As we kick off the 2024 Advent season we are reminded to reflect on the hope that Jesus' coming brings and we see that when we trust in God, he promises that our hope will overflow.
How God Speaks to Us
Sometimes when we're in a relationship with God, we are just waiting for our opportunity to share what we need because we're not sure how to hear what God has to say. Today we're exploring two ways that we can hear God.
What Stops Us from Hearing God?
Are you at a place where you feel like God is silent? Or have you never even thought about whether God is speaking to you? God is speaking and today we explore some things that might be keeping us from hearing.
Does God Still Speak?
Does God still speak? How do you know it's Him? Today we explore how God is speaking today and how we can know His voice. Find out practical ways to hear what God is saying to you.
Cross-Shaped Lives
What does it mean to be more like Jesus? Ultimately, that is the goal of following him, so what does it look like? In his book “The Politics of Jesus”, John Howard Yoder used the term “cruciformity” to describe a life of following Jesus. Cruciformity means a cross-shaped life; that the things we do, the words we say, the decisions we make are informed by, and conformed to, the cross of Christ. We are to live a cross shaped life.
Truth Tellers
A good church is one that grows to be more and more like Christ. Paul explains in Ephesians 4:15 that a demonstration of this is that we can speak the truth in love. What does it mean for the church to be a place of truth telling? How can we tell the truth in love and not be jerks?
People Before Progress
Have you ever felt overlooked? Almost like you were in the way of someone getting something done? Or maybe you’ve seen the disappointment in someone else’s eyes as they felt sidelined in the pursuit of a program or goal. This feeling is not uncommon, and it reveals a crucial tension we often face: balancing the drive for progress with the need for personal connection.
Grace-Shaped Community
Whether it’s the pressure to conform, fear of failure, or a sense of inadequacy, fear has a way of showing up in our lives. The same fears we may experience at work or school to fit in, the anxiety that can cripple us because we fear failure, or our struggle feeling like an imposter can sometimes be amplified in a church community because our expectations of that community are the exact opposite.
A Community of Compassion
What does it mean to be God’s chosen people? Well, it means a few things. First, that God desires for us to be known by Him and to know Him. Secondly, it means that as His people, like the people of any city or country, we live in the context of a culture with expectations and standards. So what is, or should be, the culture of God’s people?