Narrate Church

Luke 1v39-56  In the final week of Advent, Adam looks at the tension between accommodation and resistance. Question for reflection: In what ways is God talking to you about accommodation and resistance?

Luke 3v1-20 For week 3 in the Advent series, Adam asks, In what ways is God talking to you about obedience? What might "waiting by way of obedience" look like? 

Luke 2v22-38 This week, Adam continues the Advent series and discusses a "Penultimate Perspective" by looking deeper at Simeon and Anna: How do their stories help us remember to wait? What if Simeon and Anna can help us find a way forward? What if Simeon and Anna don’t tell us everything we should do politically, but they do tell us the first things we should do? Questions for reflection...

Luke 1v5-25 What if Advent is an opportune time to get hyper-intentional about our framing narrative? What might these questions tell you about your own narrative? How do you spend your money? What do you laugh at? What makes you angry? Who are your heroes? How do you spend your free time?

Matthew 13v54-58 This week we have the privilege to hear from Hannah as she looks at how why Jesus' hometown may have taken offense and how we can apply that to our own families.  Question for reflection: What if our assumptions about God, who God is, or how God shows up, prevent us from seeing him at work in our everyday lives?

Matthew 13v24-53 Where is the world headed? What if this was a question in Jesus' day as well as our own? What if these parables are Jesus' way of speaking to these issues? Listen in as Adam explores these questions and more. 

How will you prepare for Christmas?  In keeping with our changing times, this year we’d like to invite you to try something new.  Not that our idea is new, more honestly, it’s an old idea we’re dusting off and putting back to use. The idea is this, what if you and some others (immediate family, friends, roommates, some combination of friends and family) committed to have dinner once per week for t...

Matthew 13v1-23 This week Adam takes us into the parable of the sower. How does the parable of the sower relate to attentiveness and the difficulty and importance of it? What if following Jesus isn’t easy and takes work? Questions for reflection: What if presence isn’t a task but rather a lifestyle? What kind of soil are you?

This week, Adam walks us through Matthew 12v22-50 with ideas around evil. What if Matthew wants his readers to know we’re all living in contested space? What if evil was not a topic Jesus avoided? What are we to do with this? Questions for reflection: What’s the value of rediscovering spiritual practices, such as fasting?  How might fasting help you in your battle with evil, both your temptations...

Matthew 12v15-21 What if finding our vocation in Jesus is understanding Jesus' vocation? What if Jesus' vocation was self-giving love and Christ-followers are being called to that as well? Adam explores these ideas along with thoughts from The Second Mountain by David Brooks. Question for reflection: How could self-giving love be translated to the specificity of your life?

This week we were fortunate to hear from guest speaker, Brian Hopkins. Listen in as Brian talks about the importance of attitude and insights gained from Paul's letters to the Corinthians. 4 Key takeaways: Self help is always inferior to sovereign help Jesus doesn’t need our help in becoming more appealing. Don’t just pass the class - master the message Hope is the fuel of endurance

Matthew 11v20-12v14 This week Adam looks at what it might look like if we were to prune back some of our Christianity in order to refocus on Jesus. In this week's message he references Dallas Willard's quote “Character is developed by increments of fellowship with Jesus.” To what extent is there an invitation to develop a moment by moment conversational connection with Jesus? Could that...

Matthew 11v1-19 What if Jesus smokes what he sells (so to speak)? In Matthew 11, Adam takes a look at how Jesus responds when it seems John is having doubts. What’s the value of really taking in the implications of this story? Along with that, what’s the value of apprenticing under Jesus and thus learning how to respond to others disappointment with us? Questions for reflection: Where in your life...

Matthew 9v35-10v42 What are the things life demands you do, but you don’t particularly enjoy?  What if the ideas in Matthew 10 work kind of like that, that is, important to know but not particularly invigorating or glamorous?  What if we struggle with this section because the version of Christianity we want to be true is too often in opposition with what Jesus intended? Adam explores these questio...

This week, Adam discusses Matthew 9v14-34. In this section, what if Matthew is summarizing the different ways people have been responding to Jesus invitations? What does a closed (decided), amazed, or open posture look like? Questions for reflection: What is the value of knowing our current posture, whether in general or on a particular issue? What is a situation in which we’re currently choosing...

This week, Adam continues the Matthew series in chapter 9 and asks, to what extent, if any, do you believe in the idea of sin? Or is sin just an archaic word utilized by pre-modern people who lacked any understanding of human psychology? What if these stories point to the idea that at times (not all the time as demonstrated by Jesus numerous healings that did not make mention of sin) Jesus sees si...

As summer comes to an end, Adam reflects on the last 18 months and takes note of several aspects of the cultural moment we are in.  What if this cultural moment is only a crisis if we ignore God’s calls for renewal?  Adam presents several questions that may be helpful: How do we retain our commitment to hospitality? How do we retain our commitment to serving others, especially our community? What’...

This week Adam continues exploring Matthew with chapter 8v18-27. What if the answer to how Jesus wants us to believe in Him has something to do with being led to serve God and people in ways that leads us beyond our comfort zone? Why does Jesus talk about little faith so often? A challenge this week is to put some thought into where the heat is for you? What in your imagined future brings with it...

This week, Adam starts into Matthew chapter 8 exploring the question How does Jesus want us to believe in Him? And how does community play into that?  He also looks at how we may find a healthy tension between glamorizing deconstruction on the one hand and demonizing it on the other.  We'd love to have you  join us in person on Sundays at 9:00 and 10:30 at Grandstreet Theatre in beautiful Hel...

This week Adam looks at Matthew 7v13-29.  What if there is a massive difference between the way of Jesus and any other way? What if Jesus wants to give you the kind of life that can withstand all of life’s storms?

This week we hear from Justin as he shares a little about his challenges with prayer. Why might it seem harder to pray now as an adult than when we were kids? What is it okay to pray for? Does prayer even matter? Listen in as Justin talks about these questions and more.

This week we hear from Hannah as she looks at Matthew 7v1-12.  Can we successfully negotiate personal relationships without letting people know we disapprove? What happens when we condemn and what if condemnation leads to a cycle of anger and attack, which ultimately leads to contempt?

This week Adam takes us through Matthew 6v19-34. How does it look to view life through a generous lens? 

This week we are continuing through Matthew in chapter 6. What if Matthew 6 is about common ways Jesus' followers self-sabotage their with-God-kingdom life? Is there an area in your life where God wants to point out and and draw you away from a preoccupation with the opinion of others?

Continuing through Matthew 5, Hannah walks us through some ideas around loving our enemies. What if Jesus is calling us to step in closer and recognize the humanity in those we call enemies? What does it look like to live as people, to be the kinds of people, that Jesus’ illustrations are illustrations of?