Posts tagged sunday recap

Sunday Recap- 10/23/11

The God of Jesus is obsessed with lost things.  Jesus’ reputation as one who associated too closely with the “lost” was confronted by the religious as inappropriate.  This triggered three stories that Jesus told about lost things (a sheep, a coin, and a son).

And in these stories he speaks of God’s joy for those who return to him.

The meaning of lost is simply “being out of place, and needing to be returned to where one belongs.”  This definition not only involves conversations about the soul, heaven and hell, but also extends to our current lives.  We all walk in our fogs of lostness, and our heavenly father wishes to restore us.

And much of our lostness can be attributed to one lost thing: our identity.  And although, when we come to our senses, we make our oaths and promises to God, he ignores our striving and simply wishes to remain of whose we are.

Scripture we read
Luke 15; Luke 19:10

Worship Set
Mercy- Ryan Delmore
Your Love Never Fails- Chris Quilala
Came to My Rescue- Hillsong
Come Thou Fount

Sunday Recap- 10/16/11

RESTORE: Ordinary

Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God (His rule, His way) had arrived, that the restorative work off a fallen world had begun.  Yet, like an unfinished piece of music, we still live ‘east of Eden’, in this in-between time where there is beauty and truth and goodness in this whorl that God so incredibly created, but also tragedy and pain and distortion as we anticipate Jesus’ return and the fulfillment of this restoration.

And so we have a couple of facts…
Fact #1
The world is an intricate and beautiful place where God’s glory is on display but it is a drop in the ocean compared to what things will be like when Jesus returns.
Fact #2
In the meantime, the world is also a tragic and ugly place full of pain, ugliness, and decay and many times our perception becomes distorted, our conscience becomes numb, and our intimacy with Christ becomes detached.

Jesus is calling us to this work of restoration in our perception and in our actions, to allow His restoration of our lives and His presence in the midst of our pain and trouble become a compelling story to those around us.

Scripture we read…
1 Peter 5:6-11; 2 Corinthians 4:6-10; Colossians 1:18-20; 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 

Worship Set
The Earth Is Yours- Gungor
Death In His Grave- John Mark McMillan
Beautiful Things- Gungor 

{Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes}

Sunday Recap- 10/2/11

COMING ALONGSIDE
exploring the idea of evangelism 

When it comes to you sharing the truth and love of God with somebody, you are joining something already in progress.  God has already been revealing His truth and love to that person since the day they were born.  

He calls us to watch an listen to what is really going on in their lives and what God is up to.

He calls us to authentically serve in a way that brings a validity to our words.

He calls us to compassion and to sacrificially love in a way that makes room for outsiders to become insiders through Jesus.

He calls us to connect the dots [of what is true, beautiful, and good] in order to give people the whole story of the One who is the author of truth, beauty, and goodness.

He calls us to join the conversation, to clear the ground where decisions are made, to help connect people to Jesus.

Think about 10 people in your life who have yet to experience the truth and grace of Jesus.  What would it look like for your friend to truly come to know Him and be transformed by Him and live for Him.  Can you pray, listen, question, serve, speak, and love toward that picture?

He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, He bring us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. [2 Corinthians 1:3-4]

What We Read
Colossians 4:5-6; 1 Thessalonians 2:8

Worship Set
Forever Reign- Hillsong
Beautiful Scandalous Night- Robbie Seay Beand
Rock of Ages- Ascend the Hill
We’re All In This Together- Old Crow Medicine Show

Sunday Recap- 9/18/11

LOOK AROUND
the fourth part in a four-part series on the Gospel 

We tend to create very small worlds for ourselves that tend to ignore what is actually happening all around us.  The primary message that Jesus taught was “The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

The face that the Kingdom of God is unfolding is actually what “The Good News” is.  It is something much larger than even our own salvation.  God is seeking to restore this world, and he wishes to do this through us.  Grace has not only done its work to save us, but to also give us the freedom to do good.

Where our own greatest passions and the world’s greatest needs meet, there may be a calling from God on our lives to be coconspirators with him within the Kingdom of God.

Quotes
“Where our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet, we hear a further call.” -Frederick Buechner

What We Read
Isaiah, 61:1,2a; Luke 4:14-20; Ephesians 2:8-10

Worship Set
Salvation is Here- Hillsong
How He Loves- John Mark McMillan
Take My Life and Let It Be
All the Poor and Powerless- Sons and Daughters 

{Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes}

Sunday Recap- 9/11/11 

LOOK IN
the third part in a four-part series on the Gospel

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope— the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wideness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
-Titus 2:11-14-

We’ve been talking about what it looks like when the Gospel is lived out in our lives and this week focused on the heart, the inner life, who we really are at the core.  

Like a canoe on a river, we tend to gravitate toward one brush entangled/sand bar bank or the other when it comes to living out our lives… Either disconnecting with God through choosing our own way and doing what comes ‘naturally’ or disconnecting with God with rules and legalism

Both sides are shallow and have a desire to control.  

Jesus is calling us into the deep water of grace where He is in control but we get to cooperate with what He is doing in us and through us.  Grace teaches us to say no and say yes, to read the river, to go after what is true, to grow and work and love, to rest in the peace of knowing and trusting God.

The ancient word for it is virtue… not just about knowing how to be good, but loving and aligning our hearts with the God who is good.

Worship Set
Here For You- Chris Tomlin
Your Love Never Fails- Chris Quilala
Inside Out- Hillsong
How Deep the Fathers Love
Freedom Is Here- Hillsong

{Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes}

Sunday Recap- 9/4/11

LOOK BACK
the second part in a four-part series on the Gospel

Internalizaing the Gospel, experiencing true freedom and healing in and through Christ can be a difficult reality for us to live ou on a day to day basis.  Throughout the Bible, God calls His people to remember… to be a people who do not forget all the ways God has displayed His grace.  Making a practice of looking back will enable us to live more freely in God’s grace.

When we take time to deliberately LOOK BACK and reflect on all the ways God has been faithful… 
1. our perspective is realigned and we see our current life circumstances differently.
2. we are overwhelmed with gratitude toward God for all the ways He has carried us in order to make it to today.
3. we have hope that in light of God’s faithfulness in the fast we can be confident of his grace to continue to cover us in the future.

Intentionally remembering takes some practice.  Consider writing out your prayers and levying space on the page to record God’s answers later and refer back to those regularly.  Commit some of God’s Word to memory so it’s there whenever you might need it.  Spend time with people that can tell your story back to you and remind you of how God has been faithful.

References
“Life can only be understood backward; but it must be lived forwards.” -Soren Kierkegaard
“A powerful motivation for believing God in our present is intentionally remembering how He’s worked in our past.” -Beth Moore 

Worship Set
Beautiful Things- Gungor
Your Grace is Enough- Matt Maher
You Never Let Go- Matt Redmen
Great is Thy Faithfulness

{Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes}

Sunday Recap- 8/28/11

LOOK UP
the first in a four-part series on the Gospel

“Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life.”
-Colossians 3 (The Message)-

What Jesus is asking us to do is to ‘look up’ from our shame, apathy, idols, pride, guilt, perfectionism, etc. in order to get a look at truth, to believe that God is good and the Gospel is, in fact, good news.  

Resources
“Gospel confronts our default mechanism… to prove ourselves by our self-righteousness, by pulling ourselves up, making something of ourselves, overcoming obstacles so that we can proclaim… “I did this. I am self-made. I worked for this. This is mine. The Gospel removes neediness… the need to be constantly respected, appreciated, and well regarded, the need to have everything in your life go well; the need to have power over others.” -Tim Keller 

Worship Set
Hymn of Salvation- Benjamin Dunn
Burning Ones- Chris Quilala
The Love of God- Ascend the Hill
Lift High- Eddie Kirkland

{Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes}

Sunday Recap- 8/21/11

If we look at the world around us, we will frequently see grace coming at us in various ways through many people.  Also, in reflecting on our actions throughout our days, we will see how grace is extended through us in various ways.

If you look at the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 6, you can see how it illustrates how we often feel trapped by our circumstances and/or by our sin.  God’s grace allows us to have a broader perspective of his provision, power, and presence overwhelming what overwhelms us.

In Acts 1:8, just before Jesus ascended back into heaven, He alludes to concentric circles to describe the missional movement of the church as they love people and make disciples in all parts of the globe.

Finally, the concentric circles of the illustration of a beam of light demonstrate how vital it is to stay in proximity to Jesus (the Light of the world) as the means of both receiving grace and extending grace (i.e. reflecting that light).

Other resources from the service
-www.dontbringtocollege.com
-If you’re interested in signing up for a Community Group, contact Ken Liechty (kliechty@pcch.org) or Cara Watson (cwatson@pcch.org)

Worship Set
Rhythms of Grace- Hillsong
Forever Reign- Hillsong
Jesus Paid It All
Breaking Down-  John Mark McMillan

{Don’t forget to check out the podcast on iTunes}

Sunday Recap- 4/24/11

For Easter this year, we looked at the 4 cups of wine used in the Seder/Passover meal and the way that Jesus completes the picture.

The first cup included a prayer of thanks to God who has ‘enabled us to reach this season’… this point, THE point to Jesus putting on flesh in the first place.  The Cup was like a funnel that all poured into a singular focus… the cross.

The second cup retold the story of the Exodus and the first Passover and that Jesus, as the perfect lamb whose blood now saves us, fulfills the story.

The third cup represents the cup of God’s justice and wrath, without which the cross is meaningless.  The point of the cross was Jesus trading us cups… taking on the sin and sparation that we deserved, and giving us the cup of grace.

The fourth cup was called the cup of blessing and represents the difference that the hope and joy and power of the empty tomb makes in our life.

Some Poetry…
What is this cup that breaks your heart, that tears apart the fabric of confidence, the tapestry of innocence lost, paradise gained at the price of blood and pain, it’s insane, the bitter vine, tainted wine, carving a line in the proverbial sands of time and time and time again… sin and sin and sin and sin, the bitter course, collective remorse of 10 billion souls thirsty for something new yet ancient, burn the complacent on the altar of wood and nails, this sacred grail you must drink, the suffering who for the rest of us the very thought, I think, would find us the back door to this garden where you weep and pray for this day to end, for us, life begins as the memory of sin dissolves in the chalis of grace… despair replaced with the hope of an empty grave, you tend to save the best wine for last… 

Scripture we read…
Mark 14:36; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15,21; Romans 4:25-5:2; Acts 2:24; Ephesians 1:18-23; Hebrews 12:2

Worship Set
Lead Me To the Cross
How Deep the Fathers Love
Death In the Grave
Jesus Paid it All