from Ephesians 3:14-21
Over the course of these 7 weeks, our prayer is that we are able to wrestle back from the world, and allow Scripture as well as the life of Jesus redeem for us what we understand love to be.
What would it look like to begin to prioritize seeking the loving heart of God over other things that we tend to make more important in our lives? What would it look like to allow ourselves to be truly loved by God…to prioritize reaching out in love for those around us? How might your life begin to look different? How might the church begin to look different if this is where the emphasis were placed? Not that seeking wisdom and the exercising of the gifts ceased to be important, but were never MORE important than the task of loving God and loving others…
w/ Vern Collins
from Romans 12:9-21
Over the course of these 7 weeks, our prayer is that we are able to wrestle back from the world, and allow Scripture as well as the life of Jesus redeem for us what we understand love to be.
What would it look like to begin to prioritize seeking the loving heart of God over other things that we tend to make more important in our lives? What would it look like to allow ourselves to be truly loved by God…to prioritize reaching out in love for those around us? How might your life begin to look different? How might the church begin to look different if this is where the emphasis were placed? Not that seeking wisdom and the exercising of the gifts ceased to be important, but were never MORE important than the task of loving God and loving others…
w/ Vern Collins
from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Over the course of these 7 weeks, our prayer is that we are able to wrestle back from the world, and allow Scripture as well as the life of Jesus redeem for us what we understand love to be.
Paul didn’t simply tell the church in Corinth that love was to be the foundation of all that they do…he told them what that love is and is not meant to look like!
w/ Vern Collins
from Psalm 139
Perhaps deeper than our need to be loved is our need to be known…in fact, wrapped up in our need to be loved is the longing to be loved for who we truly are…and to be loved for who we truly are is the reality that we are KNOWN!
There is One Who not only knows you…TRULY knows you, but One Who is present with you…always.
Imagine how your view of life might begin to change if you lived in the reality of the truth of God’s love for you and presence with you.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 1:26-38 and Colossians 3:12-15
Perhaps more than ever we are desperate for Christmas to mean something more than gifts under the tree and time spent with family. What if, in this season of Advent, we didn’t just go through the motions of preparing for Christmas…what if we didn’t celebrate an “Almost Christmas,” but instead gave ourselves fully to the expectation…to the anticipation of what Christ’s coming means for this world?
We are all desperate to know that we are loved, and desperate to BE loved…yet, why is love such a difficult thing for us to receive and to extend? Perhaps it’s not that love is somehow “broken,” it’s that we are broken people trying to give and receive love. Our ability to love well, to offer anything other than an “Almost Love” begins with our willingness to receive the “Altogether Love” of God.
w/ Vern Collins
from Ephesians 1:5-10 and John 4:1-18
Many of us see the turn of the calendar year as an opportunity for a fresh start, a chance to make some changes, to improve some things about who we are. We enter a new year with a sense of hope and possibility.
What happens when we fall short of those things we want to see change?
What happens when this seems to be the pattern not only in our resolutions and goals, but more importantly in our walk with Jesus? How do you navigate the feeling of falling short once again? Is there guilt? Shame? Weariness? How does it affect your relationship with God? With others?
How might things begin to look different if you approached those disappointments with the understanding that…Jesus knows…and loves you anyway?
w/ Vern Collins
from Philippians 2:1-8
Not only were we created for relationship with God, but we were actually created for relationship with one another as well. We know that Jesus makes possible through His death and resurrection, relationship with God. But Jesus also makes life-giving relationship with one another possible through that same death and resurrection.
The problem is, something that is meant to be such a gift and such a reflection of Who God is in the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…relationship with one another…is the cause of some of our greatest frustration and hurt in this world.
So how do we love one another well. How do we operate in ways that are healthy and foster relationships that reflect Who Jesus is to the world around us?
We begin with humility.
w/ Vern Collins
