Filled With Messages

One of the reasons God sent Jesus to earth was to help us see the world in new ways. In todays’s scripture text, Jesus invites those who are suffering to see the blessings God has for them and those who have privilege to be careful with how they use it.

Many days it feels like deep darkness covers our world and maybe even our lives. Scripture calls us to rise and shine even in the darkness, reflecting God’s light and glory all around us.

Kindness. It’s good in principle, but is it worth the effort or even possible in our world? Listen in to hear why living with love and kindness are the right way to be.

Most of us struggle to set healthy boundaries, know our limits, say no at key moments. Jesus models how we can do so well.

We’d love for life to be filled with amazing road trips to fantastic vacation destinations. But more often our life’s journeys are boring and even difficult. Learning to feel God is with us every step of the way can help us navigate all the roads we walk.

We want to follow God. But sometimes God seems to be leading us in crazy ways to ridiculous places. What do we do when we disagree with God’s direction for our lives?

We are so often tempted to live in the past, in our comfort zones, but life can only be lived forwards. Jesus invites us to follow him in forwards living.

When we think of the Holy Spirit, some pretty astonishing moments in God’s story come to mind. But how can we learn to experience the Holy Spirit’s presence in our everyday lives?

All of us want to be happy, to have good lives. The author of Psalm 1 shares some things we can do to make that happen.

God uses nature to restore, redeem, and recreate us, so let’s work to restore, redeem, and recreate it.

Monty Don is a master gardener. He so tenderly and expertly tends the flora and fauna in his care. Jesus used a metaphor in which God is a master gardener to call us to make our homes with God for there we find all we need for a good, healthy life.

All of us have scars. Most of us try to cover them up. But what if God didn’t want us to cover them up but allow him to make something beautiful and meaningful out of them?

An old adage says “laughter is the best medicine” and God would pretty much agree. Listen in to hear why.

Christ is risen! Yet we still experience pain and suffering. How might we reconcile Christ’s resurrection with our still messy world? Listen in to find out.

All of us are in need of saving from hurts, pains, heartbreaks. Blessedly, a Savior came in the name of the Lord to heal all of us.

Jesus reminded us that in order for delicious food to rise from the ground first a seed has to be buried. We have a sense of what this meant for his life, but what does it mean for ours?

Sometimes it’s hard to see the ways God is blessing us. Scripture encourages us to look in life’s rearview mirror from time to time to see the ways God has redeemed us from trouble in the past. Doing so will fill our hearts with gratitude and joy.

Often anger is seen as unchristian. But Jesus gets angry so anger can’t be inherently wrong. So when is it ok to get angry?

God blesses us and calls us to be a blessing. Are we blessing just the loudest voices around us or are we listening especially for marginalized voices so we can be sure to bless all people?

Most of us tend to see our so called faults and failures more than we see the good things about ourselves. Yet first and foremost God sees us as his beloved and beautiful children and calls us to see ourselves in the same way. Listen in to hear more.

Many of us choose to give up or fast from something during Lent. What sort of fast might God be calling us to this Lent?

We all tend to see Jesus for who we want him to be, which isn’t necessarily wrong or bad, but there are times when God invites us to see Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly.

One of the messages we often hear (implicitly and explicitly) is that we should be amazing, perfect, put together all the time. There are even Bible passages that seem to say this. But is that actually how God expects us to live? Listen in to find out.

Confession is something many of us shy away from because it’s been used hurt us or control us. But scripture offers us a different way to see confession - one steeped in merciful love and leading to joyful community.

When we’re suffering, it’s natural to ask God “why?” Oftentimes, in response to our heartfelt questions, God invites us to see the world and our pain through a different perspective which helps us trust God even if the pain continues.