Social Media seems to be full of controversy anymore. Posts dealing with politics or unpopular opinions only add fuel to the fires of personal choice, preference, party, or pride. There was plenty of this social unrest and dissension within the early church as well, especially as Jews and Gentiles tried to figure out the “rules” and which ones should be enforced. These divisions even led to some painful assumptions and hurting people. We won’t spoil the ending, but the way we deal with people, especially those we should have love for, is never something we should take lightly. Tune in this week, to catch the way God addresses the things that divide us, and the bigger plan he has for us all.
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Do you have some people in your life that you just tolerate? Who grate on your nerves and don’t leave a lot of room to be loved? Sure we are supposed to love everyone, but people don’t make it easy sometimes. Have you ever felt like you were on the other end of that stick? Just tolerated? The truth is, we all filter the ideals and practicalities of WHAT love is, through the lens of personal experience. This often leaves us with a very shallow view of what love, much less the kind God gives, can be. But God’s love is unconditional. He chooses us, and chooses to love us through our brokenness and humanity. This week we talk about what being chosen means, and how it can change the way you see and interact with the world.
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Circumstances can often feel like they dictate our futures. Or our Potential. Maybe even our sense of worth. Others may take extreme steps to alter their life’s direction. No matter where we fall in this spectrum, it is easy to see that adding relationship with God into this very personal dynamic can get “sticky”. How do we overcome the tension of our plans versus God’s? This week we look through the eyes of Jacob, and the transformation in his life after letting God lead his steps.
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Sometimes it seems that everyone you know wants something from you, like your time, money, or attention. Even deeper expectations may come from the bosses, teachers, parents, and leaders. Since life is built on relationships, these can be hard to ignore; but striving to live up to the expectations of all these groups, can be downright overwhelming. So where is the balance? What takes priority? How do we deal with the expectations we can’t meet? And how does God fit into all of this? In our final message for this series, we dig into all of these things, with some simple principles to help make living life to the fullest a little more attainable.
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It is amazing that the water that brings life to the earth, can also well up and bring emergency and fear. Sometimes the storms of life seem so overwhelming: threatening to wash our feet out from under us in the power of the waves. Whether literal or figurative, In many of those times, we can’t help but feel alone, abandoned, forsaken. How do we pursue peace in the midst of life’s downpours? Why does it always seem like God is so far away during these times of struggle? This week, we speak to the storms and give away the secret to finding strength when life is throwing everything it can.
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Remember when there was dial up, answering machines, newspapers, and Encyclopedias? When the instantaneous access to the world’s information was barely even a dream? When life just seemed to move more slowly? When there just simply wasn’t as much noise to keep us constantly distracted? In the overwhelming stress and anxiety of everyday life, how do we make time to pause? WHEN could we, even if it sounded like an amazing idea? This week we get real about how important peace is, to living a fulfilling life, and some simple and practical applications.
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If you have found yourself drowning in the noise of life, feeling weighed down and exhausted by the heaps of information and emotion that never seem to end, then you might be: Overwhelmed. We all deal with it. Suffer from it. Sometimes it feels like being stuck on a treadmill, where progress never seems attainable. How do we get above the heap? Where is the peace we are all struggling to identify? As we kick off this new series, we set out to tackle some hard internal and external truths, all designed to help you cope. This word should not define us. We were created for more.
So many of our prayers are repetitions we have heard since childhood. “Now I lay me down to sleep” has its place, but so many of us never move on to more challenging conversations with God. True relational growth pushes us out side of our comfort zone, and grows in ways we hardly ever expect. The same should be true of our relationship with God. This week, we turn to some of the last words Jesus ever spoke: words that challenged his followers, and continue to do so now. Be careful though, taking these words to heart could change everything.
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Have you ever asked a question you actually didn’t want the answer to? Sometimes the answer can rock the boat. Or take away our ability to ignore something. Today we look at one very dangerous prayer. If you pray it your life can’t stay the same. It might cost you everything. But it will also take you places you never imagined possible.
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Pride is a very polarizing word. It can hold connotations that make us defensive, or even angry. It can also be a stepping stool to ego or our own personal pedestal. No matter our experiences with this word, it is something we all struggle with.
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Worship: what is it? this word has been adopted by the church, but has been used for centuries. People worship all kinds of things, though they may not realize it. Is it celebrity, fashion, power, influence, or just shiny new stuff? Many people have a different image in their heads of what this word really even means. What are we worshipping? What about the kind of worship that could change us for the better? In part two of this series, we dive into the most excellent type of worship that most of us don’t even take time to think about.
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