MVT: Rewind

The story of Scripture isn’t just a story that is good for some people to cope with things. The story of Scripture isn’t one that was made up. The story of Scripture is about God rescuing His people and bringing them back into relationship with Him. The Story of Scripture is about a God that pours his love out towards His creation. 

The book of Proverbs is… well, a book of (ancient Hebrew) proverbs.  On one hand, they are accessible and easy to understand, since they are stand-alone sayings and are a literary form we’re used to.  But how are we supposed to read/understand/apply them as God’s word?  (or, what does this have to do with Jesus?)

Brandon walks us though 1 Corinthians and explores why the Church is for us, but the Church is not about us. View The Bible Project Illustration to 1 Corinthians here . 

Mark takes us on a wild ride through Ephesians with six mini sermons! 

The “book of Romans” is often read as a theological treatise, but it was written as “a letter to the church in Rome” — a diverse church whose members are struggling to follow Jesus together in harmony.  Paul addresses this by calling them back to the gospel.

In this new series, Course Corrections, we are looking at letters Paul wrote to a number of New Testament Churches. In Galatians, we see where these new followers of Jesus were persuaded to believe a different version of the gospel… one that required them to add something additional to grace. Here, Paul is pointing out the dangers of trying to earn grace versus receiving grace. Paul gives them (an...

We don’t have to walk in our loneliness alone. We can choose to push back against the lie that there is no one that fully knows us. Jesus wants to be our friend - and not only that, but He fully understands what difficulty and trials each of us have experienced. Closeness with Jesus may not fully remove our sense of loneliness, but it will help us realize the truth that we are never alone.

“Shared joy is double joy. Shared sorrow is half the sorrow.”  This may be true, but so often we feel like sharing our sorrow just doubles our sorrow. Pain is one of the most significant enemies of friendship. In our suffering, it becomes so much easier to believe that no one else will understand or can understand us. But so often, it’s through vulnerability that we find healing. As we explore Jes...

Loneliness not only affects our mental health, it affects our physical health as well. In his greatest expression of creativity, God made us; and He made us to be with one another. It takes intentionality and being present is one of the greatest ways to push back against loneliness. For extroverts this might feel easy, and for the introverts it might feel hard. But God wants every single one of us...

3 in 10 people experience loneliness daily- before COVID. Our guess is that that number has only grown in the last few years. Whether it’s something you experience every day, every week, or only sporadically, loneliness has affected all of us in some way. One of the enemy’s greatest weapons against us is making us believe we’re isolated from the love of God and people. How do we move from loneline...

Jesus was the model of sacrificial generosity. Not only did he willingly submit his actual life for us, but his time on earth was spent seeing the needs of people and ministering to them. We are given daily opportunities to follow His example. Jesus was the model of sacrificial generosity. Not only did he willingly submit his actual life for us, but his time on earth was spent seeing the needs of...

We all want to use what we’ve been given with wisdom. We want to steward our resources well. Ignoring, overlooking or mismanaging what we have can lead us to places we don’t want to be. Stewardship requires action and intentionality to make sure we’re showing up in a way that aligns with God’s heart and our own! When we act as wise stewards, our impact is multiplied.

It doesn’t have to hurt! We are in our second week of talking about money, and it’s already getting easier, isn’t it? This week Brandon taught us that everything we have belongs to God. For some of us, it might be easy to acknowledge this with our words, but our practices might tell a different story. Let’s work together to explore whether we are following the god of money, or following the God of...

Most of us think about money multiple times throughout the day, but rarely do we have honest conversations about it! Talking about our finances can be uncomfortable, but this is something Jesus discussed ALL. THE. TIME! We want to create a community where we’re able to have safe, honest conversations about the things that matter most to us and to God. God cares deeply about our trust and so often...

The empty tomb shows us that even when we grieve, even when we are disappointed, even when we feel lost - the light will overcome our circumstances. The light of Jesus has no limits. Even when we don’t feel a desire to acknowledge His light, it is still there, ready to shine on the darkest parts of our lives and our hearts. The light of Jesus is transformational. Because of Jesus, we have hope for...

None of us can keep our promises perfectly, as much as we might try. God knows this and that’s why he sent Jesus- to fulfill every promise on our behalf. Palm Sunday reminds us that our best attempts at saving ourselves can never measure up, but Jesus already has. We get to rest in his grace and salvation.

Peace making is not for the faint of heart. Listening just to listen, not to reply is hard. Speaking gently instead of letting the first words that come to mind fly out of our mouths is hard. It’s hard and holy work that sanctifies us and helps us look more like Jesus. Not only that, but listening humbly and speaking gently leads to peace in our souls and in our social lives. Peace making is not f...

Losing isn’t just an effective strategy, it’s a requirement for living in the footsteps of Jesus. Let’s take steps towards peace by laying down our own pride, and believing that our relationships are more important than being right! 

Oh, where did our peace go??? It feels like discord is everywhere we look and while healthy conflict can lead to peace, fighting can definitely tear us apart. And yet, Jesus invites us to be part of a community where peace takes precedent. He offers his peace to us; a peace that surpasses our understanding and makes way for so much goodness. Through him, we get to extend peace to others and contri...

God wants to use us to build His Kingdom. He calls us the salt and light in the world, and we are to live in a way that will point people to Him.  We are called to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us, so that we may be children of our Father in heaven.  This is the example King Jesus has given us. 

Our hearts need an overhaul. We know this: we see the ways we turn toward the millions of distractions fighting for our attention every moment. We choose lesser “gods” over giving God our hearts, souls and minds all the time. There’s grace for this AND God is inviting us into something deeper. His heart has never been divided in his love for us. He wants us to be transformed into people that put l...

Wouldn’t it be amazing if Christians were known for being gentle rather than judgmental? It can be way too easy to offset our insecurity by putting others down. But the way of Jesus is radically different: in his Kingdom, mercy gets the final say. Grace is the currency running through every word spoken and deed done. While it may seem like judgement will give us the upper hand, Jesus reminds us th...