Breathing Room - Part 3:  Dollars and Sense

We live in a culture that continually tells us to pursue a higher standard of living in order to improve our quality of life. But “standard of living” and “quality of life” aren’t the same. One has to do with the stuff we accumulate. The other is about the peace we experience regardless of our circumstances. What if your pursuit of a standard of living is undermining your quality of life?

Breathing Room - Part 2:  Choosing to CheatAt some point in our attempts to get the most out of life, we lose control of our lives. We try to force one more thing into our already busy lives and we reach the breaking point. Too much pressure causes an emotional breakdown. Too much debt causes a financial breakdown. Or maybe you’re on the verge of a breakdown in your relationships. What do you do when your work life is so full you don’t have time for the people who matter most?

Breathing Room - Part 1:  Ex-Squeeze Yourself

Our lives are busy and fast-paced. Lack of margin increases our stress and shortens our tempers. It can distract us from the most important things in our lives, and our relationships suffer. It can even affect our relationship with God because there’s a connection between our willingness to create margin and our faith. Life, and faith, is better with breathing room.

Dwell - Part 4:  God in the Man

Christmas is a time of awe and wonder for many people. Twinkling lights, festive decorations, and manger scenes with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Against the backdrop of reindeer and snowmen, it can cause us to ask the question “what is Jesus doing here?” The answer to that question is found by retracing our steps back to the Garden of Eden—God’s first dwelling place where there was a perfect connection between heaven and earth. The progression from the Garden to the manger is the culmination of God redeeming what was lost.

Dwell - Part 3:  Furniture in the TentGod is on the move to restore and reclaim what was lost and broken. He’s making a way to be with his people once again and recover what sin destroyed. In part two, we’ll see how the furniture God designs for his dwelling place reveals more of his character. Each piece foreshadows the coming of Jesus, The One who ultimately reclaims and restores our relationship with God.

Dwell - Part 2:  Tent in the DesertThe Israelites spent forty years wandering in the wilderness after their rescue from Egypt. God is with them in their wandering and even instructs them to build him a home, called the tabernacle, that becomes the dwelling place of God himself. The amount of effort to build and transport the tabernacle shows us the importance of God’s presence in the midst of his people. 

Dwell: Man in the GardenWe were created in the image of God. Even more than that, we were made to dwell with God. And even more than that, we were made to dwell with others. We see the rational, relational, creative, and vocational attributes of the image of God in our first parents. It’s in our very DNA. We begin our series at the very beginning… in a garden.

Give.Serve.Love.:  Week 3 - Love

The arrival of Jesus signaled the end of the Temple model and the beginning of something new—an approach to faith characterized by love of others. The Temple model is you-focused, but Jesus’ new covenant calls for a focus on the you beside you. This is what’s required if we want to follow Jesus’ example and radically love the people around us.

Give.Serve.Love.If we’re honest, many of us tend to serve either to please others or to prove something to ourselves. Throw in some religious guilt, a few sad pictures, and a little arm twisting, you’ve got a recipe for some short-term servanthood. But if we are going to serve for the long haul, without insecurity or arrogance, we first need to understand our identity and our purpose.

Give.Serve.Love.:  Give

Jesus followers should be the most generous people on the planet when we understand God’s generosity toward us. Once again, we’re going to be encouraged to be extravagantly generous and show our community that our faith is more than just sermons and songs.  

Bottom Line: God’s extravagant generosity toward us compels us to be extravagantly generous toward others.