99 CHURCH

The church in Pergamum was known for their loyalty to Jesus. But although they never renounced the name of Jesus, they restricted the influence of Jesus on their lives. Slowly but surely, they were tempted by the surrounding world to compromise. We face the very same temptation today, specifically in relation to money, sex, and power. This week, we read Jesus' letter to the church in Pergamum.

It's very easy here in the West to organize our lives around the avoidance of suffering. But suffering is inevitable. The question we have to ask isn't: how do we avoid suffering at all costs, but how do we remain faithful to Jesus in our suffering? This week, we read through Jesus' letter to the church in Smyrna, the suffering church.

In the first of seven letters written to the churches in the book of Revelation, we see Jesus affirming the hard work, good deeds, and perseverance of the Ephesian church. But there's one thing he holds against them: they have forsaken the love they had at first. This isn't just a message for the church in Ephesus, this is a message for us today: You are faithful, but you are loveless. This week, we explore Jesus' call for us to return to our first love for him and for one another.

One of the more recent shifts in how we think about sexuality here in the West is that sex has been disconnected from gender. The majority of the church, however, still believes that marriage and sex should only be between a man and a woman. This week, we explore some of the misconceptions we have when we talk about gender and sexuality in the church, as we try to uncover God's heart for sex.

We continue our conversation about sexuality and faith. We explore the major shifts we've experienced here in the west in how we see and approach sexuality, and what Jesus' vision for sexual formation is in the midst of our culture.

Many of us in the church struggle to live with a healthy, holistic, anxiety-free vision of our sexuality as it relates to our spirituality. But how does God actually feel about sex? And how are we called to engage our sexuality as a follower of Jesus? This week, we explore what sexuality is and how it is a vital part of our spiritual formation.

We all want to be happy. We all want to live fulfilled lives. The problem is, we often misunderstand what will bring us true happiness. Jesus tells us that happiness comes from generosity. That is, when we give ourselves, to those we love. This week, we explore the fourth and final movement of becoming the Beloved: Given.

We are all wounded people. To be human is to experience pain and suffering in life. Usually, our knee-jerk response to pain is to avoid it, or deny it, or distract ourselves from it. But as the Beloved, we are called to claim and embrace our brokenness. What if brokenness is just as intimate a part of our being as our chosenness and our blessedness? This week, we explore the movement of brokenness in our journey of becoming the Beloved.

What does it mean to be blessed? When we think about the people in our world who are most blessed, who do we picture? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus radically redefines what blessing means and who are truly the blessed ones. This week, we dive into the second of four movements in our journey of becoming the beloved: blessed.

Deep down inside, there's a part of us that longs to be picked, chosen, and in essence, seen, known, and loved. To become the Beloved, we first have to know that we are chosen. Long before our parents, our friends, our peers, or anyone in our world picked us, we were already chosen by God. But how do we live from our chosenness? How do we embody it in our everyday lives? This week, we dive into the first of four movements to become the Beloved.