Spring of Life Messages

It is easy to feel despair in modern America.  There are so many things that can steal our joy.  God offers us the gift of joy and invites us to share it in community. We value sharing joy because we are united through our joy when we celebrate one another.  

Most every family is dysfunctional in one way or another.  Jesus invited his followers to redefine family in new ways.  We believe in enriching families because healthy relationships between children, youth, adults, and seniors help all of us thrive as the body of Christ.

Too many people have been hurt by the church and unfortunately this is not a new phenomenon.  By faith we are invited to experience healing rather than lashing out in pain. Because through the Church, Christ offers spiritual, emotional, and mental wholeness to those who have experienced brokenness and pain of sin in the world.

Pilate meets Jesus and is amazed by how he responds to the accusations brought against him.  Pilate washes his hands of the whole encounter.  We don’t know the ending of Pilate’s story but we know Pilate’s command to hand Jesus over is not the final word. 

Paul lives his life persecuting Christians and believing that the resurrection of Jesus is a scam. It's on that fateful day on the road to Damascus that Paul is transformed from his former life through the power of Jesus Christ and the resurrection.

On the road to Emmaus, the resurrection of Jesus went completely unnoticed. It wasn't until their perception changed that they recognized him and proclaimed the good news of his resurrection.

When Thomas was told of the resurrection of Jesus, the first thing he did was doubt the news saying "until I put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Doubt is a normal feeling to have, but left unchecked it can turn into despair, but with the right support around it, doubt can be turned into faith and belief.

Mary Magdalene is considered by many to be the "apostle of the apostles", the first one to deliver the news of the resurrection. The hope that Mary held on to was essential to the healing brought from the resurrection of Jesus.

After experiencing the resurrection, Simon Peter goes back to exactly what he was doing before he first encountered Jesus: fishing. Maybe it was all he knew how to do, maybe he needed a way to make money, maybe he just wanted to feed himself, but Jesus comes back to the same spot he called upon him and redeems him again.

We let the Holy Spirit call us to serve, not only with our own gifts but the community around us. The early church was inspired to serve in the same ways that Jesus served.

God changes our lives through more ways than just worshipping together, he leads us into connection with people to help us grow. The second part of Spring of Life's strategy to becoming better disciples is to connect, not only with people like us but also with people unlike us.

Strategy is the most essential thing that leads to success. Do I take this continent in Risk? Do I make this deal in Monopoly? Do I trade with this person in Catan? Do I castle my king to protect him in Chess? Having a clear and simple strategy leads to success in all things, including building ourselves as Christians! The first thing we do is we worship, not only on Sundays with other people but...

Psalm 23 has some of the most well known verses in the Bible. There's a good reason for that! It's because it's God's promise of guiding us through grief to a beautiful future. How do we hold our grief and hold God’s promises simultaneously?

It seems almost wrong to say that God experienced grief, but that's exactly what Jesus did. 

Grief is a universal idea that is felt in many different ways. It can be big or small, pointed with a certain focus or general and vague. How do we deal with grief and process it in a healthy way? In this message, Pastor Mike Luzinski shows us how grief is a biblical in nature and normal in healthy spiritual lives. 

With the new year on the horizon, it's time to take a spiritual look in the mirror. How can we build a newer and stronger Covenant with God and the people around us that will guide us in the new year? 

Scrooge awakes on Christmas morning and exclaims "I haven't missed it!" Similar to how Simeon praises baby Jesus in the temple, we too can use the birth of Jesus to celebrate the good news of our salvation.

In a message of transforming despair to hope, Pastor Mike Luzinski takes a story of a biblical tragedy and shows us how it can be transformed for the future.

Joseph is visited by an angel in a dream and he realizes that his future is not the one he had planned out. Scrooge is shown his fate by the spirit of Christmas yet to come and shown his future if he does not change his ways. Both of these people have been given a chance to act and change their future for the better.

Scrooge begins to realize the pain of the present around him and vows to change what he can. His new role in his present mirrors the same role that Mary takes on from God's plan.

Scrooge lived a painful past, but his past doesn't have to be his future. "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light." These words from Isaiah chapter 9 remind us that our past does not determine our future.

The redemption story of Jesus Christ's birth can be found in everyday characters we already know the stories of! Scrooge, an old curmudgeon who's greedy and hate's Christmas, is visited by the deceased spirit of his former colleague just like how the angel Gabriel visits Mary.  Pastor Mike Luzinski illustrates how these two "disturbing visits" lead to the birth of new life...