Easter isn’t simply a religious holiday to be celebrated once a year and then stored away with the Easter Bunny and plastic shells of Easter Eggs. Easter is the fountain of renewal from which we take direction for our lives. We have been called to live an Easter faith, filled with confidence in what God has done for us. In this series, we'll explore what it means tobe Living An Easter Faith and see how that plays out in our daily lives.
During this Lenten season, we’ll be starting a sermon series exploring sayings of Jesus that can seem to be difficult and/or hard to swallow. Did He really mean that? By facing these “hard sayings” it will remind us that He holds us to an extremely high standard, a standard we’ll never be able to live up to on our own. At the same time, He equips us, by His Holy Spirit, to live out these “hard sayings.” God is good!
Throughout this series we will explore the spiritual disciplines and cognitive beliefs we need to have in place to help promote spiritual renewal! If we want to have undivided hearts, if we want to keep Jesus #1 in our life, if we want to experience a spiritual renewal, what do we need to be doing?
James is one of the most practical books in the Bible, tackling real life issues and struggles that all of us face: temptation, self-control, work, anger, poverty, favoritism, and more. The book challenges our consumeristic and complacent nature as Americans and should lead us to action that's directed by our faith.
Our entire lives need to be lived in a state of dependence on God. Often, we unconsciously live independent of God, believing in Him but living like He isn’t there. Over the course of the next six weeks, we’ll explore different areas where we typically depend on ourselves, instead of relying on Christ.
Eating in God’s presence is an Israelite ideal that refers back to creation first, then at the Exodus, and throughout the Exile. Jesus continues the motif especially throughout the book of Luke. We will look at why Jesus came, who is invited, observe what Jesus does at the table, experience the joy of celebrating at the table, how generosity plays a role at the table, how forgiveness is given and finally look forward to being at the table with Jesus on the last day. Until that day, we are asked to live out “Table Fellowship” like Jesus did.