1/15/17. Week 2 of Build the Altar. We are entrusted with our bodies by God, who created us and knows us best. He designed our bodies to be healthy and thrive, even in a fallen world.

In this special message, we hear from Dawson and Anna Hunter about their journey as grace-driven stewards of their bodies. They share the Gospel reasons for eating healthy and beginning to exercise as a way to steward their bodies.

#weareWorshipers #weareLearners #renewalasawayoflife #BuildtheAltar

There’s one resolution you need this year:

1/1/17. Beginning the New Year with "Build the Altar," starting with Grace-Driven Effort.

I will build an altar to God each day.

My voice shall You hear in the morning, O LORD;

in the morning will I direct my prayer to You, and will look up.

—Psalm 5:3

Begin each day looking up to God, worshiping Him and responding to His ever-present love! Though you may fail (repeatedly), His love never fails and His faithfulness never runs out.

Whether we turn aside to the left (in apathetic self-pleasing) or to the right (in stressed-out self-effort), Jesus is willing to come rescue us, put us back on the good path, and lead us onward with grace-driven effort!

// Jeff Patterson preaching on Romans 5:1-5 to start the New Year. #weareWorshipers #weareLearners #renewalasawayoflife #BuildtheAltar

RENEW CHURCH gathers in Oregon City, as a family of missionary servants seeking to introduce our neighborhoods & cities to Jesus our King. // Core values: Grace » Renewal » Hope » Love // web: www.GodRenews.us

12/25/16. Fifth Sunday of Advent, aka Christmas Day. On Sunday, Christmas Day the Renew family gathered to celebrate the moment and occasion of Christ's Birth.

Our focus on this day was to consider the gift of courage given to Joseph, through the angel reminding him, "Do not be afraid," and the resulting life of generosity, wisdom, and courage the husband of Mary embodied from that moment.

// Jeff Patterson preaching on Matthew 1:18-24 #RenewAdvent

12/24/16. Fifth Saturday of Advent, aka Christmas Eve, as the Renew family gathered under dim lights to celebrate the moment and occasion of Christ's Birth. We returned again on Sunday, Christmas Day, as well, with a related yet distinct emphases in our worship.

Songs: Noel; Silent Night; O Holy Night; O Come, O Come Emmanuel; God With Us

// Kari Patterson speaking on "LIGHT" from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 on Christmas Eve #RenewAdvent

12/18/16. Fourth Sunday of Advent. There's something about Mary. She was the first Christian, and her process of belief — from hearing and submitting to the Gospel message, to later visiting her cousin Elizabeth and in community finding the joy of her heart to rejoice and celebrate the goodness of God.

God the Father's love is magnified in the life and beautiful response of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

We finished the morning with the Renew Kids Christmas program.

// Jeff Patterson preaching on Luke 1:26-56 #RenewAdvent

12/11/16. Third Sunday of Advent. What's so significant about some shepherds out in the field near Bethlehem, and why would God's messengers visit them, making them His messengers as well? (And why doesn't God simply send an angel to visit all of us?)

// Jeff Patterson preaching on Luke 2:8-19 #RenewAdvent

12/4/16. Second Sunday of Advent. The famous passage in Micah 5 foretells the coming of the Messiah, a Savior who will right all the wrongs and set history at rights. What does it mean that this ruler, this King, is one "whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days"? What does it say about this King? About the needs of the world? About us?

// Jeff Patterson preaching on Micah 5:1-6 #RenewAdvent

11/27/16. A story shared on the First Sunday of Advent. John Wesley was converted as somebody was reading to him Martin Luther’s commentary on the Galatians. There's a sentence where Luther says,

“Have we nothing then to do? No, nothing … but be found in him who of God has made unto us our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption,”

When John Wesley heard those words, it dawned on him, and he was converted. (Note: this wasn’t his beginning of “Christian” things.)

// Jeff Patterson sharing during Benediction #RenewAdvent

11/27/16. First Sunday of Advent. Jesus Christ came at Christmas, but He didn’t just come. He was given. What does it mean that Jesus is the Gift of God? What does His "giftness" tell us about the triune God? What does it tell us about our needs? And the world?

// Jeff Patterson preaching Isaiah 9:1-7 #RenewAdvent