Connection Community Church

Connection Church 02-07-10 - God Is Holy! Recorded live from Pastor Kari and Alan's home just after the Feb 6 blizzard.

Connection Church 01/30/10 - God is Just and Merciful

Connection Church 01/24/10 - God Is More

9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" Luke 4:9-11 (NIV)

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours." Luke 4:5-7 (NIV)

Connection Church 12/27/09 - Unwrapping Christmas: The Gift of Peace

Connection Church 12/24/09 - Unwrapping Christmas: The Gift of Life

First of all, read Luke 2:1-20. Maybe you’ve read it before and you know the story. But this time, take your time. Read it carefully. Try to put yourself in the scene. Imagine traveling with Joseph and Mary the 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Imagine the sights and smells of the animals in the stall when the baby is born. Imagine yourself sleeping on the ground with the shepherds. Imagine hea...

Kids come in all shapes and sizes. Some find it easier to be obedience than others. Were you a kid that tended to do what was expected, or did you tend to be disobedient more often than not? Has that carried into adulthood. Do you tend to be obedient or do you tend to “fight the rules” most of the time? Do you find it easy to be obedient to God or more of a challenge? Has God ever called you to do...

What was the most awesome thing you ever hoped for at Christmas as a kid? Did you get it? If so, was it really as awesome as you thought it was going to be? What are you hoping for this Christmas? Have your Christmas hopes changed over the years? How so? What does Jesus as the Gift of Hope mean to you?

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. Then the devil said to him,“If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’”...

Think about the Lord’s Prayer. It’s not just something that was made up. Jesus shared that prayer with His disciples as a model for how to pray. We find it in Matthew 6:9-13. Think about what we are really saying when we say, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Are we asking God to offer us forgiveness as we offer forgiveness to others? Now that’s a little cha...

Connection Church 11/22/09 - Family Matters: Facing the Tough Issues

Connection Church 11/15/09 - Family Matters: The 3 C's

Much information for this message series was found in the book, Loving Your Relatives (Even When You Don’t See Eye to Eye by David & Claudia Arp and John & Margaret Bell, including these Re-mix questions. “To grow up, it is necessary to forgive your parents. When you do not forgive them it means you are clinging to them in the hope that if you can make them feel guilty enough they will finally com...

When it comes time for the offering at church, do you think of it as a necessary evil, an act of obedience, an opportunity for thanksgiving, an extension of worship, or a combination of more than one of these? Is putting money in the offering bag like putting a donation in at the Little League field? How is it similar? How is it different? When you hear talk about money at church, do you react neg...

Read Luke 1:26-38. The story of God partnering with Mary to bring Jesus into the world is the greatest example of God partnering with a human being. Other than this one, what is your favorite example from Scripture of God partnering with someone. What makes it your favorite? What is your favorite example outside of Scripture of God partnering with someone, someone well-known? What makes that your...

Have you ever been on a cruise ship? If so, what did you like best about it? If not, does the idea of a cruise appeal to you? Why? What is it about cruise ships that is so appealing? Are there aspects of a cruise ship that make it appealing as a metaphor for church? What are they? What are the aspects that make it not such a good metaphor for the church? What is the closest you’ve ever been to a b...

What does it mean to you to be part of a team? Are you currently part of a team? Where? Is that team “united” or “untied”? During your lifetime, what is the best team you’ve ever been a part of and what is the worst team you’ve ever been a part of? What made the teams so good or so bad? Can you use this knowledge to make any current teams you are a part of better? Oftentimes in traditional churche...

If you hear the word “servant” what images come to your mind? Are they positive or negative? In our culture, is being a servant something people would strive for, or something they generally would want to avoid? What about you? Does the idea of being a servant appeal to you? Read John 13:1-17. Now close your eyes and imagine Jesus washing your feet. How do you feel? Does it make you uncomfortable...

unbound: from the successes that bind us (9/27/09) Genesis 32: 22-24

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NIV) Think about the key words in this Scripture passage. Think about “wages.” It’s what we get for what we’ve done. What we get for what we’ve done. If what we’ve done is sin, then what we get is death. But we all die, right? What kind of death is Paul talking about here? Think about the word...

unbound: from the secrets that bind us (9/13/2009). Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.