from 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 and 1 Corinthians 9:34-27
While we have this tendency to try to avoid struggle…to avoid suffering at all costs, one of the things that we see consistently in Scripture is that God not only meets us in our place of struggle, but God is able to use our struggle to not only do amazing things IN us, but also amazing things THROUGH us.
As we begin this 6 week series between Easter and Lent, consider we invite you to imagine what God might be able to do if you are willing to be honest about your weakness and create space for Him to meet you there.
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 James 5:13-16, Psalm 103:1-5
At any given point in our lives, we feel the brokenness of this world in which we live…a brokenness that not only affects the world around us, but affects us as well. Some of our brokenness is easily seen, other wounds we keep hidden, but whatever the case, God longs to bring healing and wholeness.
What if you took your longing for healing before the Lord, and trusted His healing touch? What if you could walk in wholeness?
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
from Ephesians 4:1-3, 14-32
Too often we have a tendency to think of life as a Christ follower as meaning little more than behavior modification. What if we lived into the truth that Jesus did not give His life merely to modify our behavior, but He gave His life and offers us life in order to transform our nature?
Wherever you are on the journey, God longs to meet you and to draw you into deeper relationship with Him…and offers you grace in all of the ups and downs as you seek to follow.
w/ Vern Collins
from Matthew 3:13-17
A life of following Jesus if full of challenges. There are many times that we wonder if it is all worth it. We might have doubt, we might have fear of what is ahead, we might wrestle with guilt over feeling like we’re not doing this well.
Unlike trips we might take in life: vacations, road trips to see a friend or some exciting place…what if in life with Christ the thing that sustains us is not the destination, but what is spoken over us at the beginning?
Imagine how your perspective of following Jesus might change if you allowed it to be sustained and rooted in the truth and good news of the beginning…that you are the beloved of God, and that God has called you into life…a life He promises to walk through with you.
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
4th Sunday of Advent
from 1 Peter 2:9-12
Who are you?
We tend to answer a question like this by talking about the things that we do. What if defining who we are was not connected to the things you do, rather the things you do is a direct result of who you are?
The coming of the Light of Christ, and choosing to walk in that Light, to build your hope on Who Jesus begins to mean something for WHO YOU ARE. What if your life began to be defined by what God proclaims over you as His child?
That becomes a life worth living. That becomes a story worth telling. That becomes an invitation worth offering…
w/ Vern Collins and testimony by Darcy Carson
from Luke 15:11-32
What is your understanding of God’s love for you? Is it something you simply know about, or is it something you have experienced for yourself?
In this story Jesus tells in Luke’s Gospel, our understanding of the love of God our Father might just be challenged…in life-changing ways…regardless of where you find yourself in relation to Him right now.
What if you knew God was calling you home to Him? What if you knew God was running toward you in the Person of Jesus? What if you allowed yourself to experience that embrace? What about your life might just change?
w/ Vern Collins
from Mark 5:21-43
In this week’s glimpse of Jesus, we find two similar yet very different encounters with Jesus. Both people who come to Jesus are seeking healing, and both experience healing in very different ways.
Perhaps you have longed to see healing in your life or in the life of someone you love. Perhaps you have sought God for that, praying that healing would indeed come. Maybe it did…maybe God answered those prayers in the way you hoped…praise God for that.
But what if it didn’t? What if healing didn’t come in the way you hoped for or expected? Is it possible that Jesus is working to bring healing in your life in places deeper than an injury or an illness? Is it possible that Jesus wants to heal completely…even if it means you may still bear the pain of injury or illness?
What if you sought that kind of healing? What if you trusted Jesus enough to heal in the way you or those you love need most?
w/ Lory Beth Huffman
from Ephesians 4:22-24 and 2 Peter 1:1-11
For so many, life as a Christian tends to be boiled down to how well one is “following the rules.” While God has certainly given us boundary lines, when we boil Christianity down to right and wrong, it lacks the sense of freedom and “full life,” that Jesus promises.
If you have felt the frustration of feeling caught in the cycle of victory when things seem to being going well and guilt when you feel like you’re falling short…then perhaps there is something from Peter’s life and journey with Jesus that can be an encouragement to you.
Beginning with the precious faith that you have…no matter how small it may seem, there is the amazing opportunity to experience more in your walk with Jesus.
w/ Vern Collins
from Colossians 3:1-15
While we were created for relationship…first with God, and then with one another- in the hopes that those relationships would be a reflection of the fullness of Who God is…while this is part of the means by which we experience the full life that Jesus promises us…the reality is that relationships can be the source of some of our greatest challenges and deepest hurt in life.
In Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, we get a window in to how we might just be able to live in to having healthier and more Christ-reflecting relationships.
w/ Vern Collins
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
from John 21:1-17
Have you ever stopped to consider how our entertainment, experience, pursuit-of-satisfaction driven culture affects our expectations of what encountering the Lord ought to look like…ought to feel like?
While there are certainly times when an encounter with God evokes a physical and emotional response…while there are times when those encounters are fantastical…what about those times seeks to encounter us in the ordinary…in the familiar?
What if you began to look for God in the familiar? In the every day? Imagine how things might begin to be different…how different following Jesus might begin to look.
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 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
It is difficult to feel a sense of belonging when you don’t feel like you have anything to contribute to thing to which you have given yourself to belong. Even for those who would just as soon fly under the radar and are content with doing next to nothing, eventually the chasm of disconnect created is too much to navigate, and you are left feeling like there is no place for you.
In God’s Kingdom, in the Body of Christ…in the church, no gift offered is too small. In fact, Paul suggests that those who feel the least significant are perhaps the greatest gift to the church, and to what the church is called to be in this world.
What if your belonging included your willingness to use the gifts God has given you…no matter how small they may seem…to use the gifts God has given you in and through the church to transform the world?
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 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Much of our energy and effort at the start of a new year is given to some measure of improvement of who we are. Whether it is committing to exercise more, be more intentional in relationship, eat healthier, or work harder…the new year represents for many a new start.
What if instead of simply trying to improve something about who you already are, you allowed a new or renewed understanding of who you are as one loved by God to transform the way you live the life that is ahead of you?
Imagine what could be different if you lived into the truth that you are the beloved of God. In the waters of baptism we have opportunity to claim that truth over our lives.
w/ Vern Collins
First Sunday in Advent
from Isaiah 9:1-7
As we begin the season of Advent, the march toward Christmas we must acknowledge that there is much that is familiar about this time of year. There are traditions we uphold, customs, gatherings that happen every year, people we expect to see, even food we expect to eat…it is part of what makes this time of year so special…being able to enjoy things that we don’t always get to.
What if in the familiar, we have lost sight of that which is foundational to our reason for celebrating? Has the birth of Christ simply become for us another familiar tradition rather then the foundation of our hope and the expectation of our future?
w/ Vern Collins
from John 8:1-11
Often times we can know that God loves us and calls us to love those around us…to be LIKE JESUS to the world around us. We can know that God loves us so much that He gave His Son as a payment for our sin.
If we know those things, what keeps us from feeling like we are living the new life that Jesus promises? Why do we feel “stuck” somewhere between where we were and where God is calling us? For many of us, it can be boiled down to one word: FORGIVENESS.
Too many of us carry the stones of condemnation or anger or frustration or hurt around, hindering our walk in the freedom of grace that God offers us in Jesus. Maybe it’s our inability to forgive someone who has hurt us, or maybe it’s our inability to forgive ourselves…regardless, the invitation is to out those stones down and walk in freedom!
w/ Vern Collins
