from Luke 9:1-6
In Isaiah 43:18-19a we read, “Forget the former things do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” In Revelation 21:5, we hear the words of Jesus captured by John, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” Since the beginning, God has been in the business and the process of taking that which is broken, and rebuilding it…making it new!
In week two of our series, we look at Jesus’ instruction in Luke’s Gospel for the disciples to enter into the work He has set the example for…but he instructs them not to take anything extra with them. Where might God be inviting you to clear the way for the new thing God longs to do?
w/ Jeff McClain
Here is the poem used in our Benediction:
Fear – a poem by Khalil Gibran.
It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.
from Luke 24:13-35
In Isaiah 43:18-19a we read, “Forget the former things do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” In Revelation 21:5, we hear the words of Jesus captured by John, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!'” Since the beginning, God has been in the business and the process of taking that which is broken, and rebuilding it…making it new!
As we begin our new series, “Rebuild,” we are invited this week to consider that part of recognizing the need for God’s ability to make new is to come to terms with that which we have lost. As you consider this past year; as you consider your life-what has been lost? Where have you experienced loss? As you think about the church, where has there been loss? How might that loss open the door for possibility?
w/ Vern Collins
from John 20:1-18
Are those things in this life in which you have placed your hope able to bear up under the weight that you place on them to hold you up when you face life’s challenges?
There is One Who will not only always bear up under the weight, but will bear you up when the weight is too great!
Jesus Is Alive!
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 21:1-11
The season of Lent is a time of reflection. It is an opportunity to examine our lives before God and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those things that are hindering our relationship with God and with those around us…and it is an opportunity to invite God to go to work in our lives…the hope which makes all of this possible is the Cross of Jesus toward which we are journeying.
But what if Lent wasn’t just about seeking forgiveness for and repentance from our sin…what if God was able to take our mess and redeem it? What if it’s not just about doing away with something, but about God taking our lives and turning them into something beautiful for His Glory?
On this Palm Sunday, we are brought face to face with the very clear statement Jesus makes about the king of King He came to be. For the people of Jerusalem…for many of us…the kind of King Jesus came to be is not the kind of King we WANT Him to be, but if we are willing to humble ourselves before Him, we find that Jesus is exactly the kind of King we NEED Him to be.
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 John 1:5-10 and Psalm 32:1-7
The season of Lent is a time of reflection. It is an opportunity to examine our lives before God and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those things that are hindering our relationship with God and with those around us…and it is an opportunity to invite God to go to work in our lives…the hope which makes all of this possible is the Cross of Jesus toward which we are journeying.
But what if Lent wasn’t just about seeking forgiveness for and repentance from our sin…what if God was able to take our mess and redeem it? What if it’s not just about doing away with something, but about God taking our lives and turning them into something beautiful for His Glory?
For the 5th Sunday of Lent, we find ourselves wrestling with what it is that allows us to step out from under the weight and guilt and shame and into the freedom that Jesus makes possible. It’s simple really…and yet, so many of us have such a difficult time doing it. Truth Telling. Being honest about our sin and the dark places within us. While the world conditions us to find and live by our truth, there is an invitation to allow another truth to invade our lives. The question is, are we willing to receive it and to respond honestly about our deep need?
w/ Vern Collins
from 2 Samuel 12:1-10, 13; Psalm 51:1-4, 10-12; John 8:1-11
The season of Lent is a time of reflection. It is an opportunity to examine our lives before God and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those things that are hindering our relationship with God and with those around us…and it is an opportunity to invite God to go to work in our lives…the hope which makes all of this possible is the Cross of Jesus toward which we are journeying.
But what if Lent wasn’t just about seeking forgiveness for and repentance from our sin…what if God was able to take our mess and redeem it? What if it’s not just about doing away with something, but about God taking our lives and turning them into something beautiful for His Glory?
In our 4th week of Lent, we consider perhaps one of our greatest obstacles to our relationship with God and with those around us…the unbearable weight of our guilt and shame. What if, in being honest about those things for which we are guilty, we could find freedom from the shame that keeps us far from God and isolated from others?
w/ Vern Collins
from Genesis 11:1-9 and Romans 8:14-17
The season of Lent is a time of reflection. It is an opportunity to examine our lives before God and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those things that are hindering our relationship with God and with those around us…and it is an opportunity to invite God to go to work in our lives…the hope which makes all of this possible is the Cross of Jesus toward which we are journeying.
But what if Lent wasn’t just about seeking forgiveness for and repentance from our sin…what if God was able to take our mess and redeem it? What if it’s not just about doing away with something, but about God taking our lives and turning them into something beautiful for His Glory?
In our third week of Lent, we consider the ways our search for identity is often a catalyst for the mess in which we find ourselves in life. What does it mean to find our identity in Christ? How might God redeem our search for identity?
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 17:16-27
The season of Lent is a time of reflection. It is an opportunity to examine our lives before God and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those things that are hindering our relationship with God and with those around us…and it is an opportunity to invite God to go to work in our lives…the hope which makes all of this possible is the Cross of Jesus toward which we are journeying.
But what if Lent wasn’t just about seeking forgiveness for and repentance from our sin…what if God was able to take our mess and redeem it? What if it’s not just about doing away with something, but about God taking our lives and turning them into something beautiful for His Glory?
Following last week, the next step in our journey toward God redeeming our mess, is to begin to unpack how we got into this place to begin with.
What are the things you grasp for or cling to other than God or God’s best for you…what are those things you reach for that end up leaving the void within empty?
w/ Vern Collins
from Romans 3:22-28 and Luke 18:9-14
The season of Lent is a time of reflection. It is an opportunity to examine our lives before God and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those things that are hindering our relationship with God and with those around us…and it is an opportunity to invite God to go to work in our lives…the hope which makes all of this possible is the Cross of Jesus toward which we are journeying.
But what if Lent wasn’t just about seeking forgiveness for and repentance from our sin…what if God was able to take our mess and redeem it? What if it’s not just about doing away with something, but about God taking our lives and turning them into something beautiful for His Glory?
Perhaps the place to begin is by acknowledging the Mask of Perfection that so many of us wear…and that Jesus sees right through!
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 13:44-46
While the idea of the Kingdom of God may be a familiar one, it becomes easy to get tripped up when we are faced with the evil that exists in this world. If God’s Kingdom is present, what are we to do with all that doesn’t reflect His Kingdom in this world? What is our role in the evil that is so present?
In the final week of our “The Kingdom” series, we are invited to wrestle with what our ultimate treasure in this life is, and more, we are invited to consider the hard truth that if our ultimate treasure is not Jesus and His Kingdom, then we will never know the wholeness and satisfaction for which God makes a way.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 6:46-49
While the idea of the Kingdom of God may be a familiar one, it becomes easy to get tripped up when we are faced with the evil that exists in this world. If God’s Kingdom is present, what are we to do with all that doesn’t reflect His Kingdom in this world? What is our role in the evil that is so present?
What is the foundation upon which you have built and are living your life? It seems like an odd question, doesn’t it? A foundation is not something we generally give any thought to unless there is a problem with the foundation.
In Jesus’ parable of the wise and foolish builders, He is clear that it’s not a question of if the foundation upon which your life is built will be tested…it is a question of when. What does it take to build a firm foundation?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 2:1-20
There is much we make of the birth of Jesus. And while there should be…while it is a pivotal point in the history of the world, have you ever considered that for all of the build up in Luke’s Gospel leading up to that birth, he spends very little time focusing on the actual moment?
Perhaps it is not the birth of Jesus that Luke wants us to stop short at…perhaps it what that birth means for the life that will transform the world.
What if you allowed yourself to say yes to the fullness of what the life of Jesus could mean for you? What it means for the world?
w/ Vern Collins
from Acts 4:32-35, Acts 2:44-45, 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, and 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Imagine a community in which the Gospel has run so wild that the manner in which lives are lived actually begin to reflect the hope and the freeing nature of the truths of the Gospel…but not just in your own life…in the lives of those around you…because YOU…because THE CHURCH is living with an integrity that is reflective of the reality of the Gospel in the way that others are cared for and provided for.
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 1:15-23
What is the foundation upon which you are building your life? What is the foundation upon which the church is to be built?
What if aligning your life and the life of the church under the Lordship of Jesus isn’t about stifling life, but about finding freedom and purpose. Looking at the early church in the disruption it experienced, one of the things that Paul and apostles sought to continue to uphold, was the headship of Christ as the catalyst for life to the full and a church that is flourishing.
w/ Vern Collins
from Philippians 3:1-14
While seasons of struggle are challenging for a number of reasons, perhaps the thing that makes them most uncomfortable, most unnerving…the thing that makes us want to be on the other side of those challenges, is that they challenge our understanding of who we are in ways that we are often unprepared for.
What if instead of fearing what is revealed about our identity in those difficult seasons, we saw it as an opportunity to examine that upon which we have built our lives? What if we saw it as an opportunity to consider that the fullness of life can only truly be found in Jesus?
w/ Vern Collins and Jeff McClain
from Matthew 28:1-10
The story of Jesus’ resurrection is familiar to so many, but if we allow the story to become to familiar, we run the risk of no longer expecting that we can be surprised by Jesus…we run the risk of losing sight of the fact that Jesus might just be showing up right where we are.
May the hope of the resurrection meet you in a very real way this Easter season.
w/ Lory Beth Huffman and Vern Collins
from Matthew’s Gospel account of the final week of Jesus’ life as well as a look at Matthew 26:36-46
For Palm Sunday we listen to the last week of Jesus’ life told from beginning to end and close with a brief message looking at Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. What might we learn from Jesus’ vulnerability? What might it tell us about Jesus? How might it draw us in to Holy Week?
w/ Vern Collins (message) and Lory Beth Huffman, Jeff McClain, Laura Byrch, and Ben Fitzgerald (readers)
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
