Empty: Life
Empty is an adjective that describes something without contents. Empty is a verb for removing the contents from something. This Sunday we focus our Lenten journey on emptying our lives of meaningless content so that we can become empty before God. When we are empty before God, then God can fill us with meaning, joy, and victory. So, let’s seek an empty life!
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- Feb 21, 2021Empty: Life
Empty: LifeEmpty is an adjective that describes something without contents. Empty is a verb for removing the contents from something. This Sunday we focus our Lenten journey on emptying our lives of meaningless content so that we can become empty before God. When we are empty before God, then God can fill us with meaning, joy, and victory. So, let’s seek an empty life!
- Feb 12, 2021Momentum: Peace and Persecution
Momentum: Peace and PersecutionWe come to the end of our Eight Beatitudes series, culminating in God’s desire that we be peacemakers. This is hard work, but we reflect God’s very character when we do. It’s ironic, however, that when we make peace, we experience persecution. Yet our blessing carries us. The series is ending, but it is for us an ongoing pattern of discipleship. Let’s keep the momentum!
- Feb 5, 2021Momentum: Merciful and Pure Heart
Momentum: Merciful and Pure HeartWe come to the advanced “rings” of The Beatitudes: showing mercy and having a pure heart. God doesn’t want us just to be saved. He wants us to become like He is. That means being merciful and pure in heart. This may seem impossible for us, but God gives us the Holy Spirt to work this maturity in us. This Sunday come ready to enrol in advanced discipleship training!
- Jan 29, 2021Momentum (The Beatitudes): Righteousness
Momentum (The Beatitudes): RighteousnessAre you hungry? Jesus says that hungry people are blessed. Not hungry for just anything, however: hungry and thirsty for righteousness (living God’s way). Developing a hunger for holiness comes through training over time our taste away from selfishness and towards God’s plan. This Sunday we’ll hear how Jesus, as our Bread of Life, trains our hunger!
- Jan 22, 2021Momentum: Meek
Momentum: MeekBeatitude #3: Meekness. It’s seen as weakness by our culture. Yet Jesus calls it our strength. This Sunday we will fill up on meekness, as we embrace that its surrender and submission requires a strength and power beyond ourselves. Yet we are blessed, for we have the Holy Spirit to grow this godly meekness deep in our hearts, and give us a rich inheritance.
- Jan 15, 2021Momentum (The Beatitudes): Mourn
Momentum (The Beatitudes): MournWe’re starting 2021 by exploring how to make progress in our spiritual lives. It’s easy to get sidetracked and stuck as we follow God’s call. We settle for what we have, and we give up on moving forward in our spiritual lives. Jesus taught us how to receive more of God’s blessings, especially in the Eight Beatitudes. Starting a new year is a great time to recommit to following Jesus’ calling in the Beatitudes and to restart moving forward in our faith.
- Jan 3, 2021Momentum: Climbing the Platform
Momentum: Climbing the PlatformWe begin the new year with a new message series about seeking the fullness of life that God offers. Almost without notice we can stall and stagnate in our spiritual growth. Yet Christmas has awakened in us a desire for more. So we go to Jesus, who teaches us the Eight Beatitudes, offering them not only as a description of the abundant life but also as a pathway to live it. We begin the journey and build momentum for holiness!
- Dec 24, 2020One Size Fits All
One Size Fits AllWe’re having a special carol service this Christmas Sunday! So, be sure to gather round and be ready to sing some of your favorite carols. We’ll also celebrate Holy Communion, and hear a meditation from Pastor David.
- Dec 23, 2020Do Good Feel Good Christmas: Kneel Down (Peace)
Do Good Feel Good Christmas: Kneel Down (Peace)We often think of Christmas Eve as a warm and serene. Yet Jesus came to take away our sin and to offer us a new start. So Christmas Eve is actually messy: a time to ask Jesus to clean up our sinful hearts and to chase away the darkness inside. We’ll use candles to represent the light that Jesus gives us when we invite Him to live in our hearts. Merry Christmas!
- Dec 17, 2020Get Real (Love!)
Get Real (Love!)As we come up to Christmas, we see that God is a Christmas Scrooge who invites us to a do good feel good Christmas. We hear the story of the Prodigal Son to help us see God differently, come home to Him, and forgive others. This message will set you up to celebrate Christmas well!
- Dec 11, 2020Reach Out (Faith!)
Reach Out (Faith!)Christmas is not about feeling the Christmas spirit. It’s about joining God’s Christmas movement–following His example–offering Jesus to others. Like Scrooge, we need Christmas alterations of our minds, hearts and actions so we live every day extending the joy of knowing Jesus.
- Dec 4, 2020Dig Down (Hope!)
Dig Down (Hope!)1 Timothy 6:17-19To be a Christmas Scrooge, we have to dig down right into our hearts. We ask Jesus to transform our hearts off of hoping in our own resources and instead to plant His hope there. Only then will we have a changed life that consistently can do the good we desire to do and take hold of what is truly life. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. We still must keep fighting what defeats us!
- Nov 25, 2020Gear Up (Joy!)
Gear Up (Joy!)This Christmas season we’re choosing to be a Scrooge! Now, that’s not what you may think. Actually, it’s a calling to step up and experience Christmas on a whole new level. This Sunday we go to Act 10 to meet a man named Cornelius. He’ll show us how we need to gear up for true Christmas by changing what we do each day. If you want true joy this Christmas, this message is for you!
- Nov 20, 2020Pursuing One Holy Passion
Pursuing One Holy PassionWe can feel like we are drifting through life, doing okay but staying fairly shallow. But what we spend all of our time and energy on really doesn’t seem all that fulfilling. This week, as we enter into the boardroom of the soul one last time, we hear the Holy Spirit calling us to put away our petty desires and to fully embrace our passionate love for God. Only when we pursue one holy passion can we live fully!
- Nov 13, 2020Finding Rest and Restoration
Finding Rest and RestorationDo you feel an emptiness deep inside, a restlessness in your heart? Jesus makes a radical invitation, that only He can truly show us the Father. Only He can make us whole and put us at peace. This Sunday we learn how to follow His call to come to Him, and come to Him with the whole of who we are. If you are weary, this invitation is for you!
- Nov 6, 2020Trusting in the Darkness
Trusting in the DarknessWe will experience times of deep grief, pain, and distress. Rest assured, the world will throw us into a tailspin. But when this happens, what do we do? Do we retreat and close down? Do we lash out in anger? Do we turn numb and lifeless? The Bible says that with God, we persist through these seasons of the dark night of the soul. God will carry us, and eventually God will carry us through. This Sunday we uncover three survival techniques the Bible holds for those suffering great troubles.
- Oct 30, 2020Learning How to Hate
Learning How to HateChristians are called to love! Yet true love necessarily means that we also hate what is ungodly. When we don’t flee evil, we succumb to sin. Do you struggle with some stubborn and powerful sin? This Sunday we’ll go into the boardroom of our souls and learn how we can train our board members to love God so passionately that we will cling to what is good.
- Oct 15, 2020Enlarging Your Heart
Enlarging Your HeartLike the Grinch, life has caused our hearts to become “two sizes too small.” This Sunday, we’ll open the boardroom of our souls and invite the Holy Spirit to grow the capacity of our hearts, and we will become alive...truly alive!
- Oct 11, 2020Avoiding a Shallow Life
Avoiding a Shallow LifeThere’s a battle going on in the boardroom of your soul. This week we meet the six members of the board. Their names are Mind, Heart, Will, Conscience, Memory and Imagination. They meet in secret to hammer out your thoughts, decisions and actions. Yet they are each motivated by self-interest. This Sunday we’ll learn how a new chairperson can bring your dysfunctional soul into alignment.
- Oct 2, 2020Messy Love: Decision
Messy Love: DecisionLove is not a feeling but a decision. We usually link how we treat people to how they behave or how we feel about them. God's command to love our neighbor as ourselves pushes us past our feelings and calls us to make the decisive decision to love others. Come this Sunday for God to reorient you away from treating others based on what they do and instead on what Jesus has done.
