Restoration Church: Recent Episodes
restorationlex
Where is God when we are searching for answers? Some imagine a distant God who is waiting for us to believe (or behave) well enough to figure out the right thing to do. But Proverbs gives us a different vision – a God who doesn’t simply show us the way. He becomes the way for us. So will we trust Him to lead us where we need to be? (Proverbs 3:1-6)
Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson famously wrote that “We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom.” In a time where the amount of information available to us continues to expand, our souls need something more. We need wisdom. And as we begin our pursuit, we’re giving our attention to where all wisdom and understanding begins. And it might not be where you think. (Proverbs 2:1-5)
The more we follow the Holy Spirit into the world around us, the more we will encounter people of different faiths and backgrounds. So how do we know what it means to faithfully witness to the Gospel without antagonizing or belittling those who are different from us? This week, we’re looking to Paul’s time in Athens in Acts 17 – a story that helps us see how we can bear witness to our hope with neither condemnation or compromise. (Acts 17:16-34)
The most persistent problem that the Church in Acts faced wasn’t persecution or competing beliefs. It was division. As the Church expanded into new countries and cultures, the differences between the Jews and Gentiles came to a head. In the end, they found a unity that did not erase their differences. It empowered them for mission. The same can be true for us. (Acts 15:1-19)
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All kinds of things can hold us captive: our emotions, our addictions, our circumstances, our past… but when we encounter the good news of Jesus, we find a liberation that upends our story and changes the trajectory of our lives. This week, we’re looking at two very different people who both experience freedom – and we’ll explore how that we can find liberation, too. (Acts 16:16-40)
What is a disciple of Jesus to make of our life as an American citizen?
Acts gives us the backdrop to answer that question – through the witness of a Church that disrupted the power of empire not through the Senate or the sword, but through a radical, shared way of life that centered on our primary allegiance: Jesus. (Acts 22:25-29)
What do you do when God calls you outside of the comfort and culture you’ve always known? In Acts 10, Peter is led by the Holy Spirit to cross what had previously been uncrossable boundaries – a call that challenged both his identity and his sense of belonging. But on the other side of his certainty, he watched God move in a way he’d never imagine. It begs the question: what stands on the other side of our comfort? (Acts 10)
In Acts 9, we witness the dramatic conversion and commission of one of the most important men in the history of our faith: the apostle Paul. But Paul’s journey begins through the ordinary obedience of an otherwise unknown man named Ananias – a man who simply had the courage to see what God was doing… and join him. (Acts 9:1-18)
In Acts 8, Philip followed God’s leading into an unexpected place and discovered that God was already at work in the life of the Ethiopian eunuch. This story reminds us that being the church means joining God’s mission beyond Sunday mornings by paying attention to where He is leading and who He is placing in our path. (Acts 8:26-40)
As the early Church continues to move forward after Pentecost, they are confronted by the deep needs of the world around them. So what does the resurrection of Jesus mean for those who are in need around us? This weekend, we explore the centrality of compassion in our Spirit-empowered mission with Jesus. (Acts 3:1-10)
In the aftermath of the power of Pentecost, a new kind of community is born. Through a deep devotion to a shared way of life, they lived an embodied and empowered life of love together that still challenges our vision of who the Church is called to be. So what does this new kind of family mean for us? And how might we find it here? (Acts 2:42-47)
There’s all sorts of signs, wonders, and miracles in the book of Acts. But perhaps the most overlooked miracle of all? The birth of a new kind of family – empowered by the Spirit for a mission that breaks down divisions and transcends the boundaries the world tells us not to cross. This is what begins in Pentecost – and i’s what we’re after together.
In the aftermath of the resurrection, a small band of disciples are called beyond the borders of their comfort and culture and into the mission of God. Out of this mission, a new kind of family takes root: an eclectic and empowered community called the Church. Together in the power and presence of God, they’d find a new identity and calling: witnesses. (Acts 1:1-11)
Are we left to figure this out on our own? That was the question running through the minds of the disciples in the final hours before the crucifixion – and it’s a question we may have pondered, too. But Jesus gives a promise for the journey ahead: the persistant presence of a God who not only walks with us, but fights for our wholeness. (John 14:15-21)
In John 14, Jesus makes a clarifying and galvanizing statement: He doesn’t simply have the way or teach the way, that He is the way. Two thousand years later, this invitation to know Him as ‘the way’ is still an invitation into the kind of life and abundance we’ve been promised. The question is this: will we receive it? (John 14:1-14)
We are bombarded and frequently overwhelmed on all sides by voices that sound authoritative and compelling – and many of those voices claim to speak on behalf of God. So how do we discern what is genuine? Better yet, how do we hear His voice for ourselves? This weekm we’re talking about what it means hear His voice – as well as unpacking some healthy guardrails for helping us discern together. (John 10:1-10)
In the early hours of the morning, two disciples leave Jerusalem headed to a small town. In the death of Jesus, they’d lost their friend, their future, and their hope. It was a crisis of faith – a crisis that mirrors the same moments of doubt and disillusionment we so often face. So how can we find our faith again after the ground gives way and our life falls apart? (Luke 24:13-35)
Easter is not an event. It’s a season – a feast that both celebrates and continues the reality of the resurrection in our ordinary lives. In this second week of Easter, we explore the tension between the hope we profess… and the difficult days we often live through. How can we understand the tension of faith, and in spite of what we see around us, find joy? (1 Peter 1:3-9)
The resurrection of Jesus is the turning point of history. So what are we to make of the empty tomb? This week, we’ll explore the scope of God’s renewal that began that first Easter morning – a work that we’re invited to join as a sign of our hope. (John 20:1-18)
They wanted the soldier on a warhorse. Instead, they’re met by the Prince of Peace, riding on a donkey. This Sunday, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday – a day that always challenges us to consider where our salvation lies. (Matthew 21:1-11)
There are all sorts of names and descriptions for God throughout the Bible: Savior, Lord, King… but in John 11, we meet God in a way we might not expect: as our friend. Sunday, we see how Jesus’ friendship with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus help us see how he shows up in our lives, too. (John 11:1-45)
We’ve all gone through seasons in our story that feel like “the valley of the shadow of death.” Moments that feel like the darkness is overwhelming. And when we find ourselves here, the question is clear: where is God? And what is He like? This week, we look to a familiar and powerful passage to help us meet “The God of the Valley.” (Psalm 23)
A lot of us know what it feels like to be on hte outside looking in. This week, our Gospel story is one of the many times Jesus upends the cultural boundaries of his time and meets a vulnerable person right where they are with love. So if you feel like your an outsider, there’s good news – he’ll meet you there, too. (John 4:5-42)
We often speak of salvation of something that happened – not something that’s happening.
In our second week of Lent, we look at the story of a man in the midst of a crisis of faith; not because he didn’t have all the right answers, but because all those right answers came face to face with Jesus. Nicodemus is invited to be “born again,” an invitation we, too receive. So what does it mean to live into this new birth with Jesus? (John 3:1-17)
We often speak of salvation of something that happened – not something that’s happening.
In our second week of Lent, we look at the story of a man in the midst of a crisis of faith; not because he didn’t have all the right answers, but because all those right answers came face to face with Jesus. Nicodemus is invited to be “born again,” an invitation we, too receive. So what does it mean to live into this new birth with Jesus? (John 3:1-17)
As the season of Lent begins, we give our attention to a moment in David’s life that brought both conviction and clarity. Psalm 32 celebrates the forgiveness of God, but it doesn’t shy away from the weight and weariness of sin. David’s words remind us that God is present even in our hiding and wandering – and if we’ll allow him, he can change us right in the middle of it.
(Psalm 32)
In this message, pastor Luke Embree unpacks the Transfiguration, a scene in the Gospel that teaches us how God is present with us in power - right in the middle of the ordinary. (Matthew 17:1-9)
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say we as Americans have a dysfunctional relationship with the Bible. It is misused, misapplied, and weaponized. Why? Because we’ve been handed down a tradition that sets the Bible apart from the One to whom it testifies. This Sunday, we’re talking about unlearning and relearning the Bible by reading it through Jesus, with Jesus, for the sake of becoming like Jesus. (Matthew 5:17-20)
If you haven't heard, Restoration is moving! On Sunday, March 1, we're moving to a new home at Arlington Christian Church. In this message, Justin speaks about our identity as a Church - and how we want to grow in our dependence and expectation as we root ourselves in the power and provision of God. (Matthew 16:13-18)
Did you hear the big news? Restoration has a new home! Beginning Sunday, March 1st, we’re gathering at Arlington Christian Church at a new time: 11:30am. In this message, we hear from Justin and other leaders at Restoration about how and why we are taking this next step. If you're interested in learning more, visit restorationlex.com/futurefund
In this special message and interview, we highlight Kentucky Refugee Ministries! Beforehand, Justin unpacks the consistent theme of God's heart for the vulnerable - all the way to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. If you've never heard of KRM, they do incredible work in caring for the needs of refugees in central Kentucky. Visit their website at kyrm.org
Do you believe God loves you? You might know the “right answer” to that question, but if we’re honest, there are times when it can be hard to believe. This week, as we look at the baptism of Jesus, we see the loving affirmation of the Father – a love that is likewise spoken over us in Christ. What might it look like to live from this love instead of spending our lives striving for it? (Matthew 3:13-17)
In taking on human flesh, Jesus embodied both the message and mission of God. And when it comes to our mission as a Church, the same is true. Just as Jesus chose presence with and for others, we, too, are called to the ministry of presence right where we are. (John 1:1-18)
The incarnation means that God chose to become fully human – just like us. Jesus experienced every aching reality of our humanity, from hunger and sadness to laughter and joy. And you may not know it yet, but this is good news. Why? Because everything Jesus embodies, He redeems. (Hebrews 2:10-18)
What we don't need this Christmas is good advice about how to make an already hard life a little bit better. What we need instead, is good news - a Gospel of a God who meets us in vulnerability and need. That's what we gather around together - a God who meets us where we are, as we are, in love. (Luke 2:1-14)
In this special Sunday gathering, we celebrate the coming of Jesus through the leadership of Restoration Kids! Our message is about Jesus as the light of the world - and how no matter how old we are, we can be a light through a life of love.
The Gospel begins in the lowest lows. Jesus entered the world through a poor, teenage mother in a nowhere town – in an empire committed to the exploitation of her people. And as her story comes into focus, she does something surprising: she sings a protest song – a song about how the mighty will fall and the lowly will be lifted by God. (Luke 1:46-55)
The prophecies that promise the Messiah aren’t just words of hope. They are also pronouncements of judgment. Both then and now, sin and injustice wreck havoc in the world around us. Judgment is coming, yes – but not to ruin us. God’s justice restores. (Isaiah 11:1-10)
Theologian Fleming Rutledge tells us that “Advent begins in the dark.” It is a season that encourages us to name and embrace the waiting and the longing we feel. As we begin the season of Advent, the Bible calls us to live in the tension – a tension between the darkness we see around us and the light we know is on the way. (Romans 13:11-14)
For better or worse, our lives are the product of the stories we immerse ourselves in. So as a Church, we need rhythms and practices that reorient our lives around the story God. This week, we’re talking about how our Church practices the story of Jesus together – and how you can walk with us.
To the surprise and horror of Jonah, Nineveh repents and turns to God. And while this would might seem like good news (it was!), it made Jonah furious. Jonah’s story raises an important and difficult question: how do we respond to a God to loves the people we despise? As we close out our time in Jonah, we’re exploring how God’s widening mercy challenges the walls we place between “us” and “them.”
Jonah 2 is a prayer from rock bottom. After running from God, Jonah finds himself sinking deep into the worst moment of his life. And yet unlike Jonah, our worst moments don’t have to harden us. If we allow them to, we can find humility, clarity and a hope that can only be found at the end of our rope.
Jonah is a prophet that does like what he hears from God. So what does he do? He runs. And the result? Rock bottom. But strangely, the belly of the whale isn't a sign of God's anger, but rather his mercy.
It's not a matter of if - but when - we'll reach our own rock bottom. So what kind of God will we meet at the end of our rope? (Jonah 1)
This weekend, our students are leading every aspect of our gathering! As a part of this special Sunday, Our Student Pastor Casey is speaking about rage: namely, our culture’s obsession with reactivity and judgment towards our neighbors. How can we find a better way in Christ?
Sin doesn’t simply bring death and chaos to individuals. From the beginning, it has moved outward – into our systems, policies, and power structures. It subjugates, marginalizes, and disadvantages people made in the image of God. And correcting these wrongs? That’s called justice – and it’s woven into the very fabric of the Scriptures.
In this week's message in our series Restorers, we unpack the centrality of hospitality in the mission of God. (guest co-preacher: Amanda Hubler)
Do you know what the very first word that God uses to describe Himself to Moses? Merciful. Would that be the first word that is used to describe Christians today? The answer is, well… no. And we need to talk about why. This week, we’re continuing our Restorers series by looking at the centrality of mercy and compassion to our mission with Jesus – what it is, what it does, and why our own need for it lies at the heart of what God has calls us to in the world.
Our presence in this world matters. How we relate to our neighbors speaks volumes about how we understand our faith. Because we are disciples of Jesus, our posture towards our neighbors is clear: we are servants. This Sunday, we’re going to explore what it means to love and be present to our neighbors not as saviors, but as servants.
It’s a topic that stirs a lot of emotion – and carries a lot of baggage: evangelism. To some, the idea of sharing our faith feels intimidating, outdated, or even offensive. So in this message, we’ll dispel some of the misguided assumptions about what it means to share our faith, and through it, offer a vision for how we might invite people into the story of God.
Every year around this time, we pause to remember our identity and mission as a Church family. This year, as a part of our series Restorers, we’re focusing on how – and why – we join God’s restoring work in the world around us. Over the next 6 weeks, we’ll explore partnering with God through evangelism, justice, mercy, service, and hospitality.
In any given Church, you’ll find a variety of stories and backgrounds gathered into one big, messy family. Our common faith doesn’t always erase our differences, so what makes unity possible? In this message, Justin unpacks what has become a central value at Restoration: the centering of Jesus in everything we do. At our core, He alone holds us together.
It may seem counterintuitive, but often the first barrier we encounter in building healthy relationships isn’t them, it’s us. We want to be known by others, but how can we expect others to know us when we don’t really even know ourselves? In this message, we explore how self-awareness opens the door to the kind of community we seek – and share how we’re seeking to build this together at Restoration.
At the heart of the Gospel, you’ll find forgiveness. But in everyday life, forgiveness isn’t always easy. As we continue our series Together, we’re exploring forgiveness – what it is, what it’s not, and why it’s central not only to our faith, but to building healthy, meaningful relationships.
If we’re going to find healthy relationships in the Church, sooner in later, we’re going to have to learn how to handle conflict. In this message, we explore the centrality of reconciliation to the Gospel – and give a pathway foward in pursuing healthy vision of conflict that bears witness to the reconciliation we’ve found in Christ.
In the month of August, we're giving our attention to what it means to develop healthy, genuine relationships in the Church. This week, we're laying the foundation by exploring what it means to be a community known by love. (Colossians 3:12-13)
This past week, we finished out our series #TheWholeChurch by focusing on the gifts we might consider more supernatural. One of those gifts, however, is far more controversial than others: the gift of tongues. In this short video, Justin unpacks what speaking tongues is all about, the guardrails for healthy expression of this gift, and why is matters today.
This Sunday is our last week in our series The Whole Church - a series that has focused on the Holy Spirit's worki in both our lives as individuals and as a Church. For the last couple of weeks, we've given our attention to the gifts of the Spirit, and this week? Well, we're talking about some of the gifts we might call... supernatural. Miracles. Tongues. Healing. Are these gifts still an active part of the Church? And if so, how might we pursue them in healthy ways? (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
In the final three week’s of our series The Whole Church, we’re exploring the Spirit’s work in community through the outpouring of spiritual gifts. These gifts are given with a purpose: to unite us and empower us as a people known by love. This week, we’re exploring how the gifts equip every believer for a life of love in community – as well as the barriers that often stand in the way.
In the month of July, we’re unpacking one of the most radical teachings in the New Testament: that every believer is empowered by the Spirit for the sake of building a community known by love. In this message, we look at the list of gifts found in Romans 12:6-8.
In this message Guest Speaker Luke Embree shares how the Holy Spirit calls us out of independence and into and interdependent life in community.
These are some of the most important questions we can ask as Christians. This week, we’re focusing on how God speaks, why His voice matters, and how we can know whether we’re we’re actually following His lead.
How do we know that the Holy Spirit is at work in us? Some point to the power and prominence of our gifts. But Jesus points us somewhere different – to the fruit of His character growing in us.
Depending on your background and experience in faith, talking about the Holy Spirit can be intimidating – and sometimes come with a lot of baggage. In this message, we’re giving our attention to how Jesus understood and lived in the power of the Holy Spirit – and how His promise for us is far better news than we often dare to dream.
In this special message, Justin unpacks the meaning of Pentecost before interviewing Dr. Ananthi Jebasingh (founder of Friends Of The Good Samaritan) about the Good Samaritan School, how she's seen God answer prayer, and what it takes to sustain our faith for the long haul.
Revelation ends with a simple prayer - a prayer that acts as both a cry of defiance and dependence: come, Lord Jesus. How do we live in a world in which His reign sometimes feels absent? And how might we seek this future we pray for in the present?
Not many topics have shipwrecked people’s faith more than the idea of hell – and God’s judgment. So how do we understand these difficult passages in Revelation? And how do we understand them through the lens of God’s heart for restoration? (Revelation 21:6-8, 22-27)
It can feel like the only choices we have right now are blind optimism and cynical pessimism. But when we look to the end of history and see the trajectory of our Story in Christ, we find another option: radical, stubborn hope. Our story doesn’t end in ruin, but restoration. (Revelation 21:1-6)
In Revelation 7, John sees a vision of the family of God in heaven – a vision marked by the diversity and difference of ethnicities, cultures and nationalities worshiping as one. Not only is this picture of heaven a hopeful encouragement for our future, it’s a calling and challenge for our present. In a world where our differences are often demonized, we’ve been called to a supernatural unity in Christ. (Revelation 7:9-17)
As we continue to read through the book of Revelation, the powers of evil are represented by beasts and dragons. But our God? Our God is… a Lamb. Strange, right? In this message, we’ll unpack why this is so important not only to our understanding of God character and purpose in Christ, but why this vision of our future is so empowering for our present. (Revelation 5:1-14)
Revelation is known to be one of the more intimidating and controversial books in the entire Bible. Years of late night televangelists, rapture best-sellers, and strange conspiracies have left many of us unsure about what it really means – and why it matters. This week, we’re tackling not only why Revelation matters to people like us, but why it’s primary message – allegiance to Jesus – has never been more relevant. (Revelation 1:4-8)
He is risen indeed! In this Easter message, we look to why the resurrection of Jesus matters for our lives. The world we inhabit is dark and heavy, and it can feel like death always has the final word. But what we find in the empty tomb is not only a hope for our future, but a promise for our present.
(1 Corinthians 15:19-26)
As Holy Week begins, we turn our attention to one of the most crucial events in the life of Jesus: Palm Sunday. Met with cries of adulation and praise, Jesus subversively rides into Jerusalem on a humble donkey. The crowds expect a revolution of violence toward their enemies. Instead, they found a Savior who would die for them.
Kierkegaard famously said that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” A great deal of moving forward in our faith requires a reckoning with our past - and the things we need to let go. Sunday, we’re talking about looking back, letting go, and finding healing and wholeness in Christ. (Philippians 3:4-14)
Grace is scandalous. It challenges and often upends what we believe to be right and fair in the world around us. This week, we’re looking at one of the most famous passages of Scripture in the entire Bible – a reminder that we are the beneficiaries of God’s radical grace. And the surest way we see it’s work? We offer it to others. (Luke 15:11-32)
Desire can feel like a "bad word" in the Church. After all, won't listening to the aches and longings within us only lead us astray? Well, Psalm 63 would like a word. What we find is a God whose invitation isn't to remove our desires, but redeem them. (Psalm 63:1-4)
In Psalm 27, David is at the end of his rope. There in the dark, there’s only one thing that he wants: the presence of God. Sometimes on our journey, we lose sight of our “one thing.” So when our hearts grow cold and our love runs dry, how do we recover our hunger for God?
C.S. Lewis writes: “Wickedness, when you examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of some good in the wrong way.” This is what we learn from Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness – that the essence of our brokenness is the pursuit of good desires apart from God. Sunday, as the season of Lent begins, we’re unpacking what this means for us as we pursue wholeness in Christ. (Luke 4:1-13)
Jesus doesn’t change. But as we grow, how we see Him does.
As we close out the season of Epiphany, we’re focusing on what it means with seeing Jesus with new eyes as we grow in our faith. (Luke 9:28-36)
Everybody is following somebody. So how about you?
In Luke 5, Jesus begins his work not through a series of events, but in and through relationships with ordinary people like us. This Sunday, we’re unpacking what it means to meet Jesus as a disciple in our ordinary lives – and explore our calling to invite others to do the same. (Guest Speaker: Amanda Hubler)
These are desolate and often desperate times. In these challenging days ahead, we're either going to wither away in our weariness... or we're going to grow our roots deep. Sunday is about being honest about where we are, what is growing in us, and how we might put down roots in the steadfast love of God. (Psalm 1:1-3)
These are desolate and often desperate times. In these challenging days ahead, we’re either going to wither away in our weariness… or we’re going to grow our roots deep. Sunday is about being honest about where we are, what is growing in us, and how we might put down roots in the steadfast love of God. (Psalm 1:1-3)
Of all of Jesus’ commands, his call to love our enemies might be the most radical - and yet the most needed in a moment like this. Sunday, I’m unpacking why love for our enemies isn’t just a lofty ideal to admire, but a kingdom strategy of resistance to the world as we know it. (Luke 6:27-38)
Known by our theology? Nope. By the superiority of our morality? Nope. By the passion of our activism? Nope. By the allegiance of our politics? Nope. By the depth of our knowledge? Nope. Jesus said the world would know us by agape - steadfast, self-giving love. So what does that look like at ground-level in a moment like this? (1 Corinthians 13:1-7 NIV)
This weeked, our Church family turned 8 years old! This Sunday, we’re going to look back at where we’ve been, celebrate where we are, and talk about the mission we’re seeking as we moved into our future as we "grow up together." (Ephesians 4:11-16)
There is a through line that weaves through the Scriptures around the deep, dark waters of chaos. Disorder. We all try to push back against its power. But here's the question: what if God is not saving from from it, but rather through it? (Isaiah 43:1-7)
When salvation arrived, it did not come in the form of a new set of rules, a superior philosophy, or a purer religion. No, God gave Himself. This Sunday we begin the new year with perhaps our oldest and dearest hope: that Jesus is what God is saying to us. (John 1:1-18)
There is a paradox at the heart of Christmas: the God of all glory not only becomes human, but vulnerable. Jesus arrives in the messy vulnerability of our humanity, taking on not only a human body, but a human life – with all of it’s complexities. Why? Because He’s redeeming all of us – not just our souls. He became like us so we might become like Him.
Mary wasn’t anything like the serene and sanitized depictions we often see during the Christmas season. This poor, Galilean, teenage girl stepped into the story of God with boldness and trust, and the song she sings while pregnant with the Savior of the world is a reminder that God is turning the world as we know it upside down.
JUDGMENT.😬 Some streams of Christianity try to gloss it over. Others love to project it onto everyone else – except (conveniently) themselves. So what do we do with these promises of judgment – and how do we understand them through the lens of Jesus? (Luke 3:1-6, Malachi 3:1-4)
Advent begins not in the bright lights of Christmas, but in the darkness of our need. As we wait for the coming of our Savior, we remember that the darkness we face is not a place of God’s absence, but His presence.
We all have a need to be seen and known and loved where we are. And no matter how crowded the room we find ourselves in, if we still feel unseen and disconnected, we will feel one of the toughest feelings of all: loneliness. In this message, we unpack what loneliness is, why we feel it, and how to overcome our barriers to deep connection with others.
Peeling back the layers of our emotions, you’ll often find a feeling that loves to stay in the shadows. But while we may not always see it on the surface, it constantly whispers our worthlessness while simultaneously stirring our wrath towards those we’d rather see condemned in our place. In this message, we’re hitting a big one we ALL need to come to grips with: SHAME.
Life will upend you eventually. Some sort of crisis, broken relationship, diagnosis, or unexpected heartache will find us. And while we’ve build a world designed to numb us from feeling it, it is almost always the very space where we meet God in a way we would not otherwise. This week, we’re tackling GRIEF: why the Bible honors it, how Jesus redeems it, and why strangely, it’s where joy takes root.
Anyone who struggles with anxiety knows it can be so much more than just a “feeling.” It often makes its home in our bodies, leaving us feeling isolated from God, from the people around us, and even ourselves. In this message, we’re tackling an emotion that hasn’t always been easy to talk about in the Church. We’re aiming to change that – and find healing and hope along the way.
Anger. Maybe you’ve learned to stuff it in. To numb it. Ignore it. Maybe it leaks out slowly in your body language or the way you speak to the people around you. Whatever the case, it’s in there. So let’s face it - and bring it to God.
As the election nears, the anxiety and animosity in the world around us seems to grow with it. In this special message, we’ll look at the Christian call to peace-making in a violent, vitriolic world.
As a community, our commitment to prayer is the foundation of our life together. In this message, we look at a pivital moment in the early church when crisis drives the family of God to prayer – and how we can trust God with the same boldness.
Every week, the Scriptures both inform us and form us as a community. But in a world where the Bible is misused and abused in so many ways, how we approach the Bible matters. In this message, Justin shares how we come to the Bible through the lens of Jesus - the Word made flesh.
For thousands of years, the Church has gathered around a central sacrement of both our belief and our belonging: the Table of Jesus. Communion is more than a weekly ritual – it’s an opportunity to remember who we are and return to the One who welcomes us home. Join us this Sunday as we continue our series Common Threads!
Every week, an eclectic group of people gather at the Lyric – a room full of stories and struggles that are finding their way together in Jesus. Everything we do in these moments matters – serving not just to inform our faith, but to form us as the people us God.
From the very beginning of our faith, baptism has been a public declaration of both our belief and belonging in Jesus. In this message (on a Sunday with 5 baptisms!), Justin shares why this symbol is so central to the journey of our faith, and why it marks our trajectory for our future in Christ.
Being "on mission" is anxious and exhausting in a Church when the underlying belief is that it all hangs on you. At Restoration, we're seeking to make Jesus the model for Jesus' mission - learning to join God instead of trying to frantically do His work for him.
Every person - and every organization - has a center. It is the orientation of the whole, the measurement of both what it means to believe AND what it means to belong. In this message, we explore what it means for our Church family to make Jesus our center - and how that impacts the kind of community we seek to build.
As God restores us, the first place we see the fruit is in our relationships. Sunday we’re unpacking barriers to building healthy relationships - and the kind of community where we can slow down, find healing, and learn to bear with one another in love. (Colossians 3:12-13)
We can’t offer the world around us what we’re not receiving ourselves. To become a community of restorers, we must ourselves receive God’s restoring work in our whole selves. Sunday we’re beginning to unpack what it means for us to be restored to wholeness in Christ.
7.5 years ago, Restoration Church was born. So what makes us who we are? In this message, Justin shares how the Gospel we believe is bigger than we think – and why it inspires the community we build together.
What are you building your life on? Peter calls Jesus our cornerstone – a stone rejected by the world. So for a people being built on a Savior who doesn’t fit, we shouldn’t be surprised if we don’t fit either. But that’s good news. (1 Peter 2:4-7)
We inhabit a world where we are often defined by who we are against. And yet we have an adversary that knows that when we sow division, belittle our enemies, and weaponize our words against one another, we’re fighting his battle for him. In this message, we’re unpacking why we often miss the real enemy – and how we can combat the work of his lies among us. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
It can often feel like the world is ending - like our world is ending. 1 Peter is written to communities that knew that anxiety well, and yet their response wasn't to build bigger walls. It was to build bigger tables. In this message, we explore the centrality of hospitable love to the mission of the Church. (1 Peter 4:7-9)
This week, we're joined by a guest speaker - Pastor Luke Embree of Open Door Church. As we continue our On Earth As It Is In Heaven series through the book of 1 Peter, Luke shares about how holiness is an expression of the abundance of God. (1 Peter 2:11-12, 4:1-7)
Does the New Testament demand the subjegation of women in marriage? For decades, this has been one of the most divisive controversies in the Church. In this message, Justin shares why a deeper look at these difficult passages shows a vision for marriages and relationships that are liberating and empowering for both men and women. (1 Peter 3:1-7)
Let's face it... we're different. In what is considered the thesis statement of Peter's first letter, we find out why we've been set apart - by and for a purpose that goes far beyond ourselves. (1 Peter 2:9-12)
"Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority." Wait, WHAT? This might be one of the most selectively cherry-picked and weaponized passages in the Bible - and one the Bible itself seemingly contradicts. So... what does it mean for us? (1 Peter 2:13-17)
Suffering is a reality. It's not a matter of if we'll walk through the fire, but rather what will be left on the other side? 1 Peter 1 is a weighty, hard-fought hope that weary people like us desperately need to remember time and again. (1 Peter 1:3-9)
Peter continually calls the early Christians “exiles.” Foreigners. Strangers. Rome might be their address, but it’s not their identity. Like the early Church, we too have a higher allegiance – and a deeper hope.
When you hear the word “worship,” what do you think of? Our American Church culture has often reduced worship to a product to consume, but when we look at the Scriptures, we find something far more compelling: a response to the God who is changing us from the inside out. (Isaiah 6:1-8)
Pentecost is the celebration of the Holy Spirit indwelling and empowering the Church. And while this supernatural event speaks to how we relate to and partner with God, it also speaks to what kind of community we seek – a community where the walls between us fall – and love takes root.
It’s hard to know where you are going if you don’t know where you are. In this message, Justin shares that while our journeys of faith are never identical, there are common stages we often share. We might not be in the same place or be moving at the same pace, but we share the same road – a journey with Jesus towards a life of love.
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The word “obedience” means something radically different depending on how you understand the character of God. Is it a transaction to appease a distant diety… or an invitation to joy with a friend? It’s a difference we need to know. (John 15:9-17)
Love is not reduced to shallow sentimentalities in the New Testament. At ground level, the church was grappling with their resurrection reality and learning to love another with the love they now knew in Jesus. Today, our task is the same.
“God told me __________.” When a sentence begins like that, it rightfully can make people… nervous. Do we believe that God still speaks to us today? Yes! But how can learn to discern and follow His voice without veering into unhealthy and unhelpful patterns of faith?
You can know the Bible backwards and forwards – but still completely miss the point. One of Jesus’ first post-resurrection acts was helping his disciples unlearning what they thought they knew about the Bible so they could see it with new eyes. The good news is, He’s still doing the same with us.
Doubt can be a scary, isolating feeling. It touches not only what we believe, but how we belong. So what do we do when we’re wrestling with our questions? In this week’s message, we examine the story of Thomas, a man whose steadfast faith in the midst of his doubt is an example for us all.
Mary Magdalene is lost in her grief – so lost that she fails to recognize Jesus right in the middle of it. This is the hope of the resurrection when we feel lost: the risen Jesus meets us in the ordinary – where he’s making everything new.
Jesus draws a straight line between our experience of forgiveness and our ability to love. This week, we’re giving our attention to one of the quieter events of Holy Week – a story about the freedom we find in forgiveness.
Psalm 51 is a cry of a desperate man. David had run his life and reputation into the ground, and he found himself broken before God. We, too, may find ourselves confronted by the weight of our choices, unable to manage the shame we feel. So what do we do in these moments? Who is the God we find at the end of our rope? (Psalm 51:1-12)
Grace is not just something we receive, but something we participate in. In this message, our Student Pastor Casey shares from Ephesians 2 and the reality of grace in our journey with Jesus.
What is the role of women in the Church? It’s been hotly debated for centuries in the Church. A few difficult passages in the New Testament seem to support a secondary, diminished role for women… but is that what the Bible truly teaches? In this message, Justin shares how to navigate these difficult verses, why we believing women are empowered for every area of leadership, and interviews a few of our Restoration women about their experience in the Church.
How do we understand the meaning of the cross for this life, and not just our afterlife? In this message, Justin shares about how the cross is not simply the means of our salvation, it's the model for our life with Jesus.
As we come to the first Sunday of #Lent, we begin the wilderness - a place of scarcity and isolation. We all find ourselves lost from time to time in a spiritual desert. But what if this isn’t a detour, but rather the road we were always meant to take with Jesus?
It's one of the strangest yet most significant stories in the Gospels: a supernatural moment that brings together the past, the present, and the future of Jesus' identity and vocation in the world. And for us, it's a reminder that because He is who He says He is, He is worthy of our trust.
How do we share our faith? Perhaps it doesn’t start with what we say to people, but with how we listen to them. 1 Corinthians 9 challenges us to a Jesus-shaped mission that enters into the stories and struggles of others.
How do we find and fight for unity when we differ on secondary issues? In a world that disciples us to divide and dismiss, our pursuit of unity in our differences is one of our most powerful witnesses we offer the world.
We’re 7 years old! That’s right, this weekend marks the seventh anniversary of Restoration Church. In this special message, Jusin looks back on our story, looks forward to what lies ahead, and shares how God is growing us together.
Let’s face it: in this hyper-connected-yet-isolating world, having friends – and keeping friends – is hard. It’s one thing to make time to be in the same room with others, but growing in friendship? That feels harder than ever before. In this special message, Justin is exploring what community hopes to accomplish: deep, Jesus-shaped friendships to grow and sustain us in the ups and downs of our stories. Join us Sunday!
Some words make their way through different times and cultures, and along the way, they accumulate baggage. Before long, they lose their original meaning altogether. One such word? Discipleship. In this message, we dive into what it originally meant be a disciple and what this invitation means for us today.
In a crowded temple with thousands of people passing them by, the baby Jesus and his parents go almost entirely unnoticed. Only Simeon and Anna - two faithful, ordinary people, found what they were looking for. In the bustle and busyness of life, Jesus often moves through our lives without being seen. Will we find what we're looking for?
When the Holy Spirit stirs in her as she meets her cousin Elizabeth, Mary does something we might not expect: she sings a protest song. It turns out the child in her womb is a throne-toppling, proud-scattering Savior coming to make all things new.
"Let every heart prepare Him room." Isaiah 40 challenges us to clear the paths of our hearts that are cluttered with spiritual and emotional debris - because our God is soon to arrive. Advent is an opportunity to examine the ways our lives have crowded out our best intentions of being present to God. (Isaiah 40:1-11)
Advent begins with a cry of brutal honesty. Isaiah 64 speaks to the ache of a people who've known God more as a rumor than a reality. They know the truth about Him, but they've failed to live it themselves. As a result, God feels a million miles away. What do we do when we feel far from God? Isaiah 64 reminds us that it's the character of God - not the condition of our faith - that is our foundation. (Isaiah 64:1-7)
In this special service, we give our attention to testimonies of answered prayer and the faithfulness of God right here at Restoration.
In this special interview, Our worship pastor Hannah interviews Dr. Ananthi Jebasingh, founder of the Friends of the Good Samaritan Schools in New Delhi, India. In this wide ranging conversation, you'll hear about God's faithfulness in her own story, in the lives of children in New Delhi, and how you can partner to see their kingdom work continue to grow.
As we close out of series Images Of God, our Student Pastor Casey speaks of an often overlooked but vitally important part of God's redemption story: creation itself. Not only does creation reflect the glory and goodness of God, it reminds us of our future hope of a restored life with God.
Sin is an unavoidable reality in the story of our faith. But it’s not the whole story. As we continue our study of what it means to be image-bearers of God, we’ll explore what sin really is, how we’ve misused and misunderstood it, and how it points us to the good news of a broken world being made whole.
The Bible makes an astounding claim: every human being is made in the image of God. But what does that mean? This truth has profound implications on how we see God, our neighbors, ourselves... even our enemies.
In this special message, we speak to Jason Joy about his work with pregnant mothers overcoming addiction, our ministry "Pampering Pathways," and how the mission of God starts with joining God in his work right where you are.
To be restored is to be formed into the image of Jesus. How does this happen? In this series, we’re focusing on who we’ve been called to be as a Church by re-centering Jesus and remembering our call as disciples. This week, we’re focusing on how God’s restoring work in us creates a Church sent into the world not as adversaries, but as ambassadors.
To be restored is to be formed into the image of Jesus. How does this happen? In this series, we’re focusing on who we’ve been called to be as a Church by re-centering Jesus and remembering our call as disciples. This week, we’re focusing on how God’s restoring work in us calls us out of isolation and into community, where we can know and be known by God and one another.
To be restored is to be formed into the image of Jesus. How does this happen? In this series, we’re focusing on who we’ve been called to be as a Church by re-centering Jesus and remembering our call as disciples. This week, we’re focusing on how Jesus’ call to ‘repent’ wasn’t a word of condemnation, but invitation – an invitation to unlearn and relearn our lives in the way of love.
To be restored is to be formed into the image of Jesus. How does this happen? In this series, we’re focusing on who we’ve been called to be as a Church by recentering Jesus and remembering our call as disciples. This week, we’re speaking to how our life with Jesus always moves us deeper than what we know and how we behave into who we are – and who we’re becoming in Christ.
To be restored is to be formed into the image of Jesus. How does this happen? In this series, we’re focusing on who we’ve been called to be as a Church by recentering Jesus and remembering our call as disciples. This week, we’re focusing on where discipleship begins: by simply being with Jesus.
Our bodies aren’t the only source of our exhaustion. Our brains can be overwhelmed, overworked, and underappreciated. How can we steward our minds – the way we think, know, and understand – towards wholeness in Christ?
In America, success is always seen as acculating more – and that’s especially true when it comes to our money and our stuff. So how do we understand money and resource through the lens of Jesus? It starts with choosing abundance – and that might not mean what you think.
Ever felt like there’s never enough time in the day? That’s the experience of too many of us, living lives that are overbooked and overwhelmed. As followers of Jesus, we need wisdom to not only know how to manage our time, but see it as sacred – filled with possibility.
Our new series "Enough" is about finding freedom in our limits in an overextended, exhausted world. Today, Student Pastor Casey Easterwood shares about the gift of Sabbath rest.
If love is simply one aspect of God’s personality or one feeling among many that He feels towards us, then it’s only right to question its consistency. But God is agape. Because God does not change towards us, neither does His love for us. (Romans 8:38-39)
On Sunday, July 23, we centered our service entirely on worship and prayer. Instead of our normal sermon, this week we have audio from a short video devotional from our pastor, Justin. Give it a listen!
Does "God is for us" mean He's against "them?" This phrase from Romans 8 has often been ripped from its context and misused often as a battle cry for a weaponized faith. But what if Paul's words of strength and comfort speak to a far better hope - and a far greater victory - than the battles we're told we have to fight? (Romans 8:31-37)
God is more committed to our growth and wholeness than we are - shaping are ups and downs for our good, and forming us into the image of Jesus. In the scope of successes and failures we face in our spiritual journey, this is a hope that can hold us. (Romans 8:26-30)
When we feel the ache of a broken world, we can know this to be true: we have a future strong enough to sustain our present. (Romans 8:18-25)
Romans is written to a community of people who were always aware of their differences. And in knowing God as Abba Father, they'd find a new kind of family - a people of unity, not uniformity. (Romans 8:14-17)
Spiritual growth takes place within our wholes selves: body, mind, and spirit. Instead of understanding our body as the enemy of the Spirit's work, we are learning to see our bodies as active participants in the our growth. (Romans 8:5-13)
As we begin our summer series walking through Romans 8, we begin with some foundational good news for our life together: we are free. And it's not just what we're freedom from, but what we're freed for. (Romans 8:1-4)
This week, we took an opportunity to talk about how we're working to build a healthy, growing culture as a Church. You'll hear from our elders about how we're seeking God for our future together. (Titus 1:7-9)
In John 20, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into His disciples, and the Church is born. Discipleship in light of Pentecost, then, is learning to breathe again - joining Jesus in His mission, in His power, and at His pace. (John 20:19-23)
It's when - not if - we'll walk through suffering. But while we may not know the fullness of "why" we experience suffering in our lives, we can know this to be true: God never wastes it. (1 Peter 4-5)
In Acts 17, Paul is confronted by the idols of Athens. As we ponder his missionary journey, we ponder our own idols - and how we see what God is truly like in Jesus.
A chosen people. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. God’s own people. We are those who live at the intersection of heaven and earth. (1 Peter 2:2-10)
(Acts 2:42-47) Community isn't the aim, it's the outcome - the overflow of lives transformed by the love of God.
Two disciples walk away from Jerusalem, disappointed and disillusioned. They had the right Jesus, but the wrong story. And as He does with us, Jesus walks with them, helping them unlearn and relearn everything they thought they knew about Jesus. (Luke 24:13-35)
In this special message, you'll hear what we believe about baptism, why it matters, and hear a powerful testimony of God's restoring love.
Jesus' resurrection scars are an invitation to see our own in light of the empty tomb - and know that nothing is beyond the scope of restoration. (John 20:24-28)
The crowd came for a military parade - a call to revolution. But instead of a violent warlord, they got the Prince of Peace.
In John 11, we learn who God is in the grief and questions we face: He is a friend. Jesus willing enters into our sadness and weeps with us - even knowing resurrection is on the way. (John 11)
As a part of a unique Sunday gathering, we looked at Psalm 23 together, talked about how we come to understand the Bible, and then broke down the "sermon" as a whole community.
The woman at the well was a powerless religious outsider who, in her questions and longings, met God where she least expected Him to show up. Like Nicodemus in the chapter before, she must unlearn and relearn everything she thought she knew in light of Jesus. (John 4:5-42)
One was a powerful, Jewish insider meeting Jesus in the middle of the night. The other a powerless, Samaritan outsider meeting Jesus in the heat of the day. Both encounter Jesus, and in the process, help us answer a foundational question for both insiders and outsiders: what does it mean to be saved? (John 3:1-17)
Lent is about naming and releasing that which makes us too full to be hungry for God. Like Jesus, the Spirit is leading us into a place of vulnerability and need - because that's where we learn to trust.
Six days after a moment of profound failure and disillusion, Peter sees Jesus in radiant glory. In the same way, grace meets us in our disillusionment and disappointment, helping us to see the same Jesus with new eyes. (Matthew 17:1-9)
Our faith may draw attention, but it should never demand it. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us of our calling in the world around us - we preserve, enhance, reveal, and light the way forwards in the darkness. (Matthew 5:13-17)
Today, we heard about our vision for community at Restoration - and heard from two of our own about opportunities for connection and growth. (Colossians 2:12-14)
As we celebrate our 6th anniversary together, we look at what it means to leverage our faith for the sake of others. (Luke 5:27-26)
Over the next three weeks, we're casting vision for the future we'll share together as a Church family. This week, we talk about what it means to be welcoming like Jesus. (Luke 15:1-7)
At Jesus' baptism, we see the nature of the love of the Father for us - offered to us freely - where we have nothing to earn and nothing to prove.
We were unable to gather as a whole Church family in person, but in this podcast, Justin shares some encouragement about cultivating joy as we move into the New Year together! (Psalm 126)
We remind ourselves at Christmas that we have a future that is powerful enough to sustain us in the present - and that even when the darkness seems too much to bear, joy comes in the morning.
We have learned to look for God in the sanitized and extraordinary when, all along, he’s arriving in the messy and the ordinary. (Matthew 1:18-28)
Advent is about the world we're waiting for... and the longings we feel. Today, we're called to patience in suffering, but not from a God who stands at a safe distance, but a God who suffers with us and for us. (James 5:7-10)
The promise of the coming Messiah speaks to one who judges. As modern, Westerners, the judgment of God typically makes us uncomfortable. But to the original audience of Isaiah's words, judgment meant the world was being made the way they'd always longed for it to be: whole. (Isaiah 11:1-10)
Psalm 122 teaches us to see our faith as a pilgrimage - a remembrance of what we leave behind, a hope for where we're going, and the promise of who we're becoming along the way.
We inhabit a world that is at war for our souls. Jesus closes the Lord's Prayer with a cry for deliverance in a word filled with evil. So how do we understand prayer and spiritual warfare in a healthy way? How can we confront evil and be equipped to walk in the power of the Spirit with confidence? (Matthew 6:13)
God forgives us not begrudgingly, but joyfully - bearing the cost and canceling the debt of our sin. Forgiving others is often a difficult task, but when we mine the debts the forgiveness we've been given in Jesus, a new way forward is possible. (Matthew 6:9-13)
"Give us this day our daily bread" rewires our spiritual imagination - out of scarcity and into the abundance of God.
To pray "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is to pray at the intersection of our ache for change... and our confidence in the power and presence of God to bring it. (Matthew 6:9-13)
The first request of the Lord's Prayer asks that God's name - His reputation and character - be known in and among us. But what does it mean to be holy... and what is holiness even for? (Matthew 6:9-13)
Jesus begins the Lord's Prayer by teaching us to know and approach God as "Our Father," a reality that transforms the way we see and speak to God. (Matthew 6:9-13)
As we begin our journey through the Lord's Prayer, we start with Jesus' teaching on why we pray in first place: to be present to the God who is already present to us. (Matthew 6:5-8)
What unites us as a Church? We need a shared set of rhythms that restore us and propel us forward together. (Acts 2:42-47)
As a Church, we need a common vision for who we are and where we're headed together. This week, we look at what it means to follow Jesus, as we gather around a Person, a Path, and a Promise. (John 14:5-6)
Rest is central to God's restoring work in us, and a promise for those who enter into the life of Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 30:15)
Community has been a central value at Restoration since day one. But after 5 and a half years, we sensed the need to rethink our approach to community, and open the door for more to experience life together. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
We're not just given a mission - we're given power for that mission. The Holy Spirit is already present and at work in and among us, and every believer is empowered to join God on mission right where they are (Acts 1:3,8).
Church is the outcome of the mission of God - not the mission itself. When we remember the Gospel we believe and the mission we've been given, Church comes naturally. (Matthew 16:13-18)
James 5 calls us out of spiritual isolation and into the stories and struggles of others. And in response? We pray - because God is already present and at work in the troubles we face. (James 5:13-18)
All healthy relationships experience conflict from time to time. So how do we handle these moments with healthy boundaries and a heart for reconciliation? (James 4:1-3)
James knows that love is always connected to our words - the way we speak, the way we listen, and the way we speak from the overflowing of our hearts. Being faithful in following Jesus means a commitment to harness the power of our words to build people up in a tear-down world. (James 3:3-12)
In James 2, we're called to take account on the ways we undermine the mercy of God by judging others based on our own perceptions and bias. As we move deeper into the heart of God, we find mercy for ourselves - and mercy that triumphs over our judgment. (James 2:1-13)
In the words of E.O. Wilson, "We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom." James calls us to ask God for wisdom - and yet that wisdom often arrives in the form of those who've walked through the same struggles we now face. A healthy Church is a living library of lived, hard-earned wisdom that makes us more like Jesus. (James 1:2-4, 3:13-18)
The American definitions of freedom typically center on removing limitations. But in the kingdom of God - there are limitations that bring freedom and life. How might we find freedom and rest in an exhausted, weary world?
Rest is not the opposite of work - it's the foundation of it. In this message, Alicia Sims shares about the gift, calling, and challenge of rest, and how Jesus' invitation still calls to our exhausted, weary world.
How do we live and love like Jesus at work without being... that Christian? In this message, we explore the what it means to be a patient, humble, authentic witness that is good news to our co-workers.
We need a vision for our work life that more resembles the kingdom of God than the American dream. So how we learn to see our work as worship - and how do we know when we're worshiping our work?
At Pentecost, we celebrate that the Holy Spirit isn't for the professionals, the powerful, the knowledgable, or the spiritual elites. No - the power of God empowers the whole Church for the mission of God right where they are. (Acts 2:1-12)
It’s been a week of unimaginable tragedy, and we all feel the ache of a broken world. As we close our Revelation series, we find the prayers that rise from the tension between grief and hope - and together, cry “Come, Lord Jesus.”
You don't make it through the book of Revelation without running into conversations about hell and judgement. Can we reconciled hell with a loving God? Are our views of hell more influenced by cultural caricatures or the Scriptures? And how does this all fit with God's desire to save and restore? This week, we're jumping in.
You don’t read Revelation without coming to the inevitable question: how does our story end? What will become of the world when all is said and done? Sunday we’ll look at how we’ve often misunderstood what awaits us in eternity - and why it changes the way we live in the present. (Revelation 21:1-5)
Is a Church of "every tribe, nation, people, and language" possible in such a tribalistic world? Revelation 7 gives us a picture of the beautiful, diverse future that awaits us - and calls us to live that future into the present.
Power. The churches hearing Revelation for the first time were familiar with a beastly, coercive, violent, corrupt power that stood against them. Revelation 5 reminds us that the Lamb alone is worthy to reign over the unfolding of history, and as his followers, we follow His way in the world until He comes again. (Revelation 5:1-14)
It’s that dreaded book at the end of the Bible… Revelation. You might associate it with fire and brimstone preachers, 90’s Christian books, and paranoid warnings about the end of the world. But what if we’ve gotten Revelation completely wrong? And in the process, have miss we missed an incredible encouragement for what it means to follow Jesus today? (Revelation 1:4-8)
He is risen! Today we gather on the most important day of our faith to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. And in a world filled with sickness, suffering, ear, and pain, we’ll explain why we have a future that’s strong enough to sustain us in the present - all because of the empty tomb.
(1 Corinthians 15:19-26)
As we enter Holy Week, we turn our attention to the cross of Christ - what it means, what it accomplished, and what it reveals about the Father's heart for us.
Dozens of disciples and friends were in the room with Jesus. But that night, only Mary was with Jesus. This Sunday, we look at an act of disruptive worship that gives us permission to let our guard down and pour ourselves out in the presence of a loving God. (John 12:1-8)
Our lives – both as individuals and as a community – bear a message to the world around us. In a world that disciples us to demonize, diminish, and divide, we’ve been given an identity and calling as reconcilers and bridge builders (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)
Isaiah 55 is written to a weary people, worn down from exile and formed in a world of scarcity. The promise of God is a place at the Table of the King - a world rooted in the abundance of God. (Isaiah 55:1-9)
The Transfiguration is a strange, mystical moment in the life of Jesus, full of signs and symbols pointing us to the larger Story of God. And as this Story moves towards to Jesus, Jesus is moving to the cross - the new Exodus of our forgiveness and freedom. (Luke 9:28-36)
Lent begins with the story of Jesus in the desert - a place of isolation, vulnerability, and need. Yet in the face of temptation and hunger, Jesus shows that the desert is the place we learn what we’ve needed all along: dependence. (Luke 4:1-13)
There’s a type of faith that engages our heads… but never stirs our hearts. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul reminds us that the Gospel we believe isn’t just good and true - it’s beautiful. And we are changed to the degree that we turn our lives towards this glory we see in Jesus. (2 Corinthians 3:4-18)
In Luke 6, Jesus calls a people living under the hand of oppression to do something radical - to love those who disadvantage them and refuse to stand over others in moral superiority. In a world where the religious landscape is constantly shifting, we need the wisdom of these commands more than ever. (Luke 6:27-38)
Jeremiah 17 reminds us of the deceptiveness of our hearts, but not from a place of condemnation, but invitation - to slow down, open ourselves up to the presence of God, and allow Him to change us in the stillness. (Jeremiah 17:5-10)
When Isaiah saw God, he saw himself clearly for the first time. And in the healing work of grace, he found a calling and passion that grew from the same restoring work God was doing in him. Guess what? The same can be true for us. (Isaiah 6:1-8)
1 Corinthians 13 often gets pigeon-holed as a flowery poem for weddings, but that's far for the context of Pauls' words. On the contrary, this famous passage calls a spiritually active but immature Church to remember what the true measure of growth will always be: learning to love.
As a part of our 5th anniversary service, Justin Rhorer shares a bit of our Church's story, as well as the passage that gave birth to the name Restoration - and how it's still our calling today. (Isaiah 61-1-4)
Alicia Sims shares this morning about Jesus' first miracle in the book of John - a miracle that on the surface seems... ordinary. But as we pay attention to the story, we see the foretaste of the kingdom breaking into our world - a kingdom marked by defiant joy. (John 2:1-11)
We live in a chaotic, unpredictable world. Yet when God promises to bring newness of life, He doesn't do it outside of the choas - He brings it right in the middle of it. (Isaiah 43:1-2, 16-19)
Light breaks through the darkness as new creation dawns. Together as a community, we bear witness to the light by radically centering Jesus - and inviting others to do the same. (John 1:1-5)
At the end of Luke 2, we get a brief picture of the life of Jesus between his birth and ministry - an incredibly human story.Christmas celebrates incarnation of God in flesh. But why does it even matter than Jesus took on our humanity? (Luke 2:41-52)
When the reality sets in and her cousin Elizabeth affirms the incredible promise of God in her life, Mary sings a song. But this song? It's less "Kumbaya" and more "A Change Is Gonna Come." Thats right - Mary sings a protest song. (Luke 1:36-55)
The songs and prayers of God’s people sang of a salvation that would one day come. Today, talk of salvation and “getting saved” can mean so much to so many different people. So what is salvation? And more importantly, why is it good news? (Isaiah 12:2-6)
This week, Alicia Sims shares about the calling to prepare the way for the coming of the King - a work that's rooted in repentance, forgiveness, and renewal. (Luke 3:1-6)
Jeremiah speaks of the longing of God's people for a just, righteous King. Today, as we begin the Advent season, we join them in longing for the day King Jesus brings justice and righteousness on earth as it is in heaven.
(Jeremiah 33:14-16)
Much of the American Christian plan for discipleship has centered on the idea that information = transformation. But the truth we find in the Scriptures points to a different path - one that partners with God through embodied acts of trust. (Matthew 7:24-27)
For followers of Jesus, love is the measure of success. If we're not growing in our love for God, neighbor, and enemy, then we're missing the point. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
Justin shares this week's Anchoring truth and interviews Maggie Middleton from Amachi and Lexington Leadership Foundatioj about local youth mentoring opportunities. (Isaiah 61:1-6)
Our spiritual default mode often places the weight of our spiritual lives on our shoulders. But there's good news - God cares more about our spiritual growth than we do, inviting us into the unforced rhythms of grace. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Where we are, as we are... that's where God meets us. As we continue our "Anchors" series today, we focus our attention to the good news that God is not just a past experience or a future hope - He's present in the here and now. (Mark 10:17-22)
A.W. Tozer once wrote: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” How we understand the character of God matters immensely. But there's good news - if we want to know what God is like, all we have to do is look at Jesus. (John 8:1-11)
In our "Anchors" series, we're going through 7 truths (via Gravity Leadership) about God that we can hold onto - no matter what storms we face. This week? God is always present and at work. (Genesis 28:10-17)
We live in anxious times. In Philippians 4, Paul calls us to persistent prayer, a relentless focus on the good, and the present reality of God's peace that protects us in our anxiety. (Philippians 4:4-9)
Paul's religious credentials were impeccable. Yet compared to what he found in Jesus, they were nothing. We're all prone to trust in our past accomplishments and stay on our moral high horses, but like Paul, when we meet Jesus, everything becomes clear. (Philippians 3:1-14)
Real community takes us out of ourselves and into the world of others, where we learn how to love like Jesus. And that starts with seeing how He left what He knew - to enter our world in humility, giving us both the means and model of the love we long to give and receive. (Philippians 2:1-11)
For the last 18 months, the world has been inescapably confronted by suffering and death. As we begin our journey in Philippians, we enter into the questions about how we understand the hardships we face through the lens of our faith in Jesus - and how we might have a hope stronger than death. (Philippians 1)
The early Church lived with the expectation that their lives together should be so compelling different that people can't help but want to join them. Could it be the same for us? (1 Peter 2:9-12)
If we're hope to share our faith, we'd better know what exactly we're inviting them into, right? So we're asking a simple, yet important question: what does it mean to become a Christian... according to Jesus? (Mark 1:14-20)
The word "evangelism" is bound to send a lot of us running. But we all naturally talk about the things that move us - what is beautiful, meaningful, powerful, and true. Could it be that we've forgotten what makes the "good news" so good? (1 Corinthians 15:1-6)
Justin is joined by Pastor Justin Biragane, a Congolese Pastor and refugee who has been in the United States for 10 years. He shares about the plight of refugees in Lexington, their struggles and their gratitude, and how we as a Church can partner with his community to see "In Lexington as it is in heaven."
This week, Justin is joined by Melissa Tibbs and Lindsay Anderson, two women on the front lines of poverty and homelessness in central Kentucky. Together, they explore the landscape of poverty in the midst of the pandemic, the most prominent needs, and the ways we are followers of Jesus can be a tangible help in the midst of the struggle.
Karen Bowman and Chandra Gray join Justin for a conversation on racism, bias, roadblocks, and the ministry of reconciliation through "Be The Bridge."
Hospitality in the New Testament literally means "loving the stranger." How might we - like Jesus - be a welcoming presence to the world around us?
Surrounded by the enormity of the needs in front of them, Jesus tells his disciples first to pray. For those of truly seeking to love our neighbors well, we'll start there too. (Matthew 9:35-38)
Americans can have radically different definitions of freedom. But the Bible makes clear what true freedom is in the kingdom of God: loving our neighbor as ourselves. (Galatians 5:13-14)
We're surrounded by information and content. That's why we need to be filled and refilled through immersing our mind in the Scriptures - not just for information, but formation.
Jesus tells us to love God with our whole selves - including our bodies. As we look to the Scriptures, we see that our physical reality is part of God's restoring work in both our present reality and our future hope. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
How do we love God with all of our heart? It begins by being honest about our desires, our longings, and our emotions - and the ways we offer our worship to lesser gods. In the words of one theologian, "learning to love God takes practice."
God doesn't just have love or feel love. God is love. And that love works to dispell our fears and form us into the image of Jesus as sons and daughters of God. (1 John 4:16-19)
Jesus said we'd be known by the love we have for one another. But this love doesn't happen by accident. We need intentional, consistent habits as a community that help us become the kind of family God has called us to be. (Matthew 22:37-40)
As we close out our 36 week journey through the Scriptures together we've called #Restoried, our narrative culminates in the coming God's Spirit, giving birth to the family we call Church. (Acts 2:1-11)
22 times in the New Testament, the writers speak of Jesus setting down at the right hand of God. Why does the ascension matter, and how does it empower and embolden us for mission?
When the way we practice our faith in a way that excludes brothers and sisters in Christ, we're undermining the gospel. Because unity is a priority, we make room for differences on secondary matters and center our lives together around Jesus.
In Acts 15, we see the growing cultural tension between Jewish Christians and the new Gentile believers. Instead of seeing Jesus through the lens of our culture, politics and traditions, we make him Lord - and together as a new family, commit to rethinking everything in light of Jesus. (Acts 15:1-19)
In Acts 8, Philip teaches us that God is already at work in places we'd never expect - and it's our job to be open, dependent, and expect God to call us to places where people will encounter Christ through our obedience.
In Luke, the first recorded act of Jesus after His resurrection was a walk with a couple of friends - two disciples who are disoriented because the story they thought they were in didn't come to pass. In this Emmaus walk, we see a framework for understanding the ups and downs of our spiritual journey, and how Jesus walks with us each step of the way. (Luke 24:13-35)
After 56 weeks, we're gathering in person in a limited capacity for worship! In this message, Justin talks about the ministry of presence, and how - like Jesus - we're called to an embodied faith. (John 1:1-5,14)
The tomb is empty. But what does that mean for who we are in the here and now? (Luke 24:1-12)
Kings and warriors had ridden into Jerusalem before to the sounds of celebration. But the King who arrived on Palm Sunday didn't come to kill his enemies. He came to die for them. (Luke 19:28-40)
It's one thing for Jesus to welcome the least of these. But what happens when he welcomes a rich, powerful, and corrupt man who brings economic oppression on his own people? How far can grace go? (Luke 19:1-10)
In Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable about hell. But more than a statement on the afterlife, Jesus is confronting the sin of cold indifference to the suffering of our neighbors right at our front door. (Luke 16:19-31)
In one of His most famous parables, Jesus responds to the frustrations of the religious elite by redefining what it truly means to be lost - and found. (Luke 15:1-7)
In light of questions about suffering and sin, Jesus tells a parable about the patience persistent grace of God to bear the fruit of His life in us. (Luke 13:1-9)
Jesus uses a lawyer's question to tell a story that centers on a Samaritan - a cultural outcast with all the wrong theology who nonetheless embodies Jesus' vision for neighborly love. (Luke 10:25-37)
In January of 2017 we planted Restoration with a simple mission statement: "We believe Jesus is restoring people who restore the world. Our mission is to join Him." This week, Justin unpacked what this means for who we are and where we are headed as a Church family!
Jesus is amazed by the faith of a centurion - someone thought to be godless and faithless. But what was different about his faith than the crowds who followed him everywhere? (Luke 7:1-10)
Were the Pharisees all bad? No. But the ones that Jesus encounters in the Gospels display a legalistic heart that valued their traditions more than they valued people. So how do we know when we are doing the same thing? (Luke 6:1-11)
In Luke 4, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth... and almost get's himself thrown off a cliff. Why? He challenged and upended their expectations and called them - and us - to a bigger Gospel. (Luke 4:14-30)
This weekend marks our 4th Anniversary as a Church! And as we look forward to a new year with so many unknowns, Justin shares about being the kind of people who have together have a hope that demands an explanation. (2 Corinthians 4:7-18)
In light of the events in our nation's capitol this past week, Justin shares what this moments means for followers of Jesus, and how we're challenged to live in response. (John 18:28-40)
8 days after his birth, Jesus' parent bring him to a crowded Temple according to tradition. Yet among the thousands who passed them, two older saints recognized saw what so many didn't. How? (Luke 2:22-38)
God enters history in obscurity, through the life of a poor, Galilean teenage girl - marked by astounding faith and a song about a Messiah turning our world upside down. (Luke 1:26-56)
In Isaiah 61, we're promised that God's anointed would come and restore a broken and forgotten people... who would they go be restorers in their world. The same is true for us today.
This week, we're closing out our time in the Old Testament with a Deeper Look at Isaiah 61 - a passage Jesus made central to his mission. Justin and Kaleb talk through how this passage meant a spiritual AND physical hope for the original hearers, and how these verses teach us about justice, equity, and God's restoration project in our world. Listen in!
In the book of Joel, the people of Judah find themselves decimated by a catastrophe that's left them for dead. The prophet's call is to a heart-level repentance, with a promise for the fullness of God among them by His Spirit (Joel 2:12-13,28-29).
In this edition of the Deeper Look Podcast, Kaleb and Justin unpack Daniel 6 - a story with huge implications for our modern moment. When allegiances collide, who will stand as our ultimate authority? And how will prayer sustain us when we follow God into the unknown.
In our first Sunday of Advent, we look to Daniel, King Darius, and the lion's den - a story about a man who must choose between compromising his convictions for the sake of loyalty to leader and empire, or trusting God with the consequences of his obedience. (Daniel 6:1-28)
'Covenant' is one of the most prominent threads that runs through the Scriptures. In Jeremiah 31, the promise of God turns towards a day when obedience and life would grow from what God does within us. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
In the latest Deeper Look Podcast, Kaleb and Justin talk about Jeremiah 31, the thread of covenant through the Old Testament, and how God's longing to be reconciled to everyone - even our enemies! - should change the way we see them.
Isaiah saw a vision of God that left him undone - seeing the depth the sin in and around him. But God met him with grace and propel his calling forward. (Isaiah 6:1-8)
Jonah prefers dying in his anger and arrogance over seeing God show grace to his enemies. This short book serves as a mirror for our own hearts in a divisive and polarizing time. (Jonah 1-4)
This week, Kaleb and Justin take a deeper look at the book of Jonah, a story that meets our current moment head on. What happens when God shows grace to our enemies? An important conversation - listen in!
With 2 days until the election, followers of Jesus need to remember where their ultimate hope is found - and the real-world hope that above all else, Jesus is Lord. (Psalm 46)
Elijah is one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. But before he confronted the powers of Ahab and Baal, he had to learn to trust God's power for himself in the wilderness. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah learns to live the message he's about to bring to his people.
In 2 Samuel 7, King David is on top - his enemies defeated, now enthroned in Jerusalem, and ready for a building project to honor God. But God says no... with a promise of a greater Yes to come.
This week, Kaleb and Justin jump into an incredibly important passage in the narrative of Scripture, where God says "no" to David's plans, but promises him a "yes" in the coming of Jesus.
This week we enter the story of Hannah, an overlooked, misjudged, and ridiculed woman who teaches us the power of praying from our pain, not in spite of it. (1 Samuel 1)
We jump forward in our Story to 1 Samuel 1, where we see the beautiful story of Hannah. Kaleb and Justin unpack the spoken and unspoken gender dynamics in the story, the importance of emotions in our faith, the good news of God as Judge, and Hannah's song of revolution.
After witnessing incredible displays of the power of God, the Israelites give into their fears and turned to worshiping an idol. We, too, are prone to idolatry, creating stand-ins for God to appease our need for convenience and control. (Exodus 32:1-14)
This week, Kaleb and Justin look closer at Exodus 32:1-14, where the Israelites forget their covenant promise to come and turn to idol worship. We, too, are prone to idolatry... but what might it look like today?
Passover serves as one of the central stories in the biblical narrative, not only telling us of the freedom God brings to the enslaved and oppressed, but pointing forward to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (Exodus 12-13)
Each week, we take our weekend passages and go deeper than we'd normally have time to in a weekend gathering. This week, Kaleb and Justin unpack Passover, a central event in the story of God that points directly to Jesus and the deliverance He brings. Is this deliverance just from personal sin, or is God calling us to "free the captives" who are under oppression in the world around us? Listen in!
Kaleb and Justin look at the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50 - a story about family, the scars they leave, and the healing power of forgiveness.
In this week's message, we meet Joseph, the great grandson of Abraham and a product of generations of disfunction and sin in his family. But Joseph's story doesn't continue the cycle, instead moving to hope in God's sovereign work for our good. (Genesis 37:3-34, 50:15-21)
Kaleb and Justin dive deeper into our passage this week from the Narrative Lectionary: Genesis 15:1-6. We meet Abram 10 years after God's first promise to him, struggling to believe and move forward. How do we have faith between the promise and the fulfillment?
In Genesis 15, we meet Abram, a man living in the space between the promise and the fulfillment, where faith grows through embodied acts of trust. (Genesis 15:1-6)
Each week, Justin Rhorer, Kaleb Heitzman, and other voices from Restoration will go deeper into the passages from our Sunday gatherings, asking questions and having conversations we don't have time for in a gathering. This week, we unpack the important implications of Genesis 2-3 and what it means for how we understand who we are.
Our origin story begins with a declaration about who God is, and who we - his image-bearers - are in light of Him. And the implications of this for our story could not be more important. (Genesis 2:1-3:8)
The Word of God is alive and active... because the God who speaks the Word is alive and active. Because of this, we're not just reading about Jesus, we're reading with Him! (Hebrews 4:12-13)
We all are the product of the stories we immerse ourselves in. In this contentious season, we need to immerse ourselves in the story of God. (Psalm 1)
The New Testament is constantly calling us out of ourselves in into life with - and for - one another. (Colossians 3:12-15)
We are temples of the Holy Spirit, empowered as priests of the living God - right where we are. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)
The history of the Church shows that small, extended families of believers turned the world upside down - simply by their lives of common devotion and love. (Acts 2:42-27)
In the season ahead, Restoration is transitioning to a network of Home Churches across the city. In this message, Justin lays out the vision behind this, calling us to bloom where we are planted. (Jeremiah 29:5-7)
Across culture and time, Christians have experienced hardship and persecution for the sake of the Gospel. As American Christians, we have much to learn from the global Church and their example of faithful witness in our present day. (Matthew 5:10-12)
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the presence of wholeness. Peacemaking, therefore, calls us into the conflict to build towards reconciliation. (Matthew 5:9, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20)
Over and over again in the Gospels, Jesus reminds us that our outward appearance of devotion can mask the emptiness of our own hearts - the very thing God is after in the first place. (Matthew 5:8, 15:1-9)