesians 5:6-21 and Philippians 4:15-17
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.
What if the way you used your time was about more than just time management or doing “more” for the Kingdom of God, what if the way you leveraged the time you have reflected the hope that is to come and carries the potential to bring that future hope into present reality?
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 3:7-12, Colossians 1:15-20, 1 Peter 4:8-11
It’s one thing to consider HOW the church thrived in the midst of such challenges, but when we stop to consider the WHY behind the church’s thriving in impossible circumstances, it could just change our understanding of what it means to be a part of the church!
w/ Vern Collins
from 2 Timothy 3:10-17 and Hebrews 4:12-13
There are times that God is faithful to grant us those mountain top experiences…those times that we experience His presence and power in tangible ways. While those moments are a gift, while they stir our faith in important ways…the reality is, life is not lived in those perpetual mountaintop experiences.
The early believers experienced some life-changing moments with the Lord, but they also faced unbelievable challenges…what was it that sustained them…that kept them rooted in the face of such difficulty.
It was their commitment to Scripture…their willingness to remain connected to God through His Word.
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 4:32-35, Acts 2:44-45, 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, and 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Imagine a community in which the Gospel has run so wild that the manner in which lives are lived actually begin to reflect the hope and the freeing nature of the truths of the Gospel…but not just in your own life…in the lives of those around you…because YOU…because THE CHURCH is living with an integrity that is reflective of the reality of the Gospel in the way that others are cared for and provided for.
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Peter 1:13-21 and Philippians 1:27-30
The call in a life of following Jesus is a call to holiness…the problem is, we either see that as something we don’t want to be lumped into, or it seems like an impossible aim. What if our hang ups with pursuing holiness weren’t in what it is, but in our misunderstanding of it? What if it weren’t meant to be burdensome, but instead was meant for freedom?
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 28:18-20, and 2 Peter 1:3-11
We have noted for the past several weeks that the disruption that was the persecution that the Acts 2 church experienced, instead of dousing the flame lit by the Holy Spirit, served only as a catalyst for explosive growth. What is different? Why does it feel like the church is struggling so much in this season of disruption? Perhaps one of the glaring differences is that the early disciples took SERIOUSLY the call from Jesus to go and make disciples! Imagine if your life began to be leveraged so that others might come to know Jesus!
w/ Vern Collins
