How we love people matters and what we believe about God matters. When a church compromises in either area, love or theology, we become something less than God intends for the…
The God who suffered for us continues to suffer with us. The letter to the church in Smyrna is a powerful, pastoral letter. There is no rebuke or correction in…
It has been said that a ship is safest on shore but also totally useless. So it is with the church. Removed from the world we may be safe, but apart from…
Before we jump into the 7 letters contained within the book of Revelation, it might be good to take a step back and get a bird's eye view of the whole. This…
We cannot experience the fullness of life God has for us apart from being filled ourselves with the fullness of God. All throughout the Scriptures, there is a consistent trend …
What about heaven, hell and is God really that angry? In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a series of stories in response to a question posed by the disciples. Their question…
If we fail to understand the content and context of tough texts, we’ll never experience the peace the conflict of the text wishes to lead us into. Great...here Jesus goes being…
This week we’ll be jumping out of our Vice Verses series (don’t worry – it’s coming back next week!) to kick off a summer capital campaign geared to updating and…
Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood there is no life in you – Jesus At the height of Jesus’ popularity, when everything seems to be…
Before we can get into the tough things Jesus said, we’ve got to take a look at the book that records those sayings. “Sure the Bible says some difficult and…
While victory is overwhelming ours in Jesus, sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t always have a happy ending. The book of Esther is a bit unusual. First of all, the…
It’s not enough just to know who God says you are, at some point you must make the intentional decision to live from it. When Goliath taunted Israel and mocked God, you’d…
If we want to live the life we were made for, we must begin to see ourselves as God sees us. Today we’ll be entering our second week of our…
Sometimes it’s those challenges we don’t see coming that are exactly what we need to help us see God more clearly. In Exodus 17, the people of Israel are suddenly attacked by…
God doesn’t need a lot to do a lot in us and through us. Throughout the Book of Jonah, God does a great deal of good through some rather not…
We're continuing our Jonah series talking about some of the difficult questions that are raised by the story. Many of us have grown accustomed to the children's book version of Jonah's story,…
You know God has spoken to you when what you hear moves you – even if it moves you in the wrong direction! When we talk about the story of…
Be imitators of God as beloved children Children love to imitate the ones they love. Parents, older siblings, best friends - for children, imitation really is the finest form of…
How we worship matters. Maybe it’s just me, but I think we as humans have a tendency to overcorrect. We swerve to avoid the bump in the road and end…
If we want to be faithful in life, we must learn to pattern our lives after the God of creation. Throughout the scriptures, there is a consistent call to rest,…
Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added unto you – Jesus We have a tendency to worry. I do it. You do it. All of…
Mary, in a daring act of willingness, became a reckless co-conspirator in God’s plan of redemption. In a small peasant town a young peasant girl encounters an angel of God…
Sometimes the most challenging next right step is to persevere right where we are. This week’s ‘gift’ is the gift of perseverance. To explore this, we’ll look at the story…
Sometimes faith simply means moving on and trusting God more than your past. As we kick off the season of Advent (the period of time leading up to Christmas), we’ll…
In the third and final installment of our Lostology series, we’ll be exploring the story of the Prodigal Son as found in the last half of Luke 15. As we…
Throughout Luke 15, we’re given a varied picture of the different ways we might experience ‘lostness’. While these experiences cast a pretty wide net, they probably don’t account for every…
Because God can do more than we can even want or wonder, we must begin to dream dreams whose benefit and blessing reach far beyond the scope of our own lives.…
The generosity of Christ has graced us with gifts to be used in and out of the church for the glory of God and the sake of the world. After inviting us…
Because God can do more than we can ask or think, we are free to give humbly, patiently and lovingly. After reminding us that God is able to do infinitely…
God is more, not less, than any of us have probably ever stopped to really consider. How have I limited God to what I can ask or think rather than…
Sometimes the question stated is not the question actually being asked. Thankfully Jesus is capable of answering what we say and what we really mean.
Sometimes saying nothing can stir up mystery and wonder that words can never really communicate. Live it out Where is there complexity and confusion in your life today? How might…
What if faith is less about what our great expectations and more about humble, foolish willingness? Live it out Where is God inviting you to ‘set out just a little’?…
Live it out Consider the cost: If you have to sacrifice something in order to invest in what is most worthwhile, what might that sacrifice look like for you? Focus on…
What if we’ve been waiting all our lives for so many things when in actuality, there’s only One worth waiting for? Next Steps Think about a situation you’ve been rushing.…
As wonderful as wealth might appear, it often cannot make good on the promises it makes. Next Steps Give to give: Give to something or someone this week with no…
When we learn to be grateful for what we have and content with what we lack, peace is ours in abundance. Next Steps Put into your own words what you…
Learning from the mistakes of others may make one wise, but is this necessarily ‘wisdom from above’? Next Steps Think about the last thing someone said to you that made…
Actions may speak louder than words but words can say more than we realize. Next Steps Think about the last thing someone said to you that made you feel amazing…
We can’t hold faith in a God who shows no favoritism while we ourselves show favoritism against others. Next Steps Heart: When have you been hurt by favoritism? Reflect on…
What do you do when you wait for God to do what only God can do? Be slow to anger, be doers not just hearers, and as strange as it…
How we respond to hardships says more about our understanding of God’s nature than the nature of our circumstances. Next Steps HEART: Reflect on a time when God brought about…