Flourishing Grace Church

In this week's teaching from Titus 2:1-15, Brett closes our Flourishing Grace series by asking if the vision you've inherited for following Jesus the same as Jesus' vision for your life?

So much of what we believe about marriage, parenting, and following Jesus has been shaped by what we've seen modeled for us. But what happens when the examples we've inherited distorted vision of the life Jesus actually calls us into?

Paul gives us a beautiful picture of spiritual fatherhood and motherhood, where older men and women help younger generations learn what it means to belong to Jesus. And at the center of it all is grace.

The grace of God doesn't just save us. It's training us to turn away from distorted visions of flourishing the world offers and walk in the abundant, flourishing life that comes from belonging to Jesus.

We weren't meant to figure this out alone. Jesus in his mercy gave us the church, and we don't have to wait until we've mastered following Jesus to help someone else.

Give Jesus access to every part of your life and let him keep training you in His grace!

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visitwww.flourishinggrace.org.

In this week's teaching from Ephesians 4:11–16, Pastor Benjer asked the question:

How do we know if we're actually flourishing?

We often measure the health of a church by the things we can see. Great preaching, meaningful worship, growing attendance, and successful ministries. But is that really what Jesus is after?

Paul gives us a different picture of what a flourishing church looks like. The goal isn't simply to build a better church or create more programs. It's to become a people who look more and more like Jesus.

The true measure of spiritual maturity isn't how much we know or how much we do, but how much our lives reflect the mission, character, and heart of Jesus.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

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Something is always shaping us.

Our work, our success, the approval of others. Most of the time we don't even notice the things shaping us because we've been so accustomed to it.

In week two of our "Flourishing Grace" series Josh Brown invites us to look closer at what our lives are being shaped by.

Not so that we can try harder to become a better version of ourselves. He shows us that the invitation of the Gospel it to be shaped by the mercies of God. Real transformation doesn't come from changing our behavior from the outside in, but from allowing God's truth and His Spirit to renew us from the inside out.

The world will keep trying to press into you, but God invites us into his renewal.

Something is going to shape you. Let it be the mercy of God.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us!

www.flourishinggrace.org.

Pastor Benjer kicked off our new "Flourishing Grace" series by inviting each of us to look at what's on our plate.

We live at a frenetic pace, constantly consuming things we hope will satisfy, restore, or sustain us. But what happens when the things we're feeding ourselves can't actually give us life?

Jesus doesn't give us a checklist, activity, or another way to improve ourselves. He gives us Himself.

Today's teaching text from John 6 and Jeremiah 17, show us what it looks like to be rooted in Jesus, the true source of life, and how abiding in Him produces resilience and fruit even though seasons of heat and drought.

We don't flourish by trying harder. We flourish when we abide in Jesus.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us!

www.flourishinggrace.org.

This year's Sunday in the park teaching is from Ephesians 2 and Pastor Benjer walks us through an important question.

How do we actually gain access to God?

Most of us instinctively reach for our resume. We build a case that we've been good enough, gone to church enough, prayed enough or somehow earned our way into a relationship with him.

Paul tells the church in Ephesus it's only through Jesus.

The good news of the gospel is that those who were once far off have been brought near through Jesus. Access to the Father isn't based on what we've done, but on the finished work of Christ.

God is rich in mercy, great in love, and His grace is not in short supply. You cannot out sin the depths of God's mercy.

Through Jesus, you're invited to come into His presence.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visit

In this week's teaching from Acts 3, church planting resident Joshua Niyokwizigirwa walks us through Peter's message after the healing of a man who had been unable to walk.

Peter doesn't point to himself or his own power. He points to Jesus the Author of Life who was killed, raised from the dead, and is still at work through His Spirit.

So what do we say to the bad news of life?

Sin is real and it destroys, enslaves, and eventually devours the things we love. But the good news of the gospel is that through Jesus our sins can be wiped away and times of refreshing can come from the presence of the Lord.

This refreshing isn't something we manufacture through better performance. It comes as we repent, surrender, and come to Jesus. And when we drink deeply of Him, that living water doesn't stop with us, it overflows into a thirsty world.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

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What do you do when you blow it with God?

In this final teaching from our series in Exodus, guest speaker Dave Nelson looks at Exodus 34 alongside the book of Hebrews and the contrast is striking.

At Sinai, the people stood at a distance. Moses alone went up the mountain into the presence of God. But Hebrews tells us that because of Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, we are invited to draw near. We don't come hiding, pretending, or trying to make ourselves worthy. We come through Christ.

And when we come, we discover the God who revealed Himself to Moses: merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

The good news is not simply that God forgives us when we fail. Through Jesus, He brings us near, makes us holy, and gives us His Spirit to transform us.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visit

In this week's teaching from Exodus 33, Israel is offered everything they could want: a land of their own, provision, safety, security, and victory over their enemies.

There is just one problem. God says He will not go with them. And for the first time, Israel begins to understand that the gifts of God are not enough without the presence of God.

How many of us would, or have taken that deal?

This week Pastor Benjer walks us through Moses response... “If You’re not going with us, we don’t want to go.” We're reminded that the Christian life is about wholly treasuring Jesus more than the good gifts He gives.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visit

In this week's teaching from Exodus 32, we look beneath the golden calf at the conditions where idolatry begins to grow.

While Israel is at the bottom of the mountain tired of waiting, God is on the mountain with Moses designing something for glory and beauty so that He can dwell among His people. Israel became impatient and manufactured an idol to satisfy them, sinfully misusing God's gifts going outside of His design, and timing.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus doesn't just forgive us for our idolatry. He intercedes for us, interrupts us, invites us to come to Him, and gives us His Spirit to make us into people who reflect His glory and beauty.

We don't have to manufacture our way out of uncertainty. We can receive Him, wait with Him, and trust that what He is making is better than anything we could make for ourselves.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visit.

In this week's teaching from Exodus 24, we look at the beauty of Jesus, who fulfilled the old covenant and is the Mediator of the new covenant!

Israel enters into a covenant with a Holy God, a covenant they could never perfectly keep. And neither can we. We cannot achieve our way into the presence of God or prove ourselves worthy of His love.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus has already done it. He fulfilled the law on our behalf, paid the debt we could never pay, and through His blood has reconciled us to God.

Praise the Lord we don't have to achieve what Jesus has already accomplished.

The invitation is to surrender–to trust Him, receive what He has done, and walk with Him.

Come and Seek the Lord with Us

www.flourishinggrace.org/plan-your-visit