Sunday, October 19, 2014 - What Do You Want Out of Church? Tradition? Being the People of God

What Do You Want Out of Church?

This is a continuing series within our Fall Focus of Walking with Christ Jesus.

We have many reasons for coming to church - though we may not know how to articulate them.  We may be better able to articulate what we do not like about church.

So in these next four weeks we will be exploring four primary images of the church in the New Testament to discover what it is to be church - Body of Christ, People of God, Fellowship of Faith, and New Creation.  These relate to issues of comfort and diversity, tradition and Story, Community, and being a sign of a new way of being human in the world.

This week our focus was upon rehearsing our tradition in the story of being God's people, being a part of God's Story.

Focus: Being the people of God is to realize that we are God’s people – a people who share in God’s Story.  In this Story, we are a people to whom God has shown mercy, people to whom God has taken for God’s own.  Therefore, our response is to share this Story, by worshiping and giving thanks for God’s mercy, for God’s inclusion in the fulfilling of God’s redemptive Story in the world.  As we gather as God’s people, we engage in rehearsing this Story week after week.

Link to message: Tradition - Rooted in God's Story: Being the People of God

Sunday, October 12, 2014 - What Do You Want Out of Church? Comfort?: Being the Body of Christ

What Do You Want Out of Church?

This is a new series within our Fall series of Walking with Christ Jesus.

We have many reasons for coming to church - though we may not know how to articulate them.  We may be better able to articulate what we do not like about church.

So in these next four weeks we will be exploring four primary images of the church in the New Testament to discover what it is to be church - Body of Christ, People of God, Fellowship of Faith, and New Creation.  These relate to issues of comfort and diversity, tradition and Story, Community, and being a sign of a new way of being human in the world.

This week our focus was upon discovering comfort in the diversity of being the Body of Christ

Focus:  We are not alone – we are with Christ, participating in the “body” of Christ – and we are with one another – the body of Christ.  Inherent in this is comfort – because when we are “in Christ” we are not alone – we are held together with one another by the Spirit of Christ Jesus.

Link to message: Comfort in Diversity: Being the Body of Christ

Sunday, October 5, 2014 - Rekindling Our Passion: Living in the Resurrection Life of Jesus

Rekindling Our Passion

What do we do when we lose our passion for living, for being the community of God?  As Paul urges in Romans 12:11 to not lose our spiritual zeal.  This series focuses on rekindling our zeal, our passion by focusing on Jesus' call, aims, self-understanding - for them to become our call, aim, for us to developed a renewed sense of our self-understanding - in short for our passion to be rekindled by our passion being our walking with Christ Jesus.

This week our focus is on living in the resurrection life of Jesus as the basis for rekindling our passion.

There is nothing like waking up to a new day, full of life and hope – ready to take on the day.  This is passion.  How do we rekindle a passion for life – by living with a passion for Jesus.  Paul models this for us – so that we too can live in such as way that “to live is Christ.

 

Link to message:  Passion: Living in the Resurrection Life of Jesus

Sunday, September 28, 2014 - Rekindling Our Passion: Jesus' Self-Understanding, Our Self-Understanding

Rekindling Our Passion

What do we do when we lose our passion for living, for being the community of God?  As Paul urges in Romans 12:11 to not lose our spiritual zeal.  This series focuses on rekindling our zeal, our passion by focusing on Jesus' call, aims, self-understanding - for them to become our call, aim, for us to developed a renewed sense of our self-understanding - in short for our passion to be rekindled by our passion being our walking with Christ Jesus.

This week our focus is on Jesus' Self-Understanding, Our Self-Understanding

Who are we?  Who are we as God’s people?  Who are we in Christ?  We are called to live as contemporary expressions of Christ’s presence in the world, through the indwelling Spirit.  We are more than who we are.  We are the ones through whom God is at work re-creating the world.

 

Link to message:  Jesus' Self-Understanding, Our Self-Understanding

Sunday, September 21, 2014 - Rekindling Our Passion: Jesus' Aims, Our Aims

Rekindling Our Passion

What do we do when we lose our passion for living, for being the community of God?  As Paul urges in Romans 12:11 to not lose our spiritual zeal.  This series focuses on rekindling our zeal, our passion by focusing on Jesus' call, aims, self-understanding - for them to become our call, aim, for us to developed a renewed sense of our self-understanding - in short for our passion to be rekindled by our passion being our walking with Christ Jesus.

This week our focus is on Jesus' Aims, Our Aims.

Jesus came to reveal God. The way we are called to live our lives is also to reveal God. Though, we seem to get it wrong more than we get it right. The Spirit empowers our living to reveal God's Presence and Kingdom.

  

Link to message:  Jesus' Aims, Our Aims