Bridgeway Church

We should be people that forgive because God forgave us. Now that's much easier said than done. Forgiveness is not only good for the person you need to forgive, but it's good for you too.

Shame can be a painful burden we carry around. When Jesus died, he took our shame with him. The Bible says we are all justified freely by his grace because of the sacrifice he made.

Maybe you've questioned the Bible and wondered how we can believe this ancient book. This Easter Sunday, we take a look into why we can believe the accounts that were written down thousands of years ago and it's so fascinating!

As a church, we're committed to giving back to the community – both with our time and resources. We want everyone around us to know that we love them and we are for them. As christians, we're called to be generous because Jesus was generous towards us.

We were made for relationships and for loving others. As Christians we should be seeking out friendships and looking for ways we can be friends to others. Inviting people to our tables can be such a God honoring thing.

To get dusty means following Jesus so closely that we become like him and look like him in our every day life. It's something we have to work on constantly. Can you imagine how amazing it would be if Christians resembled Jesus in everything?

We often say at Bridgeway, doubts and questions aren't the enemy of your faith but silence can be. It is so honoring to bring your doubts and questions to God and to talk about them with people you can trust. God is loving and desires our honesty with him.

Everyone is loved by Jesus. Here at Bridgeway, we say that there are no perfect people allowed. We want to be like Jesus and welcome everyone no matter what your past looked like or what mistakes you may have made – you are loved and welcome here. Everyone is in process and none of us will ever be perfect, but we can find joy in the fact that Jesus will love us no matter what.

We typically view justice as people getting arrested for their crimes or receiving "karma" for bad things they've done. But the book of Leviticus tells us that it looks much more like standing up for others and showing God's love to everyone. Justice can be a beautiful thing when we treat it like God does.

Did you know it's holy to party? God gave commands in Leviticus to celebrate and enjoy holidays. He also gave commands to rest. Although we want to work hard and impress others, it's so holy to take time for yourself and just relax.

Living like a priest means standing up for the marginalized and serving others with a grateful heart. It means putting God on display so everyone can see Him in you. It's so much more than just being perceived as a holy person. It's an entire life change.

The book of Leviticus is more than just a book of outdated rules. It shows us things about our God that we may have never noticed before. It shows that he has always met us where we are and pulled us forward and closer to him. In this journey, we'll be learning a lot about God through a book that is often pushed aside when talking about the Bible.

It's so easy to focus on all the bad in our lives and in the world around us. But doing so can make us look at our world as a negative place. Focusing on what is good and praise worthy can improve our view on life and living life as Christ lived.

As Christians, we are citizens of heaven, but as citizens of heaven, we can't just sit back and wait until we go to heaven. We are called to live like Christ and partner with him always. We should be putting our trust and identity in him.

As Christians, we should strive to shine with the love and kindness of Jesus. It's not natural to think of others first, but that's exactly how Jesus calls us to live. Let's live and love like Jesus did.

Pledging allegiance to Jesus is more than just saying we'll follow him, but it's striving to be like him and follow in his footsteps every day. Every action and decision should be evaluated on if it lines up with how Jesus has invited us to live.

Jesus restores and redeems us no matter where we are. We just have to come to him with our messy selves and not wait until we have everything together. He's ready to welcome us where we're at.

God wants to help you belong to his family. No matter how distant you may be from church or faith, God is ready to welcome you in. And for those who already are a part of God's family, let's be welcoming to those who are lonely and unsure about Church. Let's give them a place where they feel belonging.

No matter what your life looks like or what mistakes you've made in your past, God loves you and will continue to always love you. It's a promise that seems impossible at times, but something you can always trust.

It's easy to become lost and stray from God without even realizing it. God wants nothing more than for us to come back to him no matter where we are when we realize we've become lost. To be found, we need to actively move towards Jesus and follow his priorities and practices.

Joshua and Caleb faced all the terrors that laid within the promised land despite everyone else wanting to turn back. They were bold and courageous because they knew that their future was ahead of them as promised by God. If we want to build a hopeful future, we are also called to be bold and put our trust in God. 

Love is a sacrifice. It's a commitment to others with no conditions attached. Let's put others first and be committed to showing love no matter what. Let's be active in loving and blessing others!

Abram was someone who prioritized honoring God with his first and his best. He recognized that what he owned and his victories were not his but were on loan from God. We need to do the same with our first and best to honor him. 

God's plans for us can be daunting when we don't know how his plans will work out or what steps we'll be following to fulfill this plan. Trust is so important in our relationship with God and it's something we need to work on our whole life to continue to strengthen our faith.

We have exciting news about the future of Bridgeway and celebrate our wins from this year. Like Abraham, we are listening for God's voice and following his direction even though some of our future seems uncertain.