Bold Faith and Audacious Women
This Sunday we celebrate the calling and witness of women! On Easter, the first person the resurrected Jesus appeared to was Mary Magdalene. Ever since, women have been witnessing to Jesus boldly! What women have been bold witnesses in your life? This Sunday we celebrate and give God thanks for them and commission all women to continue to be bold witnesses!
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- May 5, 2019Bold Faith and Audacious Women
Bold Faith and Audacious WomenThis Sunday we celebrate the calling and witness of women! On Easter, the first person the resurrected Jesus appeared to was Mary Magdalene. Ever since, women have been witnessing to Jesus boldly! What women have been bold witnesses in your life? This Sunday we celebrate and give God thanks for them and commission all women to continue to be bold witnesses!
- Apr 28, 2019Thresholds: Behind Locked Doors
Thresholds: Behind Locked DoorsNow that Easter is over, what comes next? The threshold of death has been crossed by Jesus but now he sends us out on a mission to the world! Yet, we hesitate.This week, we will encounter our risen Lord, hear his words to us and answer his call.
- Apr 21, 2019Thresholds: EscapeTomb
Thresholds: EscapeTombThresholds in the Bible climax at Jesus’ tomb. On Friday, our worship service will mark the solemn death and burial of Jesus. He is laid in a tomb, and the entrance is sealed with a large stone. This shows us the weighty reality of sin and death; this is what we face! But then, on Easter, that tomb entrance is broken open, and the entrance becomes an exit. Jesus worked the first “escape tomb” miracle! And ever since then, He comes to us to lead us out of the tomb, the grave, in which we are trapped. Because of Jesus, we can escape death!
- Apr 14, 2019Thresholds: The Gate of Sacrifice
Thresholds: The Gate of SacrificeThis Sunday is Palm Sunday! We will wave palm branches in worship as a way for us to join the parade that greeted Jesus when He came into Jerusalem. It will be fun for the whole family! Yet there are dark clouds overhead: there’s a “storm” of betrayal and condemnation looming. Jesus, whom we greet with praise, will be crucified by Friday. Our service will also have this mixed message. We’ll hear how Jesus is the Gate to life and peace for us, His sheep, but we’ll also hear how Jesus earns this for us by laying down His life for His sheep. Come join the parade this Sunday, but also notice the threatening clouds overhead.
- Apr 7, 2019Thresholds: Your Heart’s Door
Thresholds: Your Heart’s DoorDo you hear that knocking? We can usually hear it best when all is quiet and we are alone. It’s that inner calling, tapping. Isn’t there more in life? Doesn’t my life have value...meaning? Isn’t there more to reality then what I can see? That’s Jesus knocking at your heart’s door. This is the next threshold in our Lenten message series. This Sunday we’ll listen to that knocking and learn how to open our heart’s doors to Jesus!
- Mar 31, 2019Threholds: The Gate of Life
Threholds: The Gate of Life
This week’s theme finds us at the narrow gate with the path of life beyond. We hear Jesus’ difficult words in Matthew 7:13-14 (below). Join Reese this Sunday on our Lenten Thresholds journey as she leads us perhaps to a new understanding of these verses and a new commitment to stay on the path of life.
The Narrow Gate
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
- Mar 24, 2019Thresholds: Door of Separation
Thresholds: Door of SeparationDoes God feel distant? Does it seem sometimes like He’s not near? The Bible shows us over and over again that God never leaves us. It is we who leave Him! Yet even when we walk away, God comes after us, chasing us down, finding ways of being with us and restoring our connection to Him. This Sunday we’ll look at the Old Testament system of sacrifice and the temple to see what lengths God has always gone to restore us back to Him.
- Mar 17, 2019Thresholds: Door of Decision
Thresholds: Door of DecisionDoors often represent a choice: do we go through or not? The next threshold in the Biblical story is the door frame in the Passover story. The Israelites are slaves in Egypt. God promises to set them free. Yet they must trust in God’s protection, and show that trust in a strange act of obedience: They must make a sacrifice and spread the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. Those that did were spared death and set free! This Sunday we’ll learn how Jesus became our Passover Lamb. Our “Door of Decision” is if we will trust in Him and live in obedience, even when the calling is strange.
- Mar 10, 2019Door of God’s Protection
Door of God’s ProtectionWe are following the overall story of the Bible, and we are telling the story by the thresholds we see. Sin brings death and destruction. In the Bible, Adam and Eve’s defiance of God leads to a closed door to Paradise and a sin-corrupted world rampant with death and destruction. The flood washes the earth, but Noah and his family are spared on the ark. When the rains came, God closed them in by shutting the ark’s door. This sign shows God’s saving grace: God provides a door of protection for us! Come this Sunday to hear how God provides a door of protection as you face destruction, death, and the storms of life.
- Mar 6, 2019Ash Wednesday
Ash WednesdayMemory Verse: "Don't forget to do good and to share what you have, because God is please with these kinds of sacrifices." - Hebrews 13:16
- Mar 3, 2019Disciples Make…A Difference
Disciples Make…A DifferenceThis is the last of our Disciples Make message series, and we end strong...and visible! Being a disciple of Jesus is an inner journey of surrendering your selfishness. Yet it is also an outward journey into the world. Disciples make a difference in concrete, visible ways in their. This Sunday we’ll be commissioned to serve others in visible ways in our everyday lives.
- Feb 24, 2019Disciples Make…Friends
Disciples Make…FriendsAs we continue to explore what it means to be a disciple, we are discovering that following Christ involves every part of our lives, including other people! Our faith is not just a blessing for us, it is for those around us as well. Discover how Jesus calls us to befriend others and how we can be disciples in our relationships!
- Feb 17, 2019Disciples Make….Stands
Disciples Make….Stands
- Feb 10, 2019Disciples Make…..God Talk
Disciples Make…..God Talk“The tongue is the mightiest weapon!” This quote rings true for each one of us! How we speak, what we say, is some of our greatest impact. This Sunday we’ll discover how disciples use their tongues for good. But it’s not just about not saying bad things and intentionally saying good things. It’s about filling our talk with God.
- Feb 3, 2019Disciples Make……Routines for Growth
Disciples Make……Routines for GrowthPeople often say, “Jesus I like, but not the Church,” or “I’m spiritual, just not religious.” The reality is that if we are just spiritual, we are not really growing spiritually. It takes the context, structure and accountability of a local church to push us to grow. Without that, we stagnate at where we are now. This Sunday we’ll explore how Disciples Make . . . Routines for Growth.
- Jan 27, 2019Disciples Make…..The Holy Spirit Their Guide
Disciples Make…..The Holy Spirit Their Guide
- Jan 20, 2019Disciples Make……Jesus #1
Disciples Make……Jesus #1
- Jan 13, 2019Disciples Make….Disciples!
Disciples Make….Disciples!
- Jan 6, 2019I’m Not Worthy
I’m Not WorthyNew Years is a time to be honest. As we make resolutions, we admit that we are not the people we want to be. Yet, when Jesus-followers admit our faults and sins, it is not a “downer” on us, but actually a boost in our value. Jesus came because even broken, to Him we are worth saving! This Sunday we come honest before God, admitting–like John the Bapist–that we are not worthy. As we do, we hear how our value comes not from being worthy, but from Jesus’ love for us “while we were yet sinners.”
- Dec 30, 2018Be Baptized
Be BaptizedReady for 2019? Maybe not just yet! But I think we never will be ready, actually. So, the best thing we can do is commit our past to the past, but make that intentional decision to give 2019 to God. We do that by making a New Year’s resolutions to courageously follow Jesus, no matter what the year ahead may bring. This Sunday we’ll commit 2019 into God’s hands through renewing our baptisms.
