The Branch

Continuing our (Re)Construction series, what does it mean to be a Christian? Is it more than just a label? Is it a way of life?

In Paul's letter to the Colossians, he tells them to set their minds on things above and that their hearts and minds are made new through Jesus Christ. As we being our series looking at deconstruction and reconstruction, we consider what informs our foundation, theology, and ideology.

In our last episode of this series, we look at the film "Secretariat." We consider what it takes to persist even when things are difficult, when the odds seem to be against us, and when we feel like our faith is waning.

We look at the film "The Peanut Butter Falcon" and see how the Gospel offers hope during the everyday struggles of life. We look at the themes of family, community, and identity.

As followers of Jesus, we don't always understand what it costs and means to follow Jesus. We experience difficult things and we don't see how they all connect. We look at the difficult journey of following Jesus through The Karate Kid and take away some of the spiritual lessons that we see there.

In this new series, we take a look at movies through the lens of Scripture and see what kind of insights we find. In this episode, we look at Disney Pixar's "Inside Out" and consider our own emotional health, spiritual maturity, and the role of emotions in our lives.

In this episode, we conclude our look at the fivefold gifting that Paul outlines in Ephesians 4. We look at the Sermon on the Mount as a reference to how those with the gift of Teaching ought to orient themselves as teachers, like Christ.

Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd and he shows us the example of the shepherding gifting. We look at his words in John 10 and the characteristics of the shepherd in this episode.

Focusing on the gifting of the evangelist, in this episode we look at Jesus displaying the characteristics of an evangelist in Luke ⁠4:16⁠-19.

In this episode, we look at the role of the Prophet that Paul lists in Ephesians 4. We see Jesus embody this role in Matthew 23 when speaking with the Pharisees. What are the characteristics of a prophet? How do we lean into those gifted as prophets within the body of Christ?

In this episode, we look at the role of the Apostle that Paul lists in Ephesians 4. How does Jesus embody the role? What are the characteristics of an apostle? How do we lean into those gifted as apostles?

In 1 Peter 5, Peter encourages believers to lead like Jesus by demonstrating countercultural characteristics.

In 1 Peter 4, Peter talks about how we are called to live as Christians and the ramifications of what happens when we speak as Christians. We are called to live differently.

In light of the cross of Jesus, how do we suffer? Peter encourages early Christians that in their suffering, they are like Jesus and challenges them to act like him in that suffering as well.

Peter's charge to the early Christians was to submission because submission aligned them with Jesus. We see Christ's example of submission to the Father as we head into Holy Week hear this same call to submission for our lives.

Peter reminds the early church that God is building a new kind of temple with Jesus as the chief cornerstone. This spiritual building is a representative of Christ to the world.

This is the first episode in our series through 1 Peter. In 1 Peter 1, Peter encourages his readers to consider who they have been created to be.

In this episode, we walk through the mission and vision of The Branch to remind ourselves of what we have been called to as believers; focusing on rest, and how all else flows out of intentional time resting with the Father.

In this episode, we close out our Christoformity series and look at how Jesus trusts the Father in Mark 14:32 -42 and how we are called to imitate Christ.

Through the lens Mark 10:42 -45 and John 13:1-17, we look at how Jesus serves and how Jesus embraces both authority and vulnerability.

In this episode, we look at how Jesus advocates for those in the margins in Matthew 18:2-5 and 19:13 -14. We learn how to become more like Christ by advocating for others in the second episode of our series on Christoformity.

In this first episode discussing Christoformity, we look at forgiveness, how Jesus forgives, and how it is a gift to us from God. Jesus demonstrates forgiveness on the cross in Luke 23:32 -43.

Answering questions on the four spaces of belonging. We make reference to Joseph Myers' book The Search to Belong throughout this series. Here is a link to purchase the book: https://smile.amazon.com/Search-Belong-Rethinking-Intimacy-Community/dp/0310255007/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1675619727&sr=1-1 Feel free to send any questions you might have to thebranchashland@gmail.com...

We conclude our series on the four spaces of belonging looking at Intimate Space and Genesis 2:18-25.

In the third episode of the series, we look at personal space and how Jesus and the disciples inhabit that space in Mark 14:12-26.