from Acts 4:32-37
While there are a number of places that we seek to root our hope in this life: people, policy, institutions, the pursuit of wealth…all of them will at some point come up short. In the Easter Season, we are reminded, however, that of the hope of the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus that not only bears up under the weight of hope we place upon Him, but transforms our lives in the process.
This hope is a gift…it is nothing we’ve earned…and not something we get to keep for ourselves. The question becomes, then…how are we stewarding the gift of hope we’ve been given…and what are those things that keep us both rooted in that hope, and propel us to share it with those we come in contact with every day?
For these 5 weeks we will look at the first 9 chapters of Acts and consider the role that Prayer, our Presence, our Gifts, our Service, and our Witness within our own lives and through the life of the church might just be used to transform us and the world around us.
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 2:42-47
While there are a number of places that we seek to root our hope in this life: people, policy, institutions, the pursuit of wealth…all of them will at some point come up short. In the Easter Season, we are reminded, however, that of the hope of the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus that not only bears up under the weight of hope we place upon Him, but transforms our lives in the process.
This hope is a gift…it is nothing we’ve earned…and not something we get to keep for ourselves. The question becomes, then…how are we stewarding the gift of hope we’ve been given…and what are those things that keep us both rooted in that hope, and propel us to share it with those we come in contact with every day?
For these 5 weeks we will look at the first 9 chapters of Acts and consider the role that Prayer, our Presence, our Gifts, our Service, and our Witness within our own lives and through the life of the church might just be used to transform us and the world around us.
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 1:14; 4:23-31
While there are a number of places that we seek to root our hope in this life: people, policy, institutions, the pursuit of wealth…all of them will at some point come up short. In the Easter Season, we are reminded, however, that of the hope of the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus that not only bears up under the weight of hope we place upon Him, but transforms our lives in the process.
This hope is a gift…it is nothing we’ve earned…and not something we get to keep for ourselves. The question becomes, then…how are we stewarding the gift of hope we’ve been given…and what are those things that keep us both rooted in that hope, and propel us to share it with those we come in contact with every day?
For these 5 weeks we will look at the first 9 chapters of Acts and consider the role that Prayer, our Presence, our Gifts, our Service, and our Witness within our own lives and through the life of the church might just be used to transform us and the world around us.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 24:13-35
On this Resurrection Day, we are invited to consider the reality that an empty tomb, a Savior Who meets us on the road of our questions, doubts, and fears, costs us the very hopelessness that would stop us in our tracks, faces downcast.
We are invited instead to root our hope, not in things of this world that can never truly bear up under the weight of expectation we place on them, rather to root our hope in Christ, the One Who has always been present, and Who stands in power over everything that would steal our hope and joy.
And then, we find that living in the Hope of Christ, we have one of the greatest gifts imaginable to share with the world around us…the promise that this is not all there is!
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 18:9-14
The season of Lent is an invitation to examine one’s heart and consider the journey of Jesus’ own suffering that makes possible a life lived in the freedom of God’s grace and the wholeness in which we were created to live.
While the season of Lent is typically marked with “giving something up,” this season you are invited to consider that the journey toward, “life to the full,” that Jesus offers is more costly than simply giving up chocolate or coffee…perhaps it could mean a complete re-ordering of your priorities…and in costing you your busyness or your dignity or your treasure, what if in the process you find more than you ever dreamt possible?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 15:11-32
The season of Lent is an invitation to examine one’s heart and consider the journey of Jesus’ own suffering that makes possible a life lived in the freedom of God’s grace and the wholeness in which we were created to live.
While the season of Lent is typically marked with “giving something up,” this season you are invited to consider that the journey toward, “life to the full,” that Jesus offers is more costly than simply giving up chocolate or coffee…perhaps it could mean a complete re-ordering of your priorities…and in costing you your busyness or your dignity or your treasure, what if in the process you find more than you ever dreamt possible?
w/ Ed Glaize
from Luke 12:13-21
The season of Lent is an invitation to examine one’s heart and consider the journey of Jesus’ own suffering that makes possible a life lived in the freedom of God’s grace and the wholeness in which we were created to live.
While the season of Lent is typically marked with “giving something up,” this season you are invited to consider that the journey toward, “life to the full,” that Jesus offers is more costly than simply giving up chocolate or coffee…perhaps it could mean a complete re-ordering of your priorities…and in costing you your busyness or your dignity or your treasure, what if in the process you find more than you ever dreamt possible?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 10:38-42
The season of Lent is an invitation to examine one’s heart and consider the journey of Jesus’ own suffering that makes possible a life lived in the freedom of God’s grace and the wholeness in which we were created to live.
While the season of Lent is typically marked with “giving something up,” this season you are invited to consider that the journey toward, “life to the full,” that Jesus offers is more costly than simply giving up chocolate or coffee…perhaps it could mean a complete re-ordering of your priorities…and in costing you your busyness or your dignity or your treasure, what if in the process you find more than you ever dreamt possible?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 10:25-37
The season of Lent is an invitation to examine one’s heart and consider the journey of Jesus’ own suffering that makes possible a life lived in the freedom of God’s grace and the wholeness in which we were created to live.
While the season of Lent is typically marked with “giving something up,” this season you are invited to consider that the journey toward, “life to the full,” that Jesus offers is more costly than simply giving up chocolate or coffee…perhaps it could mean a complete re-ordering of your priorities…and in costing you your busyness or your dignity or your treasure, what if in the process you find more than you ever dreamt possible?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 9:51, 57-62 and 14:25-33
The season of Lent is an invitation to examine one’s heart and consider the journey of Jesus’ own suffering that makes possible a life lived in the freedom of God’s grace and the wholeness in which we were created to live.
While the season of Lent is typically marked with “giving something up,” this season you are invited to consider that the journey toward, “life to the full,” that Jesus offers is more costly than simply giving up chocolate or coffee…perhaps it could mean a complete re-ordering of your priorities…and in costing you your busyness or your dignity or your treasure, what if in the process you find more than you ever dreamt possible?
w/ Vern Collins
from Psalm 139:23-24
John Ortberg writes, “The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and to be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it’s still our deepest longing-but it’s now also our deepest fear.” In one of the most beautiful prayers captured in the Psalms, we find Ian invitation to awe and wonder, and invitation to humility, and most importantly an invitation into the freedom of knowing and being known by the God of Creation.
w/ Vern Collins
from Psalm 139:19-22
John Ortberg writes, “The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and to be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it’s still our deepest longing-but it’s now also our deepest fear.” In one of the most beautiful prayers captured in the Psalms, we find Ian invitation to awe and wonder, and invitation to humility, and most importantly an invitation into the freedom of knowing and being known by the God of Creation.
w/ Vern Collins
from Psalm 139:7-12
John Ortberg writes, “The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and to be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it’s still our deepest longing-but it’s now also our deepest fear.” In one of the most beautiful prayers captured in the Psalms, we find Ian invitation to awe and wonder, and invitation to humility, and most importantly an invitation into the freedom of knowing and being known by the God of Creation.
w/ Vern Collins
from Psalm 139:1-5
John Ortberg writes, “The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and to be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it’s still our deepest longing-but it’s now also our deepest fear.” In one of the most beautiful prayers captured in the Psalms, we find Ian invitation to awe and wonder, and invitation to humility, and most importantly an invitation into the freedom of knowing and being known by the God of Creation.
w/ Ed Glaze
from Psalm 139:13-16
John Ortberg writes, “The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and to be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it’s still our deepest longing-but it’s now also our deepest fear.” In one of the most beautiful prayers captured in the Psalms, we find Ian invitation to awe and wonder, and invitation to humility, and most importantly an invitation into the freedom of knowing and being known by the God of Creation.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 3:13-17
In the waters of our baptism we step into our identity and our purpose in the Kingdom of God. As you remember your baptism, may you hear that you are called Beloved, and may you live into making the beauty of God’s Kingdom known and present in this world.
w/ Vern Collins
from 2 Kings 23:1-3
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
*Combined Christmas Eve Worship Gathering
from Isaiah 9:1-7
J.B. Phillips writes, “The towering miracle of God’s visit to this planet on which we live will be glossed over, brushed aside or rendered impotent by over-familiarity.” Advent season comes and goes each year, and yet our hopes remain.
What if, this year we allowed the deep longing we carry inside us for this world to be different…to be the catalyst for seeing the hope of the season of Advent anew? Rather than becoming numb to the miracle of the incarnation…of Emmanuel, “God with us,” we listen back to the words of the prophet Isiah and hear this promise that God has not and will not leave us alone…that He has come and that He is coming again.
May the thrill of such hope stir in our hearts an expectation for God to move anew in our lives.
w/ Ed Glaize
