from Zephaniah 3:14-20/Luke 1:46-55
Advent is about expectation…the expectation that God will continue to fulfill His promises. And if God is still fulfilling His promises then isn’t God still acting…and if God is acting, then things will change? Right?
Right. The problem is we don’t often see it. We look for change in our lives, but don’t see it, we expect our circumstances to improve, but aren’t seeing any thing different…so if God is acting, why aren’t things changing? The question, perhaps, is not whether or not things are changing, but, “are you looking for change in the right place?”
w/ Vern Collins
from Jeremiah 33:14-16
The season of Advent is about waiting, it is about expectation, it is about hope…the hope that things will change, the hope that this is not all there is, the hope that God will act.
Whether it’s something in your life you’re dealing with, or the state of this world we live in…holding on to such hope can seem foolish…
And yet maybe that’s exactly what is needed…a bit more foolishness…a deeper investment in the hope that God will act…because God has been faithful to act before.
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Timothy 6:11-19
Time, Relationships, Headlines, Money…these are just SOME of the things in life that overwhelm us. For the past four weeks, we’ve considered what it looks like to navigate those times when you feel overwhelmed by one or any number of these things.
What if the key was not just to navigate the overwhelming things, what if the goal was not just to get through them…what if the goal was to live an overwhelmed life?
A life overwhelmed by the reality of the goodness, and faithfulness, and love of God…present right in the midst of the rest that you are carrying.
Perhaps then you would find as Paul says, “the life that is truly life.”
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 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 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 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 Acts 10:44-48
In our final week of our “Questions” series, we wrestle with perhaps one of the most piercing questions yet.
Have you experienced the love of God? Do you share it with others, or do you find yourself being choosey with whom you decide to share it? Have you experienced the grace of God? Do you freely offer grace to both your friends and your enemies? Have you experienced new life in Christ? Do you share that new life with the world around you, or is it something you keep to yourself?
In this week’s passage, we find in Peter a willingness to trust the end without seeing it, a willingness to go to the fringes, and a willingness to offer the hope of Christ to the most unlikely people…
Are you willing to do the same?
w/ Vern Collins
from Mark 8:31-38
What does a new perspective of Jesus mean for any who seek Him? It means a deeper understanding of why He came and what life with Him is meant to be.
In this week’s passage, the Disciples come face to face with some shocking news that means everything for them is about to change…perhaps more should change for us as well.
Is the life you are pursuing with Christ truly a life WITH Him, or is it a life that seeks only to fit Him in to the places that are safe…the places in your life where He will do the least amount of damage?
Jesus is calling you to more.
w/ Vern Collins
From Job 38:1-11
Perspective is everything! In this passage giving us a window into a conversation between God and Job, we find that Job is being offered a fresh perspective of God…
What if you had a fresh perspective of the living God?
It could change everything!
*This week’s message includes the announcement about our senior pastor, Jason’s Byassee new appointment starting July 1st. We are incredibly grateful for his leadership, we love he and his family deeply, and pray God’s blessing on their faithfulness in this call.
from John 21:15-19
People do crazy things for love…quit jobs, move half way around the country, get tattoos, change lifestyles…what do you do to show love to those you in fact love? What are you willing to do to show love to someone?
Are you willing to protect them, willing to commit to them, willing to challenge them…would you be willing to jump out of a boat for them? Peter did all of these things for Jesus. Perhaps, the greatest example of Peter’s we have to follow, however, is his willingness to meet Jesus on the shore of his need for grace, hear the question, “do you love me?” and be willing to follow Him once more into a life of surrender to the cause of the Gospel.
What are you willing to do?
w/ Vern Collins
