This week's Scripture is Colossians 1:24-2:5. With anxiety on the rise and religious practice on the decline in society, there are a lot of reasons for someone’s faith to feel fragile – almost vulnerable to the idea that Jesus isn’t sufficient for modern issues and problems we’re facing. What do we do to keep thriving, keep apprenticing, and not drift from Jesus in the midst of our worry, false ideas, and cultural values so often opposed the Jesus-based life? Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, addresses similar concerns with the call to stay firm and fix our eyes on Jesus. By focusing on Jesus - that He is our hope, He is in us, and He is enough - we will have an unshakeable foundation and can guard from drifting into grave spiritual sickness before it happens.

Deep in our souls, we feel that history and our universe has a purpose, that it’s going somewhere, that life must have a deep meaning. But we struggle to put our finger on it, and so often we live in ways that make our lives more empty. Until we understand and align ourselves with the true reason and purpose of the cosmos, we will never experience the thriving that our hearts long for. Spoiler alert: Jesus is the key to all of this.

As we try to run after the “good life,” how do we know that we’re going in the right direction? It certainly is possible to go wrong way and not know it for a while. As we step into Colossians, we’ll see that, for Paul, the answer comes by growing in our knowledge, friendship and obedience to the real Jesus. When we spend time with the authentic, we will increasingly and naturally recognize and reject the counterfeit.

Sermon from Sunday, October 29th. This week's sermon is from Colossians 3:12-17. Whose advice are you following these days? Who is teaching you how to live? We ALL learn how to live from other people, whether intentionally or not. Jesus offers himself to us as the master-teacher on this topic, and he invites us to apprentice with him in real life.

This week's sermon is from Romans 12:3-18. Thriving in life flows directly from healthily relationships with God and others. But how do we build that connection? The church, when it is working as it should, is the answer. The “body of Christ” is designed by God to be an authentic community defined by humility, service and love.

This week's sermon is from Exodus 20:8-11, as well as Matthew 11:28-30 and Hebrews 10:23-25. Are you busy and tired? We recommend sabbath, the ancient and holy rhythm that brings joy and life. Sabbath helps bring form and substance to our weeks by creating space for the things that matter most, with weekly Christian worship as the highlight. Ultimately, sabbath is a practice that teaches us to trust God, our true provider and protector.

Sermon from Sunday, October 8th. More at followingtogether.com/messages. This week's sermon is from Psalm 136. When we lose sight of gratitude, we risk losing sigh of who God is and who we are in light of Him.

Sermon from Sunday, October 8th. More at followingtogether.com/messages. As we read the Scripture, especially in the Psalms, we see in "ancient times" the people of God (Israel) had patterns of thankfulness that were a regular part of the assembly and everyday life. These patterns aided the congregation to focus their minds on God, specifically bringing to mind attributes and actions of God. When spoken to one another, they created a landscape where all could draw from to respond to God in appropriate gratitude.

Sermon from Sunday, October 8th. More at followingtogether.com/messages. Throughout the entire Scriptures, we are reminded of the value of expressing gratitude to God - of being thankful. Psalm 136 lays out a pattern of thanking God first for who He is, then for what He does, next for His rescue, and finally for His continued provision. It's a pattern worth repeating in our own lives. As we look into the New Testament, we see the call to be thankful is furthered by those who follow Jesus. Colossians 3, in particular, reminds us that the same posture of thankfulness expresses by God's people in the Old Testament can also draw us into a deeper experience of Christ's peace today.

Sermon from Sunday, October 1st. This week's message is from John 15:1-17. In John 15, Jesus claims that the only way to live a thriving, fruitful life is by remaining spiritually and relationally connected to him. And he describes very practically how this connection works and what it produces. In this talk, we’ll uncover the main principle and three core truths about remaining in Jesus, and how the practice of daily scripture can form the backbone of our relationship with him.