Genesis Project Portland

We are starting a new series walking through the spiritual disciplines. Once we come to terms with the fact that we are who God says we are, then we are left with the question: Now what? This is a difficult process, but the truth is that we are transformed as we put on the new self with Jesus, and as result the natural outflow of our discipline leads to the training process of transformation as we...

Usually when we fall short our reaction is to want to vouch for ourselves, but in God's story, he vouched for us so we can extend that grace to others. We are redeemed by Him, but are we willing to live like it?

Because our identity is received from God and He infuses us with inherent value and worth, we are therefore entrusted with the name that He extends to us. That means we have to do the difficult work of trusting the one who entrusts us.

What's in a name? According to God and His creation, everything. God is in our name, because God is in us. As we accept the name God has given us, instead of the name we might carry from others or ourselves, our identity becomes sealed in His love.

Our identity is sometimes shaky and ebbs and flows with our circumstances. However, our identity can't be achieved, but is received by God, which means it offers a true anchor point when the inevitable storms crop up.

Jesus was the most outcast human of all history, and because of his reign and power through humility, we get to participate in the Kingdom that we are anticipating to come, as it meets us here to day.

Mary the mother of Jesus was by all human standards insignificant in her standing with society. God came along and called her in the midst of her insignificance, and even though she doubted herself at first, she eventually leaned in and accepted her high calling from God. In our own lives it's not a matter of if or when God will call us, but how God calls us. Then it's up to us to respond.

Run to Jesus, and he will never cast you out. But what if there are barriers we are facing to get there? That is where The Church comes in. Where as followers of Jesus we are called to step in and pick up our brothers and sisters and bring them to Jesus.

When we feel down the last thing we need is someone to tell us it's going to be okay or it's not a big deal. Instead, we need to be validated. We often feel invalid and that makes us feel outcast, but Jesus comes to validate us right where we are, and transforms us from within to new life.

We often wear labels that are given to us or that we give to ourselves, but what if there was a different way? We had the joy and honor to hear from some personal stories of what it's like to go to Jesus and experience a new beginning.

Jesus sees us. No matter where we are hiding, and that brings us closer to Him. As we draw near to Him our lives become reordered to see people the way He sees them.

As we continue in week 2 of our series, Whosoever, we look to the second individual that society considered to be outcast. As we look to Jesus in this story, we see that Jesus goes to the place of the outcast, and calls us to go too.

Over the next few weeks, we’ve decided to go on a journey, together, of exploring personal stories of people found in the New Testament who, according to the standards of society, didn’t belong. People who were cast out by society, but as we will see, Jesus takes them in. Today our story comes from an unlikely woman who poured everything out and found belonging at the feet of Jesus.

Growth is an uncomfortable process, but if we submit to the pruning shears of our father and remain on the true vine we will see good fruit.

We often want to find our own pathway toward life through a truth that we construct for ourselves. Yet the true pathway to life is through the only one who is truth. Jesus isn't just a way amongst many, but the only way.

Sometimes we get stuck in our past "if only" – paralyzed by the past difficulties and hardships. Yet through new beginnings with Jesus we become resurrected to new hope.

The Good Shepherd redefines the meaning of good and bad through laying his life down for His sheep.

When we encounter doors and gates we often think of them as keeping us out, but Jesus offers us a different narrative to abide by. One where we can find true protection and true freedom.

Part two of our series working through the "I AM" statements of Jesus recorded in the Gospel according to John. Jesus says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." As we go to Jesus and submit to his light, he shows us how to be reflectors of that light back out into the world.

Since we are getting back to fall, back to school, and hopefully back to some sense of routine, we are starting a new series getting back to basics. We are following through the 7 different I AM statements of Jesus recorded by the gospel according to John. Today we start in John 6 when Jesus claimed "I AM the bread of life." That Jesus is that through which all sustenance and life flows in and out...

We love love in our culture, but what does God's character reveal about the type of love we receive from Him, and are called to reflect back out.

We often miss the mark on what sin actually is in our lives, but if we humbly face what is killing us head-on Jesus offers us a way out.

We are often taught of a shallow forgiveness that is just letting the offending party off the hook, yet Jesus offers us a different way. That because He became forgiveness for us, we are able to be transformed by His forgiveness as we seek to forgive others.

We are starting a new series "The Word Became Flesh" where we will look at one word each week that speaks to the nature of God through the person of Jesus. The first message comes from Paul's letter to the Ephesians in Chapter 2:3-10 where we will scratch the surface on who grace is.

We often feel powerless in the face of evil, but God has an answer, and through His power flowing through us, we are able to be agents to dispel darkness and eradicate evil in this world.