The Rescue Church

It may surprise you to know that all the people in the local church are imperfect. It’s not only in the church you are connected to. In ever single church gathering since Acts 2 there have been as many imperfect people as there have been people. This week we will explore some of those imperfect groups and see how you, and the community around you, can still benefit from the local church.

Over times things change. This isn’t anything you didn’t know. Our roles change. Our health changes. Our communities change. Things change, but if we aren’t intentional, those changes often aren’t for the better. This week we are going to look at some of what we can do to move towards a better future instead of drifting into something less than God’s best for our lives.

It’s likely your life if busy. You have a lot going on. Even if your life isn’t busy, you may be one of those Type-A people who driven to succeed and accomplish your goals. Some of you may simply feel like you are trying to survive. Regardless of the reason, we often fail to celebrate the good things in our lives. The Bible has a lot to say about celebrating. We’re going to look at some of what it...

You likely know enough people to know people aren’t all the same when it comes to getting results. Some people are hyper-focused on the results and don’t care what they have to do to get there. They may make a lot of mistakes, waste energy or hurt other people to get the desired result, but they will get the result or die trying. Others are all about the process. These people never get to the fini...

People tend to be busy. There is a good chance, if asked how your week has been, you would respond with, “busy.” In the middle of the busyness, are the things taking our time important or not important? Sometimes when we look back on our days and weeks we find we were busy, but not with the most important things. This week we are going to talk about identifying what deserves our time.

 As we approach the end of the summer and get ready to head into fall, we are beginning a new series called Preparing For Harvest. Agriculture impacted many in Jesus’s day and it certainly impacts us to day. This weekend we’ll see what the Bible has to say about simply drifting along hoping for the best compared to intentionally working toward results. And if we are to be intentionally working, wh...

Have you attended a Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament Event? Have you heard of it? Medieval Times locations are designed to look like castles. A person can sit and eat a four-course meal while watching knights on horses, jousting, falcons and anything else that might bring a person back to what the it was like in Medieval Spain. While it may look like there is an epic battle from the 11th cen...

Do the names David Blaine, David Copperfield, Harry Houdini or Reza (I had to be sure to include the Brookings, South Dakota native) mean anything to you? It’s a pretty recognizable list, so I’m pretty sure you realized they were all illusionists. These men have done a variety of things, from dangerous escapes to making important landmarks disappear. They make things appear different than they rea...

Throughout history a number of things have brought fear. Over the past 50 years we have experienced things like the Cold War, AIDS, 911 attacks, al-Qaeda, Covid, and a variety of things different politicians or political parties have done or said they would do. In 1 John 4, the apostle John addresses fear and provides an antidote. We’re talking about that this coming weekend.

Do you ever feel like you’re failing at life? Sometimes life is hard and it seems like nothing is going your way. If you are like many people, these are times when we can feel like we are failing. In those seasons we don’t care even so much about winning at life, but we just don’t want to fail at it. This week we’re going to look at how we can win in life. Hopefully you can join us.

This week Scott Peterson gave us the message. He focused on three things that make up our identity in Christ. 

We like the idea of an exciting and adventurous life, but it appears most of us are content experiencing life to the fullest through other people or in virtual worlds. Why is this? Possibly because it feels safe. But maybe the “safe” life isn’t the best life God intended for you. Maybe God’s desire is for your life to be an adventure that is anything but “safe” as we have defined safe. This is wha...

When someone asks, "how's it going?" or "how's life?" how do you answer? What are you using to define whether it is or isn't going well? Can we change it or do we have to accept the fact it is what it is? Let's talk about it this weekend.

As people, we have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be. Do we miss out on the best life has to offer because we have been distracted from the best things by something that isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s not the best? If this truly is the best life, what are we doing to let others know how they can experience it too? This weekend we’re going to talk about how we can all...

Who is God? That is a big question! After all, how can we as people accurately describe the Lord, God who exists outside of time and the constructs of human thinking? At the same time, part of why he deserves our respect is the reality he is bigger than life itself. This week, as we look continue to look at things essential to what we believe, we’re going to be talking about God. We’re going to lo...

As people, we have a tendency to make things complicated. We may start with a simple plan or idea, but as we develop and build it, we can get hung up on details. While the little things matter, it can be beneficial to go back to where we started to make sure we haven’t lost sight of the main thing. During the next several weeks we will be doing just that. We’re going to look at what is essential t...

Each of us have dreams or goals we were created for. For some of us, parenting is a big part of that. God desires to do amazing things with us and through us as people (and parents). Along the way, however we face a variety of opposition (we talked about this some last week) and things that will distract us from our God-given purpose(s). This week we are wrapping up our Nehemiah series with a look...

Our experiences in life impact the way we look at things, what matters to us and how we approach life. It’s part of the reason there can be strength in diversity. When a diverse group of people work towards a common goal, amazing things can be accomplished. If you want to accomplish things that matter, your what you focus on will be critical. That’s what we’ll look at this weekend: developing the...

It’s exciting to know your purpose, dreams, and goals…and then go after them. However, not everyone around you will be as excited about your purpose, dreams and goals as you are. This week we are continuing our series in Nehemiah. We will continue exploring the idea of living with purpose with discussion about what you do when you experience opposition to your purpose, dreams and goals. We hope yo...

Chances are you have things you have thought about doing. Some of you are likely dreamers with so many ideas that those close to you roll their eyes when you utter the words, “I’ve got an idea.” Maybe you wonder if God might be leading you to do something. This weekend we’re going look at the example Nehemiah models of going from idea to implementation to reality. (And talk about how you can apply...

Most of us want to do something that matters, truly matters. This may not be something that is world altering, but at least something which will impact the life of somebody or a small group of somebodies. One of the hardest parts of doing that is knowing where to start. We’re talking about where to start this week. Hope you will join us as we continue looking at what it looks like to live a life o...

Inside each and every one of us there is a desire for purpose. Most of us want to do something that is for a greater good, something that matters. Once we see what matters, what will we do? Are we simply going to accept it, or will we do something about it? How does one live with purpose? We’re going to start to map the journey of identifying the purpose and acting on it during this weekend’s mess...

What was Jesus’ plan for the church? We are going to continue looking at the purpose of the local church. It’s not a club. It’s not solely here to provide needed community services. It’s also not simply a place to study the Bible. We’re going to continue exploring that question as The Rescue Church and in the Church as a whole.

 Do you ever wonder if God really meant what many Christians say he meant? When you hear, “the Bible says,” do you wonder if it still applies today? After all, a lot has changed in the time since the New Testament was written and even more since the Old Testament was written. We are in a series where we are going to look into some of the things that appear to be countercultural or possibly even po...

There are people who have been praying for a revival in the Church, but does the Church need revival and what does that even mean? Less than a month ago, on February 8th, students at Asbury University in Kentucky attended a chapel service much like any other. Following the service a group of students stayed behind and began to pray for each other and worship. In the weeks since then, many have joi...