Support the show

This past Sunday, we explored Genesis 2 and the truth that God created humans to be in close, personal fellowship with him. We saw how the story of the Bible is one of a God actively initiating and pursuing relationships with his people and how this story begins with the creation of humanity in Eden. We see this theme developed later in the Scripture as God gives the tabernacle and the temple as a physical reminder to the people of Israel that he desires to dwell among them. For followers of Jesus, the ultimate act of God’s pursuing love is the giving of his Son, who took on human flesh to restore this sacred fellowship we were created for.   

Support the show

This past Sunday marked the first day of our Edenic journey. As we begin to learn together what it looks like to live Edenic (Everything we say and everything we do breathes life into the world, to the glory of God), we take a look this week at Genesis 1. Of all the beautiful things happening in this account, we focus on God’s heart for order. We have learned that chaos is opposed to God’s character and that confusion, disorder and dysfunction are not a part of His design–we are the disrupters of His perfect order. With that in mind and understanding that “all things hold together” in Christ (Colossians 1:17), it’s clear that we have no hope for finding order that leads to peace apart from Him.      

Support the show

This past Sunday we wrapped up our Edenic vision series by peering through the lens of Ruth and her commitment to Naomi. We used this story to develop a deeper understanding of what hesed looks like between each of us in the body. As we walked through what person to person hesed looks like and how we build it, we highlighted the fact that if we are not building hesed in our relationship with God, we cannot build it with one another. Furthermore, as we build our hesed with God, His Spirit begins to reveal more and more to us how to utilize the gifts He’s given us to build His Kingdom–to live Edenic.      

Support the show

As we near the end of our vision series, we turn our focus to the concept of love in action–hesed. Hesed is most accurately translated into English as lovingkindness or steadfast love. However, the English language falls tragically short at truly communicating the depth of the word. It is God’s hesed that keeps Him in relentless pursuit of us–His loyal commitment to His part of the Edenic Covenant. The Edenic Covenant was the initial invitation for humanity to live to perfect harmony with God and His creation. God’s heart continues to desire that we come and find our rest in Him and show hesed to the world. We show hesed regardless of deservedness because we know that while we were still sinners, Jesus gave His life for us.    

Support the show

Support the show

This past Sunday, we kicked off our new vision series, Edenic: A Renovation of Faith. As an introduction, we looked at not only the importance of but the beauty of allowing ourselves to have space to lament. The biblical figures, authors and even Jesus himself gave us a multitude of examples of how to be honest about where we are in our faith. It’s no secret that our world is filled with darkness and incredibly difficult circumstances that always seem to press on the most vulnerable pressure points of our faith. If we can remember that there is grace upon grace for those who are mourning and/or struggling, we can start to understand that following Christ is filled with valleys and mountaintops for every apprentice–but that God is present and faithful through it ALL.    

Support the show

This past week, we took some time to come to grips with the cynicism of adulthood. This cynicism has proven itself to make things particularly difficult when it comes to greeting the Kingdom with awe and wonderment–like we ourselves are children. We read that Jesus tells His disciples, us, that if we do not change and become like children in regard to humility, we can never enter His Kingdom. So the journey for us then lies so much in allowing the Holy Spirit to begin stripping away all of the ego and cynicism that we so often bring to the table. In doing so, only then can we begin to receive the Kingdom like it is a child and allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate it in our lives so that it continues to grow until it reaches its completeness in the end.  

Support the show

This week we examined the value of church membership. We looked at multiple reasons as to why people choose to not join a local body of believers (busyness, can’t find the “right” one, hypocrisy, church hurt, etc). However, as we survey the New Testament, we find that none of it is written to an autonomous believer. Every book is written either to an entire local body of believers or a leader of a local body with the goal of instructing them how to love one another and the world around well—as Christ loved them.

Support the show

Support the show