Evanston Vineyard

The parables of Jesus expand our imagination and vision for the kingdom of God. Watching the Father and his two sons, we see that God loves us so very much. He searches for us and rejoices when we come home to be with Him.

Jesus tells us how to avoid hypocrisy.

We get a glimpse at the real Jesus, and it’s glorious. How will we respond? Will we respond like Peter and put him in a shelter? Or will we let ourselves be surrounded by the cloud and “listen to him?”

Jesus tells us who He wants us to be and yet, we struggle to follow through. It is never too late to forge a new foundation with Jesus.

Jesus envisions a new community where there is no judgment; forgiveness and generosity flows with liberality; and we grow in dependence on one another as we take out planks and call out specks.

The challenge to love your enemies.

Today we begin four weeks on Jesus’ masterful Sermon on the Plain. What challenges and comforts are here for us in Jesus?

Jesus begins to assemble His team, the disciples in Luke chapter 5.  And of course, as it is often the case with Jesus, we will find that who Jesus chooses and how He calls them to respond is another demonstration of the redemptive beautiful Kingdom of God.

This week we take a break from our Luke series to address the past couple of weeks in our nation’s capital.

The beautiful Kingdom of God. What is it? How do we receive it? This episode in Capernaum answers these two questions.

Jesus is on the side of the oppressed.

As Jesus comes of age, He leaves His family for three days. His parents find him at the Temple and there is revelation of the person He is becoming. There is also a lesson for us here about chronic anxiety.

Simeon and Anna’s witness orients us to Jesus’ mission in the world

God sent the angels to tell the best news in the universe to… shepherds? Glory and peace are for everyone, because of Jesus, including the most lowly.

Luke 2

How Christmas shows the tender mercy of our God.

In Luke 1:39-56, we see the news of new life settle into Mary and Elizabeth and they bear witness to the faithfulness of God. As they anticipate the new thing that God is doing in the world, they experience great peace.

As Luke 1:26-38 shows, life can miraculously emerge from the overshadowing power of the Most High. And with it, comes hope.

We close our series with the practice of noticing and nurturing beauty. Jesus is the Beauty of God embodied. How do we notice His beauty and nurture through contemplation His beauty in our lives?

God created rest. Jesus invites us into rest. And yet, rest is not apart of the world around us. Practicing the Sabbath, reserving space for rest, allows us to give testimony to who God is and to practice resistance. You are invited into rest … even now!!!

What if we began to practice daily “being with Jesus through being with the least of these? “ Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that it would upend our lives and change everything!

Life with the Holy Spirit should be a regular practice. -Steve Nicholson

Distraction is all around us. But what happens when that distraction becomes something that makes us forget who we truly are? Here’s where fasting can help us. Click here to download a helpful guide we put together about fasting.

Jesus prayed all the time. The ways we see Jesus pray invite us into similar spaces with God. Renee looks at the life of Jesus to consider how we might engage in the spiritual practice of prayer.

Why should we put the Bible at the center of our spiritual formation? Ted explores this question, looking at the way Jesus treasured Scripture.