God is generous, God is just and equitable and God is our advocate. Biblical justice is the overflow of God’s character into our lives, our practices and our social structures. The follower of Jesus is called to be an advocate, one who stands against unjust, ungodly practices and systems that undermine the wellbeing and opportunities for flourishing in the lives of others. To be a follower of Jesus is to be one that speaks up, stands up and shows up for others but especially for the marginalized...
May 30, 2021•47 min
Pentecost Sunday - May 23rd, 2021
May 23, 2021•25 min
Justice in the eyes of God is not about us or anyone else getting what they deserve. Justice in God’s eyes is about us getting what He intended. Biblical justice is connected to the very character of God and its outworking in our everyday lives. If we are going to live justly and promote God’s brand of justice, we will answer the call to see our neighbor as those who bear His image and not our own.
May 16, 2021•48 min
For some, Mother’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate mom and our gratitude for her special place in our lives. For others, it’s a reminder of what they’ve lost or never had. To honor these intricately faceted perceptions of motherhood, we’ll host an up-close and personal panel discussion with women who’ll share their insights of A Legacy of Motherhood.
May 09, 2021•54 min
We all have felt dishonored by others in some form or fashion and instinctively want punishment for those who have hurt us. God wants to entrust us with greater grace and power. He wants to collaborate with us to execute His judgments and His justice in the world. But He will not trust us with greater power if we can not trust Him with our offenses.
May 02, 2021•45 min
What the world calls justice is typically not justice at all. It’s just vengeance carried out for us by someone else. Justice is often defined and described in terms of vengeance — they got what they deserved. But justice is not simply about them getting what they deserve. Justice is about us all getting what God intended. Justice, unlike vengeance, has two sides — a punitive side and a restorative side. True justice exists to make us whole. Justice For All.
Apr 25, 2021•44 min
The popular chant of so many protests and marches echos one being shouted from heaven right now — No justice. No peace. The difference is, heaven is longing for a justice and peace that doesn’t flow from the source of human vengeance, courts or laws. Heaven is shouting for a justice and peace that flows from the throne of God and the veins of Jesus. No justice. No peace.
Apr 18, 2021•55 min
If you’ve been deceived, manipulated, abused, shamed or hurt by someone, the instinct is to strike back. We want them to feel what we felt, lose what we lost, experience what we experienced. But the truth is they can’t give us back what we lost or feel what we’ve felt. We want it all back — but they can’t give it to us. They don’t have it and they never did.
Apr 11, 2021•48 min
Jesus’ first disciples were made part and privy to the greatest plot in human history. The plan of God to lift mankind out from under the eternal sentence of sin and death over our lives. It still remains God’s intent to use us in this — the most significant restoration project in the history of creation. But the same obstacles that stood opposing them in the first century, stands opposing us now — stones, demons and unbelief.
Apr 04, 2021•52 min
Good Friday: Seven Last Sayings of Jesus
Apr 02, 2021•1 hr 33 min
The long awaited moment had come. Jesus, revealing Himself as Messiah to the city of Jerusalem and all gathered for the Passover celebration. They welcomed and made room for the King! But they pushed Him to the cross when His deliverance didn’t look like what they’d imagined and when His Kingdom wasn’t the Empire for which they’d longed.
Mar 28, 2021•37 min
So much of what we do today is a response to what was done to us in the past. It may sound over simplified, but we rehearse what they have done to us or we rehearse what Jesus has done for us. When we rehearse what they’ve done, we ultimately become the very thing we despise. But when we rehearse what He’s done, our lives increasingly become more than we could ever imagine.
Mar 21, 2021•43 min
In the Garden of Eden, Satan went to work planting seeds and causing division in the first family, our spiritual ancestors. He’s been at work ever since, planting destructive seeds in us too. We keep giving ourselves a pass when we don’t do what we’re feeling and rehearsing. But not doing what we want is not the same as doing what God desires.
Mar 14, 2021•36 min
Vengeance is one of the few things that God tells us not to do as He does. God is love and He calls us to love. God is generous and He calls us to generosity. God is merciful and He calls us to be merciful. God is holy and He call us to holiness. But vengeance is God’s alone. Yet, like the tree in the midst of the garden of Eden, it’s one of the things we find ourselves obsessed with. We must not allow vengeance to keep us from collaborating with God and from collaborating with one another. Veng...
Mar 07, 2021•39 min
Syncretism is the reckless blending of different often opposing views and beliefs into one new belief. Syncretism is deadly and it destroys the people of God. It destroys the flock of God. Jesus was diagnosing and prescribing a cure for the syncretism that was threatening to make His work ineffective in the hearts and lives of His disciples. We need the same diagnosis and prescription today. Are we called to self-help or self-sacrifice? Are we pursuing greatness in this world or the greatness of...
Feb 28, 2021•31 min
If you look closely at what we do, you will see a story revealing what we really want. Our wants and desires drive our lives and push us towards our choices. Typically all we want is the thing we could never seem to get. But what we do to get what we want, makes all the deference in our lives and this world. The question is not what will we do? The real question is what do we want?
Feb 21, 2021•36 min
Jesus demonstrates the power of one with His life. He leaves heaven and willingly lays down His life to rescue and redeem our lives. Too often we’re afraid and unwilling to lay down what we value. We too are called to give ourselves, to collaborate with God and extend His Kingdom one obedient step at a time. We are called to extend God’s Kingdom over building our empires.
Feb 14, 2021•36 min
Jesus called a little child into the conversation when His disciples asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” The people with child like faith may not look like much to the natural eye, but their level of trust, dependence and availability to God is what makes way for His glory — it allows God’s greatness to shine through their lives.
Feb 07, 2021•34 min
Jesus’ disciples had the desire for greatness, but they didn’t know what greatness was or how to achieve it. God alone defines greatness and He calls us to it, through collaboration with Him in childlike faith. This means, there will be times when we have to let go of what man calls good enough to embrace what God calls great.
Jan 31, 2021•33 min
One thing that hinders many from living with a child like dependence on God, is believing we have to look out for ourselves. The truth of the matter is we aren’t as capable of looking out for ourselves as we believe we are. In fact, looking out for number one is the very thing that keeps us from being the one. If only we knew and trusted how closely heaven watches and keeps us, we could take our rightful place as the one.
Jan 24, 2021•38 min
This year’s esteemed panelists will shed light on ways the “Drum Major Instinct” has led to the many disparities and inequities the pandemic and recent political turmoil unveiled, while highlighting the fact that "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve,” as Dr. King famously concluded.
Jan 18, 2021•1 hr 32 min
In any partnership, it is imperative we agree on terms. We have heard repeatedly this week “words matter.” As believers, this is not news (life and death are in the power of the tongue) but prayerfully, in the course of the recent and coming messages, we are seeing with more acuity how this Truth matters to you and me.
Jan 17, 2021•38 min
Could it be that while Donald J. Trump and other nationalist leaders like him were being sworn into office around this country and the world, God was beginning a campaign of His own to make our hearts childlike again? A campaign to show that man apart from Him does not know what greatness is nor have the ability to make anything or anyone great. While man is at work foolishly trying to make himself great again, God is powerfully and personally at work to make our hearts childlike again.
Jan 10, 2021•40 min
Greatness and glory are synonymous with God. Some have no desire for greatness or glory, others are obsessed with it. God has purposed us for glory, His greatness to be seen on our lives. He intends for us to be great because He is — and we‘ve been called to collaborate with Him.
Jan 03, 2021•41 min
Tonight, we begin a journey by stepping into the grace of God that will challenge, shape and guide us throughout this year. The one word that captures what God is saying and revealing is collaboration. There’s so much packed into that one word. Tonight we begin unpacking, as God begins pouring great grace into us — His Church for Collaboration 2021.
Dec 31, 2020•28 min
It’s true we can’t move forward while looking behind. But often those things behind were preparing us and revealing to us what will be needed ahead. So we look back, but with the awareness that we’re being prepared to press on. The first year of this new decade has shown us much and prepared us for much more.
Dec 27, 2020•54 min
Beginnings are important to God, you can never ignore them with Him. After all, the first four words of the bible are, “In the beginning God…” Beginnings are often choreographed to help us understand the scale, scope and intent of God’s work, if we just look closely. This is the case with the beginnings of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. He started in the manger…now we’re here.
Dec 20, 2020•39 min
Jesus is not satisfied with us simply no longer being oppressed. Jesus came to commission us, to set others free from oppression. It will never be enough for us to be free from oppression, we must also embrace our calling to set others free. Our on-going freedom is rooted in our on-going freedom fighting. We have been set free and sent forth into the anti-oppression work of Christ.
Dec 13, 2020•48 min
Since the Garden of Eden, the Kingdom of Darkness has sought to destroy the plans and purposes of God in the earth. As ambassadors of Heaven, our eyes must be opened to recognize the unseen forces working to subvert the will of God. And like Jesus, we are anointed to destroy the works of the devil. We are commissioned to be Troublemakers on behalf of the Kingdom of Light!
Dec 06, 2020•43 min
Oppression has been a devastating reality on this planet since the Garden of Eden. Oppression began when Satan willfully took a place and position of rulership belonging to God and His representatives agreed to it. All oppression is rooted in Satan causing and exploiting spiritual brokenness between God and His image bearer, mankind. Jesus came to cause good trouble — healing the brokenness and restoring liberty and justice for the oppressed.
Nov 29, 2020•45 min
