99 CHURCH

What do you do when the Bible—or moments in your own life—trouble you? This week, we look at a challenging passage in Ezra 9–10 and use it as a case study for navigating our own "what on earth is happening?" moments. We talk about how to examine our assumptions about God, Scripture, and human nature, and how that process can keep us from getting spiritually stuck and instead move us toward deeper trust, wisdom, and intimacy with God.

What if the things we built in life weren't just dedicated to ourselves? What if we became a people who dedicated our careers, our relationships, our homes, and our entire lives to God? What if we lived as if they served a holy purpose beyond ourselves? This week, we explore the power of dedication as we follow the story of the Israelites dedicating the temple to God in the book of Ezra.

In Ezra 4, the people of God stop building the temple. What caused them to stop? Discouragement and distraction. In our lives, discouragement and distraction often cause us to stop building our lives with God, to stop our progress of growth and maturity. How do we combat discouragement and distraction? This week, we explore the power of having a sacred posture.

In this week’s sermon, we take a short detour from Ezra to the book of Haggai to hear a convicting word about what happens when we stop rebuilding the “House of the Lord” in our lives. Haggai 1:3 says “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” Guest speaker Dan Fang encourages us to examine and self-reflect on what our “paneled houses” may be, as well as re-dedicate ourselves to building God’s house in our lives.

In a world where many say “all religions are basically the same,” how should Christians respond? As we move into chapter 4 of Ezra, we explore what it means to seek truth and why Christianity’s view of a loving, self-sacrificing God stands apart.

We don't know how to rest. Statistics show that American employees are burning out at a faster rate than ever before. We are literally working ourselves into the ground. But God has an answer to our restlessness: Sabbath. This week, we explore the eight and final ancient festival, the Sabbath, as we learn how to live in the rhythms of rest and worship.

None of the claims of the Christian faith work unless Jesus resurrected. Scripture tells us that Jesus was the firstfruit of resurrection, which means resurrection is for all those who belong to him. This week, we study the Feast of Firstfruits, as we learn that worship looks like giving God your first and your best.

We often find ourselves stuck in our own stories: stories of defeat, stories of pain, stories of discouragement. But when we worship, we're thrust back into God's story. All of a sudden, our stories are re-contextualized and we see our stories in light of God's grander story. This week, we study the Passover festival and learn how we can worship today.

God pours out His life, provision, and Spirit into us. The problem is, we are a people who leak. We are like broken cisterns, that cannot overflow into others. This week, we look at Pentecost and see how it informs the way we are called to worship today.

God loves reconciliation. When we show mercy and grace to one another, the same way God has shown them to us, that's worship. This week, we study the Day of Atonement, an ancient festival that teaches us how to worship God through apology and absolution.