2011

Better Together (January-February)

Our year kicked off with a church-wide emphasis of “Better Together”, based on the “Forty Days of Community” campaign.  The first couple weeks were preparatory messages, with the third lesson marking the “official kick-off” of the series.

Body, Family, Kingdom

Setting the Table

Why We Need Each Other

Reaching Out Together

To Build or Not to Build

How We Help Each Other Grow

Serving Together

Showing God We Love Him

Things We’ve Learned

“Don’t Worry” (D. Buchanan)

The God Jesus Knew (March-April)

Scripture speaks of Jesus as the “image of the invisible God”.  If that’s true, what type of God does he reveal?  No doubt, Jesus heard these words thr0ughout his life: “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”  Throughout the Old Testament, Israel used this “creed” as a defining statement of what Yahweh was like, a description provided to Moses by the Lord Himself!  Throughout this series, we consider how this indeed appears to be the God Jesus knew.

The Lord is Gracious

The Lord is Compassionate

The Lord is Slow to Anger

The Lord is Abounding in Love and Faithfulness

Palms, Tombs, and Tables (April-May)

For our Easter season, we considered journey of the first disciples through the days leading up to, and following, Jesus’ death and resurrection.  As disciples today, what impact are these universe-altering events intended to have on our lives?

Palms Down

Tomb Empty

Table Set

Created Anew (May-June)

This series, a walk through Romans 8, explores the process that takes place in a believer’ life, as a “natural person” is transformed into a “supernatural person”!  The power of God at work in the lives of people is no small thing.  For these weeks, we aimed to be increasingly sensitive to His Spirit’s teaching and shaping of us through wonderful works and astounding assessments of who are “in Christ”.

Romans 8:1-11: Empowered

Romans 8:12-18: Adopted

Romans 8:19-30: Yearning

Romans 8:31-39: Victorious

Pentecost: What Can This Mean?

Empowered Ambassadors

Psalms Speak (July-August)
[Two summers ago, we spent time in the Psalms.  Here is a second installment, completely different from the first!]

A casual flip to the middle of your Bible will land you in Psalms, but make no mistake—there is nothing casual about these words. Serving as the hymn book and prayer guide for ancient Israel, this collection of musical poems have continued to fuel and feed the souls of God’s people right up until the present day.
And make no mistake again: These words do speak. At times, they speak to us with instruction and inspiration. Other times, they speak about us, highlighting both the passion and the pettiness that live inside us. They can even speak for us, breathing our own prayers into us in times of dryness or confusion.

Psalm 19: The Heavens Declare

Psalm 50: Thank Offerings

Psalm 139: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalm 51: My Sin is Before Me

Psalm 73: Then I Entered Your Sanctuary

Psalms 130-131: Hope in the Lord

Psalm 88: When Darkness is My Friend (B. Schwarz)

Christ’s Creed (September-October)
If Christ were summarizing the heart of his teaching into a concise and clarifying statement, what would it be?  That might be accurately called his “creed”.  And if he believed that a condensed and impacting creed might focus his transforming work in people’s lives, how might that unfold?  In these weeks, we’ll consider how the Greatest Commandments are involved in re-creating the followers of Jesus.

The First Line (recording is unavailable, due to technical troubles)

The Second Line

Panel Discussion: My Life as a Disciple

Learning with Peter

Learning with John

Creeds Create Kingdoms

The Hearts of God and His (November)
The short book of Jonah may be one of the Bible’s most provocative.  Its core message quickly reveals itself as an undeniable emphasis on the depth of God’s desire for those who live unaware of His loving plans and presence, and on His insistence that those people who bear His name must live with a similar passion.

The key question of Jonah is NOT: Can a man fit inside a fish?
The key question is: Can God fit His heart into His people?

For three weeks, we’ll allow God to assess the space within US for such a transplant?

Jonah 1: Going Down

Jonah 2-3: Turning Around

Jonah 4: Rising Up or Falling Back

Christ the King (W. Grocott)

Unto Us A Child is Born (November-December)
The Advent season is traditionally a time of increased spiritual focus.  This emphasis falls particularly along themes of anticipation and preparation.  For what do we wait?  Not WHAT; rather WHOM.  We wait for the Promised One, for the Chosen One.  We wait for the one spoken of in Isaiah 9:6, where he is called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  How might we increasingly experience each of these aspects of God’s presence in our lives?

Wonderful Counselor (accompanying Prezi HERE)

Mighty God (accompanying Prezi HERE)

Everlasting Father (accompanying Prezi HERE)

Prince of Peace (accompanying Prezi HERE)

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