This week we studied Jesus’ teaching from Matthew 13:31-35, the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast. We discovered that these two very short stories teach us much about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom shows up through ordinary things, is one of abundant potential, and involves our action and trust.
Listen as we continue to look at the parables Jesus used to teach. This week we looked at the parable of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector from Luke 18:9-14.
What can we learn from a parable that spans just two verses? We think quite a lot! Listen here as we dig into the Pearl of Great Price from Matthew 13:45-46.
This Sunday, we welcomed Josh Wall from Fifth Reformed Church here in Grand Rapids to teach us about the parable of the tenants from Mark 12:1-12. Listen here as he unpacks this parable.
We began a new series this Sunday on the Parables of Jesus. This week, we read through Luke 15, reading the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. These stories remind us to be people who remain attentive and people who celebrate. Listen here to find out how.
How do we become wise navigators of this complex, nuanced world? Listen here as we take a walk through the gospel of Luke, learning from how Jesus navigated the world around him.
This week, we looked at Luke 9:1-6, where Jesus sends out the 12 disciples, giving them power and authority to do some pretty amazing things. We know that God has given us that same power and authority. God invites us to be people who reimagine, risk and rest in God’s provision.
A renewed self means that we look and act more and more like Jesus. This week, we we talked about how Jesus compels us to be people who show up. What does that look like? We’ll explore that together. Listen here.
We continued our series on renewal this Sunday. This week we talked about incarnational living and how that involves listening, stopping and emptying.
In the second week of this series, we look at Matthew 9:9-13. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Jesus tells the religious leaders to go and learn what this means. It’s a phrase they had memorized from the book of Hosea, but were they living it out? Where in our lives do we show mercy? Do we embrace those who are different than us or do we ignore them? Listen here as we look to Jesus as our example of a shockingly gracious and generous host.
What does it look like to join God’s work of renewal in the world? Listen here for the first sermon in a new series on renewal. And join us on Sunday mornings at 9:30 for the next few weeks as we continue to talk about renewal.
It was our great pleasure to worship with the congregation of Comunidad Cristiana de Grand Rapids this Sunday. Chris (Branch Pastor) and Rodrigo (CCGR Pastor), with the aid of a very talented translator, brought us the sermon together. Listen here as they taught us about judgement, Romans 2:1-4.
Our series on Forgotten Stories of the Bible continued this week as Sarah Lundberg taught us about Mary Magdalene. Listen here for some details that we don’t often here about this woman’s story.
This week, Jeff Verkaik helped us learn from the short and often forgotten story of Philemon. What can we learn from this man and his relationships with Paul and Onesimus? Paul’s letter to Philemon used words that bring unity and not division. Listen here and learn how he did that and how we might learn to do the same in our lives and in our time.
What can we learn from Priscilla’s story? There is so much to learn from her brief appearance in the Bible. Listen here as we discover the relationships Priscilla fostered and how she invested in her priorities. And if we’re willing to dig just a little deeper, we find that Priscilla’s story is like so many others in the Bible…a story of God using those who were not valued by society, and using them in big ways. There is much to be learned from this story that is often overlooked, or even forgotten.
Psalm 104 and Psalm 8 remind of that God’s glory can be seen in all of creation. We are reflections of God’s glory, a picture of God’s creativity!
This week, in our Psalms series, we looked at Psalm 77. The Psalmist wasn’t afraid to ask hard questions, but he also was able to look back to remember a specific time when God was faithful. The Psalms remind us to look back at what God’s done, so that we can claim that God will be faithful again in the future.
The Psalms invite us into a life that is truthful and transparent with God. This can make us feel uneasy – can we say these things? Won’t God get mad? Are we being unfaithful if we do? Listen here for week 2 of our series on The Psalms.
We started a new sermon series this week, The Psalms. We will speak, sing and practice many of the Psalms and hopefully let them permeate our hearts and lives, as they certainly influenced Jesus’ life, identity and ministry.
Each week, we’ll be given suggested Psalms to read, pray & meditate on. Here are this week’s Psalms:
Monday: Psalm 1
Tuesday: Psalm 19
Wednesday: Psalm 100
Thursday: Psalm 34
Friday: Psalm 63
A simple way to read and reflect on a Psalm (or any Scripture) is to read it slowly 3-4 times. Pause in between each reading, asking God to open your heard and mind. As you read, be open to a word or phrase that begins to stand out. Be curious about that word or phrase. How might it encourage or challenge or instruct you? What does it tell you about God? About you? About the world? Does it call you to respond in any way? Confession? Action? Service? Song? A final step could be to re-write the Psalm, or a portion of it, in your own words.
To wrap up our Inhabit series, we invited 2 couples to share stories about life in their neighborhoods, how they’ve built relationships, and how they’ve influenced the flavor of their neighborhood.
