The Gathering

The shape of your heart determines the shape of your life. Is anger defining your heart?

We experience the power of God on the other side of our fear. Did Peter allow his fear to control him?

There is wisdom in a collective crowd or community of people. Was food the only miracle of "feeding the 5,000"?

Parables have different meanings like people have different God experiences.

Transition is grounds for growth. What happens after you leave the wilderness?

The wilderness is the only way to something new. What is the Wilderness Experience?

Life is a continual transition; a cycle of endings or losses.

What will make people feel comfortable and welcome? What will help people encounter us as disciples of Jesus? A UMC congregation was unsuccessful at these things so they formed a hospitality committee and started greeting people, giving small gifts, feeding them. Nothing improved. Jesus instructed on hospitality, sent the disciples out with what they had to offer the world and prepared them for th...

Is there hope for the Church today? Isaiah announced a message of hope. There is hope for the church today. God has appointed us as a covenant to those whom we encounter. We are to be the embodiment of God's relationship with humanity. Jesus is with us in our work as His people.

What is Jesus calling me to do in the Great Commission? Jesus tells his disciples, even though they were unsure and doubted, to go and make disciples. The great commission points the disciples to the people that they are supposed to impact. Faith is built by engaging those away from you. Yet, we tend to have a consumer culture in regards to church. The great commission is the birthing of a communi...

Why does the Spirit give us each different gifts? Spiritual Gifts. The lie culture tells you is the lie of autonomy - you can do it on your own. The lie the church tells you is lie of uniformity - everyone must believe and do the same things to be part of the community. Accepting either of these lies, affects the answers to "who am I and and what am I supposed to be?" Every person has a gift by th...

How does God call us to live while we wait? Living between wanting and having. Life lived in between. Life with God is lived, in large part, in between, in between the experience and the promise. Living in between means trusting enough to wait. In the waiting, God tells his disciples to pray and to be His witnesses. In the waiting, we need to be attentive to the presence of God/The Spirit. How is...

Can truth be found through searching? Searching for Truth without really wanting to find it, not wanting to commit. Perpetual shoppers of something to believe in. Constantly searching but never finding. Idolatry is a misplaced devotion to something not truly satisfying. We want to believe in something bigger than ourselves. We search for meaning, clarity and purpose. Be careful where you are searc...

What does it mean to be committed to following Christ? Faith can be understood as something organic; it is impossible for it to be healthy if it is not actively growing. There is no real moderation of faith. If it is not growing, it will die. Jesus is either the cornerstone or He is cast aside. A stagnant faith is dangerous. Grow into salvation - a complete fulness and peace. Long for Christ. Comm...

Urgency requires one to recognize there is a distance between the way things are and the way things out to be. Urgency requires the sense that what could be, needs to be right now. Peter created a sense of urgency at Pentecost. Urgency is dangerous because it usually leads to a commitment of significant change. Urgency demands a response. Is God calling you to a new commitment? God is able to do e...

Where do we see the Risen Lord in the midst of grief? As people followed Jesus, they began to see things differently. No one expected Jesus to die, certainly not the way he did. Our experience of the world seldom suggests that God is at work. When we experience death, we experience the absence of order. Jesus is present even when unrecognized. Jesus remains abidingly present. In the church communi...

What role does the church play in encountering God? Posture of fear vs posture of openness. Believing without seeing. Doubt is OK. Doubt does not disqualify us for encounter with God. The church is a gathered community, which is empowered by the Holy Spirit, to be the grounds for someone to encounter God. God has promised to be in the presence of a gathered community.

The Easter Story

How do we deal with expectations? Expectations should shape you but not own you; expectations should inform you but not define you

Have we lost the connection to our earliest hopes and dreams?

John 9:1-12

How do you encounter and converse with Jesus? John 4:1-42;

Is the gospel more than just life enhancement?

How to resolve the tension between focusing on sin versus focusing on feeling good? Tree Of Life; New Eden