Serving Challenge:

If Jesus offers a full and abundant life, then why does it feel as if words like burnout, exhaustion, anger, loneliness, unhappiness, and anxiety are winning the day? Something feels very off. A full and abundant life results in purpose, meaning, fulfillment, joy, and happiness. What are we missing?

Hold Fast: 2 Timothy: Pauls Last Letter

Paul sits in prison as the weather gets colder. He's writing to his friend Timothy, encouraging him to remember the Gospel and his humble upbringing in it, to watch out for those who are ashamed of the marks of Christ, and for Timothy to bring him a coat. Hold Fast to the humble faith, Timothy!

Missio Dei: The Great Sending Part 3

From the beginning, God has been sending his spirit out to bring life and beauty in the universe. It's a great sending. In this sending, we can see the heart of God as we join in with God’s mission.

His Eyes: The Book of Judges

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. But they are never far from His eyes.

Comfort Comfort: Jesus Words Before The Cross

Before Jesus is arrested and crucified. Before all the pain agony. Before the disciples feel lost and alone. Before our own confusion and heart ach, Jesus speaks words of comfort as a rod and staff in the midst of the dark valley.

Called : The Book of Ephesians

God has called His people together in unity, both Gentiles and Jews, to those far off and close, to bring the Hope of Christ to all. This call is not new but has extended back to the beginning as God had them look up to see His hope for the future.

Emmanuel: Joy in the Midst

The Christmas story is filled with struggle where unbelief, loneliness, waisted life, and acceptance fill the pages of the story. But where there is struggle we find songs filled with Joy and discover God has come, He is Emmanuel, and brings joy in the midst.

Generosity: What does this mean?

When we talk about stewardship and our money, it always seems like the law is being laid down with little hope aside from compliance. The same feeling can be said about the 10 commandments. But with all the hopelessness around, perhaps looking at the 10 commandments and our generosity though that old question of “What does this mean?” Can give us a vision of God’s abundance.

Forgiving Challenge

Discover what real freedom is like as we explore the powerful forgiveness that Jesus offers to each and every person, including you!

Titus

This short letter has a huge goal. The church should be an agent of transformation, not though culture wars or assimilation, but though wise participation in culture, devotion to Jesus and the common good. So that we will show the beauty of the message about our saving God.

Titus

This short letter has a huge goal. The church should be an agent of transformation, not though culture wars or assimilation, but though wise participation in culture, devotion to Jesus and the common good. So that we will show the beauty of the message about our saving God.

Rise & Fall | Saul & David in Samuel

In a world where chaos has reigned, the people cry for the rule of a king, a king who will raise them into a bigger and brighter existence. However, as pride and the desire for power rise, so, too, come the falls.

The Way: Finding Meaning in the Gospel of John

There are certain indicators that we are on The Way with Jesus: justice, spirituality, relationships, beauty, freedom, truth, and power. But what if we do not live up to these ideals? Our societies and individual lives become unbalanced, creating anger and frustration that divide us from each other and from God. Come and see how The Way seems broken but how Easter vision can bring many along the way of hope.

The Seder: Remembering Bitterness to the Lamb

Every Week we will be going though the Seder plate of Passover meal. Discussing what each things mean from the Bitterness to the Lamb

Vanishing Grace

Christians have proclaimed the good news about Jesus for centuries. But the good news isn't sounding so good these days, at least to some. Let’s acknowledges the problem and then explore how we can respond with both grace and truth.

Book of Advents

Abraham just received the best promise from God - it’s like he can do no wrong. However, his life still falls into struggle and troubles, and when he and the promise, Isaac, climb the Lord’s mountain. Abraham truly sees the advent of God for himself.

Triple H

Jesus is standing on the shore calling Peter and the other disciples to follow him. He says, "Come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Jesus, in this one phrase, is calling them into stewardship in God’s Kingdom, calling them in head, heart, and hands.

Being Challenge

The most important target to hit as a disciple of Jesus is BEING in a relationship with Him.

Missio Dei - The Heart of God

From the beginning God has been sending his spirit out to bring life and beauty in the universe. It's a great sending. In this sending we can see the heart of God as we join in with God’s Mission.

Richer - Finding Meaning in our Favorite Verses

There are many Bible verses that are so loved by the church. Over the centuries, these verses have been encouraging and equipping the church in its walking with the Lord. So let's dive deep into these beloved verses to gain an even richer love and understanding.

In All Things - Book of Colossians

While sitting in prison, the apostle Paul receives word of a new church. He pens a letter of encouragement, filled with love and songs, about how Jesus the Christ is in all things. This is a reminder that the Christian story encompasses all things. Nothing -- and no one -- is left out.

Spiritual Conversations - Spreading Good News

When it comes to evangelism, we have real fear of giving offense or being rejected. This fear creates barriers for many Christians when it comes to talking about their faith. Many people have said when spiritual conversations happened previously, it only created tensions and arguments. What I have seen is when we meld our faith with grace and good news, it will become a joy to have spiritual conversations, because it is indeed good news.

Revealing True Power: The Gospel of Mark

Mark begins his Gospel showing his full intent, “This is the beginning of good news of Jesus, the Son of God.” This declaration of Jesus as the Son of God still deconstructs our own wants and dreams for power, from our feckless notions of political power, to the notions of us who want to gain power from religious dogma, to our own personal wants for notoriety and importance. Mark's Gospel reveals true power as we follow Jesus to the cross, revealing the good news of a life reborn of freedom.

Seeing is not Believing

A Deep Dive into the Passion of the Gospel of Mark

Await: Daily Gifts From a Loving Father

Remember being little and excitedly waiting for Christmas to come. As we await the coming messiah, its like we are moving on a grand advent calendar moving closer to the coming Christ. But waiting is hard and can feel like there is nothing good for us. In that struggle of waiting God leaves us daily gifts, a foretaste of what is to come.

Forgive & Give | God Gives and Forgives | 2 Corinthians

God gave His one and only Son so that we might be forgiven. This core idea of the Christian faith seems to permeate Paul’s words as he works to reconcile the relationship with the Corinthians. A generous spirit is one that heals people. It's amazing to think of how a generous spirit in all ways, especially our money, could heal and give good news to so many.

Say What?! - That’s Not in the Bible

There are many phrases that we think are good and Christian; however, they are not actually found in Scripture at all. So we are looking at some of those phrases and exclaiming, “Say What?! That's not in the Bible.”

Jesus modeled a whole life and even told us how to follow Him in HIS OWN WORDS (the red letters found in many Bibles). The best way to follow Jesus is simply to follow the words of Jesus. Red Letter Challenge eliminates the fluff and has helped thousands of people grow closer to God in only 40 days.

Adam & Eve, Noah, David, and so many more -- These people are constantly talked about in the Scriptures, not because they are perfect or holy but because God works “thru” ordinary sinners.

This is the message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground, the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what He’s trusted me to do right to the end. Now, go with the faith; you have been entrusted into all the world.

The resurrection of Jesus was an event that surprised the earliest followers of Jesus and forced them to rethink everything they thought they knew about Jesus, themselves, and the world. They believed that the risen Jesus inaugurated God’s new creation, making it possible to become new and different kinds of humans in every aspect of our lives.

All throughout the Gospels, people’s nationalities are mentioned. Why are the gospel writers spending precious ink telling us where some of these people are from? Perhaps, their nationality is part of the story and shows us another part of God’s love for all nations.

Anxiety, pitting our family and friends against each other, group think, and bitterness. These all take life away from us and can cause us to live in despair. But when we look through the main story of scripture we see a family who is extremely dysfunctional, and yet God never leaves them and we know them as the patriarchs

Christmas contains so many memories: movies, songs, and baked things, which yearly cause us to dive into the deep well of nostalgia. At the beginning of the Christmas story, Matthew is asking the reader to dive into the deep well of Nostalgia about Jesus’ roots.

The older brother could hear it, even from the fields. There was a party, and the music was pumping; he could smell all the food cooking over the fire. It all looked so great. But who was all this for? His good for nothing brother? No way would he be a part of that party. But then the father comes out to see if he could convince the older brother to come into the party. Will he go in and enjoy the party, or will he stay outside?

Jonah is written like a comic book. Everything is big and impressive, and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt who is right and who is wrong. But the story goes to another level when we see it is actually holding up a mirror to ourselves, a mirror that asks us one simple question. What happens when God loves your enemies?

The Ten Commandments have long been the standard to which we judge how we should live. But how many do we have to keep so that we can stay on God’s good side? Is it one or five? I mean, some of these are easy, like don’t muder. I haven’t broken that yet. However, when we look deeper at the commandments, we see a deeper standard for our lives.

Paul in Romans is not speaking of a belief that is only for himself, a personal theology, or a record of his personal spiritual journey. Paul is speaking of God and God’s work among his people, a saving work that includes all nations and that extends throughout all time. Paul’s words of faith are not for himself alone but for all peoples. Paul tells the Romans and us God’s greater story.

Life Together - Christian Community for Tough Times

Peter is writing to Christians facing tough times. He is writing to encourage them in the faith, not to just act any ol’ way in this life when things get difficult but to act like Jesus, who, when faced with suffering, still shows love and restores our life together.

UNBELIEVABLE FAITH - Elijiah and Elisha Confront Unbelief

Times are dark. The kings and people have slowly gone after the gods of the countries around them. But when times are dark, God seems to move. Amazing prophets rise up to confront the bad kings and unbelief. But there is a lingering question behind all of this. Are these great prophets actually changing anything?

Arrival

The Christmas season is here, and we are all waiting for an arrival...waiting for our family to arrive, waiting for our gifts to arrive, waiting for that one friend who is always late to arrive. We are constantly waiting in this season. Let’s adjoin ourselves to the story of God’s people as they wait for the King’s arrival.

God’s Plan: Living as Stewards

God has given us, his people, so much. He has created us from the dust of the creation and breathed His Spirit into our being. He sent his Son, who became the sacrificial lamb, so we may never be separated from the Father. The Spirit constantly inspires us to go from here, blessing all around us. We have been given so much, so now what do we do with all that we have been given?

UNCOMFORTABLE: Visions and Stories of Daniel

God’s people have been drug into exile. They are no longer independent; they are back in slavery like they were in Egypt so many years ago. So how should they live in this foreign culture? Should they revolt and scream or try to escape? The truth is, Daniel shows us how we tarnish the image of God, and in so doing this, we diminish our own humanity. But Daniel also gives us hope that God will defeat all evil and bring back his image to full glory.

THE SPIRIT EXPERIENCE

Luke’s Story of the Spirit of God. Luke wants to tell us a story; no, he wants to give us an experience. It’s about those who are enlivened by the Lord’s Spirit and are going out and acting as witnesses. This is the advent of the church, where Christ body is not the church collective struggling to bring hope and life to everyone they meet.

The Jesus Experience: Luke’s Story of Jesus  

Luke wants to tell us a story; no, he wants to give us an experience. It’s about someone who is doing something new, someone who is bringing miracles, healings, and parties, someone who defies expectations, someone whom everyone has an opinion about, and who will save the world.

The Christmas Experience

Every Christmas season we try to create experiences for our families and loved ones. We work and work to decorate, plan, cook, clean, wrap, bake, and party so we can remember the past traditions and create some new one too. We do all this so we can experience Christmas. This season we are looking at the book of Luke and the experiences that Zechariah, Mary, Elizabeth, the shepherds, and Simeon all had. Perhaps it will make us see Christmas in a new light.

Mis”Quoted” Finding Jesus in Everyday Verses

The entire Bible is about God and how He is saving the whole creation. Every verse is dripping with how Jesus is the Messiah and is saving us all. However, we sometimes turn some of our most well known ”everyday” verses into stories about us. Let’s dive back in and find Jesus and His salvation for us in these verses. 

Insiders: Paul’s Letter To The Ephesians

Paul is encouraging us, saying that through Jesus, the promise of Abraham has come true, that those who were once outsiders are now insiders, and those who were lost are now found. “A plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Ephesians 1:10

Teach us to Pray:

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”  Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say:

The Seven “I AM” Statements in John

God named Himself at the beginning of Exodus when He said, “I AM has sent you.” In the Gospel of John, Jesus says “I AM” seven times to say something very important. Join us this spring as we see who Jesus upsets as He claims He is God seven times throughout John.

The Day When God's Goodness Overtakes Evil

The great and glorious day of the Lord! Often we think of fire and brimstone as the Lord judges the earth. But what we see in Scripture is that this day of the Lord has happened multiple times throughout time, due to our trying to define good and evil on our own. Join us in Lent as we learn about The Day. 

Exodus a Christmas Story

Are you kidding me?! What in the world does Exodus have to do with Christmas? You will be surprised, because when we look at the Christmas story from the Gospel of Matthew, you will see how Matthew’s Christmas story is a mirror image of Exodus. Matthew is saying to us: Remember the last time God saved his people? Well, it’s happening again. 

Reform our Generosity

The month of November is a time dedicated to our thankfulness. The key to our generosity is thankfulness, and true thankfulness is our freedom. We are looking through Malachi this month and how this prophet find freedom.

re:Form | Into God’s Image

Martin Luther had concerns with how the church was administering the gospel.  They were abusing people and making them buy “indulgences” for their loved ones and for themselves to work off their sins to get to heaven.  Under those regulations,  Luther felt extremely guilty that he could never work off all of his sins.  The entire system was broken, it had set up itself as gatekeepers of salvation. This reformation, we are looking at our brokenness and find jesus who can reform us into God’s Image

Let’s Build Something Together: The Story of Nehemiah in the Bible

Nehemiah feels a burden: a burden to rebuild his city, God’s city. He cries out to God and goes down to Jerusalem and begins an incredible adventure of wall building and shaping people into Godly servants. But this book asks a difficult question, “What if Nehemiah’s plans don’t work out the way he hopes?

Minor Prophets, Throwing Strikes

Waiting for Redemption. The world is going away from God’s People, the Assyrians to the north and Babylon to the south. They will either be destroyed or taken over if they don’t watch out. But God calls in his minor league stars to proclaim His righteousness, grace, and favor to His people.

Who is God? Have you ever thought about that question? If someone were to ask you, how would you answer. Perhaps you would say Jesus.  Perhaps you would say creator.  The list goes on endlessly.  But how does God work?  What is the relation of the Father to the Son and to the Holy Spirit? The Apostles’ Creed, written almost 2000 years ago, answers these questions and is still amazing to this day.