Tag: Holy Spirit

(August 22, 2021)”All Things Made New: New Pursuit”

from Romans 4:4-6

In our seven week series, “All Things Made New,” we consider the work that Jesus is doing in this world…a work that we don’t have to wait until time has reached its fulfillment to experience, but that we can experience and be a part of now!

When we’ve said “yes” to the new work that Jesus wants to do in us and is doing in this world, but the “novelty” feels like it begins to wear off because the worries of this life begin to crowd in, or we find ourselves slipping back into old pursuits, we must lose heart…instead we find hope in the fact that we have been welcomed by Jesus, empowered by His Holy Spirit, and set free to pursue all that God has for us to be and do.

w/ Vern Collins

(May 16, 2021) “Rebuild: Possibility”

from Acts 1:6-11 and Isaiah 43:18-19

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!

How many times over the past 14 months have we heard or uttered some version of the statement, “I can’t wait until things go back to normal…until they go back to the way they were?”

Is it possible that our longing for what is familiar is hindering our ability to see the possibility of God doing something new?

w/ Vern Collins

(December 27, 2020) “Familiar Practice and Pattern”

from Luke 2:22-40

As much as we look ahead at the coming year and want so much to be different..and rightly so…what if instead of wanting to change everything about the life we are living…we considered practicing some things that are so familiar that they have been a part of the lives of the faithful for generations…for millennia?

Perhaps the thing that needs to change for you in the coming year is to pick up some familiar practice and pattern, and see where God might meet you in that!

w/ Vern Collins

“Testimony of a Believer: Philip & the Ethiopian Eunuch” (August 11, 2019)

from Acts 8:26-39

“Come and see,” seems like a simple enough invitation doesn’t it? Even Philip’s following the call to “go” is a simple enough response…

The thing we must wrestle with, the question we must be willing to hold the mirror up to our lives on is critical. It not only creates the space in which God is able to work, but it serves as the catalyst for being one who tells the story of Who God is, and that is quite simply:

Are you willing?

w/ Vern Collins

Testimony from Piper Collins

“The Power of the Spirit to…” (Pentecost Sunday June 9, 2019)

from Acts 2

We tend to land in one of two places when it comes to the Holy Spirit…either you crave the “signs and wonders,” above other expressions of the move of God, or the idea of a Holy Spirit that is present and active just plain makes you nervous.

Acts 2 offers us, perhaps a new understanding of just what the role and work of the Spirit of God is in this world, and how we might be a part of that work by creating space for the Holy Spirit to move.

w/ Vern Collins

“New Beginnings: Things Get in the Way” (February 7, 2016)

from Luke 4:1-13

How do you handle interruptions to your plans?  What do you do when it seems that things are starting to run off the rails?  How do you handle those obstacles?

What about the obstacles and interruptions in your relationship with Jesus?  How do you handle giving in to temptation?

The moment you decide to make a new beginning in Christ is the moment the enemy will begin working against you.  May you find strength and comfort and hope for the rest of the journey in knowing that Christ allowed himself to be tempted on your behalf…so that you would find grace and strength when you face those things that get in the way.

w/ Vern Collins