Ancient Cliff Notes
Read moreHosea
Ancient Cliff Notes
Read moresowing and reaping
When we sow into the Kingdom of God, we do it not for what we will get in return, but because of the eternal value of the impact that seed will make is so much bigger than this world or this life.
Read morerevival
we need to realize that if we want revival, we are the ones that need to wake up to it.
Read moretime
There are two Greek words for the word "time" - and they couldn't be more different.
Read moreThe Journey
you can say you are religious… you can say that you are NOT RELIGIOUS… but everybody at their core knows that there HAS to be more than the things that we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, touch with our hands and experience with our lives.
Read moreten:character
Character means that We live publicly like we do in private. We write the Word of God on our hearts, practice generosity, and prioritize integrity.
Read morenine: commission
Commission means that we are a sending church. We honor the past, while we work for the future. And we always believe that everyone’s brightest days are ahead of them.
Read moreeight: connection
connection is living a life of constant community with God.
He is our supplier, who is as close to us as the air that we breathe.
Read moreseven: conversation
conversation means that we bind and we loose together, we learn together, we serve together, and we grow together.
We welcome each other’s perspectives, and we depend on each other’s accountability.
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six: collaboration
collaboration is all of us working together to create something better than any of us could create on our own.
Read morefive: contribution
Contribution understands that everybody has a role, and there is room for us here. We know that the gifts we are given matter to the body of Christ, and we so seek to discover where we each fit.
We honor the contributions of others, knowing that God perfectly crafted each one of us, and only together are we truly the church.
Read morefour: community
Community is a body, committed to all its parts.
Read morethree: compassion
Compassion sees the world through the eyes of others, and it is stirred to action by what it sees. It can not sit by while injustice is done around it.
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two: communion
communion is a common union of broken people, who are made whole by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We are united by our differences, and there is a seat for everyone at the table.
Read moreone: courage
Courage goes to the places that nobody else wants to go, and works to create places that everybody wants to be. Courage loves the one who nobody else wants to love…
Read moreintroduction: cultivate
if you have no gauge on what is important, then you have no way to measure whether or not you are on the right track. That is what Core Values do… they keep us disciplined… they keep us on mission… they give us something the bounce whatever it is we are doing, off of, and see… IS THIS FURTHERING THE MISSION?
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Paint the World with Love
The world is watching how the church will continue to respond to the issue of racism that is so evident in our world today.
Read more#11 The Church (Part 3)
series: Love Incorruptible
title: The Church (part 3)
date: July 9, 2017
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Ephesians 5:22-33, Hosea 13:9, Genesis 2:24, Deuteronomy 6:5, John 17, Genesis 3
Man is incomplete.
Woman is incomplete.
But when they come together, in the way that God designed for them to be together, suddenly you have the fullest and most complete reflection of God available to man.
Paul calls it is mystery... A mystery that He says...
refers to the church.
In this sermon, we explored the DEPTH that is "the mystery" that Paul is referring to, and we went through some VERY BIG IDEAS that are revealed in the original language of the text that Paul quotes.
Of all of those big ideas, this one (explained below) is probably the biggest, and has by far gotten the most questions and responses from people, so we have provided this additional walk through of the concept for you to follow along as you watch the sermon.
It is the concept explained in this sermon about the Hebrew words for man and woman...
This is Genesis 2:24, which Paul quotes in Ephesians 5 when he is talking about marriage and how it relates to the church. Not the words "man" and "woman"
This is how it looks in Hebrew (right to left in Hebrew, but written in English left to right--- so "aleph" is the letter farthest to the right)
See the similarities... note the differences. They both have two identical letters, and one that is unique to their word.
By removing the two DISTINCT letters and putting them in a word by themselves, it spells "yah" - a Hebrew word for God. (and one half of YHWH "Yahweh")
Naturally, this makes sense. Because when a man and a woman come together, the way that God intended it to be, it is the closest reflection available to mankind of what God is like (a lot more about that in the sermon) - perhaps this doesn't surprise you... but when you combine the unique parts of the word "man" and "woman" you spell "God" but what may surprise you, is what you are left with, with you take God out.
if you now read the letters that are remaining... the letters that are the same in each word, you get fire. and because there are two words, you get fire, fire. Which in Hebrew, there were no explanation points so to emphasize something you would double it when you really wanted to show how important something is. Its almost like someone shouting "fire" or the concept of "the worst kind of fire"
In other words…
this.
is.
as.
bad.
as.
it.
gets!
Something that was designed to be the absolutely great gift… the absolute best… can become THE ABSOLUTE WORST, MOST DESTRUCTIVE THING IN YOUR LIFE.
or...
it could just be a coincidence :)
(it's not)
He is not here
series: a week to live
title: He is not here (Easter 2017)
date: April 16, 2017
teacher: Jacob Bender
scriptures: Mark 16:1-8, Mark 10:33-34, Isaiah 57:15
Most of us try and separate worship from working. Ministry is what we do on Sunday's, and everything else is "life" - but it doesn't work.