from Genesis 22:1-19
Sometimes it seems that one of the most difficult areas in which to trust God, is in whether or not we will be provided for. If I surrender my life to him, will I truly have all I need? Will I have the kind of income I want, the kind of house I want…what about relationship? So often, when we think of provision, we find our thoughts wrapped up in material possessions, but what if what God promises to provide goes deeper than the material?
Can we truly trust that God will provide all that we need? What if the trials and the challenges in our lack, is not God ignoring our plea, what if it is God teaching us to walk in faith?
w/ Vern Collins
from Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-13, 21-24
In Psalm 16, David says to the Lord, “Your boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” but the reality is that many of us don’t think of boundaries in our lives as being pleasant, rather we tend to think of them as being restrictive. So in order to be able to pursue life as we feel it should be, we begin to create a truth for ourselves that is often outside of God’s Truth for us.
What if we began to see God’s Truth…the boundaries that God’s Truth creates, not as restrictive, but as gracious…as permissive…as life-giving?
w/ Vern Collins
from James 5:13-16, Psalm 103:1-5
At any given point in our lives, we feel the brokenness of this world in which we live…a brokenness that not only affects the world around us, but affects us as well. Some of our brokenness is easily seen, other wounds we keep hidden, but whatever the case, God longs to bring healing and wholeness.
What if you took your longing for healing before the Lord, and trusted His healing touch? What if you could walk in wholeness?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 10:38-42 and Acts 2:42-47
Perhaps the greatest step we can take in this discipleship journey is the one that places us at the feet of Jesus…and yet in a world of busyness and seemingly endless demands on our time, this is the thing that tends to fall off of our list of priorities first.
What if, starting now, you made time at the feet of Jesus a priority instead of an afterthought? Imagine how it might help you to reorder your day as you begin to grow in your love for God and His Kingdom.
w/ Vern Collins
from Isaiah 58:1-12
When you think of worship or the practice of religion, what comes to mind? More importantly, what do you believe the purpose of our worship or the practice of religion is FOR?
Are we simply checking boxes, or are we placing ourselves humbly before God in hopes that we might be transformed…in hopes that we might moved beyond our self-focus in order to focus on those around us?
What if this week, you took a step toward serving someone around you? Recognizing where they might have need, and being willing to come alongside them…just as God, in Christ, has come alongside you.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 8:4-15
Wherever you are on your journey with Christ, there is a thread that binds all who are on that journey (or even considering that journey) together. That is that not a single one of us is called to walk this journey alone.
Using Jesus’ parable of the sower, we consider the value of connecting with others in this journey of growing in Christ.
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 4:1-3, 14-32
Too often we have a tendency to think of life as a Christ follower as meaning little more than behavior modification. What if we lived into the truth that Jesus did not give His life merely to modify our behavior, but He gave His life and offers us life in order to transform our nature?
Wherever you are on the journey, God longs to meet you and to draw you into deeper relationship with Him…and offers you grace in all of the ups and downs as you seek to follow.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 3:13-17
A life of following Jesus if full of challenges. There are many times that we wonder if it is all worth it. We might have doubt, we might have fear of what is ahead, we might wrestle with guilt over feeling like we’re not doing this well.
Unlike trips we might take in life: vacations, road trips to see a friend or some exciting place…what if in life with Christ the thing that sustains us is not the destination, but what is spoken over us at the beginning?
Imagine how your perspective of following Jesus might change if you allowed it to be sustained and rooted in the truth and good news of the beginning…that you are the beloved of God, and that God has called you into life…a life He promises to walk through with you.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 3:1-12
The call to repent is at the heart of the Gospel invitation…and yet, for so many it has left a bad taste in the mouth of those who hear it. What we stopped hearing the call to repent at the end of a pointing finger, and instead heard it as a hope-filled invitation to something new?
John’s is a simple message full of opportunity.
Perhaps you might hear it again for the first time…
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 2:1-12
Epiphany invites us to wrestle with the question, “Who is Jesus TO YOU?”
The build up through Advent to Christmas can seem immense considering how quickly it all seems to leave us…Christmas is packed away for another year…and yet if we are willing, we might just find that the Hope that has come, is present, and continues to come in Jesus…it might just mean something for us now.
w/ Vern Collins
4th Sunday of Advent
from 1 Peter 2:9-12
Who are you?
We tend to answer a question like this by talking about the things that we do. What if defining who we are was not connected to the things you do, rather the things you do is a direct result of who you are?
The coming of the Light of Christ, and choosing to walk in that Light, to build your hope on Who Jesus begins to mean something for WHO YOU ARE. What if your life began to be defined by what God proclaims over you as His child?
That becomes a life worth living. That becomes a story worth telling. That becomes an invitation worth offering…
w/ Vern Collins and testimony by Darcy Carson
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
