Restoration Church

Revelation is known to be one of the more intimidating and controversial books in the entire Bible. Years of late night televangelists, rapture best-sellers, and strange conspiracies have left many of us unsure about what it really means – and why it matters. This week, we’re tackling not only why Revelation matters to people like us, but why it’s primary message – allegiance to Jesus – has never...

He is risen indeed! In this Easter message, we look to why the resurrection of Jesus matters for our lives. The world we inhabit is dark and heavy, and it can feel like death always has the final word. But what we find in the empty tomb is not only a hope for our future, but a promise for our present. (1 Corinthians 15:19-26)

As Holy Week begins, we turn our attention to one of the most crucial events in the life of Jesus: Palm Sunday. Met with cries of adulation and praise, Jesus subversively rides into Jerusalem on a humble donkey. The crowds expect a revolution of violence toward their enemies. Instead, they found a Savior who would die for them.

Kierkegaard famously said that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” A great deal of moving forward in our faith requires a reckoning with our past - and the things we need to let go. Sunday, we’re talking about looking back, letting go, and finding healing and wholeness in Christ. (Philippians 3:4-14)

Grace is scandalous. It challenges and often upends what we believe to be right and fair in the world around us. This week, we’re looking at one of the most famous passages of Scripture in the entire Bible – a reminder that we are the beneficiaries of God’s radical grace. And the surest way we see it’s work? We offer it to others. (Luke 15:11-32)

Desire can feel like a "bad word" in the Church. After all, won't listening to the aches and longings within us only lead us astray? Well, Psalm 63 would like a word. What we find is a God whose invitation isn't to remove our desires, but *redeem* them. (Psalm 63:1-4)

In Psalm 27, David is at the end of his rope. There in the dark, there’s only one thing that he wants: the presence of God. Sometimes on our journey, we lose sight of our “one thing.” So when our hearts grow cold and our love runs dry, how do we recover our hunger for God?

C.S. Lewis writes: “Wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way.” This is what we learn from Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness – that the essence of our brokenness is the pursuit of *good* desires apart from God. Sunday, as the season of Lent begins, we’re unpacking what this means for us as we pursue wholeness in Christ. (Luke 4:1-13)

Jesus doesn’t change. But as we grow, how we see Him does. As we close out the season of Epiphany, we’re focusing on what it means with seeing Jesus with new eyes as we grow in our faith. (Luke 9:28-36)

Everybody is following somebody. So how about you?  In Luke 5, Jesus begins his work not through a series of events, but in and through relationships with ordinary people like us. This Sunday, we’re unpacking what it means to meet Jesus as a disciple in our ordinary lives – and explore our calling to invite others to do the same. (Guest Speaker: Amanda Hubler)

These are desolate and often desperate times. In these challenging days ahead, we're either going to wither away in our weariness... or we're going to grow our roots deep. Sunday is about being honest about where we are, what is growing in us, and how we might put down roots in the steadfast love of God. (Psalm 1:1-3) 

These are desolate and often desperate times. In these challenging days ahead, we’re either going to wither away in our weariness… or we’re going to grow our roots deep. Sunday is about being honest about where we are, what is growing in us, and how we might put down roots in the steadfast love of God. (Psalm 1:1-3)

Of all of Jesus’ commands, his call to love our enemies might be the most radical - and yet the most needed in a moment like this. Sunday, I’m unpacking why love for our enemies isn’t just a lofty ideal to admire, but a kingdom strategy of resistance to the world as we know it. (Luke 6:27-38)

Known by our theology? Nope. By the superiority of our morality? Nope. By the passion of our activism? Nope. By the allegiance of our politics? Nope. By the depth of our knowledge? Nope. Jesus said the world would know us by agape - steadfast, self-giving love. So what does that look like at ground-level in a moment like this? (1 Corinthians 13:1-7 NIV)

This weeked, our Church family turned 8 years old! This Sunday, we’re going to look back at where we’ve been, celebrate where we are, and talk about the mission we’re seeking as we moved into our future as we "grow up together." (Ephesians 4:11-16)

There is a through line that weaves through the Scriptures around the deep, dark waters of chaos. Disorder. We all try to push back against its power. But here's the question: what if God is not saving from from it, but rather through it? (Isaiah 43:1-7)

When salvation arrived, it did not come in the form of a new set of rules, a superior philosophy, or a purer religion. No, God gave Himself. This Sunday we begin the new year with perhaps our oldest and dearest hope: that Jesus is what God is saying to us. (John 1:1-18)

There is a paradox at the heart of Christmas: the God of all glory not only becomes human, but vulnerable.  Jesus arrives in the messy vulnerability of our humanity, taking on not only a human body, but a human life – with all of it’s complexities. Why? Because He’s redeeming all of us – not just our souls. He became like us so we might become like Him. 

Mary wasn’t anything like the serene and sanitized depictions we often see during the Christmas season. This poor, Galilean, teenage girl stepped into the story of God with boldness and trust, and the song she sings while pregnant with the Savior of the world is a reminder that God is turning the world as we know it upside down. 

JUDGMENT.😬 Some streams of Christianity try to gloss it over. Others love to project it onto everyone else – except (conveniently) themselves. So what do we do with these promises of judgment – and how do we understand them through the lens of Jesus? (Luke 3:1-6, Malachi 3:1-4)

Advent begins not in the bright lights of Christmas, but in the darkness of our need. As we wait for the coming of our Savior, we remember that the darkness we face is not a place of God’s absence, but His presence. 

We all have a need to be seen and known and loved where we are. And no matter how crowded the room we find ourselves in, if we still feel unseen and disconnected, we will feel one of the toughest feelings of all: loneliness. In this message, we unpack what loneliness is, why we feel it, and how to overcome our barriers to deep connection with others. 

Peeling back the layers of our emotions, you’ll often find a feeling that loves to stay in the shadows. But while we may not always see it on the surface, it constantly whispers our worthlessness while simultaneously stirring our wrath towards those we’d rather see condemned in our place. In this message, we’re hitting a big one we ALL need to come to grips with: SHAME.

Life will upend you eventually. Some sort of crisis, broken relationship, diagnosis, or unexpected heartache will find us. And while we’ve build a world designed to numb us from feeling it, it is almost always the very space where we meet God in a way we would not otherwise. This week, we’re tackling GRIEF: why the Bible honors it, how Jesus redeems it, and why strangely, it’s where joy takes root...

Anyone who struggles with anxiety knows it can be so much more than just a “feeling.” It often makes its home in our bodies, leaving us feeling isolated from God, from the people around us, and even ourselves. In this message, we’re tackling an emotion that hasn’t always been easy to talk about in the Church. We’re aiming to change that – and find healing and hope along the way.