"Unshakeable Confidence in a Sovereign God" Acts 4:23-33 (Guest Speaker)
"Work for the Journey" Psalm 127:1-5 (Psalms of Ascent)
"Honesty for the Journey" Psalm 129:1-8 (Psalms of Ascent)
Without a doubt, Psalm 129 is one of the most awkward, counter-intuitive songs in the whole Psalm of Ascent collection. Not only does it recall Israel's long history of affliction, it ends with a brutally honest cry for shame and cursing on her enemies. It's the "un-blessing" song toward those who have inflicted injustice against Israel. While it may make us uncomfortable to read or sing, these kinds of songs are gifts to the people of God. How do you deal with a history of wrongdoing? What do you do with ugly emotions of anger and bitterness toward injustice? This song reminds us that God is big enough to handle it all. And His invitation, rather than stuffing it, is to bring it all into the light to Him.
"Joy for the Journey" Psalm 126:1-6 (Psalms of Ascent)
Psalm 126 raises the issue of joy for the journey of following God. We live in a world starving for joy, and yet is confused about its meaning and source. As a result, even though we search, shop, consume and escape, the joy that we seek can feel fleeting or elusive. What is joy and where does it come from? As part of the Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 126 reminds us that joy comes from God and, as one scholar wrote, "Joy is the verified, repeated experience of those involved in what God is doing." We are invited to renew our joy through participation in these truths: (1) God has done it before and (2) God will do it again. These two sides of the same coin can produce in us an experience of joy in spite of our current circumstances. Come discover (or discover again) the good news of great joy in the gospel.
"Security for the Journey" Psalm 125:1-5 (Psalms of Ascent)
The next song in our collection the Psalms of Ascent is Psalm 125. Drawing heavily upon the imagery of Mt. Zion, the psalmist reveals that journey of faith is not a wobbly tightrope walk in the sky. Rather, those who trust in the Lord have mountain-like stability, security and shalom. We will not be moved. We are surrounded. And we will be made whole. This song calls us out of teetering insecurity and helps us renew our confidence in the Lord for our deepest needs.
"Remembrance for the Journey" Psalm 124 (Psalms of Ascent)
Psalm 124 assumes that we will have hard times and it implies the importance of memory; remembering that the Lord is on our side. There are any number of reasons we experience hard times. Sometimes it is simply because we live in a broken world. Other times it is because we have enemies who are coming after us. And sometimes, our hard times are caused by our own sin. This Psalm was written by David, a man who was well acquainted with hard times, caused by all three of these things. During this sermon, we use stories from David’s life as a vehicle to help us call to memory hard times we have experienced, with an invitation to bring those experiences under the influence of the Lord, who is on our side.
On Sunday, July 7th, there was opportunity for people to share experiences they have had, where the Lord was on their side. After someone shared, we corporately responded in song, "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."
"Posture for the Journey" Psalm 123 (Psalms of Ascent)
As we continue our series in the Psalms of Ascent, we discover that Psalm 123 is a song about our posture for the journey. Rather than focusing on the questions of "where we are going," this song offers a snapshot of "how we are to go." And the psalmist's primary answer to that question is this: by being a servant. In a world that bristles at the idea of being a servant to anyone, every follower of Jesus must discover the secret of freedom that is found in having the right Master. Psalm 123 anticipates the Jesus-style life that offers our eyes, requests and concerns to the Father, the Master of all.
"Providence for the Journey" Psalm 121:1-8 (Psalms of Ascent)
If Psalm 120 gets us going in our journey through dissatisfaction, Psalm 121 offers a realistic exploration of the journey that we are walking toward God. It's a song that reminds us how life works: that once we set out on this God-ward journey in the Kingdom of God, it will never be without problems. Just because you follow Jesus, doesn't guarantee a "get out of problems free" card. In fact, it might even get worse. This thing called life is a long, hard journey of faith that takes numerous twists and turns and leaves everyone looking somewhere for help. The question of Psalm 121 is this: on the journey of life, where are you looking for help? If we listen well to this song, we will be reminded just how much God longs for us all to move our gaze heavenward- to the LORD, the Watchman, the Protector and the Preserver of His people.
"Dissatisfaction for the Journey" - Psalm 120:1-7 (The Psalms of Ascent)
Although it is neither catchy or cool, Psalm 120 is a perfect song to start a series on the Psalms of Ascent. At its core, this is a song of dissatisfaction. It's all about what is "not right" with the world. And the reason this is so essential is that, without dissatisfaction, a person will remain content and never leave in the first place. The natural pull of life calls for us to stay put, not move and never change. So, as with every good journey, the starting spot is the place of recognition of what you don't want, where you don't belong, and a desperate cry to God for change. Without dissatisfaction, there is no repentance and there is no change. Our journey closer to God and the full life of His Kingdom begins here.
Fruit & Fire - 1 Corinthians 12-14
As a church, we believe that at the center of the universe is a relationship. We believe in the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God in three Persons. And yet, when it comes to the trinity and our engagement of God in the practical parts of our lives and church, many people have a hard time knowing what to do with the Holy Spirit. Most people get the Father. Still others are fine with Jesus. But this Holy Spirit… what to do with Him? The further one moves into any Holy Spirit conversation, the more binary it becomes as people want to force you to pick between two camps. Are you… Pentecostal or Evangelical? Charismatic or Reformed? About the Word or the Spirit? Truth or experience? Do you seek the fruit of the Spirit or the gifts of the Spirit? As a church, we are seeking what Gordon Fee calls “life in the radical middle.” We desire both character and gifts, both Word and Spirit, both fruit and fire. Over the next six weeks, we will spend some time listen to the Apostle Paul’s conversation with the believers in Corinth to see how the Spirit forms our life as Christ’s body. The vision that God has for His church cannot be attained without a robust understanding and whole-hearted embrace of the Spirit.
"Pentecost Sunday: Worship & Prayer Celebration" (Fruit & Fire - The Holy Spirit and the People of God)
This was a special Sunday gathering for Pentecost — a sweet and beautiful time of worship and celebration.
"Expectation & Edification in the Gathering" 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 (Fruit & Fire - The Holy Spirit and the People of God)
As the Apostle Paul continues his "spiritual" discussion into 1 Corinthians 14, he unpacks what biblical love looks like among a gathered church community. After giving lots of theology, Paul moves to practice. While he does offer more details about the role of tongues and prophecy, he explains that there are greater Holy Spirit principles at play. What should a person expect to experience when showing up for church? Entertainment? Excellence? A spiritual gift free-for-all? 1 Corinthians 14 offers a corrective voice to the Corinthian community and provides some practical rails for us today. A Spirit-led gathering should come with expectations around (1) Edification, (2) Intelligibility (3) Effective Witness and (4) Order. The movement of the Spirit among the people of God will always build up, stir up and clear up one's heart for Jesus and the Kingdom of God.
"A Foundation of Love" 1 Cor. 13:1-13 (Fruit & Fire - The Holy Spirit and the People of God)
"The Spirit Within and Upon" 1 Cor. 12; Luke 11:5-13 (Fruit & Fire: The Holy Spirit and the People of God)
Before we dive further into specific gifts and manifestations of the Spirit, this basic question must be answered: What is needed for a person to experience the fullness of the Spirit? We all have heard stories and carry with us our own personal experiences, but what does the Bible say? This week we will take a quick tour of the Spirit's work- in the Old Testament, in Jesus, in the early church- to see what remains true for us today. How does the Holy Spirit operate within and upon the people of God? And, using Luke 11:5-13 as our guide, we will unpack how a person seeks more.
"More than a Podcast" 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (Fruit & Fire: The Holy Spirit and the People of God)
While podcasts are amazing reservoirs of information, inspiration and instruction, they potentially have two dangers. First, they can feed our tendency to have our information outpace our obedience. And secondly, they can put us in a passive consumer position. Where this intersects the church, we can settle for "podcast Christianity"- a life of passive consumption where we gather information with no active participation. Such a reality is incompatible with a biblical vision of life in the Spirit. This week, as we move further into 1 Corinthians 12, we find Paul's underlying presupposition for the Corinthian church: that God is eager to manifest His personal presence in the world through all of His people. We will unpack four main phrases in this passage that serve as helpful guideposts for this kind of spiritual life. Full and active life in the Spirit is so much better than a podcast.
"Uninformed" 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (Fruit & Fire: The Holy Spirit and the People of God)
Before diving into the specifics of Paul, Corinth and the letter of 1 Corinthians, we stand in need of a more foundational and big picture conversation about the Spirit. In the same way that Paul did not want the Corinthian believers to be uninformed about "spirituals," we don't want to be ignorant or uninformed too. This week, we will be talking about two roadblocks to any conversation about the Spirit of His gifts- the possibility of the Spirit and the person of the Spirit. Our western, materialistic worldview shapes our engagement of things in the spiritual realm and our inherent mislabeling of the Spirit as a "force" or an "it" also gets in the way. Our hope is to pave a path that allows us to step into life in the "radical middle."
"Your Hope is Too Small" (Easter Sunday)
Home - Luke 15
Deep in our souls there is a longing for home. It shows up in our books, our movies and our songs. Our “homesickness” shows up everywhere, but it seems that few know the way back. Home has become this theme, this larger-than-life magnet that powerfully draws the iron shavings of our soul. But, underneath it all, home is not about a building, an address or a room. Neither is it about the comforts of familiarity. Those things matter, but it’s deeper. All of us have an innate desire to get back to that place where we are safe, where we are known, and where we are loved. Simply put, we all long for God. In Luke 15, Jesus tells a triad of parables about lost things: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. Known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, this story is about a man who has two sons: one older and one younger. As we come to find out, both of them leave home. One son goes to a faraway land. One son leaves home by staying home. And both are invited to experience a Father who navigates the world of lost children. Both brothers are lost. Both brothers need help. Both brothers are at a distance. And both are invited home to experience the father’s heart, the father’s joy and the father’s love. God wants people “home”- including you and the ones you may think are too far away.