Ephesians 2:11-22
In the Creation story in Genesis we see that were not only born out of the relationship of Who God is in Three Persons, but we were created with relationship in mind. Add to that science’s understanding that physically and emotionally we have to have relationship (because without it both the mental and physical state of our bodies suffer), and we know we need relationship.
If this is the case, then why are relationships often one of the biggest burdens and largest source of stress in our lives? Because we are broken people trying to be connected to broken people.
What if you approached relationship differently based on the relationship God has mended with you through Jesus Christ?
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 24:1-8, Mark 4:35-40
How long, O Lord…how long? So many around the world, those affected by the events told in the headlines and those who watch from afar, find themselves asking this question.
How long? How long must this go on…this hurt and pain?
As we begin our 5 week “Overwhelmed” series, we do so by looking at the headlines. We are overwhelmed with difficulty in this world…a world that is beginning to look much like that which Jesus describes to His Disciples in Matthew 24.
Perhaps, though, rather than worry about when, we would do well to worry about where.
Where is Jesus in the midst of this? What if you lived knowing He was right in the middle of the storm with you? In a place of peace, and faith?
w/ Vern Collins
from Revelation 21:1-6
The dream fulfilled. Everything you hoped for, everything you wanted, right? What if the dream fulfilled wasn’t just about what you hoped to see happen in your own life, but about what God wants to see happen in the lives around you?
In the final week of our “Dreamers” series, we are challenged with the thought that being a part of God’s dream for this world, it not just about how it benefits you, but about you inviting others to in to the dream with you.
w/ Rev. Laura Beach
from Deuteronomy 34:1-12
How do you deal with disappointment? Do you dwell on it, or move past it? Does it make you angry or do you numb yourself to it just to keep functioning? You’ve worked toward something, planned for something, dreamt for a long time of doing something…only to be let down? How do you deal with the disappointment?
What about when it seems to be God Who is the One leaving you disappointed? What happens when it is God Who is the reason for your dreams being dashed or deferred?
Rather than allowing it to shake the foundation of your faith, what if you took a bigger view of your life…and a bigger view of the work that God can do in and through it?
w/ Vern Collins
from Philippians 3:3-16
What goals have been set before you? What are you chasing? What are your dreams for your life? Have you accomplished any of those goals? Are you in the midst of chasing them? What happens when you’ve completed them? What happens when you accomplish your goals?
What are you going to do now?
How does that accomplishment leave you feeling? Satisfied? Empty? Worn thin? Like you have purpose, or like life has been stolen from you?
What if you pursued the dream that Jesus and the dream He has for you with the same drive that fuels the pursuit of your own dreams?
What if the dream Jesus has for you was enough?
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 5:1-12
Once we truly begin to wrap our minds and hearts around God’s dream for this world…that all will be made right…that even now, Christ, through His church is working to make things right, to bring hope, to bring healing, to offer something “more,” to a hurting world…once you find yourself open to that in your own life, it becomes a compelling invitation to make that dream real for the world around you.
But it is difficult.
While it is a dream the world needs, it is one that often seems out of place…like it is somehow competing with the dreams this world has and the things the world chases.
Perhaps a better understanding of the things Jesus values in the Kingdom He came to inaugurate gives us a better understanding of what God sees as beautiful…and a deeper willingness to embrace those things in your own life.
w/ Vern Collins
from John 1:35-51
Have you experienced something so amazing that you wanted to tell everyone you know…yet at the same time, you didn’t really want to tell anyone because you were afraid of what might happen to that experience?
How have we come to the place where we treat the Gospel the same way? How have we come to the place where we treat the Hope found in Jesus like something we want to protect for our own? Jesus is God’s dream for humanity, God’s dream in the flesh…open for all…and yet so many are never invited into the dream.
Perhaps being reminded of your own invitation into the dream…perhaps being reminded that the invitation we offer to others was never meant to be complicated…it was meant to be as simple as, “Come and See.”
w/ Vern Collins
from Genesis 37:1-11
Dreams are often nothing more than an interruption to a night’s sleep, or make us question what is real when we awake from them…sometimes we blame them on a bad meal, and others on recurring fears…whatever the case, we rarely give our dreams much attention.
What if you knew there was a dream that has existed since the beginning of Creation? What if you knew a dream has been shared and passed down since the beginning? What if you were told you could have a part in it?
God has a dream for this world that stretches from the Creation Story all the way to Jesus’ return to establish His Kingdom on earth forever. In this new series, we will dive in to this dream of God’s for the world He created, and for humanity whom He loves.
w/ David Hockett and Vern Collins
from John 6:24-35
The journey through this life is full of transitions…transition between jobs, transition in relationship, transition in faith, transition in family, transition in seasons of life…we’ve talked about what it means to navigate those transitions, but the questions remains: what anchors you in those transitions? Do you have what you need for the journey?
In our passage this morning from John’s Gospel, we find Jesus promising a bread that will last…what is this meal He is offering? Is it still available today? If so, where do we find it, and how could it be so lasting?
Come to the Table, and see…
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 3:14-21
For many the idea of committing one’s life to Christ is committing to a life full of rule-following and void of freedom. In Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus, he prays that they would be rooted and established…but he is not praying that they would be rooted and established in RULES, rather in LOVE.
Perhaps it is not about a loss of freedom that Paul is after for followers of Christ, but that they may know what freedom truly is. A freedom from fitting the mold the world tries to force you in to, so that you are open to inviting the world into a life grounded in the One Thing that doesn’t change. God’s love for humanity and His desire that they may know the fullness of life only found in Him.
w/ Vern Collins
from John 3:16-17
While it might just be a verse so familiar that you have become numb to the weight of it, John 3:16 carries for you a foundational truth that will anchor you in any transition or season of life you happen to find yourself in. The keys to appreciating the power in these words of Jesus are recognizing the desperation of your situation, understanding the difficulty of this kind of love, realizing the reality of the remedy, and seeing the danger in keeping your distance from this life-giving truth.
w/ Vern Collins
from Mark 9:2-8
We came away from week 1 of our “Transitions” series daring to believe that transitions not only carry the possibility of being good, but also necessary for what God desires to teach us…about Who He is…about who we are…not only does God teach in the midst of transition, but He is faithful to use transition to prepare us for what is next.
So knowing that God is not surprised by your circumstances, that God does not waste time, and that He knows you intimately…just how do you go about allowing God to maximize the transitions in your life to the fullest extent?
Simple.
Listen. That’s it. Listen to Him. That’s the starting point. That’s the instruction for the journey…listen.
w/ David Hockett
from Luke 4:1-13
Life is full of transitions. Transitions in work. Transitions in relationship. Transitions from one stage of life to another. They are simply part of the rhythm of life.
When transitions in life go smoothly, they are little more than one thing ending and another beginning. When transitions become difficult, however, they can begin to feel more like an interruption or a road block to whatever may be coming next.
As we begin this new series on transitions, we find from the story of Jesus’ time in the wilderness, that not only is can we find purpose in transition, but that God is faithful in the midst of them.
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
We are conditioned from an early age that if we have any hope of success, we need to be set apart. This is great for those who feel like they are, and a road block for those who feel less than unique in a world that values distinction.
The problem is, our distinction often creates division, so we find ourselves not only suffering the effects of this, but trying to compensate for it by calling for unity in the midst of our diversity.
Paul argues, that as the Body of Christ, we find unity because of our diversity, not in response to it.
How would the church begin to look different; how would your life begin to look different if you saw yourself as one part of the whole, and began to value the parts around that also contribute to the church being the body of Christ?
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
The call for the Christ follower to be Christ to the world can be at best confusing and at worst something that on you can make a quick mess of. In an age when the church and the follower of Christ are seen as being judgmental, hypocritical, or more concerned with self than with a hurting world, is there hope of bringing the gap?
The invitation to Christ’s table is an invitation to a deeper understanding not only of the journey that led Christ to be broken for us, but a deeper understanding of who we are called to be in Him.
w/ Vern Collins
from John 20:24-31
The lifeless form on the cross, the broken bread at The Table, the church, and the individual following Christ…all, the Body of Christ, yet for much of the world there the disconnect between who the Christian, or what the church is and who they understand Jesus to be.
Perhaps if we had a better understanding of what it means to be the Body of Christ, then we would begin to look more like the One Who is at the head.
In week 1 of our new series, we look at Jesus’ patient encounter with Thomas after the Resurrection, and are challenged in the way we might approach those around us who doubt.
w/ Vern Collins
