Sunday, June 26, 2022 - Naomi and her husband leave Bethlehem (Bethlehem means house of bread) during a famine and go to Moab where God had told people not to go. Once they get there, Naomi's husband and two sons die and they go back to Bethlehem because God was providing. We often leave God's house of bread - biblical community - and go where we shouldn't. And once everything goes sideways, we end up having to go back to where we started.
Sunday, June 19, 2022 - Dads, it's just a fact that we love to be in control. For good reason, too. We want to protect our families, we want to provide and be the men who successfully lead their families. After all, God calls us to do just that. But when we hold too tightly to the reins of control, it quickly squeezes God out of our lives and our families’ lives. What would it look like and what would the outcome be if, as dads, we held tightly onto God, and not the things we think we can control?
Sunday, June 5, 2022 -
In the Old Testament, God's people would from time to time make a sacrificial offerings. We tend to think of sacrifice as something bad - that we're losing something. But biblically, sacrificial giving is something we do as a humble response to God's goodness. From time to time, we want to sacrifice something for God's work - and in fact the missing of "that thing" we sacrifice reminds us of God's graciousness. Delaying a car purchase one year, reducing your level of vacation, magazine subscriptions, going to the movies - all these things we could willingly sacrifice as our gesture of appreciation to God and to support His work. Remembering, as Christians, our salvation is secured by the willing sacrifice of Christ. We recognized that as in all thing, God sacrificed first - we are merely responding.
Sunday, May 15, 2022 - James the half-brother of Jesus asks us to consider what does faith really look like? James presents a compelling argument that faith and action are inexorably linked by asking, what good is faith without action?
Sunday, May 1, 2022 - They say actions speak louder than words, but what is our motivation behind our actions? It is important to know what motivates us to serve others and to continually examine our heart before the Father so that our heart, attitude, and motives align with the heart of God’s. Together, we will examine the heart of the matter.
Sunday, April 24, 2022 - Jesus said that He has come “to serve not be served”. And throughout His life stayed true to that calling. Life in Christ requires doing life with one another and for one another and, frankly, sometimes in spite of one another. Nonetheless, serving is an aspect of Christ-likeness that all of us can imitate.
Sunday, April 17, 2022 - Every Easter we celebrate Jesus walking out of the tomb - and the resurrected life He offers each one of us. A glorious truth indeed! But do we ever stop to consider what Jesus left behind in that tomb? This Easter, let's look not only at eternal life outside the tomb - but let's remember what gets Left Behind in that tomb forever.
Sunday, April 10, 2022 - If, as followers of Jesus, we’re all “in the family” - what are the implications for our daily lives? Our biblical community? What should non-believers see in us? This week, we’re looking at what it means to be an All-In Family that’s all in The Family.
Sunday, April 3, 2022 - What truly keeps families together over the long haul? It’s shared vision, shared traditions, familiar stories. Enjoying success, enduring defeat, mourning loss, celebrating gain - a common sense of purpose that comes from the One true God. This is how you create a generational tribe. These are the true family ties.
Sunday, February 20, 2022 - In the story of creation, God looked at all He had done and uttered the often repeated phrase, “It is good.” That is, until He saw man, alone. What can this story teach us about God’s design for marriage and sexuality? Currently sexuality may be the most polarizing topic available in our culture. So what does the Bible teach on this topic? How are we supposed to respond toward those who consistently live outside of the Biblical description?
Sunday, February 6, 2022 - One of the greatest losses we experience is when someone we love commits suicide. The unanswered questions can be unbearable. What does the Bible teach us about their eternity? How can we comfort those who suffer that loss? This week we tackle one of the toughest questions out there - What Happens to People Who Take Their Own Life?
It’s popular to say that there is a battle between Good and Evil. Popular to say, but not true. The battle is between Evil and Man. God - Who is good - has already won that battle. This week we conclude our series by seeing the world as it really is - and claiming the victory that Christ has already won.
We've all found ourselves struggling with not feeling fulfilled. It's as if nothing can satisfy us, no matter how hard we try. We strive and achieve but for some reason it never feels like enough. This pattern ultimately leads to anxiety, unrest and absolute exhaustion. We live in an age of over-information, contradiction and media telling us what's supposed to make us happy. So how are we supposed to avoid what will satisfy us temporarily and find a life that's so fulfilling that we "never thirst again?"
Life has struggles. It just does. As soon as we get through one struggle, there seems to be another waiting right over the horizon. Jesus promised that in this world we would have problems, and He’s been keeping His word ever since. He also told us to not lose heart for He has overcome the world. This week we look at how to keep heart in a world that can seem so heartless.
Ok, who isn’t fed up with being fed up? 2020 was rough and 2021 didn’t fare much better. Had enough already? Well, how about we start off 2022 by really focusing on others, the needy, the marginalized? Let’s serve, serve together and be Christ to the world.