Ethos Church

Week 1 Advent // Hope

Read: Luke 1:28 - 38

On the first week of Advent, we wait AND we prepare. We wait for the world to be as God intends it, the world as it should be. We wait for a world free of injustice, pain, and suffering. But it is not enough to simply wait, we must also prepare. Preparation goes beyond dreaming and invites us to participate in building a better world. As we wait and prepare, we look ahead to the hope of a better world that comes because of our partnership with God, not in spite of it. This preparation is a holy act of hope. In a culture obsessed with power, control, and immediate change, hope can seem inefficient and risky. Strategy dominates dreaming, cynicism dominates imagination, and what has been overshadows what could be. Unfortunately, hope cannot be manufactured out of thin air. It must be chosen and cultivated. When we choose hope, we choose vulnerability, risk, and the possibility of disappointment. We hold tension as we expect things beyond our present moment. This type of hope coupled with courage is the fulcrum to change. We look back to Mary, the mother of Jesus, to find an example of this combination of courage and hope. In the Advent, Jesus has a human body to come through because a courageous young woman believes in God’s justice enough to courageously say yes to what seemed impossible.

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

Becoming a Community of Love

Jesus was so brilliant…He could have made the defining characteristic of His followers anything He saw fit. He could have said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you believe something.” But instead, He said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you do something. If you love as I have loved.” The brilliance of this statement is found in our own personal experience. Let me put it this way; there are two categories of people who have made a significant impact/difference in your life. There are two categories of people who have made you the husband you are today, the father or mother you are today, the employee you are today. There are two categories of people who have set you up to be successful or not so successful in your relationships or dating relationships. These two categories of people did not impact you because of what they believe, it was not even whether they were Christian or not. It is those who have hurt you deeply or those who have loved you profoundly. Jesus has called and equipped us to become the latter.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

-John 13:34-35 (NIV)-

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

Irresistible Christianity

What would happen in the Church and ultimately the world, if we oriented our lives, our marriages, friendships, finances, and time, around this inescapably simple but all-encompassing question…what does love require of me? Maybe we would stop searching the scriptures for loopholes and we would begin searching the scriptures in pursuit of ways to love better.

That would be Irresistible Christianity. That is what we are after today. And that requires three things: loyal friendships, sacrificial commitments, and generous partnerships.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

-John 13:34-35 (NIV)-

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

Pursuing Truth in a Culture of Personal Freedom

Jesus could have come as many different things; a priest, a revolutionary, maybe a general or emperor but He came as a rabbi, a teacher…a truth teller. Why? He knew that the war He was fighting was not in the world, but rather in our minds. A war on truth. John 8:31-32 records that, “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” As He is teaching about truth, He is simultaneously saying that we are enslaved to false ideas of freedom by looking for truth in the wrong places. We are in bondage to the tyranny of lies that hold our soul’s captive to suffering and pain. Jesus has come to set us free with the weapon of truth. And God’s concept of freedom always occurs within obedience to God’s ways

“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

-John 8:31-32 (NLT)-

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

As Christians, we often treat science like the awkward relative at a holiday dinner; it’s easier to ignore than it is to engage. But ignorance is a poor apologetic. Atheists treat faith as the enemy to science and Christians often treat science as the enemy of faith. However, faith and the Bible are not at war with science. Science tells us what the world is like, and Christianity tells us what the world means. We must deconstruct the myth that science and faith are at war. Almost every criticism that comes up; whether the Bible teaches the Earth is 6,000 years old or how to make sense of the earth being created on day one and the sun on day four, is a question the Bible was never trying to answer.

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

-Romans 1:20 (NLT)-

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

“At the heart of all the confusion about the Bible is a misunderstanding of what the Bible actually is and how it is unlike most any other book you will read.” - Dan Kimball “How Not to Read the Bible”

As we continue our series on following Jesus in a post-Christian world, we need to understand the Bible. For many of us, the very thing that is meant to strengthen our faith, the Bible, has become a deterrent to understanding faith. However, it doesn’t have to be

that way.

“Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from tall the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

-Luke 24:27 (NLT) -

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

Post-Christianity & the Deconstruction of Faith

Christianity being influenced by culture more than Christ is not a new thing. However, there is something slightly new that is happening. If you have been feeling that our culture is rapidly changing in some unique ways, you are right. We are living in a time of unprecedented deconstruction. In face of this temptation and moment, the invitation of Jesus remains the same, “follow Me”. With our doubts, insecurities, and questions, we resist the urge to settle in deconstruction and walk into a deeper faith, a reconstructed faith.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

-Romans 12:2 (NLT) -

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

Post-Christianity & the Deconstruction of Faith

Christianity being influenced by culture more than Christ is not a new thing. However, there is something slightly new that is happening. If you have been feeling that our culture is rapidly changing in some unique ways, you are right. We are living in a time of unprecedented deconstruction. In face of this temptation and moment, the invitation of Jesus remains the same, “follow Me”. With our doubts, insecurities, and questions, we resist the urge to settle in deconstruction and walk into a deeper faith, a reconstructed faith.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

-Romans 12:2 (NLT) -

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org

God’s Vision for the Church

Some of the most highlighted, googled, and quoted Bible verses are found in the fourth chapter of Philippians. But these verses are not trite scriptures reserved for wall hangings and sentimental prayers. They are clues for how to thrive in our faith and furthermore, a picture of what Gods people, the Church, is to look like. Needless to say, Philippians chapter four is loaded, almost too loaded, to practice on our own. That is why we need one another.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

-Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) -

Ethos is a life-giving community committed to keeping Jesus at its Center. We are on a mission to love all people in Jesus' name so that we may all Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, & Make a Difference.

EthosOH.com

Small Groups: EthosOH.com/Community

ServeColumbus.org