Past Sermons

Week of January 25th – 30th: ENGAGE—Missionally Discipling and Kingdom Multiplying

• Our church values: Principles that guide our behavior.
  • Prayerful: An abiding recognition of our dependence on Jesus for our life and effectiveness in ministry (Jn. 15:4-5).
  • Fruitful: Relying on the Holy Spirit to produce in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).
  • Holy: A lifestyle that reflects the character and beauty of our Savior (Col. 1:10).
  • Humble: Pursuing a teachable, others-centered posture in all of our interactions (Phil. 2:1-11).
  • Honest: Walking in the light, with nothing to hide and no one to impress, as the foundation for our relationships with one another and our Savior. (1 Jn. 1:7).
  • Generous: Stewarding our time, abilities, and finances for the glory of God and good of our neighbors. (1 Tim. 6:17-19).

Pray…together: This week we will be praying together, focusing specifically on our mission to EXPERIENCE the love of Jesus through the love of his people.

• Adoration
  • Pray some of the characteristics of God that reflect our values.
• Confession
  • Confess some of the hang-ups and obstacles and habits that tend to distract or hold you back from living in and living out these values.  
• Thanksgiving
  • Thank God for His Son, Jesus, who perfectly models these values and empowers believers, by His Spirit, to live accordingly.
• Supplication
  • Petition God to align our hearts and our church community around these values.
• Reflection Prompts: Please set aside some intentional time in the next week to journal as you reflect and respond to the takeaways from your time in prayer. Ask God to deeply work in your own heart and in our church community
  • Reflect on each value as you look up the corresponding Scripture passage.  
  • In what ways does our church demonstrate a culture marked by these values that we aspire to embody?
  • In what ways have you seen our church culture become misaligned with the values?
  • What role do you play in cultivating these values in our church?
  • What hopes do you have for growth in these values for our church culture?
  • Lord, reveal where we need to adjust our expectations and participation in your church.

Fast…together: For whoever is able, fast Thursday evening through Friday evening, then gather with a different person each week to break your fast and share what the Lord is showing you.

Discerning…together: Discerning is two fold: Us all following the Spirit, and leaders listening to what the Spirit reveals to the people. Part of this listening and sharing takes place when we break our fasts, but also leaders want to maintain open channels of communication for people to share what the Spirit is showing them through their times of personal prayer and reflection and corporate prayer. There will also be a google form for sharing at the end of January, but we don’t want to wait until then as we are expecting God to move throughout the month.  

Celebrate…together: Save the date and join us on January 30th. We have reserved the school and plan to hold a corporate meal for whoever wants to come and break their fast together. We will be celebrating together what God has done, perhaps sing a few hymns, definitely pray.

Week of January 18th – 24th: ENGAGE—Missionally Discipling and Kingdom Multiplying

• Mission Statement: Creating the space for all people to…ENGAGE the work of Jesus through missional discipleship.
• Priorities: Missionally Discipling: Maturing together in Christ as we love people who don’t know Jesus with Gospel-intentionality (Colossians 1:28). Kingdom Multiplying: Giving ourselves for the glory of Jesus beyond our local church setting (Matthew 28:18-20).

Pray…together: This week we will be praying together, focusing specifically on our mission to EXPERIENCE the love of Jesus through the love of his people.

• Adoration
  • Pray some of the characteristics of God that reflect mission (evangelism), discipleship, and Kingdom Multiplication.
• Confession
  • Confess some of the hang-ups and obstacles and habits that tend to distract or hold you back from living in and living out Missional Discipleship and Kingdom Multiplication.  
• Thanksgiving
  • Thank God for His rescue mission (justification), His ongoing work (sanctification), and Kingly rule and reign over all people and all places.
• Supplication
  • Petition God to align our hearts and our church community around the mission of God in saving sinners, the beauty of growth in Christlikeness, and the glory of God’s Kingdom.
• Reflection Prompts: Please set aside some intentional time in the next week to journal as you reflect and respond to the takeaways from your time in prayer. Ask God to save sinners, mature believers, and captivate our hearts with a vision for His Kingdom coming in your own heart and in our church community.
  • Reflect on the rescue mission of God in sending Jesus. How would remembering this extravagant grace propel mission and discipleship? 
  • In what ways does our church demonstrate a culture of evangelism and discipleship that aligns with the priorities (Missionally Discipling and Kingdom Multiplying) we aspire to embody?
  • In what ways have you seen our church culture become misaligned with the vision of Christ as King and His Kingdom?
  • What role do you play in cultivating evangelism, discipleship, and Kingdom expansion in our church?
  • What hopes do you have for growth in these priorities for our church culture?
  • Lord, reveal where we need to adjust our expectations and participation in your church.

Fast…together: For whoever is able, fast Thursday evening through Friday evening, then gather with a different person each week to break your fast and share what the Lord is showing you.

Discerning…together: Discerning is two fold: Us all following the Spirit, and leaders listening to what the Spirit reveals to the people. Part of this listening and sharing takes place when we break our fasts, but also leaders want to maintain open channels of communication for people to share what the Spirit is showing them through their times of personal prayer and reflection and corporate prayer. There will also be a google form for sharing at the end of January, but we don’t want to wait until then as we are expecting God to move throughout the month.  

Celebrate…together: Save the date and join us on January 30th. We have reserved the school and plan to hold a corporate meal for whoever wants to come and break their fast together. We will be celebrating together what God has done, perhaps sing a few hymns, definitely pray.

Week of January 11th – 17th: Experience—Authentically Loving and Relationally Intentional

• Mission Statement: Creating the space for all people to…EXPERIENCE the love of Jesus through the love of his people…
• Priorities: Relationally Intentional: Being moved towards another person because of the unsurpassable worth they hold in Jesus’ eyes (1 Thessalonians 2:8). Authentically Loving: Desperately wanting what’s best for another person, for their own sake (John 13:34).

Pray…together: This week we will be praying together, focusing specifically on our mission to EXPERIENCE the love of Jesus through the love of his people.

• Adoration
  • Pray some of the characteristics of God that reflect Relationally Intentionality and Authentic Love.
• Confession
  • Confess some of the hang-ups and obstacles and habits that tend to distract or hold you back from living in and living out Relational Intentionality and Authentic Love.  
• Thanksgiving
  • Thank God for His steadfast love and welcome to you and our church.
• Supplication
  • Petition God to align our hearts and our church community around the welcome of God in Christ Jesus and the unconditional love of God the Father.
• Reflection Prompts: Please set aside some intentional time in the next week to journal as you reflect and respond to the takeaways from your time in prayer. Invite God to deepen Gospel welcome and love in your own heart and through your friendships and relationships in our church community.
  • Reflect on the love and welcome of God in the Gospel. How would relating to each other in the same way Jesus relates to us change our church culture?
  • In what ways does our church demonstrate a culture of love and welcome that aligns with the priorities (Relationally Intentional and Authetically Loving) we aspire to embody?
  • In what ways have you seen our church culture become misaligned with the love and welcome Jesus extends to us?
  • What role do you play in cultivating Gospel friendships shaped by the gospel doctrine of love and welcome?
  • What hopes do you have for growth in these priorities for our church culture?
  • Lord, reveal where we need to adjust our expectations and participation in your church.

Fast…together: For whoever is able, fast Thursday evening through Friday evening, then gather with a different person each week to break your fast and share what the Lord is showing you.

Discerning…together: Discerning is two fold: Us all following the Spirit, and leaders listening to what the Spirit reveals to the people. Part of this listening and sharing takes place when we break our fasts, but also leaders want to maintain open channels of communication for people to share what the Spirit is showing them through their times of personal prayer and reflection and corporate prayer. There will also be a google form for sharing at the end of January, but we don’t want to wait until then as we are expecting God to move throughout the month.  

Celebrate…together: Save the date and join us on January 30th. We have reserved the school and plan to hold a corporate meal for whoever wants to come and break their fast together. We will be celebrating together what God has done, perhaps sing a few hymns, definitely pray.

This past Sunday we announced that in January we will “interrupt” many of our normal rhythms in order to ask God to re-align our hearts with His mission and purpose for our church. This is an exciting opportunity for our church to shake some things up in January in order to spend time in prayer and fasting, asking God to bring greater unity, joy, and flourishing to our Body.

In order to be as intentional as possible with this time we are asking for everyone who considers missio to be their home church to begin even now preparing their hearts for this potentially impactful experience. In order to help with that preparation, here is some important info regarding the vision for this upcoming month:

Audio: If you missed the announcement this Sunday you can listen to it here.

Recap: In recent months the elders have discerned a growing need for our church to spend a season of focused prayer and fasting, asking Jesus to re-align us with His mission for our church. Our desire is that we would see greater unity, joy, and flourishing as we serve those He has called us to minister to. This is not an abandonment of our mission or priorities, but rather a pressing deeper into the key facets of who Jesus has already called us to be.

In order to see this re-alignment happen we want to take the month of January to ask God to “interrupt” our normal ways of doing things so that we can be more attentive to who He is calling us to be as a Body. This will be facilitated through:

• Simplifying our worship gathering for the month of January: We will spend the month sitting in rows instead of at tables, having a scaled down music team, simplifying missio: Kids (including having them join us for a portion of the service), removing non-essentials like coffee/tea, and returning to some more liturgical elements of the service (Apostles’ Creed, prayer of confession, etc.).  
• Creating space for intentional prayer: 5 host homes, Sunday-Thursday, for an hour long prayer meeting. We will encourage each person in the church to attend one of the gatherings each week (whichever one works best for their schedule), but pray through the same outline. Each outline would be short, leaving lots of space for free prayer and response. These prayer gatherings will be the only meetings our church does that month (No DCs, no J-Term, no partners meetings) because we want to demonstrate our commitment to be a unified and praying church, dependent on Jesus to lead us.
  • Week 1: Encounter—Gospel Centered and Scripture Saturated
  • Week 2: Experience—Authentically Loving and Relationally Intentional
  • Week 3: Engage—Missionally Discipling and Kingdom Multiplying
  • Week 4: Values
• Fasting…together: For whoever is able, fast Thursday evening through Friday evening, then gather with a different person each week to break your fast and share what the Lord is showing you. For those in our church whose health does not allow for fasting of food, we encourage you to spend this time fasting from some other medium.
• Listening…together: Part of this is sharing what God has shown us when we break our fasts, but also we want to open channels of communication for people to share what the Spirit is showing them through their times of personal and corporate prayer. We will do a coordinated push for feedback at the end of January, but we don’t want to wait until then as we are expecting God to move throughout the month. Listening is two fold: Us all listening to the Spirit, and leaders listening to what the Spirit reveals to the people.
• Celebrating…together: January 30th we will reserve the school and do a corporate meal for whoever wants to come and break their fast together. Celebrating together what God has done. Perhaps sing a few hymns, definitely pray.
• Do it again next January? A month of intentional prayer could be a theme for us always, since we are all prone to wander, a corporate season of re-alignment will always do us good!  

Request: Would you begin to pray with us even now that Jesus would work powerfully in our church during this season? God in His kindness has already begun to lay the groundwork. Advent is a great season of focusing on Christ and His mission, so as we all begin to “downshift” out of busyness and frenetic energy, lean into whatever Means of Grace Jesus provides to begin to align your heart with His.

If you have any questions about this don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the elders! We are so grateful to be in this as a church family, and we are eager to see what God does in us and through us this January!