We start every year with a return to basics. Who are we? What are we about? What’s our purpose as a church? This year we’re answering that with three simple statements:
Love God.
Love Others.
Make Disciples.
These three foundations frame our identity, and guide everything we do. And for the month of January we’re going to explore how we can install them as life-shaping values in our hearts.
We live in a world of wonder.
We wonder about our children’s future, our job security, our government, our healthcare…
We wonder, “What’s going on!?”
And we wonder, “Where is God in all this disorder around us? What is He doing?”
We’re not the first people to wonder. The Gospel of Luke was written about and to people who wonder. Luke wrote it to give us an ordered account so that we can be certain about Jesus, even in the midst of our wondering.
As we journey through His story, our confused wondering will be transformed into the joyful wonder of admiration at what God has done.
Someone once said, “We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us.” When it comes to our relationship with technology, that’s never been more true.
We’ve decided to digitize almost everything about our lives: our entertainment, news, shopping, education, dating, friendships, communications, finances… And in return, we have been shaped by this new digital world. More than that, we are being remastered by it.
There is growing evidence that we do not have self-control when it comes to the digital world; it has an unhealthy grip on us. The evidence of this is found in our relationships. When the digital world becomes too central to our lives, we can tell by looking at our relationships with God and others.
Through this series we’re going to explore the different ways the digital world is remastering our relationships in harmful ways, and discover how God can make them new again.
One of the greatest musicians of all time, Keith Green, once said, “This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls.”
He was right. We are. Jesus gave us the incredible task of sharing His story with our generation. And we all have a part to play in that.
What does it take to build a strong and vibrant unified community? Is it even possible? One glance around our nation right now and even the most optimistic among us begin to shake their heads and lose hope. Jesus charged his followers with a calling to build His community. He gave us only one law, one command, to build this new community on: Love one another as I have loved you. In this series we’re digging into what the Bible has to say about how to love one another, and build the kind of community this world longs for.
Do you remember Weebles? You couldn’t turn them upside down. You could shake them, spin them, toss them, kick them…no matter what you did to them, they always end up the way they started.
Our world feels like a Weeble. Generation after generation tries to turn the world upside down and shake free the evil that plagues humanity. We try to shake free from war, greed, corruption, injustice, violence, hatred and racism. We kick, twist, spin, shake; but for all the upheavals of history, the world, like a Weeble, keeps ending up the same way.
I’m that way too. Many times I’ve tried to change things in my life…turn it around, upside down and shake things off…only to end up back where I started. I’m guessing you’ve probably been there too.
So what does it take to turn our lives upside down—for good? And what does it take to turn the world upside down — for good?
In this series we’ll explore the things Paul taught a small but explosive church about what it takes to turn the world upside down.
We’re always trying to figure out what to do, especially in a crisis, but what if that isn’t the most important question to answer? Today we’re looking at a prophet named Jonah, who did what God asked him to do (eventually) but never became who God wanted him to become.
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