We can accuse God of many things. We can accuse God of being mysterious… or confusing… or even crazy (to love us so much!). But one thing we cannot accuse God of is that God is boring. Boring implies static, bland, and stationary. But God is anything but boring. This God is always on the move and inviting us to move with God, alongside of God. This God is constantly moving us, and when necessary, shifting us, from one place to another so that we grow in connection with God… in other words, God is constantly transforming us. That’s what we at First Church are all about… being shifted, changed, transformed in God’s love. Come explore with us what it means for us to be shifted into “high gear” with God as we carefully unpack God’s vision of transformation for us through inviting, teaching, and sending. We will examine exactly what that might mean for us as a church and the jolt… i.e. the shift… that may cause in how we operate. What shifts in our mindset and in how we operate might be needed? God is on the move. Will we join with God in that movement? Will we shift our lives to join with God’s? Let’s shift together…

We can accuse God of many things. We can accuse God of being mysterious… or confusing… or even crazy (to love us so much!). But one thing we cannot accuse God of is that God is boring. Boring implies static, bland, and stationary. But God is anything but boring. This God is always on the move and inviting us to move with God, alongside of God. This God is constantly moving us, and when necessary, shifting us, from one place to another so that we grow in connection with God… in other words, God is constantly transforming us. That’s what we at First Church are all about… being shifted, changed, transformed in God’s love. Come explore with us what it means for us to be shifted into “high gear” with God as we carefully unpack God’s vision of transformation for us through inviting, teaching, and sending. We will examine exactly what that might mean for us as a church and the jolt… i.e. the shift… that may cause in how we operate. What shifts in our mindset and in how we operate might be needed? God is on the move. Will we join with God in that movement? Will we shift our lives to join with God’s? Let’s shift together…

Shift!

We can accuse God of many things. We can accuse God of being mysterious… or confusing… or even crazy (to love us so much!). But one thing we cannot accuse God of is that God is boring. Boring implies static, bland, and stationary. But God is anything but boring. This God is always on the move and inviting us to move with God, alongside of God. This God is constantly moving us, and when necessary, shifting us, from one place to another so that we grow in connection with God… in other words, God is constantly transforming us. That’s what we at First Church are all about… being shifted, changed, transformed in God’s love. Come explore with us what it means for us to be shifted into “high gear” with God as we carefully unpack God’s vision of transformation for us through inviting, teaching, and sending. We will examine exactly what that might mean for us as a church and the jolt… i.e. the shift… that may cause in how we operate. What shifts in our mindset and in how we operate might be needed? God is on the move. Will we join with God in that movement? Will we shift our lives to join with God’s? Let’s shift together…

This week we will seek to remember that prayer is more dangerous than we suppose. Afterall, prayer is the fuel to the fire of God’s movement among us. Perhaps we should not take prayer quite so casually.

. Do we take prayer casually? Or do we find ourselves completely dependent, dare we say “desperately reliant” upon God? Even through our fears and tears? This week we will also look at what it means to pray in the Spirit of God and to seek to understand that deep, intimate, powerful connection with God as we pray.

A famous media personality used to once say, “And now… the rest of the story…?” And then they would go on to give more information and some of the back ground to a particular story they were sharing with their audience because, well, people want to know. Intrinsically we are a people who like to know the rest of the story, or the whole story, but we have a natural tendency to only focus on a small part of the story. Even though we like to know the big picture, we tend to only focus on what is right in front of us. Sometimes Christians ONLY focus on Jesus… but there is much more to the Bible than Jesus. Sometimes Christians only focus on the brokenness of human beings and their sad state, but there is more to the Bible than simply the fallen nature of humans. And some folks like to only talk about “end times” and what that will be like, but the Bible talks about a lot more than simply what will happen in the last days. When we look at the entire story, all of what God wants to share with us, we see the beauty and depth of God’s perfect love for us and the lengths God was willing to go to share such love with us. And in that love we see its lasting power. Join us in this sermon series as we examine the entire Biblical narrative… from start to finish (in broad strokes of course!) as we look at the whole story… from Creation, to the Fall, to Redemption, to Restoration.

We will close the series this week and summarize why the church being the church as God designed it is so incredibly important. Our focus will be on going OUT to share the name of Jesus Christ… despite whatever persecution or hardships may come our way.

Like it or not, the church is made up of real people with real problems and issues. When we get into each other’s lives, things can get messy. Rarely do things go as we plan or intend, and yet, despite it all, God continues to use the church. The church comes across as inauthentic and fake when it refuses to acknowledge its short-comings. But when we get real—mistakes and all-- God offers hope, life, and grace in spite of it all and desires to use the church despite its human short-comings. We will focus on the importance of being real and getting into each other’s lives through discipleship, mentoring, and accountability.

This week we will focus upon the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the ultimate signs of the changed, saved, and transformed life offered in Jesus Christ. The church alone is uniquely qualified to offer these holy sacraments. In a world searching for meaning through cheap substitutes of transformation, the church can offer real life and transformation.

One of the church’s greatest strengths is its ability to serve others rather than itself. The church is the one medium that brings together all of the other spheres of influence in society. What could the church do when it makes it more of a priority to serve others than itself? People desire to be healed. They are looking for wholeness. The church has the ability to offer healing in Christ by serving as the hands and feet of Christ.