RISING Church: Recent Episodes
RISING Church
We are a community of believers who's desire is for everyone to grown in a deeper and more vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ.
In this series, we dive into the history classic Christmas carols and learn how they came to be. This week, we learn how Joy to the World came from a desire bring new life and energy into the Church.
As RISING Church prepares to transition into in-person meetings again, what is it going to take to prepare our new space to gather together?
The voices we listen to shape us in a powerful way. Do we know what the Father thinks and feels about us?
As Jesus teaches us to rethink prayer, the second category of petition Jesus teaches us to pray and ask our heavenly Father for is "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors". The word forgive here is the Greek word "aphiemi", which literally means "to send away from, to let go, to release, to discharge". Our prayer is not that God would send us away from him, but that God would send our debts, our trespasses, our sins, our offenses away from us!
The most dangerous part of this prayer is the "as", which just as easily could be translated "as, like, according to, as long as". Is that something we really want to pray, that our Father would send our sins away from us as long as we have sent the sins others have committed against us away from them? The reality is in this fallen world we live in, others will sin against us. It's not a matter of if, but when. Everybody at some point will sin against us, disappoint us, hurt us. Jesus teaches us that we need to forgive others. Why? Ultimately because our heavenly Father has forgiven us of an insurmountable debt. If God is willing to send the sins we have committed against him away from us, as his sons and daughters, shouldn't we be willing to send the sins others commit against us away from them?
Let's be honest, this is not an easy teaching. Forgiveness is difficult. Perhaps this is why Jesus builds this sort of self-check into the Lord's prayer. When we ask our Father to forgive us of our sins, we are forced to consider who have I failed to forgive? Who am I harboring anger and resentment towards? Who am I holding indebted to me?
Here are 3 steps we can take to move in the direction of forgiving others as our heavenly Father has forgiven us: 1. Pray for the capacity, the ability, the strength to forgive 2. Choose to forgive 3. Practice forgiveness
Ultimately we have a decision to make, we can either send away the sins people commit against us, or we can send away the person, the relationship. When we choose to follow our Father's example and send away the sin, rather than send away the person, our Father's name is hallowed, our Father's kingdom comes, and our Father's will is done here on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus is challenging us to rethink prayer, and has given us the Lord's Prayer as a template for how to rethink prayer. When it comes to the "Father Give" portion of the Lord's prayer, what kinds of things do you typically ask God for? Do you ask God for needs or wants? Jesus teaches us to ask God for "bread", this word that encompasses far more than simply bread, but involves all of our basic needs as human beings. "Give us today our daily bread." As our Heavenly Father, God knows that we have needs, needs for food, water, shelter, companionship, health, etc. Our Father also knows there is a huge difference between needs and wants. Jesus is teaching us to pray that our Father would provide for our needs.
Jesus is also teaching us to pray for our daily provision, our daily sustenance, our daily ration, what we need to survive the day. So often we pray for tomorrow, what we need a week from now, a month from now, a year or decade from now. We worry and stress over the distant future. Do we trust our Father enough to provide what we need for each day, and each day alone, and tomorrow we'll do the same? After all, Jesus has told us "each day has enough trouble of its own".
Finally, Jesus puts a double emphasis on "us" and "our". Jesus teaches us to rethink prayer as corporate, not individual. As fellow brothers & sisters, do we only care if God provides for our individual needs, but not those of our brothers or sisters? Jesus doesn't teach us to pray "Father give me today my daily bread", but "Father give us today our daily bread." At times like this, we need each other more than ever. We need to have a "we" mentality, a "we're all in this together" mentality. God provides our daily bread, and sometimes the source of that support is one another. If in the midst of this current crisis, you find yourself in physical need, please don't hesitate to reach out to the benevolence team. Shoot them an email at benevolence@risingchurch.org. If in the midst of this current crisis, you find yourself in emotional or spiritual need, and need prayer, please don't hesitate to reach out to the elders. Shoot them an email at elders@risingchurch.org
Has your prayer life grown stale? Do you find yourself offering up the same "canned" prayers over and over again, prayers you say by heart, but not necessarily with heart? Perhaps now would be a good time to rethink prayer and turn away from your old habits and ways of thinking about prayer, and turn in a new direction. In the Lord's prayer, Jesus attempted to give us a new model for prayer, a new template to follow. His goal wasn't to teach us the exact words to pray, but to teach us how to pray. For most of us, prayer is about asking God for this or that. This isn't wrong, God specifically tells us that in every situation, we should bring our prayers, petitions and requests to God. He is attentive to our voices. This is just an incomplete view of prayer.
In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus gives us what I have called three "pre-petition postures". Three postures we should take in prayer before we ask God for anything, before we bring all of our prayers, petitions and requests before our heavenly Father. These postures are meant to prepare our hearts, similar to how an athlete stretches and does warm-ups before exercising, or how a musician or vocalist warms up before performing. These pre-petition postures help get us in the right frame of mind. The first is, "Father, let your name be hallowed", on earth as it is in heaven. The second is, "Father, let your kingdom come", on earth as it is in heaven. And the third is, "Father, let your will be done", on earth as it is in heaven.
We live in a fallen, broken, sin-stained world where these 3 statements are not facts. They are not givens here on earth, as they are givens in heaven. This is why we need to rethink prayer as "pious priority". As his sons and daughters, are we going to give priority to God's name, God's kingdom, and God's will being done here on earth, in each of our own personal lives, or are we going to give priority to our name, our kingdom, and our will being done? How much damage and destruction has been caused on earth by my giving priority to my name, my kingdom and my will over God's name, God's kingdom and God's will? When we prioritize God over ourselves, this also gives us "proper perspective". We are able to get the vertical view on our lives and our circumstances, that it is next to impossible for us to see here on the ground on earth where we only see the horizontal view. We need to rethink prayer, and specifically these 3 pre-petition prayers, as a means for giving us proper perspective before we begin asking God for anything.
May is just around the corner, and as we slowly begin reopening and emerging from our shelter-in-place orders, none of us know exactly what this next month holds. Will it be more of the same? Or will things start to get back to some semblance of "normal", whatever that new "normal" may be? In the midst of this uncertainty, now would be as good a time as ever for all of us to rethink how we think about prayer. Perhaps our prayer lives have been stuck in a rut. Maybe our old way of praying, or our old way of thinking about prayer, needs a reset, a reboot, a restart. Maybe we need to think differently about prayer, repent of our old ways. Philippians 4:6 tells us, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" I don't know about you, but in our present circumstances, it's hard not to feel anxious about all kinds of different things. Is it possible for us to not be pulled apart, pulled in opposite directions, divided, to go to pieces, in the midst of trouble and the inevitable storms of life? In the very next verse, God promises us that the result of prayer is "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus". Prayer is the precursor to peace in the midst of any and every situation we may find ourselves in. So how's your prayer life?
Prayer is not about religious duty or obligation. Prayer is not about appearances. Prayer is not a performance. Prayer is not about an abundance of words or repetition. For followers of Jesus, those who have put their hope, faith & trust in Jesus and what Jesus accomplished on our behalf on the cross, prayer is about privileged position. Jesus has given us access to a new relationship with the God who created the Universe and holds it in a coffee mug in his hand. We are no longer strangers to God. We are no longer estranged from God. We are not insignificant specks of dust marooned on an insignificant speck of dust planet in the Universe. In Jesus, we are now adopted sons and daughters of God. God is our Father, who knows us, is attentive to our voices, and who loves us dearly. Jesus has made it possible for us to have the same kind of intimate relationship with God that he has. Jesus constantly referred to God as Father in his personal prayers, something which prior to Jesus, nobody did. The only time Jesus referred to God as God in prayer was in that horrible moment when he cried out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus went from referring to God as Father to God as God so that we would be in the privileged position to go from referring to God as God to God as Father. Let that reality sink in. Take a few minutes each day this week to consider the fact that God has given you the privileged position of son or daughter, and that prayer is about this intimate relationship and connection you now have with your Father in heaven because of Jesus!
I 100% believe God wants to use this time, redeem this time, for our good, and for his ultimate glory! I pray that we will take Isaiah 55 to heart. I pray that we will repent, this word meaning to think differently, change our minds. I pray that we would turn towards God and seek God while we still can. We do not have an unlimited amount of time to seek God, so lets turn away from our old ways, our old ways of thinking, and let's turn towards God, his ways, and his way of thinking. As believers, could this be the wake-up call we desperately need? As non-believers, could this be the final call? I pray that through this, we would have a change of perspective, and would move towards a God-centric view of the Universe, rather than a me-centric, egocentric view of the Universe. I pray we would view our current struggles and troubles in light of the fact that God's ways are higher than our ways, God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, as high as the heavens are above the earth. I pray that this time would not be wasted on us. I pray it would not return empty and void, without accomplishing what God desires for it to accomplish in our lives. That's my prayer through all of this, what is yours? Where do you personally need to repent, think differently, change your mind and turn in God's direction? That's going to look different for each one of us. In what areas of your life, do you need a change of perspective, having a God-centric, and not egocentric view of the Universe? If we get specific, what are 3 things that you have started doing during this reset, reboot, restart, that you want to continue doing once everything goes back to "normal"? And what are 3 things that you were doing before this reset, reboot, restart that you want to be sure you don't go back to doing should things return to "normal"? What will your new normal be after all of this? Don't waste it. Don't let this time of refinement return empty and void and without accomplishing what God wants it to accomplish in your life!
I hope you were all able to celebrate the true power and hope we have because of Resurrection Sunday this past weekend. The reality is Jesus is with us in this current storm. When Jesus sees us, when Jesus sees our condition, our struggle, our brokenness, Jesus weeps. As we talked about this past Sunday, Jesus just plain ugly cries. His heart breaks. Jesus knows exactly what it will take to bring us peace, God's peace, a peace which surpasses all ability to understand. Jesus knows this peace will protect us. Jesus knows this peace will keep guard over our hearts and minds. Jesus knows this peace will act as a shield around us so that we do not need to fear. Jesus knows that he is the source of this peace. Without Jesus, there is no peace. Jesus desperately wants us to have his peace, and this is why when Jesus ugly cries over us and our condition, he says, "if you, only you, knew what would bring you peace". Ultimately Jesus laid down his life so that we could have his peace. As Isaiah's 700-year old prophecy proclaimed, "the punishment that brought us peace was on him." As Jesus so confidently assured the disciples both before his crucifixion, "my peace I give you", as well as after his resurrection, "Peace be with you!" Today, in the midst of our current troubles, we desperately need this peace. Jesus is our refuge, our shield and rampart who will guard our hearts and minds so that we can have peace of mind, even in the midst of the storm. He is with us. He has come to deliver us. In him and him alone, we are complete, whole, at rest. My prayer is that as this current storm continues, each of us will truly find our peace in Jesus and Jesus alone!
On Palm Sunday, Jesus enters the congested city of Jerusalem along with thousands upon thousands of other pilgrims, all in town to celebrate Passover, this annual celebration of God's deliverance of the Hebrew people from the hands of their Egyptian oppressors. This was a tense time, especially for the Romans, the Jewish people's current oppressors and overlords. If there was ever going to be a revolt against Roman tyranny, surely it would happen during Passover. So as Jesus enters the city, the people begin crying out "Hosanna", which literally means "Save Now! Deliver Now". This was their rallying call, like chants of "U.S.A." during the Olympics. The people start declaring of Jesus, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Both of these shouts of praise are shouts of expectation. Both references to Psalm 118:27-27, a messianic psalm looking forward to God's deliverance of his people once more. The crowds believe Jesus is the prophesied and long-awaited Messiah. So why do the crowds' shouts of "Save Now! Deliver now!" on Palm Sunday, turn to shouts of "Crucify Him!" on Good Friday? Well what happens when what you think and hope is going to happen, doesn't happen?
That's the question that we all need to wrestle with in the midst of this current storm we are in. I don't think there is a single one of us who doesn't want God to deliver us now, save us now, from this current trouble. We want immediate deliverance. We don't want this crisis to drag on indefinitely. We want to get back to life as usual, the way things were a little over a month ago. We, like the Jewish people 2000 years ago at the time of Jesus, are living under the oppressive regime of a foreign power. Not the power and might of Rome, but the power and might of COVID-19, the power and might of fear. We are desperate for deliverance. We cry out to God, "Hosanna! Save us now! Deliver us now!" We expect God to deliver us on our time, according to our schedules and agendas, and in accordance with how we want him to deliver us. We want our way, not his way. We want our will, not his will. We want our plans, not his plans. After all, we know better, right?
2000 years ago, God had a plan, and it was to save and deliver us from spiritual oppression. It was to save and deliver us from the power of sin, death, Satan, hell itself. It wasn't to save us from the next physical enemy, whether Rome or COVID-19 or whatever comes next. In this fallen, broken, sin-stained world we live in, there will always be another force, another power, that threatens to destroy our lives. Jesus came to save and deliver permanently, not temporarily. This world we live in is not heaven. Lower your expectations. If it were heaven, Jesus wouldn't need to come and rescue us. It is precisely because this world is fallen, broken, sin-stained, that we need to be rescued from it!
As we prepare for Good Friday on Friday, and Resurrection Sunday on Sunday, let's take some time to contemplate and consider 2 questions. Question 1: What expectations do you have of God? Write these out. Make a list. Be honest. What is it that you think God owes you? Long life, job security, health, wealth, achievement, accolades, recognition? Once you've written these down, go back and look at each one individually. What's the source of this expectation? Is this from God, and if so what Scripture do you have to back it up? Or is this from my Enemy, whose sole desire is to steal, kill and destroy me? If it's God truth, write TRUTH next to it. If it's Satan's lie, write LIE next to it. Question 2: What are you going to do if God's timing is not your timing? What are you going to do if God's ways are not your ways? What if God's will doesn't match yours? What if God's plans don't match up with yours? In our current circumstances, what if God delays in delivering us and saving us? What if he doesn't rescue us immediately? What if God is up to much more than we can currently see at the moment, like God was up to something much more than anyone could see the week of Palm Sunday through Resurrection Sunday?
At the end of the day, at the end of this storm, will we be shouting "Hosanna!, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" or will we be shouting "Crucify him!"? Will our faith remain strong, or will we turn our backs on God? This is a tough, but pertinent question. Ultimately, it may come down to the expectations we have of God, and whether they are true or false.
Hebrews 10:23 states, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." This Greek word translated "unswervingly" was used to describe how in the midst of a tempest or storm, a ship's captain would bind or restrain the ship's wheel and rudder with ropes in order to stay on course. Failure to "hold unswervingly" would result in shipwreck. We are all in the midst of a storm, perhaps the largest and scariest storm any of us have ever experienced in terms of size and scope. This storm will test our resilience. This storm will test if we truly believe in this hope that we profess to believe in as followers of Jesus. Is this hope true, or is it just a nice sentiment we sing about with our lips, but struggle to truly believe with our hearts and minds? Is God, the one we put our hope in, faithful? Will he deliver on his promises? The answer is yes. God is faithful. God keeps his promises. God keeps the promises he has made, but God does not keep promises that he has not made. And while God never promises us a problem-free, storm-free, pain-free, sickness-free, trouble-free, death-free life, God does promise us in John 16:33 that even though we will have trouble in this world, in Jesus, we can have peace. We can take heart because Jesus has overcome this world. This is why we need to hold "unswervingly" on to our hope in the midst of the storm!
Hebrews 10:24-25 gives us 3 strategies for holding on to hope in the midst of the storm. The first is to not give up meeting together. We need each other if we're going to hold "unswervingly". We cannot afford to abandon one another, desert one another, leave each other in a lurch or in dire circumstances. We need to be like the Giant Sequoias who don't stand alone, but stand together against the storms. Their roots are intertwined with one another, standing together as one. Second we need to encourage one another. We need to comfort and console one another. Third we need to spur one another on. We need to provoke, incite, stimulate, irritate one another on toward love and good deeds. Both encouraging and spurring is best done in relationship with one another, in connection with one another. We are not complete strangers, we are brothers and sisters in this together. We need to come alongside one another.
So the question in the midst of this current storm, is how do we maintain social distance, without creating relational distance, so that we can meet together, encourage one another, and spur one another on as we hold unswervingly on to the hope we profess? Well, we're going to have to get really creative aren't we? Here are a few suggestions. First, take advantage of technology to make it face to face. Use Zoom. Use Google Hangouts. Use FaceTime or Facebook Live. Share stories. Share pictures. Share prayer requests. Share song lyrics. Share Scripture. Second, take care of one another. See a need, meet a need. As part of this church body, if you need help, ask for help. We are all in this together. As a family, we're not going to let our brothers and sisters go without. Third, pray for one another. Praying for others, opens my heart to others. It gets me outwardly focused instead of inwardly focused. Prayer empowers me to be selfless rather than selfish. So pray for one another.
We can get through this storm if we do so together. Nobody's faith needs to be shipwrecked. We can all hold unswervingly on to hope through this storm. Let's lean into our relationships with one another and weather this storm!
Psalm 46 confidently begins, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." For many of us, it feels as if the world around us is shaking. The seas around us are in complete chaos. Our lives are being shaken to the core. In the midst of such uncertain times, is it possible for us to not fear? Is it possible for us to not be shaken? Or are those just empty and hollow words we sing with our lips, but not our hearts, in the latest worship song?
Perhaps the key to not being shaken during shaky times is found toward the end of Psalm 46 where it states, "Be still, and know that I am God." In other words, "cease striving and know, acknowledge, be aware that I am God." This brings up 2 key questions. First off, is it possible for us to know, acknowledge, be aware that God is God if we are never still? Second, is it possible for us to know, acknowledge, be aware that God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble, the reason we do not need to fear, if we never cease striving? Perhaps the perspective we need to take during our present circumstances, is this is a once-in-a-lifetime, system-wide opportunity for all of us to hit the reset button and reboot, restart. This is our chance to cease striving, be still, and have time to reflect, rethink, re-prioritize, rededicate, refocus our lives on what truly matters.
In Jeremiah 29:11, God makes this profound promise to the Israelites, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God makes this declaration as the Israelites are literally being dragged out of their homes, out of their villages and communities, out of their jobs and lifestyles, out of their families and out of their country into exile in Babylon. I guarantee that at this time, it didn't feel like there was any reason to have hope. It didn't feel like there was any future. The Israelites were in need of a serious reboot where they would re-prioritize God in their lives. The end result of this time of shaking is found in Jeremiah 29:12-13 = "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." May that be the end result of our time of uncertainty and shaking as well. May that be the end result of our reset, our reboot, our restart. May we call on God, pray to God, seek God and find God when we truly seek him with all of our hearts. May God and God alone be our refuge. May God and God alone be our strength. May God and God alone be our ever-present help in trouble. May God and God alone be the reason we do not fear. May we cease striving, be still enough so that we can hear our heavenly Father's voice reassuring us, "Remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I am for you and not against you! Nothing can separate you from my love!" May he draw each of us into a deeper and more vibrant relationship with Jesus!
We are living in historic times. None of us have ever faced anything quite like this before. Maybe we aren't sure how to respond? In the midst of this chaos and uncertainty, is it possible for us to have peace? Jesus made us this promise in John 16:33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus is clear, in this world we will have trouble, "thlipsis", this Greek word that literally means "pressure; being constrained, hemmed in, restricted without options". We live in a fallen, broken world. Tribulation and trials are inevitable. In this world, you just plain have trouble. If we are going to have peace in the midst of that trouble, we have to remember God's promises. Jesus promises us that in him, we can have peace. Peace is definitely a possible outcome for us.
Times like this will test the quality of the anchors that we have each anchored our hope, our faith, our lives in. When you rappel off of the proverbial cliff, will your anchors support you, keep you, hold you, or will you fall into the darkness of the abyss? As those who have anchored our hope in Jesus, this firm and secure anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19), we can have peace despite the "thlipsis" in these 3 amazing promises:
- God is with us always, even to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20)
- God is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31)
- Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)
Even though the word "covet" isn't a word we probably use on an everyday basis, "coveting" is something we probably all do on an everyday basis. When we see what others around us have, it is very easy for us to "crave, envy, lust after, begrudge, want, aspire to, have eyes on, long for, wish for" what others have. We are naturally jealous and envious creatures. The problem is this jealousy and envy often leads to ill will towards others. In this sense, God's Top 10 #10 deals with the root cause of many of the other relationship-destroying sins our Heavenly Father is trying to steer us clear of with the 10 commandments. #10 is aimed directly at the heart, at our minds, at our inner thoughts. After all, what happens when we covet our neighbor's house, our neighbor's spouse, our neighbor's job, our neighbor's personality, our neighbor's stuff? Coveting leads us to steal, kill & destroy others.
So what's the cure for coveting? #1, be content. #2, be grateful. #3, be giving. The reality is #1 leads to #2 and #3. It all starts with being content with what you have, as we talked about on Sunday, "compare down, not up". The reality is for every person who is above you, odds are, there are many more who are below or behind you. Unfortunately in our world, we are trained to always compare up to see what we're lacking, instead of comparing down and seeing how we've been blessed. Being content enables us to be grateful for our blessings. Gratitude repels coveting. Being content and grateful enables us to be giving, to look to others interests ahead of our own. Ultimately being content, being grateful, and being giving enables us to have healthy, life-giving relationships with one another.
Many of God's Top 10 present what we called "worst-case scenarios", a certain sin or violation carried out to its worst possible endpoint. When it comes to #9, the worst possible endpoint of giving false witness against our neighbor would be in a court of law where our testimony is a matter of life and death. What happens when people take the stand in a court of law and lie, stretch the truth, exaggerate, withhold key information? Justice becomes elusive. The guilty are set free and the innocent are condemned. And while most of us will probably never be in such an extreme situation, the reality is giving false testimony, lying about ourselves or others, is something which occurs every day in our world today. While we may not at first recognize how this can be deadly, we believe the lie that lies are harmless, we need to see the truth, which is that lies and giving false testimony, whether in a court of law or in the court of public opinion, are equally deadly. We destroy people's reputations. We kill people's good names. Lying breaks trust, which breaks relationships, which leads to a broken world. Ultimately while Satan is the father of all lies, our heavenly Father is the God of all truth. As God's adopted children, we need to reflect our heavenly Father's character, and not the character of our "birth" father. In a world consumed by lies, we need to be people of truth. Our father is a God of justice, so we should be children of truth and justice. So how are we doing?
In the original Hebrew, God's Top 10 #6 is only 2 words long, "no murder". While this may seem pretty simple, perhaps one of the only 10 commandments that we can all confidently assert "never have I ever" too, the reality is there is a whole lot more going on with this command than first meets the eye. While we may have never murdered anyone physically, how many of us have murdered someone relationally? Jesus takes #6 back to its root cause, all the way back to its inception and says if you've ever been angry at your brother or sister, you're guilty of breaking #6. Murder starts with the heart. So how do we prevent things like murder & assault, whether physical or relational? First off we need to follow Jesus' lead and love those who hate you. While that may sound unrealistic, perhaps a first baby step in the right direction would be to simply "bear with each other" and tolerate those you disagree with. Second we need to nip anger in the bud. We cannot afford to give the devil that kind of foothold in our hearts and lives. We must root out things like anger and hatred before they take root and have time to metastasize. Third we need to clothe ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Just like we choose the clothing we will wear each day, we need to choose to clothe ourselves in Jesus' character. In the end, murder is something we are all capable of. According to Jesus, relational murder is something we are all culpable of. Either way, murder is not the way to the full and abundant life that God, our Heavenly Father, desires for us.
Could the reason so many of us suffer physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, even spiritually, be because we never stop, we never cease, we never rest, we never stop? As the Creator of Life, our Heavenly Father knows a thing or two about how to live the best life possible, and shares that inside information with us in the 10 commandments, "God's Top 10". God's Top 10 #4 is a positive command, do this, not a negative command, don't do this. Our Heavenly Father tells us to "remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy". In other words, don't forget to take your day of ceasing, your day of desisting, your day of resting. Keep the Sabbath day separate. Treat it differently than you do every other day of the week. This is your day to stop. Our Father knows that if we work, if we are active nonstop, we will burnout. We weren't created to operate 24/7, we were created to need these natural rhythms of both work and rest. Plus, it is when we cease striving that we are able to know that He is God. It is in resting that we are able to acknowledge and become aware that He is God. So what are you doing to build in these much-needed Sabbath breaks in your busy schedule? How can you protect this time to rest, to be with your family, to laugh, play, relax, rejuvenate, refresh? How can you create this time and space to spend with your Heavenly Father so you can know him better? With our busy lifestyles, this is something we are going to have to be intentional about. We are going to have to be disciplined. Jesus promises us that if we will come to him, if we will move in his direction towards God's plans and blueprints for our lives, even if we are burdened, worn out, tired, Jesus will give us rest. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty good! Don't forget the Sabbath!
What does it mean to not take the Lord's name in vain? Is there more to God's Top 10 #3 then simply not having a potty mouth and watching your OMG's? If you think about it, there is something really special, and extremely powerful, about the fact that God has let us in on his name. God doesn't want to be complete strangers with us. God doesn't want us only knowing him in some distant way, calling him solely by his title and position, "Mr. God". God wants to be in a much deeper and more intimate relationship with us. He wants us to be on a first-name basis with him, so tells us his name, YHWH, I am! And now that he has revealed his name to us, how do we treat the name that is above all other names? Do we treat his name flippantly, as if it doesn't mean anything? Or do we treat his name as hallowed, set apart, distinctly special? Do we use God's name falsely to invoke his blessing, backing & support on things God has not blessed, backed or supported? Do we profane God's name by our lifestyles? As believers, do we damage God's name and reputation by our conduct, actions and words? At the end of the day, we bear our Heavenly Father's name. We represent YHWH! May our prayer each and every day be the same prayer that Jesus taught us, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by your name", today, tomorrow, and the day after that in my life!
If God's Top 10 #1 is all about who or what we worship, then God's Top 10 #2 is all about how we worship. There's a big difference between who and how! We as human beings are extremely creative and imaginative creatures. Look around you and you'll see evidence of human creativity in architecture, engineering, writing, art, etc. This capacity to create is what sets us apart from every other living creature on planet Earth. Could this be a result of our being created in God's own image? And what happens when we take that creative capacity and point it towards God? Here's what happens, we run the danger of creating our own versions of God, versions of God created in our own image. We put God in a box, a box of our own creating. But how can you put a God who is "indescribable, uncontainable, untamable" in a box? So here are 3 quick implications of God's Top 10 #2: 1. Don't Put God in a Box, 2. Discover God, Don't Create God, and 3. Worship God as God dictates.
One of the saddest verses in the entire Bible is Judges 2:10, "After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel." We often make the mistake of thinking that God's Top 10 #5, "honor your father & mother", is addressed primarily to all of the kids. As if God stops half-way through giving us 9 adult commands for a children's moment where he gives 1 child command. That's not the case. This command, and this bit of counsel and advice from our loving heavenly father, is just as much for us as parents as it is for the little ones. This word "honor" literally means "weight", "heaviness". Our kids should be able to give us as parents "weight", not because our words or commands to them are weighty, heavy & burdensome, but because we are worthy of trust and therefore weight. Just like our heavenly father, everything we do and say as earthly parents with our kids should be for their best interest, not ours. The Bible doesn't say who was to blame for a generation growing up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for them. The Bible doesn't fault the older generation for failing to pass their faith on, and the Bible doesn't fault the younger generation for failing to receive what the older generation may have been trying to pass on to them. The Bible just states fact, another generation grew up who neither the Lord nor what he had done for them. Will the same be said of us? Or will we do whatever it takes to raise up the next generation who both knows God and what God has done for us in Jesus?
What kind of year 2020 will be for you, and what kind of decade the 2020's will be for you, will be largely dependent on the health and quality of your relationships. What if God, as our loving Heavenly Father, knows that? As the Author of Life, the Giver of Life, the Creator of Life, the Sustainer of Life, our Heavenly Father knows how to live the best life possible. He has the inside scoop. He has inside information. So what if God, out of his great love for us as his children, has given us his top 10 list for how to have the best relationships, specifically your relationship with God and with others, and thus inside information on how to live the best life possible? Would you listen? Would you obey? Would you see God's Top 10 as a threat to your independence and autonomy or would you see God's Top 10 as a sign of his care and concern for us as a good, good Father? Over the next 9 remaining weeks of this series, we'll be taking a fresh look at the 10 commandments, and how they are as relevant to us today as they were 3300 plus years ago when Moses first brought them down from the mountain.
Believe it or not, this past Sunday we finished our KNOW series in Paul's letter to the Ephesians by rewinding to Ephesians 5:20 where Paul says, "always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." One of the key byproducts of understanding God's will for our lives and being filled with his Spirit is that we will become increasingly filled with gratitude. Our minds will be renewed and we will begin looking at our lives and our circumstances differently. We will come to understand that God doesn't owe us anything. We are not entitled to God's blessings. God's provision and protection are not inalienable rights that we are owed. This new perspective gives us the freedom to see every good and perfect gift as a blessing from our Father in heaven. The Pilgrims understood this reality, and so despite massive heartache and grief, were able to stop and give thanks to God for everything 398 years ago in the Fall of 1621 at the very first Thanksgiving. The question today is will we follow their example and recapture a heart of thanksgiving and appreciation for God's blessings? Will we choose to see things from a new "renewed" perspective? Will we foster gratitude? Will we express thanksgiving for the things and people God has blessed us with? This Thanksgiving, take some time to stop and consider everything you have to grateful for!
Are you dressed for battle? Are you prepared for the struggle which lies ahead? As Paul reaches the conclusion of his letter, he sums up his desires for us with 2 commands: "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power", and "Put on the full armor of God". Paul knows from first-hand experience what we are up against and knows that we need to be filled with God's power, God's might, and God's strength if we're going to overcome the Enemy. Paul knows we can't afford to go in to this battle unprepared, without our full armor on, or the Enemy will overcome us. Although we may not be aware of it, Paul has come to know that our struggle, literally our wrestling bout, is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual rulers, authorities, powers and forces of evil. This wrestling bout is personal. It's one on one. Our coaches, parents, team-mates and friends can cheer us on, support us, pray for us, encourage us, train us, but at the end of the day, its just us and the Enemy in the wrestling ring. And if we're going to overpower and thus overcome this Enemy who has battle-tested schemes, tactics, methods and strategies for defeating us, we're going to need God's power, God's might, God's strength at work within us! So what demons, literal or figurative, are you personally wrestling with? Where are you weak? Where are you vulnerable? You need God's power to overcome the Enemy! So "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power". "Put on the full armor of God!"
Because life can be "treacherous", we need to "pay attention" to how and where we walk! Because life is short, we need to be wise and make the most of every opportunity, redeeming each moment we have. Because God has a higher calling, a higher purpose, and a higher standard for our lives, we need to understand what God's will is for our lives. Do you know God's will for your life? While the specifics for you individually may not be clear, what is clear is God's general will for all believers. God's will for all of us is that we wouldn't be fools getting drunk on wine, but that we would instead be filled with his Spirit! God's desire is that we would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God! What are you filled with?
If you had one final message you wanted to pass along to your loved ones, what would it be? That's the impression we get with Paul's statement in Ephesians 4:1, "Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received!" What does it look like to live a life worthy of this higher calling, higher standard, higher purpose God has called us to? Paul gives us 5 standards, 5 diagnostic tests to determine if we're spiritually healthy and maturing in our faith, and curiously enough, they all have to do with how we relate to one another within the body of Christ. Now that we are all brothers & sisters in Christ, how do we maintain our one-ness? Well a good place to start is with humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another. So what does each of those look like in reality as we seek to live lives worthy of God's higher calling on our lives?
Right smack dab in the middle of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul stops and prays. In this prayer, Paul offers us a great template and example for how we should enter into and exit prayer. We should enter into prayer in humility and desperation, yet also with freedom and confidence as we make our requests known to our heavenly Father. We should exit prayer remembering that God is able, literally powerful enough, to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. We desperately need God's power at work in our lives: power to love the unlovable, power to forgive the unforgivable, power to overcome what seems insurmountable. It is only by God's power that we can do these things. God's power is not some force that works outside of us, God's power is a force that works within us, in our hearts, at the core and center of who we are. So when life is "gettin', gettin', gettin' kinda hectic", remember that because of Jesus, "I've got the power!" Use Paul's prayer as a template for how you bookend your prayers!
Is it possible for us to grasp what is un-graspable? How about know what is beyond knowing? Right in the middle of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Paul stops and prays that God would give us the power to grasp what is un-graspable and to know what is beyond knowing, namely, the love of Christ. He prays this so that the end result would be that Christ would dwell, literally make himself home, in our hearts. He prays this so that the end result would be that we would be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God! The reality is although Jesus became our Savior the second we received Jesus into our hearts and lives, the process of Jesus becoming our Lord is a much longer process. It's a lot more work on our part as we surrender our lives over to him and his Lordship one area at a time, one room at a time. Is there a correlation between our ability to experience the fullness of God in our lives and the amount that we are allowing him to be Lord?
This past Sunday in our KNOW series, we looked at Ephesians 2:11-22 and the background story behind Paul's ministry in Ephesus to the Gentiles and Paul's eventual arrest in Jerusalem because of his ministry to Gentiles. God's ultimate purpose in sending Jesus was both vertical and horizontal. Jesus made peace between us and God vertically, and Jesus has made peace possible between us and others horizontally. In the church, Jesus' purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of those formerly divided and separated from one another, whether because of race, language, socioeconomic status, favorite college football team, etc. Because of Jesus, we both have "access" to God. Because of Jesus, we are no longer estranged from God or one another. In the church we are now fellow citizens together of God's kingdom, fellow brothers and sisters in God's family, and fellow stones in God's new Temple. Jesus has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility between us. The church is the one place in society where all of those dividing walls should no longer exist. We are first and foremost fellow citizens, brothers & sisters, stones in God's Temple, and everything else a distant second!
In Jesus, God has delivered us out of danger, out of darkness, out of death. and into safety. Salvation is a good and perfect gift given to us out of God's great love for us. It's got absolutely nothing to do with our character, our nature, or our personality and everything to do with God's character, God's nature, and God's personality! Our Salvation is not a group project. It's not a "we" thing. Its 100% completely a "he" thing! It is not from ourselves! We have nothing to boast about. In fact if we're going to boast, we should boast about God and what God has done for us! When we accept this gift, we become new creations. We become God's "handiwork", his one-of-a-kind masterpieces, that he begins shaping, molding, carving, "re-creating" us in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. In this sense, we begin taking on the character, nature, and personality of our Re-Creator, and we become God's gift to the world, the physical manifestation of Jesus and the physical expression of his love to those still in danger, darkness and death. He uses us to deliver others out of danger and into safety. We have a part to play! So how is God preparing you? How has God been molding, shaping, carving, sculpting, painting you specifically? What people, circumstances and tests has God used to "re-create" you for good works which he prepared in advance for you specifically to do?
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." -- Ephesians 1:17
The more you know God better, the more you'll understand the unending reasons why we have to praise him! No matter what our present circumstances may be, if we can "zoom out" like Paul does in Ephesians 1:3-14, possibly the longest sentence in all of Greek literature, and get a glimpse of the bigger picture, a taste of everything God has done for us, then we can find reason to sing "blessed by your name" whether on the mountaintop or in the darkest of valleys. We may never be able to fully understand or comprehend the riches of what God has done for us with our limited, finite, 3-pound brains, but we can praise him for it anyways! Praise him for the mystery of our redemption and salvation! When you are feeling confusion, anxiety & stress, zoom out and remember all of the reasons you have to lift up your head to the heavens and praise him!
This week we see Gideon step up, step out, and take a bold stand, even if that meant he had to stand alone. Before God could use him to deliver the Israelites out of the hands of their enemies, Gideon had to take a bold stand for God. Gideon had to declare his allegiance and "bend the knee" to the one true God of Israel. In the end, this is a question we must each wrestle with each and every day. Who are we going to serve? Who are we going to listen to? Who are we going to trust and obey? Are we going to bend the knee to the world, to culture, to popular opinion, to comfort & safety OR are we going to bend the knee to God?
we began a new series in the life of the Old Testament character Gideon. We didn't actually get to the life of Gideon just yet, but looked at the circumstances which lead up to Gideon's life. Gideon lived during the time of the Judges, what you could call the Dark Ages of the Old Testament. This period of time that was after Moses, after Joshua, but before David when God sent "Judges", Avengers, Deliverers to save his people out of the hands of their enemies. Before they entered the Promised Land, God was abundantly clear. God set before them life and death, blessings and curses. Follow God, love God, honor God, worship God and God will give you life. God will bless you. If you fail to follow God, love God, honor God, worship God, and begin worshiping the false gods of the people around you, God will not bless you. God will not protect you. As Galatians 6:7 states, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Once in the land, Joshua declared in Joshua 24:15 = "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Each of us have a choice to make. As parents, we each have a decision to make. Who will we serve, love, follow, obey, listen to, cling to, worship, honor? Will we lead our families, our spouses, our households, those entrusted to our leadership, towards God or away from God? Will we boldly declare as Joshua did, "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"
We find meaning in every day when we look at our lives through the lens of what God wants to do through us.
What was the final domino in the chain of events leading to Jesus' crucifixion? The reality is Jesus laying down his life as God's "Passover lamb", paying our debt for sin, was God's will, God's plan from the beginning of time. This was the only way that we could be saved, rescued, redeemed from death to life. Like Dr. Strange in Avengers: Infinity War seeing 14,000,605 possible outcomes, potential futures, and only one resulting in the Avengers being victorious and defeating Thanos, so Jesus saw all of the possible outcomes, all potential futures, and knew there was only one way for us to be saved. Jesus is the only way to the Father. Ultimately the final domino in the chain of events leading to Jesus' crucifixion is you! Your future was on the line, and Jesus was willing to complete God's plan for your salvation!
Are you and I "hypocrites"? Are we actors playing a part? Are we seeking the approval and applause of men, or the approval and applause of God? Are we putting on a mask trying to impress others with our righteousness? Domino #3 in the chain of events leading to Jesus' arrest, mock of a trial, and crucifixion was Jesus challenging the religious authorities of his day. He knew their hearts. He knew their motives. They were more interested in protecting their power and position, then they were with preserving the truth. Their hearts were hard. Their eyes were blind. Their ears were shut. What about you and I? Are we willing to see Jesus for who he really was? Are we willing to listen to Jesus' words, even if they challenge us? Are our hearts open to receiving him?
If giving sight to a man born blind was not convincing enough proof that Jesus was far more than just an ordinary man, but the prophesied Messiah, then would raising a man who had been dead in the grave for 4 days be convincing? Is Jesus truly the Resurrection and the Life as he claimed to be? Would this miracle and sign open the eyes of the spiritually blind? And how exactly does God respond to our brokenness, to our struggles, to our weaknesses? What does he do when we question him like both Martha and Mary did, "Lord, if you had been here, this would not have happened!". What does he do when we are in pain, hurting, even when we lash out at him in confusion or anger? The answer is Jesus has compassion. Jesus has empathy. As it says so succinctly in John 11:35, "Jesus wept". This is ultimately why Jesus came to save, rescue and redeem. He didn't come to hand-out band-aids and Advil, temporary relief from the repercussions of sin and death. He came to provide us permanent relief from the everlasting repercussions of sin and death. He came to bring salvation. He came to deliver us into God's kingdom, where there will be no more weeping, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death.
Because of Jesus, we should be celebrating every day of the week, and every day of the year, that our future is no longer ash, it is resurrection! Because of Jesus, we have a hope and a future which cannot be taken away from us. Our End Game is resurrection when he will lead us out of the grave, out of captivity, and lead us to the Promised Land of heaven in a massive exodus! This is the hope we profess as followers of Jesus. This is the hope which gets us through our darkest days. Our story ends in victory over sin and death.
It's fantastic to see the initiative and responsibility our students have taken in leading at their school's FCA meetings this year. We're excited to share how God has been at work at Lanier High School.
It was a story that only God could write. Ken and Anne have been able to rise from what looked like the ashes into His glorious light.
When we face disappointment, we have 2 options, hear Pam's story as she navigates this journey.
From pushing her off the train tracks to leading her through the doors at RISING, it's a story God has been writing for years.
If Jesus were to personally ask you the question, "Who do you say I am?", what would your response be? Jesus took his disciples on a 25-30 mile field trip north to a specific place called Caesarea Philippi, pretty much just to ask them that question. In a world that has all kinds of different responses to the question "who do people say Jesus is?", the real question is "who do you say Jesus is?" Have you and I fallen victim to the modern mind-set that all roads, all paths lead to God? Do we feast at the table of modern-day pantheism, religious pluralism, picking and choosing from the various entrees and side-dishes offered on the buffet line of religion? Is Jesus one of many options to choose from? OR is Jesus and Jesus alone the way, the truth and the life? Is Jesus and Jesus alone our source? Is Jesus the only water that will truly satisfy? These are some deep questions that we all need to wrestle with. At the end of the day, at the end of days, it won't matter what people say, it will only matter what you say about Jesus. So what do you say? Who do you say Jesus is?
Long before the Great Commission, Jesus sent his disciples out on what I call a pre-Great Commission commissioning, or "short-term mission trip", in order to test the waters of ministry and prepare them for what lie ahead. Jesus knew that the lecture phase of their education in the safety of the classroom wouldn't be enough to prepare them for the difficult task which lie ahead, so he sent them out into the field for some much needed practical hands-on experience & training in ministry. Before they would be ready to take the message of Jesus to the world, he started them off where they were at, sending them out into "their" world. Jesus has a mission he is preparing us for as well. Jesus is our coach, our teacher, our rabbi, our guide. He accepts us where we are at, but beckons us into a deeper and more vibrant relationship with himself. He wants to use us to build his kingdom by preaching the gospel and healing the sick. He is sending us out into a hurting and dying world to shine his light. As we prepare for a weekend of doing just that with "From Hunger to Hope", let's be mindful of the mission God is sending us out on. Where is he calling us to go? Who is he calling us to love? Will we follow Jesus and leave the crowd or will we follow the crowd and leave Jesus? Our prayer is that RISING would be a church that is willing to follow and obey his call on our lives!
This past Sunday we began our Jesus Year 3 series as Jesus begins focusing more and more of his time and energy on his few remaining disciples. Time is limited and Jesus needs his true disciples to begin thinking differently. He needs them to change their minds, and to change the way they view non-Jews. He needs them to stop being so "dull". So what does Jesus do? He says "follow me" and he leads them down the Roman-build road from Galilee to Tyre & Sidon. He takes them out of their comfort zones and leads them someplace none of them, including himself, have probably ever been. And while in the region of Tyre & Sidon, Jesus attempts to teach them an important lesson about how he, the Messiah, is here to save all people, regardless of color, ethnicity, background, language, socioeconomic status, etc. The reality is Jesus accepts us where we are at, but he loves us too much to leave us there. He is always calling us deeper. He is always calling us into foreign, unknown territory. He is always leading us beyond the borders of safe, known, comfortable, as he calls us into a deeper and more vibrant relationship with himself. It took a long time, but the disciples eventually understood Jesus' heart for the lost, for all lost sheep, not just the lost sheep of Israel. What about us? Will we leave the crowd and follow Jesus into the unknown or will we leave Jesus, follow the crowd, and stay where we are?
If we're going to have the kind of marriages that God as our Heavenly Father intends for us to have, we have got to renew the way we view marriage and our spouses. God intended for us to be "one", to see each other as "one", to see the other as an extension of ourselves He created marriage to be a blessing and a gift, and it can only be that if we follow his instructions and guidelines. We need to be selfless and put the other's needs and interests ahead of our own. We need to be sacrificial. We need to lay down our lives. We need to train ourselves to have godly marriages. As husband and wife, we both need to actively pursue putting the other first. When we follow God's template, our marriages will get richer and richer, deeper and deeper, better and better, fuller and fuller. This is what God intended for you to mean when you said "I do!" So do you?
What are God's plans and intentions for our marriages when it comes to physical intimacy between husband and wife? As the Creator of sex, God designed sex to be far more than just physical. God designed sex to be physical intimacy. It is about husband and wife becoming one physically as an expression of their one-ness mentally, emotionally, socially, relationally, etc. Unfortunately, the Thief has stolen this gift God has given us, and has used it to cause a lot of pain, harm and destruction. Sex is a lot like fire. In the right context it is beautiful, warming and beneficial. In the wrong context it can quickly become dangerous, all-consuming, and deadly. The question is who are we listening to? Who do we trust? Are we trusting the Thief who comes only to steal, kill & destroy, or are we trusting our Heavenly Father who wants to give us life, and life to the full? If you missed this message, I would encourage you to watch it or listen to it online. As parents, we need to have a proper understanding of God's plans for sex so that we can help our kids. If we are married, we may need to rethink how we view the subject so that we can move towards health in this area of our lives. If we aren't married, why should we wait to open this special gift until we are married?
If you are married, what exactly did you say "I do" to, from God's perspective, when you got married? If you aren't married, but would like to be one day, what exactly does God want you to be saying "I do" to when you get married? If you aren't married and have no desire to be married, what does God desire for your family, friends & loved ones to mean when they say "I do"? As the Creator of marriage, what were God's original designs, plans & intentions for marriage? The reality is God gave marriage to us as a gift and blessing. Marriage was meant to benefit us, not hurt us. Unfortunately when we don't follow God's original plans, something which was created to be beautiful can often very quickly become ugly, painful, hurtful. We have to remember that God always wants the best for us. God's desire is to give us life, and life to the full. That means full life, abundant life, excessive life, more life, greater life in all aspects of life, including in our marriage. Unfortunately we also have an Enemy, the Thief who comes only to steal, kill and destroy. When you think about it this way, will we have marriages that overcome evil with good, or will our marriages be overcome by evil? If our marriages are going to overcome, we need to be "&" marriages where we see husband and wife as one. One body. One flesh. One substance. One. No longer two, but one. Not in competition with one another. Not adversaries and opponents each trying to get their way and prevail over the other. Not business partners or some other contractual relationship. Truly one, on the same team, fighting together as team-mates and soul-mates against the Enemy. This week, we were challenged to consider 3 hard questions: 1. Am I a blessing or a curse to my spouse? 2. Am I my spouse's team-mate or my spouse's opponent? 3. Do I have an "&" in my name. Take some time to evaluate yourself, not your spouse. How are you doing? What can you do to move in the direction of God's original plans, desires and intentions for your marriage?
As we close this series, we're really excited to share the story of his faithfulness through the lives and story of the Brophy's.
If we are going to overcome evil with good, we need to give blessing. Even if this is extremely hard to do, we need to choose to do what is hard, what is difficult, because this is what God has called us to. This is what it means to follow Jesus. This is what being a disciple of Jesus looks like. Paul tells us in Romans 12:14, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse". In Romans 12:17 he says, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil". In Romans 12:19 he tells us, "Do not take revenge." Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:9, "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called..." The question is what are you prepared to do? What are you willing to do because you are a true disciple of Jesus, one who has left the crowd in order to follow Jesus, one who when Jesus asks, "are you going to leave me to?", responds like Peter, "where else are we going to go Jesus?" Will you 4GIVE? Take some time this week to fill out your 4GIVE "commitment card". This is between you and your Heavenly Father, between you and your Sustainer, your Provider, Your Lord & Savior. Write down 2 names and a number, your first steps in overcoming evil with good.
In a world that is often chaotic, dark, angry and hostile, how do we as followers of Jesus keep ourselves from being overcome by evil? That's the question we're asking as we near the end of our series 4GIVE. Paul challenges us that the only way to overcome evil is with good. We need to actively and aggressively triumph over evil with good, and that's not easy, but that's what Jesus is asking us to do. The reality is that's what Jesus first did for us. We love because he first loved us. We give because he first gave to us. We give forgiveness because Jesus first gave forgiveness to us. Instead of sending us away, Jesus has sent away the sins we have committed against him. Will we now do the same for others? Will we give forgiveness to those who have sinned against us? We as believers in Jesus should be the most gracious and forgiving people around. To triumph over evil, we must learn to forgive. We must understand how God has forgiven us. We must choose to forgive. We must practice forgiveness.
If we are going to overcome evil with good, not only do we need to give "unmerited & undeserved grace & favor", but we need to give financially. We need to give generously, cheerfully, willingly, exceedingly, expectantly! We get to partner with God in what He is doing, and we should see that as an amazing honor and privilege. We shouldn't give financially out of coercion. We should give excitedly, expectantly knowing God is going to use our financial offerings to further his kingdom, his plans, his desires in this world. If we as Jesus' disciples fail to give, think about how that enables & empowers darkness and evil to spread. What happens if ministries and individuals who are doing good and triumphing over evil, are essentially starved out of ministry for lack of funding and resources? As individuals, couples, families, we need to take some time to "decide" in our hearts what we will commit to give. This is a commitment. This is a conscious decision of the will, not a spontaneous emotional response.
In 2019, will you and I be overcome by evil, or will you and I choose to overcome evil with good? The reality is if we remain passive, docile, ambivalent or asleep, odds are we will be triumphed over by evil. Darkness will be victorious over us. Our lives will be defeated by negativity and depression. Our world will get darker over the remaining 356 days of 2019. But what if we choose to actively and aggressively overcome evil with good? What if we refuse to be victims of darkness and instead choose to be victors over darkness? How might our lives and our world get lighter and brighter over the next 356 days of 2019? If that's going to happen, if we're going to overcome evil with good, then we as Jesus' disciples need to learn to 4GIVE. We need to choose to give the world, and when I say world I mean people, 4 very difficult and very hard things to give. The first of which is unmerited & undeserved grace & favor. The only reason we can give unmerited & undeserved grace & favor is because we have been given unmerited & undeserved grace & favor by God. Grace isn't easy to give, especially in a world full of annoying self-involved people. Grace is what this world needs, and grace is what our heavenly Father is asking us to give.
The crowds have been following Jesus for months now, but how many in the crowds have truly put their hope and faith in Jesus? Like we talked about this past Sunday, how many are truly reaching out to Jesus in a way where "power" is going out from him like with the bleeding woman? How many are desperate enough the seek Jesus with everything they've got, like Jairus? How many have ears to hear? How many are the good soil? In a similar way, how many in the rush of Christmas are actually tapping into the true significance of Christmas? Do we have receptive hears to receive the gift that God has given us?
If a nonbeliever were to ask you what is the big whoop with Christmas, how would you answer them? At Christmas we celebrate that the light of the world stepped down into our darkness. God became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel." Out of his great love for us, God came to us. God crossed "the Great Divide" that existed between us and Him. There was no mountain he wouldn't climb over, no sea he wouldn't cross, no storm that could stop him, no wall or barrier that could keep him away from us! He came to us who were trapped in darkness, enslaved in the Devil's territory. Just like Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee for a demon-possessed Gentile who called himself Legion, so Jesus has crossed the Great Divide for us. That is something worth celebrating!
It's so much more than just a week at the beach. Beach Camp with RISING Students is a life changing experience.
You are a child of God, not because you are good, but because his grace is good. Jesus is the measure of your acceptance.
As we talked about in this past Sunday's message, "entitlement is the killer of gratitude." It is very difficult for us to appreciate and be grateful for that which we feel we are entitled to, owed, and deserve. What does God owe us? What do we deserve because of our sin? We are entitled to complete rejection by God. He should say "get away from me!" We are owed death. That is the paycheck we have earned. Yet what does Jesus offer us? He offers us grace, acceptance & forgiveness. All unmerited. All undeserved. And if we truly understood this, our response would be more like the penitent prostitute than the self-righteous Pharisee. We would welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives. As Jesus said, "he who has been forgiven little, loves little". This Thanksgiving, may we understand how much we have been forgiven for, and thus love much, and not little. May we be appreciative, grateful, and give God the love he is due.
If you were a senior in high school and your high school guidance counselor told you, "unless your GPA, your SAT and ACT scores, your extra-curricular activities, your letters of recommendation, your resume all surpass that of the class valedictorian, you will certainly not get into college", what would you have thought? That's the basic nutshell version of Jesus' most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus challenges the religious notions, beliefs & practices of his day. Jesus' point being that we cannot make ourselves righteous enough to be accepted into God's kingdom. It's impossible! We need help. We need a Savior, which is why out of God's great love and mercy, God sent us just that! It is through Jesus, and Jesus alone, that we are made righteous in God's sight, and thus acceptable. Jesus is our way into heaven.
This past Sunday we saw Jesus extend the boundaries of his "ex-oo-see-ah" as he boldly declared before the Pharisees and teachers of the law that he has the power, the weight, and the authority to forgive sins on earth. Unfortunately, instead of recognizing Jesus' "ex-oo-see-ah", verified by Jesus' clear miracles, and becoming disciples of Jesus, the religious leaders of Jesus' day were instead threatened by the potential loss of their "ex-oo-see-ah", and thus sought reasons to accuse Jesus, charge Jesus, find fault with Jesus, defame & dismiss Jesus. This is the path of the Pharisees: vehemently, if necessary violently, oppose anyone who threatens your power, weight & authority. Unfortunately this is the path many follow today, especially in the politically charged and divided culture we find ourselves in today. Don't listen, just scream and rant and rave and find fault, whether there is fault to be found or not, in those who disagree with you. Is this the path we are supposed to tread as followers of Jesus? Who do you want to follow? Do you want to be a Pharisee? Or do you want to be a sheep? As the song goes, "I don't want to be a Pharisee, because a Pharisee ain't fair you see, I don't want to be a Pharisee." My hope and prayer is we would choose to follow Jesus, that we would be his sheep, following his example and his lead, even if it's a more difficult path. That we would be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control, in a world that so often seems out of control. May we shine a different kind of light!
We had the chance to create an event where we brought our international missions partners to church and gave them the opportunity to share their vision and mission with the greater church body. It was such a blessing to have these 'workers' in the same room with us, sharing what God has called them to do.
Is Jesus afraid of our mess? Does Jesus run away from us and our sin as if we were untouchable lepers? If we will just humble ourselves before Jesus and ask him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus is willing, and will not only heal us, but is willing to touch our area of pain & infection. So what strongholds and lies of the enemy need to be eradicated from your heart and soul? What areas of infection do you need to turn over to Jesus, knowing that the Great Physician is the only one with the power, weight & authority to make you well?
Our prayer as a church body is, "Lord, undo me, as I pursue thee, for you are worthy!" We can be joyful and worship God in spite of our circumstances because we are not victims, we are victors in Christ. Everything has been won for us in Jesus. Our future is secure. We have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade!
This week in our Jesus Year Two series, we saw Jesus' light really begin to shine as he displayed his "power, authority & weight" over not only the physical world, but the spiritual world! The crowds following him were forced to answer the question, "who is this Jesus guy?" Although the crowds struggled to figure out who exactly Jesus was, there was no doubt who Jesus was in the eyes of the demons. They knew exactly who Jesus was: the Holy One of God, the Messiah, God's Deliverer. We need to be mindful that our struggle, our wrestling bout, is not with flesh and blood, but with our very real spiritual enemy who may have power, authority & weight in this broken, fallen world, but who is ultimately no match for Jesus! We need to cast out the enemy's lies. He no longer holds any power, authority & weight over us except that which we misguidedly choose to concede to him. In Jesus we have the victory!
"The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." This past Sunday we began our Jesus: Year 2 message series asking the question "what are the odds?" What are the odds that Jesus randomly fulfilled dozens of Messianic prophecies written hundreds of years before Jesus was born? That's the question the gospel writer Matthew is asking us to consider as he quotes Isaiah 9 and points to one fulfilled prophecy after another when it comes to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. What are the odds Jesus would be born in Bethlehem according to Micah 5:2, be a political refugee in Egypt in Hosea 11:1, and start his ministry in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali in Isaiah 9:1-2? The reality is we are those people living in "thick darkness", in a land filled with "the looming presence of death". The odds of our succumbing to death are 1 in 1. The odds of our overcoming death are zip, zilch, none. So Jesus has arrived on the scene, just as God foretold through his prophets. The solution has arrived. The remedy is here. God's answer to our problem of sin and death is Jesus. Jesus is the light dawning in our darkness.
This week Sarah shares a great message about what our response to offense may be. It's something we can accomplish daily.
This summer we headed to Washington DC on our missions encounter for students. We had the chance to sit down with Maverick and Andy to talk about their experience.
We are Christ's ambassadors, God's co-workers, and children of light! The same God who spoke light into the darkness at Creation, has spoken light into our darkness when we became new creations. As his children, our prayer should be let your reign, your kingship, your authority & kingdom be established here in my small piece of the earth, just as it is in heaven. Our prayer should be let your will, your wishes, your desires be birthed here in my personal portion of the earth, just as it is heaven. When we truly seek these 2 things, God will be able to truly use us as his ambassadors, his co-workers, and his children of light shining in the darkness.
At RISING we are very invested in what happens around the world as well as right here in our back yard. This episode we had the chance to sit down with Katie Hove and member and partner here at RISING and talk about the Path Project. This is a ministry started in Buford by Katie after it's been in Georgia for a few years now. I trust this conversation is encouraging to you as it's been to me.
In May this year we sat down with Mike during the Memorial Day service and he mentioned the idea of prevenient grace and how it's played out in his life since the 1970's. You'll hear about near death experiences, skydiving, motor cycles and semi-trucks. This is really going to bless your day as you hear Mike's story.
Are you a self-imposed victim of identity theft? Have you allowed your true identity in Christ to be stolen from you because you haven't aggressively held on to who God says you are because of your relationship and connection with Jesus? The foundation of who you are is you are an adopted child of God! As 1 John 3:1 says, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" Until we take the initiative and hold on to this truth with all we have, we'll continually wrestle with our self-esteem, our self value, our sense of worth, our identity, our confidence, our peace, our assurance. This is the bedrock upon which our true identity is built! God has placed this amazing offer in front of each of us. He's given us the authorization to refer to him as Daddy, this term of immense intimacy and personal connection. We are his beloved!
In the middle of this message, Aaron refers to 2 clips from America's Got Talent, which you can watch here, as well as here starting at the 1:26 second mark. This Sunday we'll be at RISING Weekend, where Chuck will continue building upon this idea of God as our Father as we dive into the richness of the Lord's Prayer.
AGT video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RMj640xVNg (0:00-4:49)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFy5XyZsUeo (1:26-5:28)
Financial Peace University has been a classroom setting opportunity created by Dave Ramsey with the primary goal of giving people financial freedom in their lives. We offered this class at RISING Church in late spring of 2018 and we have the chance to hear the impact this class has had as we talk to David and Tommy. We hope you enjoy this podcast episode.
Have you ever wrestled with your identity, your purpose, your self-esteem, self-value or who exactly you are? Do you have confidence, peace, assurance & strength in who you are? Over the next few weeks at RISING we'll be asking the key question, "who are you?" Who are we because of Jesus and why should knowing who we are because of Jesus give us a peace which surpasses understanding, a confidence & assurance even in the midst of the storm, and a proper, healthy self-esteem.
In early June RISING Students took a team of rising 7th and 8th graders to Bayou La Batre on a missions encounter. They had the chance to serve with each other along with YouthWorks by painting home, leading kid's club and lots more. Katie and Coco take a few minutes to share their experience with us.
Chris is a good friend and great servant as he serves in the Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This is a great opportunity to get to know Chris a little more and understand what he's doing to serve others.
This week, Jalen, our Rising Student Pastor shared about a life principle we should be in line with. So many of us are satisfied with the bare minimum, but so much more is possible. We need to learn what it means to Ask, Seek and Knock.
Every 4 years we enjoy the World Cup and this summer we took advantage of the opportunity to invite our friends from RPL to join us at RISING Church for the morning. It was a great morning. We're excited for everyone who was able to make this morning a reality.
This "royal official" from Capernaum was willing to inconvenience himself greatly to go to Jesus in Cana, walking uphill 25 miles to find Jesus. Once he found Jesus, this "royal official" was willing to humble himself and make his need known to Jesus. He swallowed his pride as an important government official, and begged Jesus to come down to Capernaum and heal his son. And finally, when Jesus said "Go, your son will live", this royal official took Jesus at his word and acted accordingly. We wrestled with the question, are we willing to take these same 3 key action steps when it comes to our sons & daughters? The reality is as Fathers, we have been appointed by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to play a very special role in the lives of our kids. This is our royal assignment. So how are we doing as "royal officials"? Are we following this "royal official's" lead and example?
This past Sunday, Jesus tried to explain some deeper spiritual truths to Nicodemus, one of the 71 most highly educated men in 1st century Judaism. What does it mean to be born again? How is it possible for us to be made new, to be washed of our sins, to be made acceptable before a holy & righteous God? Although our solution may be denying we have a problem of sin or seeking to make ourselves acceptable through religion and self-righteousness, God has provided us with the answer to the venom of sin which corrupts our hearts, our lives and our world. The solution is Jesus. The solution is Jesus lifted up on a pole that all who look to him shall be saved. It is by faith in Jesus that we are born again, born afresh, born of the Spirit! So who are you putting your hope, faith & trust in?
We had the chance to share some thoughts and ideas for the next few months at this special meeting called by the elders at RISING Church.
If you have any questions or would like to add to the conversation with suggestions and/or recommendations, please email elders@risingchurch.org
This past Sunday we witnessed the very first miracle of Jesus, "a sign given to corroborate, authenticate, validate" that Jesus was much more than just a man. The question is did Jesus do this miracle at the prodding and pushing of his earthly mother Mary? Did God use Mary to help push God's one and only son across the starting line towards the finish line of redeeming all of mankind?
As many of you may know we just had a team return from an experience in Israel and unlike years past, we are looking forward to what we may do now to make it possible for anyone interested in going in 2020.
This is a recording of this past week's information meeting introducing anyone interested in going in the spring of 2020.
The practice of comparison can be a dangerous place to find yourself and one to be avoided, most of the time. The final statement needs to be knowing you are called by God removes the need to compete with people.
Apologies for the poor sound, something we'll have fixed next week.
This past Sunday in our "Jesus: Year One" series, we were introduced to the very first followers of Jesus. Some of these future world-changers were deliberately seeking out the Savior, while others were brought to Jesus by others who first sought them. Some were "lead with their heart" followers, and others were "lead with their mind" followers. Jesus' team was not cookie-cutter! There is great diversity of background, personality, even perspective in the body of Christ. Yet God has a place for each and every one of us on his team! We have a part to play!
We had the chance to visit Isreal and have some amazing experiences there. Jerry and Lisa sat down with us and shared some of their more memorable stories from their time.
Our hope and our goal is to return to Israel in 2020 and create another opportunity for people to visit the Holy Lands. We'll have an important information meeting on May 6th right after the service.
rising church.org
Jesus suffered when he was tempted, just like we do. He understands physical frailty. He understands what it feels like to be tired, to be weak, to feel alone. He understands what it feels like to be physically or spiritual oppressed and attacked. Yet in the midst of his suffering, Jesus kept his eyes on God's promises so he could weather the storm. Jesus has shown us the way out of temptation, which is through clinging to the truths of God's Word rather than the lies of our enemy Satan. If we don't defeat the lie with the truth, the truth is the lie will defeat us!
As part of the SENT series at RISING Church this past fall we've been able to send out various family and adult mission encounters and this conversation is with mother and daughter, Kimberly and Camden sharing their experience going to Haiti with Young Life | Haiti.
risingchurch.org
We are very comfortable with the divinity of Jesus, but what about His humanity? Did Jesus ever think about His identity in the same way we do? At the site of his baptism, God gives Jesus three very important statements that would have put Jesus at ease in His identity and allows us to have the same.
We've had the great chance to know Harrison and his family over the past few years and we wanted to take the opportunity to share the beginnings of their story in the way they are changing lives.
This past Sunday we dove into the deep end of our new series, Jesus: Year One, as we wrestled with this concept that Jesus is both fully human and yet also somehow fully divine. Jesus is both 100% God and 100% human! As we talked about, we're probably a whole lot more comfortable with a 100% God Jesus than we are with a 100% human Jesus. But what if Jesus really was fully human? What if Jesus really does understand our struggles, our difficulties, our pains and our sufferings? What if he didn't get a free pass and get to walk through life without "sunburns" and constant unending "tests...tests"?
For more, be sure to visit risingchurch.org
Camp Chaos is coming and we're excited to get you informed about what to expect. We sat down with Mia to go over what you may expect, asked about the why and dug into the how.
Hopefully if you're interested in being part of Camp Chaos, this will be a great tool for you to know what's coming.
As we celebrate Easter this year, we are kicking off a new series called Year One. This is part one of three, looking at the ministry years of Jesus while here on earth.
After a long time of thinking about what we could do next to engage more people in the stories of what God is doing at RISING Church, we created a channel to do that, a RISING Church Podcast.
We wanted to share something that was easy, convenient, sharable, relevant and relatable. We hope you're excited about what's to come and where we will go next as we capture and share God's stories through RISING Church.
Every few months we have the chance to hear the stories of God in the lives of people who go to RISING Church. It's very simple, God is at work in the lives of people and we take a moment to share that. Today, you'll have the chance to hear from Chandra, David, Michael and Melodi.
risingchurch.org
We had the chance to serve alongside RISING's Mission Partners here in the city of Atlanta for 4 days this spring. Today on the podcast we get the chance to hear a few stories from 2 of those participants, Brendan Kaplan and Robin Axelberd.
risingchurch.org
Now that the outside wall was completed we look to the inside and what truths we can gleam from the second half of the book of Nehemiah.
The next chapter in the story of Nehemiah centers around Nehemiah 5 and what personal sacrifice may look like in our attempts to move from RUIN to reBUILD in our world and our lives.
If you want to move an area of ruin & devastation in this world or in your own personal life to a place of renewal & "rebuilt", the first step is you have to have PASSION, the second step is you need to PERSEVERE in PRAYER, the third step is you need to PREPARE a PLAN, and when God opens the door, PROCLAIM it, the fourth step is PARTNERSHIP, and the fifth step is PERSEVERANCE. Remember the movie "Field of Dreams" and the line "if you build it, they will come?" Well if you rebuild, the "they" in "they will come" could very easily represent opposition. Not everyone wants to see you succeed. There are always people, forces & institutions which benefit from areas in our world or in our personal lives remaining broken and in ruins. So how do we PERSEVERE despite inevitable opposition? We must pray honestly, we must pray and post, we must pray and remember that God is "great" and God is "awesome", and we must pray for strength.
This Sunday morning we'll continue into the back half of our series, "reBUILD: life lessons from Nehemiah". If you want to move an area of ruin & devastation in this world or in your own personal life to a place of renewal & "rebuilt", the first step is you have to have PASSION, the second step is you need to PERSEVERE in PRAYER, the third step is you need to PREPARE a PLAN, and when God opens the door, PROCLAIM it, and the fourth step is PARTNERSHIP. Although one person's actions can have a massive impact on those around them, and although one person can be the spark that ignites the flames, it is only when we truly work side-by-side next to one another as partners, that we can accomplish great change. We can accomplish more together than we ever could on our own.
To move from RUIN to REBUILT we have to see insight in the life of Nehemiah. He had a passion, he prayed persistently and this week we will see he Prepared a Plan.
We are looking at ways that we can partner in prayer with each other in the process of moving things from RUIN to REBUILT.
Are you using a flashlight or a spot light? Such a great analogy to explore as we conclude our SENT series this fall as well as the commitment to go on a mission experience this year from everyone at Rising Church.
If our goal is to make disciples, how do we do that? If we went back to the Basics and looked at the Bible, we might find some good insight.
If we modeled the way the church started, what results can we expect? Are you able to avoid the iChurch mentality that is so prevalent today? I think we can, and we have some guidelines to help.
We've had the chance to hear the recap of the summer mission strips by our Rising Students, primary the Costa Rica and Cape Town teams. We got to hear stories, watch the recap videos and see the dramas performed while in those countries. We also enjoyed an introduction to Jalen Sowell, our new Rising Students youth pastor.
People who endure in building the kingdom of God are captivated by hope, they see the immeasurable value in doing the possible and are rooted in the Father's delight.
We cannot understand how good it is for us unless we have a good understanding of how bad it was.
This is the finale to this series in Philippians. We will learn to hold on and persevere.
It's a picture of humility and servitude as we celebrate Mother's Day at Rising Church.
Every chapter of Joseph's story prepared him for the next and the next. In our lives that is very true as well. If Joseph was promoted before he was ready, he would not have been fully prepared for the responsibility given him.
We had the chance to celebrate Easter as a family at Rising this week and continue in the study of the story of Joseph. We will see some of the parallels in his story with the life of Jesus.
Our third grade class has what we call Bible Blitz. An opportunity to receive the own Bible and the tools given to know how to read, understand and value the Bible
"Temptation is not temptation if it's not tempting". Joseph is faced with a difficult situation and his response is a lesson for us all as we think about how to deal with temptation when it comes knocking.
In this second sermon on the Story of Joseph, we get to hear the story of how his brothers moved from jealousy to their final plan. It's a picture of when sin, no matter how "small" is given opportunity to grow and fester and where it may lead.
As we kick off the Joseph series, an understanding of where Joseph came from is really important. The depth of his family tree will offer some interesting background.
Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but a spiritual one. In a balanced life we have to BE AWARE, BE EQUIPPED AND BE PRAYERFUL.
We're talking a look at what balance in a marriage might look like. Is it just about happiness or is it about holiness as well.
There are many questions the church needs to wrestle with and finding balance is a must.
This week we will look at spiritual balance and what it takes to lead a balanced life in that area.
We are starting a new series about what a balanced life needs to be like. There are so many facets of life and keeping them in balance allows so much more.
In this Sunday's service we are looking at the well known Christmas story, but comparing the reaction of the inn-keeper in Bethlehem to the that of inn-keeper in the book of Acts.
This Sunday we have the priviledge to hear from Sarah Delotelle share her heart and what the Lord has to share with us through her.
We're kicking off our Christmas season with this series as we take inventory of the things that are truly most important during this time of year.
“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on.” - Battle Hymn of the Republic
This weekend we are moving through the book of Revelation and we find ourselves in Chapter 9-11.
Week 5 is the continuation of our series in the book of Revelation. It's the unveiling of what's in the scrolls that the Lamb gets to open.
This week we are in Chapter 6 and 7 as we see Jesus begin to open the scrolls.
*We did have some technical difficulties with this recording so we only have an audio recording and it is missing 4 minutes in the middle of the sermon and the last 8 minutes. Thanks for understanding.
We are kicking off our series in the book of Revelation this week with a look at the history of the world in this sermon.
We celebrated a great 4 years as Rising Church and as we look to the future, we are excited to be the tip of the spear as we venture into what God has for us.
When we have the desire to know the heart of God, what are the 3 lies that we can find ourselves believing?
We are taking this last week in the Book of James and talking about seeing Church as family we're part of and not an event we attend.
We have moved to Chapter 4 in our study in the book of James. This week we look at the battle we fight as we choose to follow the world of God.
We're continuing our series in the Book of James. We move to Chapter 2 and see what Aaron has to share.
Week 2 lays the challenge out in 3 simple statements. Humbly Accept | Look Intently | Do What It Says
Our new series is in the book of James, one of the most practical and easy to understand books of the Bible, yet also one of the most difficult to actually live out on a daily basis. One of the questions we asked ourselves this past week was "Do you truly want to be mature, full-grown in your faith?"
As we celebrate the fathers in our community of faith at RISING Church we are reminded of the ultimate father. We are given opportunity to call him ABBA Father. What an incredible freedom.
Sarah shares her personal story of faith, perseverance and trusting God for more than she can see at this present time. This is such a great story from someone who all know so well.
As we wrap up the series this week we are challenged with the question, "Can Jesus become to familiar?" We will look at the encounter Jesus' brothers had with him as well as concluding our personal stories of encounters with Jesus while in Israel with Lynne Litchfield
Jesus encountered three of the most powerful men in the world at the time on the same day. From these encounters we can see the reaction of these leaders to this encounter. We will also hear the stories of personal encounters from Jean and Sherry Parets who were able to join the Israel trip earlier this spring.
We are continuing our series with people who have encountered Jesus in the Bible as well as today. We are sharing the encounter of Robin Auer from her time in Israel this last spring.
The encounters with Jesus series continues this week as we hear from Tommy and Julie Terrell as well as the story of the woman at the well.
We are introduced to Legion, someone you might have thought was outside God's reach. You will also hear the encounters that Trish and Ken had on their recent trip to Israel.
We are kicking off a new 6 week series and we're excited to highlight the team that spent time in Israel this past spring and have them share their encounter with Jesus while on that trip.
Waiting is something no one really wants to do, but it is one of the most important practices we can have. Here is the story of Samuel and Saul and how this story is a great example of this session.
This is session 3 of the 318 weekend at Rising Church highlighting the plight of refugees and our response as a Church
This is session 2 of the 318 weekend at Rising Church highlighting the plight of refugees and our response as a Church
As we close the series this week we are focussed on Deliberate. The third D. What are we called to be deliberate about?
When God created marriage he created it to be good. He created so that we may delight in each other. The take away this week is that as we delight in each other, we would Date, Discuss and Do it Differently if needed.
If we liken the Christian walk to that of a wide receiver, our goal everyday is simple. Get in the huddle, know your opponent, execute the play and keep your eye on the ball. Listen and watch as Chuck explains this in greater detail.
On Valentine's Day 2016 we are kicking off a new series with the emphasis on marriage. Part 1 we are looking at God as the Designer, Deity and Daddy of marriage. He created it for us as picture of the love and sacrifice he has for us, His bride.
At the end of the sermon, think about these 3 questions/statements. 1. What difference would it make to look at your marriage in 3D? 2. What if I looked at my marriage as God designed it? 3. Start viewing your marriage as a picture of what Jesus does for us.
The best way to prove the truth of the Bible is in the lives of those who read it and live out the changes daily.
As the conclusion to this series we are looking at the Bible on Trial and using prophecy as an indicator for it's truth and validity.
This week the Bible defends itself as we look closely at anthropology and archeology. For next week be sure to read Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
This week we are asking the question why you believe the Bible to be true. Aaron examines so great questions as we learn to love God with our mind.
We are reaching the climax of our series this Christmas as we look at a classic carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing
We are taking a closer look at the Christmas Carols we might hear every year around Christmas time.
We are challenged to: Create Space for Jesus this Christmas
- Listen more closely
- Reshuffle your playlist
- Ask the Lord to help you
A study in the book of Hebrews. If Jesus has taken care of our past and the future in Him is secure, it should change the way we live in the present.
A Study in the book of Hebrews. During Part 3 we wrestle with the idea of is Jesus > Religion.
A study in the book of Hebrews. For this week we have to wrestle with, "Where does Jesus rank in our lives?"
This series is a through book of Hebrews. In Part 1 Jesus asks his disciples, " Who do you say I am?"
When God makes a promise, he keeps it. In the story with Abraham, it's an unconditional promise.
We have started a series about arguably one of the most influential people in the entire Bible - Abraham
Aaron kicks off the fall sermon series with an introduction to our Groves study this semester as we look closer at the interaction of Mary and Martha with Jesus in the Gospels.
Are you willing to accept, run with and pass the baton in the lifetime you've been given? As a church we want to be known for being great baton passers.
Are you willing to accept, run with and pass the baton in the lifetime you've been given? As a church we want to be known for being great baton passers.
Are you willing to accept, run with and pass the baton in the lifetime you've been given? As a church we want to be known for being great baton passers.
Are you willing to accept, run with and pass the baton in the lifetime you've been given? As a church we want to be known for being great baton passers.
The summer of 2015 was a great one and the staff at Rising Students had the chance to lead the service this week as they shared about their experience in Thailand and Costa Rica. We also heard student testimonies from each of these trips.
We are made for relationship with God, but also with the need to be in relationship with those sitting in the seats around us.
We are known BY an all-knowing, everywhere God, known AS a child of God and known FOR relationship with Him
We get the chance every few months to hear the stories of people at Rising and how the Lord is working in their lives.
Grady stepped in to share a message about the truth that you are loved, above all else.
The 5th Sunday on May we created a service called ALL IN. It was an opportunity to invite Rising Kids to be part of the larger church body on a Sunday morning. It gave the greater church the opportunity to see what our kids experience on a week to week basis. It was filled with songs, games and interactive experiences. Special thanks to Brittany, Sarah and Abby for this special Sunday.
Continuing our study in 1 Corinthians as we figure out what it means to live IN, but NOT of this world.
Hebrews 12:2 | For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Every few months we take some time to celebrate the lives that are changed as the Lord works in the hearts and minds of people at Rising. This week we are sharing stories of 4 such people
Every few months we take some time to celebrate the lives that are changed as the Lord works in the hearts and minds of people at Rising. This week we are sharing stories of 4 such people
Every few months we take some time to celebrate the lives that are changed as the Lord works in the hearts and minds of people at Rising. This week we are sharing stories of 4 such people
Every few months we take some time to celebrate the lives that are changed as the Lord works in the hearts and minds of people at Rising. This week we are sharing stories of 4 such people
Due to the heaviness of this topic it is a PG session.
Are we committed to being a fighter and do what is needed.
Due to the heaviness of this topic it is a PG session.
When looking at the life of Moses, how do we become the deliverer God desires?
Due to the heaviness of this topic it is a PG session.
We have to step out of agreement with the world in order to experience true power.
We conclude our series this week and answer the question, how do I invest what God has entrusted to me.
I'm not the owner, I am the manager. My job is to invest what God has entrusted to me wisely.
I am not the owner, I'm the manager. My job is to invest what God has entrusted to me wisely.
We are concluding the series this week as we continue to unpack what is required for a new mind.
The Mind is an amazing creation and to begin changing who we are, we have to start with our minds.
Light of Messiah spokesman, Murray Tilles was willing to come in and share how Jesus is visible in the celebration of Passover.
Looking at the Life of Moses and what quiet moments between the major moments made him who he is.
Studying this short, but powerful book and asking the question: "Who are you following?"
Studying this short, but powerful book and asking the question: "Who are you following?"
Studying this short, but powerful book and asking the question: "Who are you following?"
We are taking a fresh look at the Lord's prayer the next few weeks. Whether you've been in church your whole life or not you've heard pieces of this famous prayer. Sometime we need a very simple and fresh look at it to make it real again.
We are taking a fresh look at the Lord's prayer the next few weeks. Whether you've been in church your whole life or not you've heard pieces of this famous prayer. Sometime we need a very simple and fresh look at it to make it real again.
We are taking a fresh look at the Lord's prayer the next few weeks. Whether you've been in church your whole life or not you've heard pieces of this famous prayer. Sometime we need a very simple and fresh look at it to make it real again.
We are concluding our series as we looked at our core values and what it is that makes us who we are.
We are taking some time this fall to look at our core values and explain who we are and why we do things the way we do.
We are kicking off the fall looking at our core values and what exactly makes us who we are.