The Christian faith is not based on a sacred space, but a sacred relationship—a relationship with God through Jesus. You don’t need a building to start or restart believing. Sure...there are great reasons for buildings. But it’s not required for faith.
We are reminded that while we have different styles it’s vitally important that we appreciate each others’ style so we grow in unity and not division. Our unity gives the message of Jesus credibility to the world and shows that God loves us all and is for all of us no matter our style, no matter our story. We are better together!
The Bible says there is one way to God and that’s through the person of Jesus. There are a few staples for connecting with God...prayer and Scripture. In the Bible, Paul says that the Word of God should live abundantly in us. We are encouraged to publicly expose ourselves to the Word and privately give it time to soak in. We can interact publicly, privately, and personally with the Word of God!
This world keeps us from spending time with Him, but we need to connect with Him. Talking to God in prayer is a vital way we can grow a relationship with God, just like you need to talk to your friends in order to invest in your friendships. In Luke, God teaches us that there are four main principles for good prayer life: disconnect to connect with God, pray personally, pray persistently, and pray expectantly. God gave us these suggestions instead of a script to remind us that there is not a for...
"The Sacred Pathways" are the nine spiritual styles discussed by Gary Thomas. It is important that we understand our spiritual temperament, because knowing how God has wired us could actually help us more effectively draw near to God. We hope that through this series, you can get a clearer picture of God’s unique design in your life and how that allows you to draw near to Him.
Can the church bridge the divide when compassion and national security collide? We say, “yes.”
Prayer can be challenging. We feel like we should pray, but we’re not sure we’re getting the words right. But what if our perception of prayer is inaccurate? What if the way we’ve been taught to pray or figured out how to pray over the years is misguided? What if there’s a better way? After watching Jesus for some time, His disciples went to Him and said, “Teach us how to pray.” And He taught them. What He said about prayer may surprise you.
It’s only through the sheep-shepherd relationship that someone experiences a full and overflowing life that only Jesus can offer. As “sheep” we get in situation that’s not going our way and we feel like we can’t go on…we think: God, where are you? Have you left me on my own? What has been or is your wolf? Financial, spiritual, emotional, physical, job, family, relational?
If you have a hard time believing that God wants anything for you, remember that it’s not fair to transfer any jadedness to God. God is God. You get what you get with Him…He doesn’t change. Who wouldn’t want someone who empathizes, offers grace, slow to get fired up, committed, and trustworthy? We’ve settled for less than that in other important relationships.
We’ll find that your mouth can cause your entire body to suffer consequences. Have you ever noticed that you don’t fire the mouth, you fire a person? Instead of putting your child’s mouth in time out; you put your child in time out. Words possess the power to control the direction and quality of our lives.
Did you know that “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is a religious saying? We’ll find that even though it may have good intentions, it’s not a Biblical idea. We recover from physical wounds far quicker than we do emotional wounds. What causes words to become weapons?
How are you using your words to build up your circles of influence according to what they need? We all have three circles of influence: inner, intentional, and influential. Each circle will have a different need but all need the language of grace.
Healthy effective communication is complicated. Our words are powerful as they carry the power of life and death. We’ll dissect a verse that will help us with life-giving communication. The words you use are the words you choose. Why do you choose the words you use?
Jesus made a promise that He would return. As He talks about His return, His followers from Galilee would have understood the imagery from a wedding. Jesus promise of a return provides hope to those waiting because it will be physical and public. We’ll find how the rapture is part of His return.
Jesus’ disciples wanted to know when the end would happen. He explains to them that the end would happen when certain signs would occur. Decades later, John echos that the same signs have continued and will continue. Even with the uncertainty, we have no reason to fear.
Like last year as we were just a weeks into the pandemic, the message of Easter is more relevant to the modern world than it has it about 100 years when the world faced another global pandemic. Now we are over a year into the pandemic and the message of Easter is just as relevant to us as it was last year. Why? The events of Easter are relevant because they address our greatest fears.
Jonah is angry and we find the reason why he disobeyed in the first place. What we really find is a Jonah who isn’t willing to admit that he no longer values what God values. He couldn’t love and show grace because he didn’t understand love and grace. Even when we didn’t understand love and grace, God loved and provided us grace.
We find Jonah arriving in Nineveh. After everything he experienced in his relationship with God, he reluctantly obeyed and preached a heartless message. We’ll find that reluctant obedience is not complete obedience. Even when we heartlessly obey, God uses us in spite of us for His purposes.
We’re introduced to Jonah, a prophet who was called to speak on God’s behalf and decided that wasn’t for him. Jonah’s decision changed his life...and not for the better. The decisions we make have consequences. Even though disobedience leads to descent, God continues to pursue us for His purposes.
Pharaoh finally relented and allowed God’s people to be free. Perhaps angry from his defeat, he changed his mind and pledged to revenge the death of his son. Pharaoh was not going after Moses’ and God’s people he was going against God, who would defend the freedom of his people.
For freedom, there had to be sacrifice. God provided a salvation for His people but it cost something. Something had to die in order for there to be life. Those willing to sacrifice were spared or saved and those unwilling to sacrifice experienced great loss.
Moses was born into slavery. With a step of faith from his mom, Moses was born into slavery and adopted into the royal family. After running away to avoid getting caught for murder, God provides Moses purpose that redirects him back to the royal family.
What we mean is that found people find people comes down to talking to each other about something you enjoy or someone you find enjoyable, which in our case is a relationship with Jesus.
Trust is a currency in relationships. If there’s not much in the account, relationships are poor. There is no “expecting the best” in each other. If there’s much in the account, relationships are rich. There’s plenty of giving the benefit of the doubt to each other. There’s cheering someone on who may be better at something than you—no jealousy. There’s this love between each other.
From the very beginning of time, we were designed to work and serve. It was a good thing. This design never changed when sin entered the picture...it just became harder for us. When Jesus came to defeat sin, He never changed the design. Instead, He modeled it to perfection.
The Gospel doesn’t just save you or provide you your ticket in to heaven. It’s so much better than that—it’s the full experience of life with Jesus the leader of your life. The good news is not just for tomorrow but for today.
Every generation of Jesus followers is responsible to ensure the news of the Christian faith stays true to the original. So are you good news? What if you’re the only news someone gets?
People close to Jesus were convinced they had met good personified. So they documented the story. They were convinced it wasn’t just for a nation or for a generation, but for all nations and every generation. This was good news, great joy, for all people—perhaps especially for those of us who aren’t all that good. If it’s not good news, you may have the wrong version. It’s not a good story. It’s good news.
Gratitude is definitely more than an attitude. While we all have much to be grateful for, gratitude doesn’t always fill our hearts. Gratitude is a good goal, but not the best goal. So what is greater than gratitude?
Gratitude is definitely more than an attitude. While we all have much to be grateful for, gratitude doesn’t always fill our hearts. Gratitude is a good goal, but not the best goal. So what is greater than gratitude?
