In our journey with the Spirit since Pentecost, we have seen how He is poured out in our lives in order to foster and empower our witness to Jesus Christ. There are many layers to our life in Spirit, and in each of them, He helps us to bear witness to Jesus. He gives us words to say, power to choose His path when faced with temptation, and He grows His fruits in us. It is in this growth that our personalities become more like Jesus in His love, joy, peace... To investigate this most important of...
Aug 10, 2022•32 min
As we continue to reflect on the role of the Holy Spirit as individuals and as the Body of Christ, we turn today to spiritual gifts and their impact on us and the world around us. Spiritual gifts are not just talents or abilities we are born with. They are placed in us by the Spirit in order to serve the common good of God's people as they bear witness to Jesus, just as He called us in Acts 1:8. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Aug 04, 2022•29 min
Larry describes three weeks at camp as well as their journey through God's interactions with his people across the ages. Time after time, He makes sure His people can sense His presence in a way that is uniquely meaningful, always meeting them - and us - where they/we are at. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Jul 29, 2022•29 min
In this sermon by Jim Harwell, Moses and Peter both step out in faith in answer to God's call upon them. Their partnership with Him and with His Spirit is a powerful example for us today. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Jul 28, 2022•37 min
God longs to reach out and touch. For you to hold His hand and walk with Him. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Jul 28, 2022•33 min
What if the thing you need most is in a place where you don't want to look for it. Are you afraid of the dark? To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Jul 28, 2022•29 min
In reaction to the Corinthian church's factions (I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, etc.), Paul writes urging them to focus instead on the deep things of God. He has given them His Spirit. Paul points to himself as an example of God using the Spirit in Paul in order to bring the gospel to the Corinthians ( 1 Corinthians 2 ); through that Spirit they (and we) can understand the things God has been planning and waiting to reveal in the fullness of time, and that time is now. Who we are in Christ i...
Jun 27, 2022•37 min
We continue to explore the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Like the rest of the Trinity, He is ultimately unknowable to the fullest extent; however, His presence is promised long ages before His outpouring, and the certainty of His dwelling within us is just as sure as Jesus' other promises. We recall one of His primary purposes is to empower our bearing witness to Jesus. That witness is comprised of our words and our lives - the ethics with which we live and the testimony we verbally shar...
Jun 22, 2022•34 min
We are in our second week of exploring our special relationship with the Holy Spirit. In today's service we "reenact" that relationship in three dimensional space in an effort to increase our awareness, or, "a constant sense of Thy abiding presence." There is significant visual content in today's message. You'll know it when you hear it. HERE is a link to the moment in the sermon where the physical demonstration begins. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Jun 13, 2022•35 min
The Spirit comes upon Jesus' followers seven weeks after His resurrection, 10 days after His ascension into heaven. Peter quotes the prophet Joel to describe the powerful experience 120 Christ followers are having as they are anointed by the Spirit. The prophecy of Joel originally is to a people who've been devastated and left with nothing, told by God that He will bring abundance, joy, and most importantly, His presence into their lives. He makes the same promises to us, offering His Spirit to ...
Jun 07, 2022•43 min
We look back on the Gospel of John and see how strong and clear its message about Jesus is. How close He is to the Father, how present He is with us, how important the Spirit is. The beauty of John's masterpiece all boils down to Jesus being the center of everything that matters. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Jun 02, 2022•42 min
Jesus' kindness to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 sets an example for similar acts of service in our lives. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
May 24, 2022•30 min
In today’s service, we complete our journey through the Gospel of John with its epilogue : the story of Jesus restoring Peter after the latter’s threefold denial of Jesus in John 18 . For each time Peter denied knowing Jesus, Jesus asks Peter to affirm that he loves Jesus. With each exchange, Jesus commissions Peter to care for Jesus’ flock of followers. We are all in Peter’s sandals at one time or another, denying Jesus in either word or deed, or both. Jesus reaches out to each of us and forgiv...
May 18, 2022•33 min
Just as Jesus' purpose was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), so His church is called to walk in His steps and do the same. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
May 09, 2022•53 min
We enter the final chapter of John's gospel in this message, and witness an important exchange between the risen Christ and His disciples, or at least 7 of them. These have returned to Galilee and follow Peter into his fishing boat in what looks to be an effort to return to their old lives. They fail, though, catching nothing. Until, of course, Jesus appears on the shore incognito, urging them to cast their net on the other side of the boat, and voila, a huge catch fills the net. Upon recognizin...
May 04, 2022•39 min
We are still basking in the glow of Jesus' resurrection today as the forsythia blooms and we continue in our journey in the Gospel of John, nearing its end. There are still a few stories John wants us to learn from, though, especially the two on which we'll focus today: Jesus' giving of the Spirit to His disciples, and Thomas' encounter with the risen Lord in John 20 . To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Apr 26, 2022•34 min
As we have been journeying through the Gospel of John these many months, John has been weaving together themes for us to notice along the way. Many of those themes find their fulfillment in the resurrection of Jesus in John 20 . In particular, John’s focus on Jesus’ role of the Bringer of New Creation is powerfully displayed on Easter Morning, the first day of the week. This ties closely into how John begins his gospel, “In the beginning…,” making sure we understand his desire for us to track wi...
Apr 19, 2022•33 min
Since the Fourth Century, Christians have been stopping in the midst of all of life's goings on on this night to pause and reflect on the enormity of God's love for us poured out on the cross of Jesus Christ. We will join with other believers tonight across time and across the earth and sit at the foot of the cross, praising Jesus for His faithfulness through to the unimaginable end. In furtherance of our focus on John's gospel for the past several months, we will be reading his account of Chris...
Apr 19, 2022•59 min
If you are reading this, chances are, you have tasted the fruit of another. Someone you know grafted themselves onto the one true vine, consumed the vines nutrients and produced the fruit that you consumed. Their fruit is good and may have convinced you to graft to the fine, or at the very least are considering it. Join us as we celebrate those who have come before us. As we thank them for the fruit they produced, let us pledge ourselves to them and the God they serve, the God we serve, to take ...
Apr 13, 2022•35 min
In our continued study of John's Gospel, Jesus is still in His final night with His disciples, saying the things He wants them to have "ringing in their ears" in the coming days, particularly during His days in the grave, when they will think all is lost. Jesus describes the sequence to them in language they can understand. If He said, "I'm going to be crucified, and die, and be buried. I'll be in the grave 3 days but then be raised to new life. I'll stick around with you, then ascend to heaven ...
Apr 05, 2022•36 min
Today we will explore His presence with us - and resulting call upon us - as Jesus shares the powerful image of His being The Vine (His final "I Am statement" in John) and our being branches called to bear fruit. That abiding doesn't just happen, and our intentional pursuit of Jesus' presence in our life by His Spirit (the Advocate/Helper Jesus promised last week) is the key theme of Jesus' teaching in John 15. When we are abiding in Him, we will be pruned. It's all about the fruit with Jesus. T...
Mar 30, 2022•35 min
We come to John 14 this morning. We saw Jesus humble Himself to the point of washing the disciples' feet last week in John 13 at the beginning of their evening together. John records a full 5 chapters of Jesus teaching and praying with His disciples in this last night together before His passion, and we have a sense that He has saved His most important words for this last time together. There is so very much contained in these chapters, we aren't able to look at every sentence together, and read...
Mar 30, 2022•34 min
We come to one of the most moving stories in scripture this morning as Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth through Whom all things were made, strips down to His underwear, gets down on His hands and knees, and washes His disciples' filthy feet. We will look at this amazing story of His amazing love for us together this morning, and in doing so be called to wash one another's feet as He commands us. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Mar 15, 2022•33 min
Today's passage in John follows directly on the donkey's heels, as it were, of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He immediately is introduced to some Gentiles whose request to "see Jesus" triggers resonance with John's prologue and overall themes of light and sight. The presence of these Greeks seems to mark a moment for Jesus in which He reflects on the nature of His mission - to die like a grain of wheat placed in the ground so that an abundance of life can result. God confirms and affirm...
Mar 08, 2022•32 min
We're returning to John today and His account of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem in John 12 . We are faced with questions about Who we believe Jesus is, and how that belief shapes our lives. To investigate this most important of stories further, go here .
Mar 04, 2022•36 min
Today we look at one of the most powerful symbols in our Christian walk, baptism. It’s a practice that launches the story of Jesus by way of his kinsman herald, John the Baptist, who proclaims the nearness of God’s kingdom and plunges people beneath the Jordan River in an act of renewal and repentance. The practice of immersion in water is part and parcel of life in Israel at the time, often accompanying sacrifices at the temple (e.g., Mary’s cleansing after giving birth to Jesus). And BTW, “bap...
Feb 24, 2022•45 min
Continuing on our survey of the Gospel of John, we have our third episode with the family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus ( John 12:1-11 ). In episode one, Jesus was called to come heal His then-sick friend, Lazarus. When Jesus finally arrived there, Lazarus had already died, but Jesus promises Martha that HE is the resurrection and the life. In episode two, Jesus weeps beside Mary as He sees the pain of loss in her and those around her. After mourning beside her (as He does with us), He raises Laza...
Feb 15, 2022•34 min
In this podcast, we return to the Gospel of John and the remarkable story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Before that, though, Jesus weeps at the side of Lazarus' sisters and friends, joining them in their pain and mourning in spite of His plan to turn things around. We see His presence with us in challenging times as well. Even though He has had victory and the grave, He walks with us through the challenges and hardships we face until He comes. His power - the power with which He raises...
Feb 10, 2022•27 min
The Father, the Son, the Spirit, are in YOU. Jesus prays that we would be one as Jesus and the Father are one. We each have something to give, though the enemy would convince us otherwise. God has told you that He will be with you, and that YOU are His righteousness, strength and purpose, his hands and feet. We are all part of the body, each with value, worship, purpose, and gifts. 2 Corinthians 5:1-21 To investigate this most important of stories further, go here ....
Feb 10, 2022•32 min
Did you ever have one of those family dinners that just goes completely off the rails? Everybody's sitting there, having a good time, and then all of a sudden, someone says something or does something, and it just explodes. Our text today sounds a little like that, We have Jesus and His disciples celebrating the Passover together, one of the most important holidays for the Jewish people. They're sitting there together, and going through the process, having a good time. All of a sudden, Jesus, ou...
Feb 10, 2022•32 min
