MEDIA
EASTER EPILOGUE #1: GATEWAY (4.7.24)
On the Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead, he joined two disappointed travelers on their route from Jerusalem to Emmaus. While at first he was unfamiliar to them, they eventually recognized him for who he was. Their conversation tells us much even today about how we can hear God, but it starts with something obvious: it was Jesus who showed them who he was. In our day, it's the same. To hear God, we must first consider Jesus.
EASTER SUNDAY, 2024: THE WRONG JESUS (3.31.24)
That first Easter morning, one of Jesus' closest followers, Mary Magdalene, arrived at his tomb only to think she'd stumbled on a crime scene. She thought Jesus' body had been stolen. It hadn't dawned on her his promise of rising from the dead could be true, so she came looking for the wrong Jesus. Do we do the same thing? Are we looking for Jesus as we think he is, or as he actually is? Mary soon found out that Jesus was much more than she thought, and if we look at Jesus for who he actually is, we'll find the same thing.
THE LAST DAY #4: THIRSTY (3.24.24)
In his last moments on the cross, and in a cruel and ironic twist, Jesus said that he was thirsty. However, Jesus wasn't the most thirsty person there around that cross - physically, perhaps, but not in the most important ways. Such a reality meets us even today: we're all thirsty for something. We all have dreams and desires that live inside us, but how we quench that thirst will determine if it will be satisfied at all.
THE LAST DAY #3: PRISONER (3.17.24)
By the time the Jewish leaders had resolved to kill Jesus, Pontius Pilate had resolved to stay as far from the issue as he could. But when they showed up at Pilate's court that Good Friday morning, everything changed. Questioning Jesus on his own, Pilate wanted out of the affair, but had he listened closely, he would have heard Jesus offering that very thing: a way out of the prison that disillusionment and discontentment had brought him.
THE LAST DAY #2: TRIAL, DENIAL, AND HONOR (3.10.24)
Like no other passage in the Scriptures, John 18:12-27 shows us that in the hours before his crucifixion, Jesus was treated like garbage. Sure, we expect this behavior from the people who hated him, but from his best friends? As we look at this first trial and the subsequent denial of Jesus by Peter, it's hard not to wonder, do we treat him as worthless? Do we fail to honor Him in all our life for who he is?
THE LAST DAY #1: CRISIS (3.3.24)
In the wee hours of the day he would be crucified, Jesus found himself at the worst moment of his life. Apprehensive of what was before him, tempted to walk away, and feeling isolated from his Father, Jesus pleaded for another way forward. But what he did in this moment teaches us what to do in our own crisis, be it the small day-to-day challenges, or the moments that change us forever.
DIFFERENT #7: LIKE JESUS (2.25.24)
In Ephesians 4, Paul has been asking Jesus followers to act the part. He goes into specifics, asking us to consider the behavior we should have versus that of the crowd. But as we finish the chapter, he tells us that all that behavior is really about something much much bigger. It's about something that will stand out in the world, because it's something the world is really searching for.
DIFFERENT #6: THE REAL YOU (2.18.24)
What makes you you? That should be a fairly easy question, right? But for many of us, including followers of Jesus, we can't quite pinpoint what makes us...us. As we begin to wind down this series, the Apostle Paul pauses in his list of behaviors in Ephesians 4 to point us back to the cost of not living differently. Beyond making God sad, we also miss out on the very thing that makes us different: we miss out on the new person God made us to be.
DIFFERENT #5: LANGUAGE ARTS (2.11.24)
Most of us know that words have power, because all of us have been hurt by words at some point or another. But in Ephesians 4:29, we learn that words actually have much more power than we ever thought, because God can use our words to move in this world. But how do we do this, especially when we've blown it by saying things that we probably didn't mean to say?
DIFFERENT #4: HONEST GAIN (2.4.24)
It seems as though we're no longer surprised at the images of people stealing from stores, even in broad daylight. It's been a problem for a long time, even back to the times of the Apostle Paul. But stealing is far bigger than just taking what isn't ours. It's actually a sign of a weak life, and God calls us to live in a power that results in something better.
DIFFERENT #3: THE F.A.C.E. OF ANGER (1.28.24)
Doesn't it feel like everyone's angry these days? No matter where you go, it seems, people are angry at each other...on the highway, in the store, or wherever people gather. One of the clearest ways we can look different is in how we deal with anger. But anger in and of itself isn't bad. Don't forget, Jesus got angry, too. But how did he handle it? In this message, we'll take a look at how we can get angry without it turning into something messy.
DIFFERENT #2: LIAR, LIAR (1.21.2024)
Everybody lies. Everybody. And yet, God commands us not to lie.
So what are we to do? Try real hard not to lie and just hope for the best? Or, could it be that there is a way to hold to God's standard? In this, the second installment of the series "Different", we're looking at how we can hold to God's standard in an issue is seems many have given up on.
DIFFERENT #1: CONTRASTS (1.14.2024)
Yet, Christ calls us to a completely different life than the world, but we often look no different. What if part of the problem is that we don't know what "different" actually looks like? In Ephesians 4, we get a great picture of what a different life with Jesus looks like, but this hinges on something big: understanding the contrast that exists between the crowd life and the Jesus life, and what fuels the difference.
FINDING THE PLANS (12.31.2023)
One of the big themes of the Bible is that God has a plan for our lives. But how do we find it? How do we live out the agenda he wants for us? As we begin a new year, we look at the truth that no matter how much you've messed up, no matter how much you think you've blown it with God, his plan is as available to you now as it was the day you were born. And better yet, we'll have the opportunity today to hear how we can find that plan.
THE REASON FOR THE SEASON: The Hero (12.24.2023)
Christmas is part of a much grander narrative. It's the declaration of the hero into the ultimate story, and just like every hero movie we've ever seen, it's met with an incredible darkness. Such darkness proves Jesus is, in fact, the hero we've been looking for. In this message, we close our "Reason for the Season" series with a look at the announcement and the darkness that rose against it so many years ago.
THE REASON FOR THE SEASON: The Problem (12.10.2023)
As we go through the motions of the Christmas season again this year, are we beginning to lose what all this is for? Why do we do Christmas? The decorating, preparing, hosting, spending...why? In this first installment of The Reason for the Season, we're going to go back to the very beginning to understand that Christmas is God's answer to a problem we had no way of solving.
THE CHURCH: R.A.S.H. PRAYERS (12.3.23)
Do your prayers sometimes look like a kid's Christmas list - like a list of wants, and not much more? Even just a quick look at how the first church prayed will tell us that there's a LOT more to prayer than just asking for what we want. This church saw it's prayers answered in amazing ways, and it serves us well to take the time to look at how they prayed. In this conclusion of the series "The Church", we'll understand that prayer is much bigger (and better!) than we thought.
THE CHURCH: REMINDERS (11.26.23)
We're really distracted people these days, and when that happens, the important things get left behind. But God instituted something in the Church that was put there to help keep the main thing the main thing. Baptism and the Lord's Supper were the reminders of who we are as Jesus followers, and in this message, we'll understand the intent of both.
GRATITUDE: A LOOK AT THANKSGIVING (11.19.23)
Being grateful and having a thankful heart isn't easy. Not today. Not in our country. It's a discipline. It's a choice we must make. In this beautiful reflection on the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, Thom Dearborn reminds us about the purpose of this incredible day, and how we can stay focused on the One we're staying thankful to.
THE CHURCH: INTIMATE (11.05.23)
In a nation that is suffering from an epidemic of loneliness, God set up the Church as a way out of that isolation. But the Church itself wasn't the solution. The intimacy the Church can provide actually starts elsewhere, at a place in the lives of those who call themselves "the church". In this fourth installment of "The Church", we'll see that this original ingredient has more potency than we can know.
THE CHURCH: CREDIBLE (10.29.23)
It seems that the Church today is suffering from a credibility issue, along with many of the institutions we once trusted, and much of the loss of this trust falls at the feet of the Church's leadership. Yet when Jesus ascended into heaven, he left the church in the hands of people who could be trusted to lead. What was it about these first leaders that made them believable?
THE CHURCH: PREACHER (10.22.23)
As we continue in Acts chapter 2, it becomes clear through the Apostle Peter that preaching had a place in the church. But Peter? Really? This guy? As we'll see in this second installment of "The Church", we're all preachers preaching something, and Peter's message was bigger than what he said.
THE CHURCH: SPECTATORS (10.15.23 - Official Launch Sunday)
Many people tend to define the Church according to tradition, custom, or preference. But what does the Scripture say the Church was supposed to be?
In this first installment of "The Church", we'll look at the birth of the church in Acts 2:1-13, and let those events tell us what it was supposed to be.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS: START WITH YOU (9.24.23)
When we look at how Jesus prayed in John 17, we notice that how he started his prayer seems odd. Jesus was always about other people, but he starts this prayer by praying for himself.
Ever wondered why?
AN IMPOSSIBLE LIFE (9.10.23)
The life of following Jesus isn't hard. It's impossible. No one can follow him perfectly.
But Jesus didn't intend us to walk the journey on our own, an he didn't set us up to fail.
He intended us to have amazing, supernatural help that leads us into the life he called us to.
YOU, PASTOR (7.16.23)
The Bible tells us clearly that, as a follower of Jesus, you have a critical identity in the world. It's an identity we must embrace to see transformation in ourselves and the world around us. In this message, Jason shows us that identity and how we must embrace it.
GOD WASTES NOTHING (6.11.23)
This summer, as we're starting to begin gathering for public worship services, we're continuing our walk through the book of John. This week, we're in John 11:45-57, where the people who were against Jesus were in full panic mode. And why not? He'd just raised a guy from the dead! But they weren't about to go quietly...