Arbor Church

Today, Mike Howerton introduces us to a radical, over-the-top, expansive love … a beautiful, outrageous, outlandish kind of love that could only come from God.

How we think about eternity determines how we live today. If that’s true and I’m living with my eternal end in mind, what does life practically look like? How does living with heaven in mind affect my calendar, my contentment, and my conversations? Heaven is our home, and scripture tells us that it’s worth looking forward to!

Today we tackle all the big questions about the eternal heaven: What will it be like? Will I know and recognize loved ones? Will I receive a new body? Do I get wings? Will there be dogs in heaven? If I’m really there for eternity won’t I eventually get bored? The Bible has answers that may surprise you.

Just when you thought heaven couldn’t get better, it does. All things will be made new, including heaven and earth. The work of Christ’s restoration plan is much bigger than we could’ve ever imagined. He’s not only redeeming our souls, he’s renewing all of his original creation.

Have you ever wondered what your loved one is doing in heaven right now? Can they see and hear you on earth? When we die, we are immediately with Jesus for all eternity, but at some point in eternity… heaven is going to move. And until that happens, our loved ones are in what theologians have termed the “intermediate heaven”.

How often do we think about heaven? Typically we don’t, unless we receive a difficult diagnosis or lose someone we love, the afterlife is usually an afterthought. The writer of Hebrews says that this world is not our home… heaven is our home. How would our lives be different today if we really believed we were going home tomorrow?

Mike Howerton concludes our two-part series on The Life You Were Made For with message on overcoming the one obstacle that often looms largest: our own fear.

A young Mike Howerton walks a into a classroom to see a big question (maybe the biggest question) written on the chalkboard: what is the good life ? Jesus spoke of it: I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10); what did He mean? Mike shares the 8 areas of life in which we need to live with purpose and intention in order to experience this good, full, and abundant life.

As pews sit empty for months in the wake of a global pandemic, some are beginning to wonder for the first time if we truly need to fill them again… but long before the first COVID-19 case, a generation had already begun voting church non-essential with their feet. This week, Jake answers the tough question: who needs church?

Alison Acone makes her debut with a message about what worship is like in Heaven.

Scott Hetherington takes us through two different accounts of the story of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple, where He overturned tables and fulfilled prophecy. What would the Temple be today?

Mark 7 tells the story of a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees … on hand washing , of all things, something we’re all thinking about more often. Guest speaker Jesse Butterworth contrasts the Pharisee’s outside-in view with Jesus’ inside-out perspective, and asks some tough questions about modern-day hypocrisy.

As we’re discovering this summer, worship is about a lot more than just singing – but singing is still a big deal to God! From Acts 16, Jake shares the story of Paul and Silas’s miraculous release from prison, encourages us to worship rather than worry, and reveals which Thanksgiving food singing would be if singing were a Thanksgiving food.

In Jesus’ famous conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well, he told her that “true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). Today, from Scott Hetherington: what it means to worship in Spirit , what it means to worship in truth , three kinds of false worship, and an awkward conversation with an English teacher.

This week, from Luke 21, Mike Howerton brings us the story of the widow’s mite – the two very small coins she offered to God that Jesus declared to be worth more than all the riches that had been offered before them. Along the way: generosity, money, happiness, and what it really means to worship through giving.

Bryan continues our summer Worship series with an in-depth look at the story of the woman who poured out a very expensive bottle of perfume at Jesus’ feet, from John 12. What can it teach us about what it means to worship with lavish love?

This week we begin both Tent Church and a summer series on worship. Jake opens the series with an in-depth look at Psalm 95 and the meaning, motive, and modes of worship. (Did you know that it used to be called worthship ?)

Somehow, in the midst of a global pandemic, the church has – instead of facing the challenge together – become more divided than ever. Jake echoes the pleas of Jesus and Paul for unity and shares the two things we need in order to come together again.

This Father’s Day, Mike Howerton brings us the story of Samson, one of the Old Testament’s tragic heroes – a man devoted to God but mastered by his desires, and a man who could have benefited from some coaching. Mike shares some thoughts on who and what we allow to master us, and the everyday mantras that keep a life in alignment with God.

This is the story of the most famous verse of the Bible, John 3:16. It’s the story of that verse in its proper context, a nighttime conversation with a certain Pharisee, who had some questions about the kind of Beginning Again Jesus had been talking about. Jake takes 5 truths from Jesus’ answers … and one simple question.

In light of George Floyd’s death and the nationwide protests it has ignited, Scott Hetherington pivots this Sunday to address the topic on everyone’s minds. He speaks from personal experience as a man with Black mentors and a servant on a diversity and equity committee, and leads us in a difficult conversation about the Bible, the Church, racism, and each one of us.

This week, we embark upon a new series, Begin Again , and Jake teaches from the story lovingly painted on hundreds of church nursery walls but somehow regularly passed over by grown-ups: Noah’s Ark. Everyone knows the story of how the world ended, but less well know is what came after – how Noah started again.

This week, Jake concludes an epic 12-week series in which we’ve sought to understand Jesus through the life of Peter. We remember who Peter was, who he became, and why, and learn from the wisdom he expressed later in his life in his epistles – 1 and 2 Peter.

Today, from Acts 10, Scott recounts the story of Peter’s bizarre dream at Simon’s house: a sheet full of animals is lowered from heaven, three times. What did it mean for Peter? … And does it mean anything for us?

Ten years after the Resurrection, Peter was finally the faith-filled follower of Jesus that he was meant to become. Today, the story of his miraculous liberation from jail, and a tough question it raises concerning God’s character.