Living in the Strange New World | Pastor Danny | July 13, 2025
The modern world is a “disenchanted” world. Most people, religious or not, do not walk around expecting supernatural things to happen. In this world, really believing in Christianity is… weird! It’s weird to believe prayer is a real conversation with a real God, that Jesus, a Jewish rabbi born 2000+ years ago is really the God of the universe who made everything and deserves our worship. It sounds like a fantasy. It sounds… enchanted! The modern world wants God out of our ordinary daily life. The goal is to be autonomous individuals carrying out our own lives, with any God or gods very far away, distant, unknowable.
The impact of this way of thinking is consumerism - we buy the next thing, do the next thing, all to feel some kind of meaning in our lives. Meanwhile, the world seems to be spinning out of control. We have all this technology but we haven’t solved the old problems. The disenchanted world is a disappointing world. Modern life doesn’t produce the happiness and meaning we expected. In contrast, the invitation of the Gospel is to live in a re-enchanted world: to live in a world where God is not far away and we are not in total control of our lives. We are called to join into something bigger than ourselves.
The Gospel invites us into the Strange New World of the Bible - where God is all over the place! He is calling people, he’s talking, moving, saving, doing. The Bible tells us to “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The story of the Gospel can rework our vision of life so we see God all around us every day. Learn how to think the Gospel and not the modern disenchanted story of the world that we’ve been sold. God is active and real, steering and moving history - and we get to play a part in it. Most of our time is spent in disenchanted spaces that teach and form us to live like disenchanted people. What we need is the renewal of our mind, so that we can see Creation as it is - soaked with purpose. How do we live in the enchanted world?
The key is found in something ancient - the Lord’s Prayer. God’s reality, God’s kingdom, God’s will - on earth as it is in heaven. Relying on God daily for our needs and trusting God to forgive us our lack and our wrongdoing - even as we trust Him enough to forgive the people around us. Freedom from the temptation of living like the world lives. Having confidence in God even in the face of evil. God’s kingdom, God’s power, and God’s glory become a visible reality in our world. The prayer teaches us that life does not begin with you and me but with our Creator. Not me, me, me, but Our Father. When the Lord’s Prayer sinks into your bones, then daily life begins with God and is filled with the Holy Spirit. The more life is oriented around something bigger than ourselves, the more peace and joy freedom we have, and the more we become who God made us to be. It’s like a passport back into a world thoroughly enchanted with the presence of God - the world Jesus is living in.
The Body of Christ | Pastor Robert | June 29, 2025
Freedom in Christ | Pastor Tim | June 22, 2025
When we read Genesis 1 and 2, right at the beginning of the Bible, God didn’t create the garden, hand the first people a rulebook, and return to Heaven. He walked with them in the garden, but they betrayed that relationship and chose to rule themselves. So, God removed them from the garden.
Some time later, God returned to the story and personally called Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Even after the Exodus, when God set the Israelites free from Egyptian slavery, he wanted to live among them. However, as with their ancestors, the people rejected that closeness, so he gave them the Law and priests as intermediaries. The remaining 1300 years in the Old Testament were a parade of Israel’s betrayals of their covenant with God.
Then God sent Jesus, who would himself pay the ransom price to redeem those who would follow Him. At Pentecost, God began filling those who would trust in Jesus the Spirit of Jesus to walk with them - just as he wanted to walk with Adam and Eve in the beginning.
Some might think God had a faulty plan in the first place, and history proves he has improvised ever since. I’m confident that God knew what he was doing from the beginning. History was and is part of his strategy to create free humans capable of sharing the stewardship of the Creation with him. Seen in that light, God’s plan was ingenious from the start.
From the very beginning, God planned for us to live free of the law, which is only possible when we live in relationship with God. Unless we are walking closely (daily) with the Spirit of Christ, the “best practice” is to stick with the Law. Otherwise, we’re likely to hurt someone whom we’re supposed to lead toward redemption. But true freedom is found in relationship with the Spirit of Jesus, and in the fellowship of other believers. That’s the way to tap into the power of Pentecost.
The Divine Innovation | Pastor Robert | June 15, 2025
Pentecost Sunday | Pastor Danny | June 8, 2025
All Together Worship - What is the Church? | Pastor Darren | June 1, 2025
"What is the Church?" The natural progression of life is decline. If we don't pay attention to our own spiritual lives or our life together as a church, we know things will naturally move in the wrong direction, towards decline or falling apart. In that context, it's important to remember that "Church" is not our buildings, or our worship services, but people of Jesus. The church is people, called out by the Holy Spirit, assembled together to be the body of Jesus in the world. The church is also a political institution under the leadership of Jesus, owing our allegiance to Jesus. So we are called to be politically active in Jesus' kingdom, acting to advance the kingdom of God. What kind of actions does Jesus want us to take? What's his agenda for us?
Jesus makes his agenda clear in the Great Commandment, the Sermon on the Mount, and The Great Commission. This is the constitution and bylaws of Jesus's kingdom, emphasizing active engagement, representing Jesus in the world in our physical selves, and guiding others to embrace Jesus's life as a blueprint. That's what makes being a Christian so compelling - because Jesus teaches us how to live in this life-giving relationship with God and each other. Living as Jesus's people in the world leads us to loving actions in every aspect of our lives, and love is what fuels our behavior as citizens of God's kingdom. So ask God to make you a better lover - especially of the people close around you every day.
Healer or Criminal: John 5:1-9 | Pastor Robert | May 25, 2025
The Vine and the Branches: John 15:1-17 | Pastor Danny | May 18, 2025
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep | Pastor Robert | May 11, 2025
All Together Worship Service | May 4, 2025
Faith or Fear | Pastor Robert | April 27, 2025
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6) Click here for last week's message from Pastor Robert on moving from Fear to Faith - the transformative power of an encounter with the resurrected Christ. Pastor Robert spoke about the Significance of Relational Knowledge, that true wisdom does not come from our own limited perspective, but from a humble, relational knowledge of God. In the Proverbs 3 passage two different Hebrew words are used for knowledge and understanding: the word "bînâ" in Hebrew refers to the ability to distinguish, analyze, and understand intellectually. This is an important aspect of wisdom, but it is not the whole picture. Yet the word "yāda" speaks of a deeper, relational knowing - a meaningful engagement with the divine that goes beyond mere information processing. As theologian Miroslav Volf describes it, "Yāda is not just knowing about God, but knowing God." In John 20 we witness the disciples' response to the resurrection of Jesus. Initially, they were gripped by fear, huddled behind locked doors, uncertain and anxious. But then, the risen Christ appeared to them, and everything changed. The disciples experience a leap from bînâ to yāda, which signifies a profound, relational, and experiential knowing, a deeper layer of understanding that goes beyond mere facts. We can know God not just as a concept, but as a living reality. It's the difference between knowing about someone and truly knowing them—having a relationship that is rich, dynamic, and transformative. Consider a compass: It can guide you based on logical direction, but without feeling—without understanding the terrain, weather, and your emotional state during the journey—you may lose your way. Or imagine being in a rocky dessert where you are challenged to make it to a life-saving oasis, but you have to decide between A) the best map to use on your own, with all kinds of very precise data on it, or B) a local guide going with you who knows the terrain inside out, as he has walked it countless times. What would you choose? Reflection questions: 1) In what ways has fear or doubt impacted your faith, and how can viewing these challenges as invitations to go deeper "transform your perspective?" 2) What is a current doubt or fear that you can share with a person you trust?