Kathrin Meier joins Lance on NIA Sunday to talk about the ministry Neighbors In Action is doing in Port Houston, the way that the people of Port Houston have made that ministry their own, and how we tend to dehumanize people on the other side of the tracks - in both directions.

“We cannot have a relationship with Christ, the head of the body, if we do not have a relationship with the body himself.”

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Amanda looks at a passage from Romans to consider how we are perhaps not yet living in the fullness of Christ.

She remembers a girl hassling her young daughter that made her go into Mama Bear mode - but the story ended up being something other than what she expected.

How do we live with hope among all the groaning?

It’s not just us. It is all of creation groaning under the weight of this brokenness.

Romans 8:18-28

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In today’s message, Lance talks about the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment so that she could be healed. But even though her physical ailment was cured, Jesus knew that there was more that needed healing.

The woman was suffering from a “poverty of being.” And that was something that needed more than a physical change in order to cure.

Mark 5:25-34

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This month’s series comes from a book called When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself. It’s a book about changing our whole mentality on missions, as we recognize the hurt we can do when we try to help in the wrong ways.

We need to develop a new paradigm for missions - recognize that when we go into communities, we do not bring God with us. God is already there.

Ephesians 3:14-21

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Acts 17 is one of Lance’s favorite chapters in Acts, and that’s because there’s a lot going on beneath the text. Paul’s heart is grieved for the world around him. 

What is breaking your heart in the world around us?

The world is open to the Word of God, but who is going to teach them the resurrection if not us?

Acts 17:16-34

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Lance dives into Acts 16, where Paul and Silas are punished for having the faith to save a girl tormented by demon, and find themselves flogged and sent to prison, not that they let it get them down.

“Sometimes the only way through it is a hallelujah.” To praise even in the face of punishment and torment - that’s difficult to do. But their faith had an impact. Can ours have the same?

Acts 16:16-40

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As we look at the story of a Gentile church in crisis in Acts, Lance talks about the way political differences have divided the church in the wake of Covid.

Lance is reminded of a church he served at, and how one fateful decision sealed the direction of the church.

The choices we make drive us towards or away from relationship with our neighbors. Living in community requires choice. What is going to be the thing that holds us together in community?

Acts 15:1-35

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Lance talks about a time he ended up in Vegas and made a tentative attempt at gambling at a slot machine, which ended poorly.

But prayer, he reminds us, is not gambling. You aren’t just putting coins in a slot machine and hoping something good comes out.

And the story today, of Peter being rescued from prison in the Book of Acts, is a clear example of the power of prayer.

Acts 12:1-24

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Lance takes a look at a church in Acts that where people were coming from everywhere and all walks of life - and asks what we can do to create the same movement.

We are a missionary movement. There is still good to be done.

Are you looking at the gifts that are all around us? There are so many people here we can lift up.

God is weaving together a tapestry made out of all of us to make a beautiful church.

Acts 11:19-30

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In the book of Acts, Peter is given a vision from heaven of every type of food, letting the Jewish people that he has declared everything clean. But the picture is much bigger - Jesus was letting Peter know that everyone was invited, and everyone was invited just as they are.

Jesus asks us to invite everyone into his church. Lance challenges us to extend that invitation with an open hand.

Why do we expect people who have never sat at the feet of Jesus to act like Jesus?

Acts 10:1-48

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