from Acts 23:1-11
Peace does not come from perfection, but from progress…
w/ Andy Ellis
Summer Reading: Captive To The Spirit
Scripture – Acts 20:17-35
We have to trust that God will restore all things that need to be fixed. He is the great redeemer, and should remain captive to his will.
w/ Luke Edwards
Summer Reading: The Two Lords
Scripture – Acts 17:1-9
In the past, the world was turned upside down by the proclamation of Christ. It conflicted with the proclamation of Caesar. However, two Lords of opposite virtue cannot coexist. We must choose which of the Lords in out lives we serve.
w/ Reed McNitzky
Summer Reading: Navigating Faith
Scripture – Acts 13:1-3
At times, we may think that we can save ourselves with the tools provided to us; however the right step may be to simply ask for help. We ask and seek help when we are lost and don’t know what to do, but it first takes realizing we’re lost.
w/ Ben Fitzgerald
Summer Reading: Hindering God
from scripture Acts 11: 1-18
At times we are not always open to the will and way of the Lord. We should actively work to unhinder his will from the obstacles of our own dispositions.
w/ Laura Beach Byrch
“Summer Reading: Persecuting Jesus” (June 25, 2017)
from Scripture: Acts 9:1-19
Despite our best intentions to do the right thing, we don’t always get it right. We sometimes tend to do more harm than good. God has to remind us that His plan for the world is to draw all people to Christ…
w/ Jeff McClain
“Summer Reading: Surrender” (June 18, 2017)
from Scripture: Acts 7:54 – 8:1
“Is it our best self that becomes the testimony to God? Or is it the place where you are dark and lost and now are found and known and loved?”…
w/ Reed McNitzky
“Summer Reading: Holy Boldness” (June 11, 2017)
from Scripture: Acts 4:1-22
“Therefore since we have this hope, we are very bold. This new way of living with Jesus, it gives us confidence so we can act with great boldness”…
w/ Andy Ellis
“Summer Reading: Come Holy Spirit” (June 04, 2017)
from Scripture: Acts 1:1-8 and Acts 2:1-13
The most dangerous prayer we can pray is to say “Come Holy Spirit”…
w/ David Hockett
“They’ll Know We Are Christians: Enough” May 28, 2017
from – Mathew 14:13-21
Everything Jesus did pointed to the fact that God is enough for our lives. When we look about the feeding of the 5000, it is not just simply that Jesus could do so much with so little, it is why He did so much with so little…
w/ Vern Collins
“They’ll Know We Are Christians: Outsiders” (May 21 2017)
from Matthew 25:34-40 and Isaiah 58:6-10
Instead of hoping for Jesus to arrive where you are, what would it look like for us to go where Jesus actually is?
With Vern Collins
“They’ll Know We are Christians: Out of Order” (May 14, 2017)
from Luke 7:36-50
Do we have any hope of reclaiming the adage, “They’ll Know We are Christians…by our LOVE?”
Christians are known for a number of things today…is love…the love that Christ offers us, the love that Christ modeled for us, and the love that Christ calls us to one of them? Or are we known for our hypocrisy? Are we known for our self-centeredness? Are we known for our exclusivity, or our neglect of those not like us?
What if the church came to be known as a place for those no one else wanted? What if all of the, “wrong people,” showed up? How beautiful it might just become.
But how is that possible?
Only by allowing Jesus to re-order our lives…
w/ Vern Collins
“Life Giving Rhythms” (April 23, 2017)
from Daniel 6:10
What if rather than working in order to be able to rest, you began resting in order to work? For many of us that would be a seismic shift in our way of life…and yet, not only is it not outside the realm of possibility, it is actually the rhythm you were CREATED for.
A rhythm in relationship with Jesus that feeds your soul, changes your heart for others, and transforms your perspective on those things God has placed before you to do.
From Daniel’s life, guest preacher, Reverend Ken Shigematsu invites us into a rhythm of relationship with Jesus that doesn’t feel burdensome, rather it actually lifts us and supports us in the things we are navigating day in and day out in this life.
w/ Reverend Ken Shigematsu
“Easter: Not the End” (April 16, 2017)
from Mark 16:1-8
In each of the Gospels we are given an account of the resurrection of Jesus…that moment, that event which took place on the third morning when Jesus walked out of the tomb. The event that changed everything. The hope of the church, and the world hangs on that one event. The one that says death and sin DO NOT have the final say.
We hear that story each year on Easter morning…hear that hope proclaimed. But how do you make more than just the retelling of an account of something that happened 2,000 years ago? How do you, like Peter for example, EXPERIENCE the resurrection…the LIVING HOPE of the resurrection…the hope that affects your life NOW right where you are?
Mark’s Gospel gives us an idea of how we might go from hearing an account to be transformed by this Savior!
w/ Vern Collins
“Disordered Love: Pride” (April 9, 2017)
from Matthew 21:1-11
Pride affects not only our relationships with others, but our relationship with God. It divides and pits us against the One Who came to meet us at that very point of our weakness…at the point of our need to be at the center…that our lives and our love might become rightly ordered.
w/ Vern Collins
“Disordered Love: Envy” (April 2, 2017)
from James 3:13-18 and Genesis 4:1-10
w/ Vern Collins
“Disordered Love: Anger” (March 26, 2017)
from Ephesians 4:25-32
w/ Vern Collins
“Disordered Love: Lust” (March 19, 2017)
from Matthew 5:27-30
w/ David Hockett
“Disordered Love: Greed” (March 12, 2017)
from Luke 12:13-21
Is enough enough?
It seems like a simple enough question…perhaps even a bit ridiculous, but when you consider what you really need for this life…is enough enough?
On top of that, when you consider what you have been so freely given in the sacrifice of Jesus so that you might have life…what more do you need?
When does abundance become greed? When does blessing become excess? In Jesus’ parable in Luke’s Gospel, he challenges our tendency to want to “store away” for a future…a future that God has already secured.
w/ Vern Collins
“Disordered Love: Gluttony” (March 5, 2017)
from Matthew 6:25-33
As we enter the season of Lent, we begin by considering St. Augustine’s idea that one of the marks of a Christ-honoring life is that our love is properly ordered….God first, other, even enemies, as well as self. While this seems good and right, the truth is, we spend much of our life loving in a way that is disordered…and at the core, the result is sin.
What happens when we love the things of God more than God? What happens when we use the things God has given us as a substitute for God, or when we turn to those things as a way of escape? When we worry about having, not just what we need, but what we want…and enough of what we want, then we have allowed our love to disorder our understanding of what is necessary in this life.
What if the goal was not all? What if the goal was not even enough? What if the goal was God? What if rather than covering your weakness with excess, you took this season of Lent to rest in your brokenness and frailty and allowed God to meet you in that place?
w/ Vern Collins