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 5:36-39
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 week 2 of our series, we consider that for God’s Kingdom to continue to grow, God has and continues to be faithful to bring “new wine”-that is, new revelation, new insight, new understanding of Who He is and what His Kingdom looks like…the question then is not, is the wine “good,” the question is-are we willing to and ready to receive it or are we inhibited because we are trying to cram God’s new work into an old wineskin?
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
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 week one of our new series, “The Kingdom,” we consider what our role in God’s Kingdom is when faced with the kingdom of this world.
w/ Vern Collins
from John 13:1-17
As we approach the season of Advent, we approach a season in which (among other things), we consider the significance of the Kingdom that was inaugurated in His birth and through His ministry…but what does it mean to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom? What should mark our lives?
In His final moments with His disciples before His Passion, Jesus set an example of what posture in His Kingdom should look like. It is a posture of humility and self-giving love that is bent toward forgiveness and reconciliation.
Imagine how this could change not only your life but the lives of those around you.
w/ Vern Collins
from Zechariah 8:1-8
While we long for God’s Kingdom to be made real on this earth, why is it that we have such a difficult time living like it is already present among us?
Perhaps we need to shift our understanding of what this Kingdom is meant to look like.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 3:1-12
The call to repent is at the heart of the Gospel invitation…and yet, for so many it has left a bad taste in the mouth of those who hear it. What we stopped hearing the call to repent at the end of a pointing finger, and instead heard it as a hope-filled invitation to something new?
John’s is a simple message full of opportunity.
Perhaps you might hear it again for the first time…
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 2:1-12
Epiphany invites us to wrestle with the question, “Who is Jesus TO YOU?”
The build up through Advent to Christmas can seem immense considering how quickly it all seems to leave us…Christmas is packed away for another year…and yet if we are willing, we might just find that the Hope that has come, is present, and continues to come in Jesus…it might just mean something for us now.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 6:9-13
In the things you seek in life…even in the things you pray and ask God for…what if you are not aiming high enough? What if the things you are seeking, even the things you are asking God for are too small? What might it look like to reorient your desires and your wants to something that is already present…to God’s Kingdom. A Kingdom that is here and that is still coming!
What are those things that are keeping you from seeking God’s Kingdom FIRST? What would it look like to surrender those things, or to reorder the things you are seeking, to allow God to lead you in prioritizing the things you desire in your life?
How might things change if your chief desire was to be a part of seeing God’s Kingdom come on this earth?
w/ Vern Collins and Stewardship Testimony from Grace Koppenheffer
from Matthew 20:20-28
What is your ambition in life? That thing, or those things that you so desire to see happen, that you are willing to work diligently toward making it a reality…
In that pursuit, do you find that your ambition in competition with the ambition of those around you?
What if the lens through which you saw those around you led you not to think, “I need to be better than that person,” but instead led you to have the ambition of serving them in a way that reflects Jesus?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 24:1-12
“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”
So often we think of what the Cross of Christ means we are saved FROM, but how often do you consider the empty tomb of Christ and ask the question, “what am I saved FOR?”
Why do we look for life in dead places? What if the resurrection isn’t just something that happened 2,000 years ago…what if the resurrection can happen in your life NOW?
w/ Vern Collins
From Luke 1:39-42, 46-56
We all have those songs that define a moment or a season. Those songs that transport us back in memory, or that focus and excite us toward some goal or event in the future.
But what about a song that names a promise? What about a song that claims hope in the face of trial? What about a song that offers a future for the forgotten? What about a song named and still can spark a revolution?
In week 3 of Advent, listen to Mary’s Song as Luke records it in his Gospel account…yes it is the song of an expectant mother, but it is also the song of a faithful follower…one who longs to see God’s Kingdom become a reality on this earth. Imagine what could change, if you took up this song!
w/ Vern Collins
from John 18:33-37
Who or what are the little kings you have set up on the thrones of your life to serve and protect the kingdoms of your desires, your pursuits, your opinions, your comfort or your convenience? How are those little kings serving you? Have they proven weak yet?
What happens when your little kings and kingdoms begin to collide with the kings and kingdoms of those around you? We tend to live in this perpetual state of conflict with the world around us and feelings of being unfulfilled with our own life. Surely this can’t be all that Jesus had in mind.
What if instead of fighting against the reign of Christ in your life, you lived a life submitted to Jesus as King. What if by losing yourself you found what life is meant to be?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 17:20-21
We often speak of life with Christ as being a “journey,” but inherent in a journey is that at some point there is an end…a finish line. What does the finish line with Christ look like? How do we know when we’ve arrived?
On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, you’re invited to consider what Jesus means when He talks about this Kingdom that is coming or that is near…
Where exactly is this Kingdom breaking in? Around us…or inside us? And if it’s inside you…imagine what that means for your life!
w/ Vern Collins
from Hebrews 4:12-16
It is one of the most enduring works in all of history…and yet can be one of the most frustrating.
It is held as being central to the Christian faith…and yet can be one some of the most frustrating words with which to engage.
If you’ve ever become frustrated or fed up or confused and simply put the Bible down and walked away…you’re invited to take a new perspective. What if your expectation of God’s Word shifted? Instead of asking what God has for you in His Word, what if you began approaching it asking how your life might fit in to it?
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
