It is always the darkest just before dawn. The prophet Isaiah wrote to people who felt like the world they had known their whole lives was gone, and that it was gone because God left them. God went quiet, or at best, where was God? Isaiah then speaks of a light that will come and shine into the darkness. Not to remove all of the darkness, but to bring hope, to remind us all that God is still up to something, that God is at work even in the challenges.
April 10
Sunday December 1: “What Child is This? Emmanuel God With Us” John 1:1-14
The Old Testament names that one day there will be a child born of a virgin, and his name will be Emmanuel, which means God with Us. That’s such a churchy phrase, God is with us. As the prophet Isaiah spoke those words, it was a game changer. God would be involved in our day-to-day life, God would become a human like us in a grand act of love to save humanity from ourselves. God would step into our story in a concrete way, and still walk with us in the highs and lows of everyday life.
Sunday November 24: Ephesians 3:14-21: “God Is Moving In Alongsiders”
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Sunday November 17: Luke 10:1-4: “Just Do It”
Shortly after calling his first disciples Jesus sends out 12 to go and teach what they have learned to others. Jesus’ instructions are simple. Go to those who welcome you, share about Jesus, pray for those present. The disciples return to Jesus with stories of miraculous things happening and lives being changed. Jesus invites us to join the places that he is already moving, and to share the stories of how we see God on the move.
Sunday November 10: Acts 15:1-21 “Be A Disciple Who Makes Disciples”
In Acts 15 we see one of the first large church gatherings. Their agenda was to answer this question: who is part of this group? The disciples start with a long list of things that matter to them, but quickly narrow the list to just a few items. That belonging in Jesus should not be an overwhelming list of dos and don’t, but focus around a few core things that define an alongsider.
Sunday November 3: Luke 10:38-42: “To Be or Not To Be”
I am a Pastor. I am a Father. I am a husband. We all have I am statements about who we are in this world. One of the easiest ones is to say I am what I do. I am my job, I am the activities that I participate in, and in Luke 10 Jesus helps to remind us that while work, serving, and caring for others are all important, none of those should define who we are.
Sunday October 27: Luke 15:1-10: “Who You Are”
What keeps you grounded? What is your answer to who are you? In Luke 15 Jesus shares a few parables that speak to how God sees us, and how we are expected to God and serve others in light of who God says we are.
Sunday October 20: Ezekiel 36:24-32: “Transformation By The Spirit”
In Ezekiel God makes a covenant with Israel. The Israelites had once again abandoned God and disgraced his name. In response, God promises to transform their (and our) hearts as we follow after him passionately. We see the phrase “I will” over and over again in this passage, reminding us that God is the one who does the work of transformation. Join us as we talk through what it looks like to surrender to that transformation.
Sunday October 13: Acts 9:36-43 “Everyday Saints”
In Acts 9 we meet a woman named Dorcas who seems to be living a relatively normal life. Then she passes, and the town begins to turn out in large numbers to remember the simple, everyday ways that this woman served and blessed her community. From a place of gratitude to God, we each are invited to serve and love others out of the overflow of our relationship with God.
Sunday October 6: Matthew 7:13-23: “How We Participate in the Process of Transformation”
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus outlines a variety of ways that we are to live out our faith. Part of that is an assumption that to believe in Jesus changes our lives, and how we live. The word for belief in the bible assumes that you both comprehend and agree with something in your mind, and that your knowledge of that transforms your heart, mind, and actions.
Sunday September 29: Acts 8:26-40: “Where Transformation Starts”
The easiest person to blame when things are not how we want them is someone else, truly anyone else besides me. Being an alongsider means that we have a responsibility for our own faith, our own growth, our own relationship with God. That we will chose to pursue God, to ask questions, to dig into our faith.
Sunday September 22: 2 Chronicles 7:11-16 “Creating a Movement of Prayer”
We have all had mountain top days and experiences. Weddings, births of babies, promotions at work, big performances. On those days it can be easy to believe that the world is good, and that God is with you. But what about on days when life is not going as expected or challenges arise. God has a conversation with King Solomon that helps remind us that God’s faithfulness, God showing up for us, is unchanging, even if the circumstances of our lives are ever changing.
Sunday September 15: John 1:35-42 “Create A Movement”
In our new series this fall, we are going to be talking specifically about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, and alongside what we are calling it. We see in the calling of the first disciples and in the ministry of John the Baptist, that part of that is inviting people to be part of a movement that points our lives and focus towards someone else (Jesus and serving those around us).
Sunday September 8: Mark 3:13-19 “Who Jesus Calls”
This week Sunday we’ll be looking at who Jesus calls as his disciples. Upon first reading this passage it’s easy for us to focus on the type of people Jesus calls to see if we measure up. However, it seems the invitation for us is to look at the person and character of the one who calls. Jesus is the one who calls and knowing him invites us to see ourselves from his perspective.
Sunday September 1: Philippians 4:2-13 “God Bless You and Keep You”
Now it’s our turn. Having heard several examples of faith embodied, having set a foundation of Christ’s example, now Paul closes with a blessing for us as we live our faith out in this world. He blesses us on the good days and bad, when things are going well, and when they are challenging. Since God is the one who empowers us, we can have hope of how the Spirit can walk with us through whatever life sends our way.
Sunday August 25: Philippians 3 “Faith Embodied”
Phil 3 continues with more examples, now moving to the author of the book himself, Paul. Paul shares about his own life, including his own struggles, as a reminder that even for him, the author, this is not just a list of things. This is what his life’s passion and work is all about. Faith is not something that we consider or think about, it is something that we embody.
Sunday August 18: Philippians 2:19-30 “Be Like Mike”
Philippians is a personalized letter, to a specific church, and in these verses we get some of that feel. Paul names two known partners in ministry, Timothy and Epaphroditus. It could be easy to read past these verses, since, well, we don’t know either of these men like they did. But, this is more than a nod to partners in ministry. In light of the Christ hymn in verses 6-11, these are two examples of ways that the Christ centered life is lived out, and role models that the church is to look to.
Sunday August 11: Philippians 2:6-11, “WWJD”
The poem in the middle of these verses is the epicenter of the book of Philippians. In a book focused on an embodied faith, verse 6-11 names in clear terms what that kind of life is to look like as modeled by Jesus. Humility, grace, patience, serving.