June 2024

The Book of Psalms: A Playlist for the Road Trip of Life

Embarking on the road trip of life is much like assembling a playlist for a cross-country journey, and for centuries, the Psalms have been the musical companion to countless travelers. From collective sing-alongs of praise to individual cries for mercy, the Psalter serves as a rest and oasis for souls navigating the challenging paths of life. Described as an anatomy of the soul, the Psalms offer a perfect sanctuary for those desperately seeking to make sense of their journey. This summer's preaching series, 'The Book of Psalms: A Playlist for the Road Trip of Life,' serves as a roadmap through the greatest hits of praise, lament, thanks, and trust, providing a meaningful guide for those on the journey of self-discovery.

HOW THE SERIES WILL BENEFIT US

What would your life's playlist include? Perhaps a childhood nursery rhyme, a hit from your high school prom, or a song sung at your wedding? Music has a way of capturing the emotional tapestry of our lives, making us laugh, bringing us to tears, and holding us still for a moment. In a similar vein, for millennia, the Psalms have beautifully expressed the full spectrum of emotions experienced by God's people — in moments of confidence and vulnerability, at their best and worst. This series warmly invites us to join in singing the timeless songs of this book. Athanasius once remarked that the Psalms contain 'the whole human life' within their words. By singing the songs of those who have traveled before us, we will undoubtedly find ourselves securely in their company.

February 2024

Jesus is Better: Sermon Series on the Book of Hebrews

The book of Hebrews was written to encourage and strengthen a group of Christians who, because of external pressures and internal weakness, were wavering in their faith, and some were even thinking of abandoning Jesus altogether. The book is a sustained look at the all-surpassing beauty and worth of Jesus and how "Jesus is better" than all else and all others, and therefore worthy of our total trust and allegiance. In this series, we focus directly on who the Lord Jesus is, what he came to do, and what it means to put our faith in him.

January 2024

God and Money Sermon Series: Authors John Cortines and Gregory Baumer in their book, True Riches, note that there are over 2,300 verses in the Bible that deal with money and possessions and our attitude towards them. And Randy Alcorn in his book, The Treasure Principle, calculates that fifteen percent of everything Jesus said relates to the topic of money and possessions, which is more than his teachings on heaven and hell combined. So while the topic of money can be a sensitive subject and we don't always want to talk about it--God does, and Jesus does! In this series, we look at how to view and handle money and material wealth rightly and faithfully before God (and the related topics of greed, giving, generosity and contentment) as part of our overall discipleship and what it means to love God and follow Jesus with our whole lives.

December 24, 2023

In this Advent sermon series, we looked at several miracle births in the Bible--births that humanly speaking were impossible, and came about only by God's grace--and how they point us to the ultimate miracle birth of Jesus himself who is God's greatest gift of grace to all of us.

December 3, 2023

This sermon series which ran through the fall of 2023, Foundations: The Bible, we looked at the theological foundations, the main doctrines that lay the groundwork for what we believe and how we live as Christians, as disciples and followers of Jesus. This series serves both as a good reminder and an opportunity to shore up our knowledge and gain some new learning, to address any gaps in our theology and the way we think about and live out our faith.

September 3, 2023 - “Sent” Sermon Series

In May 2023, we began our “Sent” series, where we trace through the Bible God’s missionary heart to save and bless the world and the various ways God calls and sends us as his people us to join him in that redemptive mission.  We learn in the Old Testament from Genesis 12 that God has blessed us to be a blessing. In Exodus 19, God calls us to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a servant people. Psalm 96 tells us that our praise and worship of God can be and ought to be missional in the sense that we’re not just to sing songs of praise, but we’re meant to live lives of praise that draw and attract the people around us to God.

In the story of Jonah we see God’s heart and character, how he is compassionate and gracious to all, and how that ought to shape us and how we approach others, particularly those that don’t yet know the Lord. In the Great Commission of Matthew 28, Jesus commands us to go and make disciples, to help people to trust and follow him. God calls us as ordinary, everyday disciples – we are jars of clay in which God has placed the extraordinary treasure of the gospel that he wants us to share. In Colossians 4, we learn that prayer is vital when it comes to joining God on his mission because ultimately it is about what God is doing in the world and in ours and other people’s lives. John 3 tells us that we all have a role in Gods mission, whether it be going ourselves, or sending, supporting, and partnering with those who do.

For us, this all means that living missionally – helping people know and experience and find life through knowing God, knowing Jesus - is not something extra. It’s not something special for the elite few, but it’s for all of us.  It’s core to who we are as God’s people because it’s core to who God is – he’s a missionary God. He calls us to carry on his kingdom ministry, but we can’t do any of it by our own power and strength and wisdom.  Just as the work God gives us to do is his work, the power by which we get it done is his power. If we follow Jesus, we are his missionaries. We are all sent, every one of us. This is our life assignment.

Start each day by reading Acts 1:8, and pray!

Heavenly Father, Thank you for a new day to live with you and for you.  Please help me trust and follow you today.  Fill me with your spirit and send me as your witness to all the people I come across today.  Help me share of who you are in all that I do and say, humbly and boldly. I pray this in your name. Amen

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