(December 15, 2019) “Looking for Light: Walking in the Light”

3rd Sunday of Advent

from Titus 2:11-14

“If only I had __________, then my life would be different.”

How would you fill in that blank? The things we hope for are often the things that shape our lives…how we spend our time and energy, how we spend our resources, the things we pursue…and so often, those are the same things that leave us frustrated.

What might be different if we had something to hope in that was more than just a fleeting desire. What if our hope could be rooted in something eternal, something that would transform us…SOMEONE Who came to find us? Imagine how life could change if we lived life built on the foundation of hope made possible by Jesus.

w/ Vern Collins

(December 8, 2019) “Looking for Light: Jesus is the Light”

2nd Sunday of Advent

from Isaiah 9:1-7

After establishing the relationship we tend to have with darkness…that is, that we long to see it done away with in the world around us and yet at times, learn to make friends with it within us…once we come to terms with the darkness we must allow ourselves to ask, “Who is this One Who was born into the darkness?”

In his first letter, when speaking about God, John says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:6) How is it that the One in Whom there is no darkness, would willingly enter into the darkness of this world…into our darkness?

Isaiah paints a picture for us of the manner in which Jesus comes…one that is inviting, one that is meek, yet powerful; King, yet humble. What if the power of this Light to dispel darkness is wrapped up in the manner in which this Light comes?

w/ Vern Collins

(December 1, 2019) “Looking for Light: The World Jesus is Born Into”

1st Sunday of Advent

from Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 and John 3:19-20

Advent is meant to be a season of hope. Hope that God has not left us alone. Hope that things can change. Hope that this is not all there is…

Throughout Scripture the work of God, the presence of God, the coming of Christ are all associated with Light. We mark the season of Advent with the lighting of candles to remind us of this Light that has come and is coming…but can we truly appreciate this Light unless we are willing to understand the darkness into which it has dawned?

w/ Vern Collins

(November 24, 2019) “Glimpses of Jesus: Running”

from Luke 15:11-32

What is your understanding of God’s love for you? Is it something you simply know about, or is it something you have experienced for yourself?

In this story Jesus tells in Luke’s Gospel, our understanding of the love of God our Father might just be challenged…in life-changing ways…regardless of where you find yourself in relation to Him right now.

What if you knew God was calling you home to Him? What if you knew God was running toward you in the Person of Jesus? What if you allowed yourself to experience that embrace? What about your life might just change?

w/ Vern Collins

(November 17, 2019) “Glimpses of Jesus: Healing”

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

(November 10, 2019) “glimpses of Jesus: Calming”

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

(November 3, 2019) “Glimpses of Jesus: Inviting”

from Luke 19:1-10

(*including an invitation to the Lord’s Table, and to consider where we might invite someone to a fellowship meal this week. )

If the promise we have in Jesus through the Holy Spirit is that God is present with us always, then why is it that the hope we should have in that truth can seem so fleeting?

For one, we can point to the fact that we live such distracted lives…that’s it not Jesus Who is absent, it is we who are not paying attention.

For these 4 weeks we are going to look at the ways Jesus might be present with us. In knowing how Jesus longs to meet us in our day to day, we might just find that He is not only with us, He is working within us, while at the same time revealing to us the ways we might be a reflection of Who He is in the lives of people around us.

We begin with a familiar story found in Luke’s Gospel that asks us to consider the inviting nature of Jesus!

w/ Vern Collins

(October 27, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Kingdom Come”

from Matthew 6:9-13

In the things you seek in life…even in the things you pray and ask God for…what if you are not aiming high enough? What if the things you are seeking, even the things you are asking God for are too small? What might it look like to reorient your desires and your wants to something that is already present…to God’s Kingdom. A Kingdom that is here and that is still coming!

What are those things that are keeping you from seeking God’s Kingdom FIRST? What would it look like to surrender those things, or to reorder the things you are seeking, to allow God to lead you in prioritizing the things you desire in your life?

How might things change if your chief desire was to be a part of seeing God’s Kingdom come on this earth?

w/ Vern Collins and Stewardship Testimony from Grace Koppenheffer

(October 20, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Giving”

from 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

The promise that God offers through Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 is that where the Spirit of God is present there is FREEDOM and there is TRANSFORMATION.

With that in mind, any frustration or guilt or fear we might feel when considering what it might mean in our lives to live more generously…any time we might find ourselves angry with the church when the subject of giving is broached…if we were to reframe what is happening in our response, we might just see that the Holy Spirit is at work within us…at work bringing us into a place of freedom and transformation in the way we view what we have.

At the heart of a call to live generously is the reality of the Gospel. What if your life were so transformed by the knowledge of all that God freely gave to you in His Son Jesus, that you began to view all that you have through the lens of that truth, rather than viewing your life through the lens of your finances?

What if the way you stewarded what you have been given could actually be a reflection of Jesus in this world?

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. That members would look for ways to be the light of Christ by serving those around them: at home, in the classroom, in their places of work, and in their places of influence. That the church’s prayers would be infused with Biblical ambitions, honesty, and humility. That we would remain above reproach, kept from temptation, complacency, idols, and worldliness. That members would grow in dedication to God’s Word, and seek to reflect the hope and promises found within, even when no one’s watching. That our giving would be faithful, as well as joyful, consistency, and sacrificial.

It is with the help of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of Jesus we ask these things, Amen.

(October 13, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Personal Holiness”

from Ephesians 4:22-24 and 2 Peter 1:1-11

For so many, life as a Christian tends to be boiled down to how well one is “following the rules.” While God has certainly given us boundary lines, when we boil Christianity down to right and wrong, it lacks the sense of freedom and “full life,” that Jesus promises.

If you have felt the frustration of feeling caught in the cycle of victory when things seem to being going well and guilt when you feel like you’re falling short…then perhaps there is something from Peter’s life and journey with Jesus that can be an encouragement to you.

Beginning with the precious faith that you have…no matter how small it may seem, there is the amazing opportunity to experience more in your walk with Jesus.

w/ Vern Collins

(October 6, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Prayer”

from Ephesians 3:14-21

Prayer can serve as the greatest catalyst for our growth in relationship with God and at the same time be one of the greatest frustrations in that same relationship.

We are taught to ask, we are taught to be bold in seeking the things we want God to do in our lives and in the lives of others…there are times we might even be desperate in the ways we seek God in prayer…and yet we might feel like those prayers are falling on deaf ears or going unanswered in the way we had hoped for.

In Ephesians 3, we find a prayer of Paul’s that might just serve as a starting place for all of our other prayers…to pray this prayer over ourselves and those around us might just reframe how we begin to understand everything else that we desire to see happen.

w/ Vern Collins

(September 29, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Service”

from Matthew 20:20-28

What is your ambition in life? That thing, or those things that you so desire to see happen, that you are willing to work diligently toward making it a reality…

In that pursuit, do you find that your ambition in competition with the ambition of those around you?

What if the lens through which you saw those around you led you not to think, “I need to be better than that person,” but instead led you to have the ambition of serving them in a way that reflects Jesus?

w/ Vern Collins

(September 22, 2019) “Ambitious Church: evangelism”

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

_____

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.

(September 15, 2019) “Ambitious church: Relationship”

from Colossians 3:1-15

While we were created for relationship…first with God, and then with one another- in the hopes that those relationships would be a reflection of the fullness of Who God is…while this is part of the means by which we experience the full life that Jesus promises us…the reality is that relationships can be the source of some of our greatest challenges and deepest hurt in life.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, we get a window in to how we might just be able to live in to having healthier and more Christ-reflecting relationships.

w/ Vern Collins

(September 8, 2019) “Ambitious church: worship”

from Psalm 96

What is worship? Is it just singing? Is there a right way to worship? Does our worship truly matter? Does it accomplish anything?

What if worship became more than what we participated in, or what we try to stir up within us…what if worship became our response to God’s faithfulness…to God’s goodness?

Not only do we find throughout Scripture that worship is simply not optional, we begin to see that its true power if found when it happens in the context of community.

w/ Vern Collins

*Try reading Psalm 103 each morning this week, focusing on God’s faithfulness and the grace offered you each day, and see how worship might begin to come as a response.

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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.

It is with the help of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of Jesus we ask these things, Amen.


(September 1, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Discipleship”

from Colossians 3:16-17, Acts 2:42-47

While the word “disciple” appears over 260 times in the New Testament, the word “discipleship” does not appear once.

Is discipleship meant to describe the process of your own journey in following Jesus or is it meant to describe the work of making disciples? Well, simply put-the answer is-YES.

Throughout the New Testament…even throughout all of Scripture we learn that the act of following God’s leading in our lives is not a straight line…today we would say that it is not a “program” that one follows…but we can say that it is a PROCESS.

Where is Jesus calling you to take YOUR next step in the journey of following Him? Is it in your own relationship with Him? Is it in the work of inviting others into life with Jesus? Ask Him…

w/ Vern Collins

_____

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.

It is with the help of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of Jesus we ask these things, Amen.

(August 25, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Scripture”

from 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and James 1:21-23

Our relationship with Scripture can tend to be difficult to define depending on the season of life we are in, or depending on how we feel like we have been treated “in the name of the Bible.”

What if we no longer approached Scripture asking what it can do FOR us, but instead began to approach Scripture asking what it can do IN us?

What if you were willing to open it, to interact with it, to rest, to listen, to seek…in a brand new way? Imagine what might change.

w/ Vern Collins

(August 18, 2019) “Ambitious Church: Distinct Community” -Combined Worship Gathering

from Romans 12:1-21

As we begin our new series, “Ambitious Church,” we are invited over the next several weeks to consider some of the foundational elements and practices of the early church were that helped keep them focused on Jesus, rooted in His love, and committed to the work He called them to…

When we are honest about the enormity of the work Jesus has called the church to, and the deep brokenness that exists in the world, to think that the Church can still have an impact does feel more than a bit ambitious…and yet, we are given this promise that Jesus will never leave nor forsake us.

The church is called to be a distinct community in this world…a community that actually shapes the community around it so that it begins to resemble the Kingdom of God. We cannot hope to do this as a church, nor in our lives if we do not give ourselves wholly to life with Christ.

w/ Vern Collins and Lory Beth Huffman

“Testimony of a Believer: Philip & the Ethiopian Eunuch” (August 11, 2019)

from Acts 8:26-39

“Come and see,” seems like a simple enough invitation doesn’t it? Even Philip’s following the call to “go” is a simple enough response…

The thing we must wrestle with, the question we must be willing to hold the mirror up to our lives on is critical. It not only creates the space in which God is able to work, but it serves as the catalyst for being one who tells the story of Who God is, and that is quite simply:

Are you willing?

w/ Vern Collins

Testimony from Piper Collins

(August 4, 2019)”Testimony of a Believer: The Woman at the Well”

from John 4:1-42

Have you ever considered the possibility that there is something you have in common with every other person in this world? Sure we could talk about our biological make-up, or the fact that we all call this planet home, but have you ever thought of your wounds as being the common ground you share with all other people?

What if the fact that you have been wounded, that perhaps you even still bear some woundedness…what if that were not only your point of connection with people around, but became a catalyst for the story you have to tell of Who God is in the way He has met you in those wounds and the way He has brought healing and wholeness to the places where you needed it most?

w/ Vern Collins

Testimony by Johnny Carson