Messages on Deeper

Tonight, we’re continuing through our Lent journey as together, we have been encouraged to go deeper.  This last evening together before Good Friday, we are going to be challenged to go deeper in communion. In many traditions, today is the day during Holy Week when we recall the planned betrayal of Judas.  It was just two days before the Passover celebration, the last one that Jesus would share with His disciples.  Behind closed doors, much was stirring around the destiny…

One theme commonly missed through the Easter season as we remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is that of suffering prior to victory. We all love the sweet thrill of victory.  We all love the comeback stories where the underdog makes an impossible comeback. No comeback story is greater than the story of Jesus Christ.  He is God over all of creation, but humbles Himself to be one of the poorest and most humble humans to serve all…

Last Sunday, we were challenge to commit to know God as our faithful Rock. Tonight, we’re going to dive into the area that exists in all of our lives.  This area of life can be a point of frustration, anger, bitterness, doubt, and discouragement.  However this can also be an area of excitement, peace, joy, faith, and encouragement.  The difference between how this area affects us lies solely in our perspective.  This area of life is the area that exists…

This year, God has called us to invite people to “Come on in!”, to break down barriers and build bridges for people to come to Jesus.  This evening, we’re going to make that the focus of our prayers and worship.  To start, we’re going to first look through a popular account of the travels of Jesus and His ability to transform a life.   Luke 19:1-10 1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by…

Good evening! Tonight, we begin our community Lent services. It’s such an honor and joy to be a part of the churches in this valley coming together with a common purpose and goal; to reflect on the life, death, and resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ. Throughout the Lent season, we’ll come together to worship and to learn from the powerful statements made by Jesus as He declared and explained, “I AM”. Tonight, we’re beginning with Jesus’ statement found in…

Today is Ash Wednesday; launching the season of Lent. Although no one is exactly sure where the tradition began, an common outward sign of sorrow, grief, and mourning is for someone to dress in sackcloth (or to tear up their clothes) and to put ashes on themselves. We find many examples of this throughout the Old Testament; especially whenever someone came to the realization of the consequence of their sin and chose to repent. To repent just means to have…

After Jesus died and rose again, He appeared to the apostles over a period of forty days teaching them about the Kingdom of God. Once, while eating with them, He told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait until they had been baptized by the Holy Spirit and then to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1) The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a life-changing experience which enables and equips believers to do all…

Luke 9:18-20 18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” Just about everyone has a slightly different view of who…

Ever feel all alone with the weight of the world on your shoulders?  Most of us can relate that feeling.  We’ve all endured circumstances that felt as if though they were our end.  We get whiny and complain.  Our laments are raised up before the Lord. We expect God to look on us with compassion and to rain down upon us rays of sunshine and rainbows.  We expect Him to deliver us and come rushing into our rescue! However, sometimes…

Deuteronomy 4:23-24 Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Idols.  Megan (my 7-year-old daughter) recently asked me what an idol is.  Remembering back to my theology courses, I told her that it is anything that we value or place ahead…