from Matthew 28:16-20
In our final week of our “Church” series, we are challenged with the work that the church was tasked with: making disciples.
What if making disciples weren’t the terrifying thing we believe it to be? What if making disciples wasn’t about forcing something on people? What if making disciples was not about what you do, but about who you become? What if making disciples was simply rooted in relationship?
It can be. And God can do amazing things in and through you simply by a willingness to say, “yes.”
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Saying yes to Jesus is saying yes to His Body…the church.
Saying yes to the church is an invitation away from a life of independence and toward a life of interdependence in which we are intertwined with one another, modeling in our relationship as the church, the love and care of Christ.
From independence to interdependence from isolation to connection, from loneliness to relationship…a call to step into the mess that is human life and watch as God redeems it and makes it something beautiful for the world.
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
“Paul is challenging the people of Corinth, challenging us to consider that we are a gift…”
[apologies for the sound quality]
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 2:42-47
“Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim…” Let us find true devotion to each other and to God.
w/ Vern Collins and David Hockett
from Acts 28:30-31
“This thing is meant to feel fragile, that we are meant to feel fragile most of the time, because it keeps us fixed on something that we can’t always see…an idea that you bear in you this story that really matters….”
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 26:4-29
“Paul believed that the gospel was for everyone, everyone…people like him and people as different from him as they could possibly be…” This story is for you, to receive it, and to tell it…
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 23:1-11
Peace does not come from perfection, but from progress…
w/ Andy Ellis
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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