Sunday Service

This Sunday we begin a brand-new series at Urban Refuge: Built Together, and our theme this week is “The God Who Begins.” We’ll start in Genesis, with the foundation of God creating, calling, and beginning His work among His people. Genesis reminds us that from the very start, God has been writing a story bigger than any one person. Over the next several months, we’ll trace the journey of God’s pe...

It pleases God and demonstrates our faith when we obey Him by honoring and caring for parents and grandparents who can’t care for themselves.

Psalm 27 tells us that we will have problems, but it goes further and gives us a strategy. This Psalm highlights that our confidence comes when we seek God and then see in the light of his presence that our problems cannot compare to His greatness.

Psalm 26 encourages Christians to live with such a confidence in God that they face the future without fear. Knowing that God is with us and will vindicate us empowers us to live with hope and share that hope with others.

I almost named this sermon "Alphabet Soup." Psalm 25 is one of eight acrostic psalms (Ps. 9-10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145). This is a type of Psalm in which the order of the poem actually follows the order and structure of the Hebrew alphabet. Sometimes that makes the Psalm a little harder to follow. But this Psalm has a clear back and forth dynamic between stanzas of petition (asking God) an...

This week we will walk through a Psalm that focuses on the victory of Christ. In its original setting, it also had a strong word against the idolatry and false gospels of that day. We will also examine how it might speak to the idolatry and false gospels that we hear today.

Psalm 23 is one of the most quoted Scriptures of all time—often read at funerals or held onto during times of deep suffering. Join us this Sunday as we explore the power, the comfort, and the depth of Psalm 23. This Psalm leads us right into the arms of Jesus, reframes our suffering, and offers genuine hope even in the valley of the shadow of death.

This week we are going to look at both Psalm 21 and 22. We will discover that the individual psalms are not random like handing out a deck of cards. The order of the Psalms often will tell a story when they are read together. This week we will glory once again the greatest story ever told.

Join us this Sunday as Pastor Tommy emphasizes that loving God and loving others are inseparable. It’s one thing to say we love, but embodying that love—in how we treat others, in the patience we show, in the sacrifices we make—is where faith truly takes root.

In Psalm 18, David is celebrating, and it does not take long for us to see why: God has delivered him from his enemies and from Saul, and so it seems like he’s so full of joy and confidence in the Lord because he is on the other side of the struggle. And yet, if that is all we take from Psalms 18, we are missing out on the powerful reality that you and I get to abide in. This Psalm isn’t just for...

We’re kicking off our Summer in the Psalms series with a message from Psalm 17. In life’s hardest moments, we often don’t know what to pray—but the Psalms give us words. This week, we’ll explore how David’s raw, honest prayer invites us to bring our full selves before God and discover His nearness in the middle of pain. A Note from Katie: This Sunday’s message includes a personal story about my da...

Come join us for Katie's ordination and installation service this Sunday at 10:15 am. Pastor Jonathan will give the ordination charge to Katie and Pastor Jason will deliver the ordination charge to the congregation. We will also have the opportunity to hear a brief response from Katie. Following the service, we will have a family meal. Come experience a service together that is focused on God's go...

We will be continuing our series on Jesus vs. Religion. Join us as we unpack the difference between Jesus and religion in the ways we "Respond with Compassion."

Last week we heard Jesus' invitation for the burdened to find rest in him. This week we see the Bible's call to be like Christ and bear one another's burdens. His victory creates a community and he calls us to be restored both in our individual life and our community life.

This week we will continue our series in the month of May on Jesus vs. Religion. Join us as we see the defining difference between Jesus and Religion when it comes to our vision of what rest really looks like.

Jesus vs. Religion is a four sermon follow-up to our journey through the Gospel of Mark. In this series, we will compare and contrast Jesus vs. Religion and demonstrate how our understanding of the difference drives our vision to find rest, live restored, and respond with compassion.

This week we will end our series on Mark with what some people call "the longer ending of Mark." Translations usually have a footnote informing Bible readers that verses 9-20 were not included in the earliest manuscripts. This dynamic raises all kinds of questions that can cause someone to have doubts about what the Bible really says and if we can really trust it. We will attempt to answer these q...

The resurrection has become such a familiar idea for so many Christians that we have become desensitized to it. Join us this Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and pray that God will resensitize us to the shock and awe of this life-changing event.

This Sunday, we will continue our journey to the cross by reflecting on Mark 15:29–39. In this passage, we see the love and intentionality of Jesus—not only in His going to the cross for us, but also in how He endures and responds to the mocking, beating, and suffering along the way. And in that, we are reminded that the same God desires to meet us with His love right in the midst of our own situa...

To "stir someone up" means to provoke or inspire strong emotions or reactions in that person, often leading them to take action or feel a strong urge to respond in some way. This week, join us as we explore Mark 15:1-15 and see how the theme of Jesus vs. Religion plays out in how we are stirred, and how, as believers, we stir one another up.

This week we will see Peter, the disciple who swore with the most bravado that he would not fall away (v 31), now deny Jesus in the most detailed, repeated way. “I do not know this man of whom you speak,” he insists. This week we will explore this passage and ask in what ways Peter knows Jesus and in what ways he has failed to know Jesus. Along the way we will dig deep into what we know about Jesu...

Imagine pouring your heart into prayer, trying everything to connect with God, but all you get is silence. How do you handle that? A lot of us feel like God isn’t answering, and we start thinking either He doesn’t care or we’re doing something wrong. But what if there’s more to the silence? Join us this Sunday as we dive into Mark 14:53-65 and explore the hardship and beauty of God’s silence.

Our passage of Scripture this week has four separate scenes: (1) the betrayal of Judas, (2) the arrest of Jesus, (3) the scattering of the disciples, and (4) the fleeing of a young man. We will look at each scene and how they all speak with power in terms of our lives today. We will even think through how the betrayal of Jesus helps us walk through our own experiences of betrayal trauma.

Over the course of our journey through the book of Mark, we have been encouraged time and time again to go to God. To run to our heavenly Father for wisdom, for comfort, for strength, in the things we understand, and in the things we don't. And most recently, we've talked about what it means to not just go to Him and walk away, but to remain with Him and allow ourselves the opportunity to experien...