Pastor Ryan Lenerz kicks off the summer series called “The Red Letters: The Teachings of Jesus” by looking at what Jesus had to teach the disciples when they began arguing over who was the greatest. Jesus taught that true greatness comes not in being served but in serving others and is not found in authority but in submission.

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Pastor Brent Clark concludes the My Bad series by looking at the hope we have for the future when the cosmic results of sin are removed and God restores everything and makes all things new.

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Pastor Ryan Lenerz looks at Romans 7 and 8 to see what it takes to live a guilt-free live and how the solution lies not in focusing on the sin but on focusing on the Savior.

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Pastor Brent Clark looks at the various theories of atonement, what the work of Jesus’ death of the cross accomplished and the difficult question of why did Jesus have to die?

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Pastor Ryan Lenerz looks at the consequences of sin and how even if we attempt to deny it, the reality of the nature of sin is that is has killed us whether we feel dead spiritually or not. He also looks at God’s attitude toward sin and how God’s wrath comes into play when it comes to sin.

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Pastor Brent Clark kicks off a new series called “My Bad: Understanding What Separates Us from God.” Many people have experiences with Christ followers and churches where sin is used as a club to beat people with and create lots of guilt, shame, judgment and condemnation. But what of the message of sin was less about condemnation and more about hope? What if by truly understanding our sin we are able to get a greater understanding of God and his love. In this message, Brent answers the questions what it sin, who does sin affect and how should we respond to our sin.

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Ryan Lenerz wraps up the You Were Made for This series and looks at the Bible to see how the ultimate purpose of man is to reflect the glory of God and exactly what that looks like in our day to day lives.

Check out the other messages in the You Were Made for This series here. Other messages included You Were Made for Life with God and You Were Made for the Image of God.

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Pastor Brent looks at Genesis 1 and how the way God created humanity instilled within us a worth and value. This message shows how being uniquely made in the image of God should change the way we see ourselves and the way we view and treat others.

This message references a message Pastor Brent preached in 2015 on Creation and The Big Story of God.

You Were Made for the Image of God

Genesis 1:26-27

Introduction

Last week we began a new series where we want to take a look at some of the most important questions we all struggle with, Why are we here? What is our purpose? What value is there to my life? And value is a good word because I think at some level, all of us want our lives to be valuable. We want to matter. For this world to be better because we were a part of it. But there is a lot of confusion around this idea.

Think about it for just a moment. What is it that makes a life valuable? And beyond just the value of our own lives, is there value to other’s lives as well? If so, what determines their value?

There are many criteria that we can use to evaluate. Is it someone’s position of power that dictates their value like our President Donald Trump? Or is it their political affiliation like Hillary Clinton? I can feel the tension in just mentioning these two name!

These names illustrate a great point about how we value not just our own life but the lives of others. Immediately from the mention of these two name, most if not all of you have determined a value of these two lives. And I dare say that from some of you, at least one of these pictures has generated a feeling of “I wouldn’t spit on that person if they were on fire.”

And this highlights an incredibly important point. We use different criteria to determine someone’s worth or value. Their political affiliation. Their country of birth. We must admit, the American ego is pretty big and that leads us to stick our noses up a bit when we think about “those people.”

We can use the color of someone’s skin to determine their value. We can look at their job, net worth, possessions, how they dress, how they speak. Can I get an “A-me-un” from the Southerners out there?

Education. family size. The list goes on and on. We can find any number of ways to determine someone ’s value or worth. We are much too sophisticated to ever say it out loud, but it is something that is a struggle for many if not most people not just here this morning but around the world.

Several months ago, Pastor Stephen of Alive Church shared with me how there is a pastor in Des Moines telling people from his Liberian tribe to not worship at Alive Church because Stephen comes from another tribe and he believes Stephen’s tribe is beneath his.

This is such a problem that the United Nations has ratified and released two documents to declare basic human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 and the 470 page International Bill of Human Rights that came into force in 1976. The fact that documents like this and numerous other laws have to be passed highlight for us that a problem exists.

We want value for ourselves. But we are willing to devalue others to get it. And sometimes in the name of rights we are willing to dehumanize others in order to elevate ourselves.

When it comes to ascribing worth to people, do we look to the United Nations to make that happen? Is it necessary to have resolutions and laws passed to make that happen? Or is there something else, somewhere else we can look to find value in our existence.

Who Says?

To understand our true value and the worth of others, we must begin with a crucial question. Who gets to decide? It may seem like a silly question, but it only takes a quick look back at history to see that left up to ourselves, we can make some pretty foolish and even dangerous choices.

Segregation, slavery, and the holocaust are just a few painful reminders of how a self-determining of human value can lead to very destructive places. And it only takes a generation to se

Pastor Brent Clark preaches an Easter message that looks at 2 Corinthians 5 and how the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ destroys the barrier that exists and reconciles us to God.

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Pastor Ryan Lenerz concludes the Awkward series by seeing how even though we elevate the Apostle Paul as someone who often shared his faith, he often did so with the help of others as a team.

My Roll on a Basketball Team

I really enjoy playing basketball.  Maybe it’s because I’ve always been tall – but basketball has been a part of my life for as long as I could dribble a ball.  I still try to play at least once a week, but I’m definitely beginning to feel my age. Anyway, here’s the thing about me – I’m really not very good at scoring, or shooting, or even dribbling. But I’m tall and lanky, so I’m a good defender and I can still jump so I’m really good at rebounding.

The problem is, sometimes I get on a team with a bunch of guys like me who are good at defense and rebounding but none of us can shoot 3’s or drive to the hoop or dribble – and when I get on a team like that, we get beat badly. If however, I am on a team with a short quick guy who can dribble well and somebody who can shoot threes but is terrible at defense, then my rebounding and defense is a huge help in filling a role on the team.

You see, a team where everybody complements one another with different skills, where they know their role, and they fulfill that duty is often much more successful than a team full of all-stars who are all trying to do the same thing. We’ve seen that with some Cinderella upsets in the NCAA tournament going on right now, and we understand that about life.  A strong team of complementary components always wins. And not surprisingly, we even find that in the Bible.

Team Effort in the Bible

Our last two weeks as we have talked about evangelism, we have held up the Apostle Paul as an All-Star who is this phenomenal evangelist. But he couldn’t have done any of what he was doing without a team of people around him. Evangelism for Paul was truly a team effort.  And evangelism for us today is still a team effort.

Today we are going to look at Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  Like many of his letters, he concludes this letter by sending greetings on behalf of the team that’s partnering with him. Let’s take a peek at how Paul ends this letter he sent to the church at Colossae:

7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant a in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) 11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

Colossians 4:7-15

Do you see all these different people who play such different roles on Paul’s team which is spreading the name of Jesus all over the Mediterranean.  In just these few verses, he refers to 10 people by name.

Tychicus – dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant…. A messenger and encourager

Oneisimus – also faithful and dear to Paul – going with Tychicus to deliver this letter

Aristarchus – in prison with Paul on behalf of the ministry

Mark – also a teammate of Paul’s.  We know from other NT writings that Mark joined Paul on his first missionary journey but abandoned him after the first