Fully Alive in Christ

This week we have the privilege of having Sommer Bury give a message on The Parable of the Sower and the Seed.

"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants...” Matthew 18:23 How we receive God's mercy and grace, and how we impart it to others is vital to living in and under the Kingdom of Jesus.

Too often we read the Parable of the Good Samaritan as if we are the Samaritan, called by this story to help those in need, even our enemies. Is there more to it than a lesson to be kind to those in need; an additional and deeper Kingdom reality?

This week we are walking through the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast. Jesus was a storyteller. He used stories to help people understand what he was speaking to them. As a storyteller, this is one of the ways I was drawn into the Word as a kid, and still love to dig in as an adult. Join me as I tell some stories out of the Word and other stories the Lord is reminding me of as I prepare for Sunday.

Have you noticed how religion and doctrine seem to complicate God? The pharisees and religious elite were consumed by busying themselves with religious to-dos and complex behavioral and cultural box-checking. Jesus lived in a culture whose primary mode of learning was oratory, and baffled the religiously educated with the parables He told to express God’s Kingdom. Story has a unique ability to express complex truth, simply. These parables of Jesus were a beautifully woven tapestry – complex interwoven themes that altogether formed a clear and powerful image displaying the heart of God. For those that had ears to hear, these stories opened and softened them. It invited a generation into a new way of thinking. Story is written on the heart of man. When someone tells a story, our imaginations are engaged and we begin to see with the eyes of heart. We can see and understand our own motives more objectively when we recognize ourselves in the form of another character. Jesus was a brilliant story teller. He knew that the pharisees and religious elite would try to trap him in His words and artfully shared the heart of God in metaphors and analogies just long enough for his underground ministry to take off and spread like wildfire. He allowed the greatest truths of the universe to be distilled down to simple people in ordinary circumstances- down to earth and very relatable! I am excited to dive deeper into the beauty of Jesus’ storytelling with you this week, as we continue to unpack the parables. I pray that you would be inspired and softened toward the heart of God in your journey here and now, and that you would more clearly see the story that Jesus is weaving in your own, beautiful life!

Listen to Drew as he gives historical cultural context surrounding the parable of the prodigal son and how we can apply it to our own culture.

Join us as we learn the WAY of Jesus together by diving into His powerful method of teaching and awakening hearts to His Kingdom: Parables. Parables are a powerful tool that Jesus used to invite his listeners into a whole new WAY of living, thinking and being.

Our Galatians key verse was: Gal. 3:3 - “How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” Why is this admonition important? Because it led into the entire section on the fruit (of the SPIRIT) in Galatians 5 and Galatians 6:7 - “God cannot be mocked, a person reaps what they sow…” But this fruit is not something produced through through our efforts. This fruit is what God produces in us (through the spiritual law of REAPING and SOWING), when they REMAIN in Him as Jesus states in John 15.

In Galatians Chapter 6, Paul challenges the church to be careful where they sow. There are two possible kinds of soil: the flesh or the spirit. He reminds us that once they had, they could not change the harvest. What is sown to the flesh will bring a harvest of corruption but the parts of their life they sowed to the Spirit will produce life. All that we do is either an investment in the FLESH or the SPIRIT. We WILL reap whatever we have sown, and we will reap in proportion to what we have sown.

In this teaching, we will be exploring the words of Paul inviting us to “keep in step with the Spirit” and stewarding our freedom in Jesus. We will celebrate together that Jesus is enough for every place of pain or temptation or struggle that we carry in this life. If you are feeling weary of religious efforts or the cycles of temptation - The Apostle Paul’s words are a powerful direction for us to lean into JESUS, the ONE who has the greatest empathy for our pain and weakness and also the greatest healing power to lead us into a life “abundant”.

Last Sunday was the 6th year anniversary being in our building. If you haven’t heard the miracle story of how we got here, we encourage you to watch. Join in on the story of what God is doing in and through our community.

As His children, filled with His spirit, we are welcome to come to him with whatever it is that we are walking through. He is going to comfort our hearts, listen to what we are saying and meet us with love and understanding. And He is ready to direct our hearts. What Paul had experienced and what he knew to be true, he was speaking in this letter to the churches in Galatia - and we get to look at our own lives as we read this and ask the question - Am I living as a son or daughter or as a slave? Is what is pouring out of my life a response to God, saying “Abba, Father”? If not, let’s get there!! If not, let’s bring what we are in slavery to Jesus and receive the adoption into the family that is ours!

Gal. 3:5 - "So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard??" The Early Church saw a POWERFUL, TANGIBLE and SUSTAINED move of God's Spirit. How did this take place? It wasn't because they were following the Law. The Law was powerless. It was because of their BELIEF in Jesus! What can we learn from this? I believe this still holds true today as we remember this: Religion is unable to START or SUSTAIN the move of God we long to see in our church, homes and lives! Let's unpack Galatians 3 together!

A season of conflict doesn't have to spell the end of a relationship. What is God up to right now? How is he drawing us together and forward? How can we overcome massive hurt, offense, and frustration, like Peter and Paul had to work through?

In Galatians 2, we learn of an encounter between the two primary leaders of the Early Church, Peter, and Paul, that could have led to the end of their relationship. In his zeal to protect the purity of the Gospel of Grace, Paul confronted Peter openly and emphatically for being legalist and racist. How did Peter respond? What happened to their relationship afterward? Was this relational disconnect between leaders fatal to the Early Church? In a season where we have seen or experienced a lot of relational disconnects between friends, family, and believers, what can we learn from Peter and Paul that we can apply here and now? The God of redemption was at work in their relational disconnect, and He is at work in ours - mending, healing, convicting, reconciling, and restoring what the enemy has stolen. A season of conflict doesn't have to spell the end of a relationship. What is God up to right now? How is he drawing us together and forward? How can we overcome massive hurt, offense, and frustration, like Peter and Paul had to work through?

Paul, writing to a group of churches in a few different cities in what is modern day Turkey. He had already made a missionary journey through this region at this point. Now somethings have reached his ears and his love and passion for these people ignites a powerful letter. A group of “intruders” from Jerusalem most likely, came and began to spread a adjustment to the Gospel that Paul shared, in order to be part of the family, fully included in the salvation of Jesus, they must be circumcised and follow the customs of the Torah. These intruders call into question Paul, they call him a man-pleaser, carrying a secondhand version of the Good news.

A couple weeks ago, Ryan talked about not reading ourselves into the text of the Bible. It created a small stir when he said, “the Bible isn’t written about you, and the Bible isn’t written to you.” The Bible is a gift, and we need treat it as such. It doesn’t exist for us to know just ABOUT God, but for us to know God. WHEN WE STUDY THE BIBLE, we are not just pursuing information, or correct doctrine, but REVELATION and INTIMACY with and from God Himself. Which brings us to Galatians. It weakens the power and authority of Scripture when we pull them too quickly into our time and place and context without the humility of acknowledging the massive distance between when and why they were written and when and why we are applying them. Let's jump into this teaching from Ryan and see what we can learn from Paul's letter to the Galatians.

Kingdom over everything. Jesus said "seek first my Kingdom." He preached "repent, for my Kingdom is at hand!" What is the Kingdom? How do we seek it? How do we find it? How do we build it? These are vital questions as followers of Jesus This is no time to get our priorities mixed up! God's Kingdom is expanding and moving - Are we seeing, sensing and joining in?

Kingdom over everything. Jesus said "seek first my Kingdom." He preached "repent, for my Kingdom is at hand!" What is the Kingdom? How do we seek it? How do we find it? How do we build it? These are vital questions as followers of Jesus This is no time to get our priorities mixed up! God's Kingdom is expanding and moving - Are we seeing, sensing and joining in?

Kingdom over everything. Jesus said "seek first my Kingdom." He preached "repent, for my Kingdom is at hand!" What is the Kingdom? How do we seek it? How do we find it? How do we build it? These are vital questions as followers of Jesus This is no time to get our priorities mixed up! God's Kingdom is expanding and moving - Are we seeing, sensing and joining in?