Although stewardship is a daily matter, we devote some time each year for a more focused emphasis on stewardship education. We are called to give prayerful and careful consideration to the ways we will support the mission and ministry with our time, talent, and resources. Christian stewardship is the faithful management of all that God…
“Increase our faith!” Have you ever prayed that prayer? I suspect that many of us have—but Jesus’ response is rather peculiar. Jesus says that the size of your faith doesn’t matter—your problem is not a lack of faith. It only takes a mustard-seed sized faith to uproot a tree and plant it in the sea.…
This week we continue the series called “Lost and Found,” which will run through the end of October. We are thinking about what a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life and community look like. We will make the transition from the powerful parables in Luke 15 to the first story in Luke 16. As always, I encourage you…
We are currently in a sermon series called “Lost and Found,” which will run through the end of October. In this series, we focus on stories from Luke 15-17 and continue to think about what a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life looks like. This week’s text is the third of three “lost-and-found” parables in Luke 15. Luke…
It is still the season of Pentecost—so we are still celebrating God’s gift of the Spirit to the Church! We have wrapped up the “Living it UP” series. I will start up a new one this weekend called “Lost and Found,” which will run through the end of October. We will focus on stories from…
This weekend we continue the series called “Living It Up,” which is focusing on what a Spirit-led life looks like. We are reflecting on passages from the Gospel of Luke. So far, we have thought about “Freshening Up,” “Giving It Up,” and not getting “Hung Up.” The next message will be “On Being Puffed Up.”…
This weekend as we gather during the season of Pentecost, we will continue the series called “Living It Up,” which is focusing on what a Spirit-led life looks like. We are reflecting on several passages from the Gospel of Luke. So far, we have thought about “Freshening Up” and “Giving It Up.” The next message…
I feel like I need to ask for your forgiveness. Once in awhile, I get so tired of hearing the bad news that I take a break from it. I don’t read the paper. I don’t watch it on television. I don’t check the news feeds on the Internet. I just try to ignore it.…
This weekend we will think about “Freshening Up.” And I’m not talking about taking a vacation or checking our make-up or grabbing a quick shower. What I hope we will discover in the text from Luke 11 are ways that we can freshen up our spiritual vitality and relationship with God and each other. The…
Colossians 1:15-29 This weekend we will wrap up the “New Spirit” sermon series. As I mentioned in last week’s message, we are trying to envision not “virtual reality”—but “virtue reality.” So far we have thought about God’s spiritual gifts of gratitude, peace, hope, compassion, and growth. As we ponder the last part of the passage…