Life Center

God’s family includes many different people who live together in harmony.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child or family, please stop by the table in the commons for Child Sponsorship. And here’s a cool thing: last week after I mentioned that we are bringing clean water and sanitation to 15,000 students at 42 schools in the Karachuyona region of Kenya, one of you wrote an $8000 check—enough to pay for an entire school! I love you! I love your generosity and your desire to help others!

The God who serves us calls us to serve one another so that together we can serve the world.

October 21-22, 2018

Introduction and offering

Let me start with a couple questions.

How many of you followed the nomination and confirmation of new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh? Kavanaugh was confirmed on a 50-48 vote in the Senate—the votes strictly followed party lines with only a couple exceptions. It was a contentious process. Here’s the irony: Kavanaugh is replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy, the last justice to receive a unanimous confirmation vote—in 1988 Democrats and Republicans together unanimously confirmed him. Quite the change in the last 30 years! The political climate has become polarized and toxic.

How many of you have ever been trashed on social media or in an email or text? People feel free to hide behind their screens and trash others from a distance—they say things they are unlikely to say face to face. (This is another reason why I refuse to handle conflict via email or text.) The internet and social media have democratized knowledge, but also amplified rudeness.

There is so much hostility in our world; we’ve lost the art of civility, of being gracious.

Jesus calls us to live differently. We are recipients of grace and dispensers of grace. This gracious gospel behavior starts with God—it’s how He treats us—then it is shared among us, and spreads out to everyone we meet.

Galatians 6:10 (p. 1005) Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Let us do good to all people. Yet Paul s

Jesus stops for us, really sees us, and stays present with us. We should do the same for others.

Hello everyone.

This message series LOVE WON ANOTHER has been appropriately entitled, because this illustrates God’s relationship towards us, doesn’t it? 

By sending Jesus, who came to earth and became one of us, experiencing all the challenges and joys we do, God gives us the framework and example for how we then love one another. 

Love wins us over. 

And we then are…becoming love to one another. 

This weekend we are going to talk about Accepting One Another, and how the life of Jesus teaches us to walk that out.

Accept one another Jesus-style.

Part of my prep for this message was to look at all the weeks in this series and simply spend a few hours reading and soaking in the One Another scriptures. 

So good. 

I found myself inadvertently doing a self-evaluation as I went along, somewhat rating myself on how I thought I was doing overall on each of them. 

Let me read a few of them to you.

-Love one another

-Be kind and compassionate

-Serve one another

-Live in harmony, submit to, forgive one another 

-Encourage one another, offer hospitality to, honor one another.

Hmmm. What I discovered reading through all these scriptures…for me to walk out the Love One

You’re not a vessel, you’re a vehicle of God’s kindness and compassion.

The way we treat each other is our loudest message about Jesus to the watching world.

Jesus is for everyone!

Follow Jesus and He will send you on mission.

If you are a guest today, welcome—we’re glad you’re here! I’m going to give a short talk from the Bible, and then we’re going to enjoy some ice cream!

1. Straight talk about His mission. 43-45

Why is it that every time we have a mountain-top experience, it seems to be followed by a big downer? Why can’t we just stay up forever? Students often express that they’d like to stay at camp all year! I love the up too—but what goes up, must come down.

September 1-2, 2018
Pastor Joe Wittwer
Summer Bible Series
From the mountain to the valley
Luke 9:28-43 (p. 890)

Introduction and offering:

Have you ever had a mountain-top experience—off-the-charts good—only to have it followed immediately by a big downer? You’re up here, and suddenly you come crashing down, back to earth. Up…then down. Things are great…things are terrible. This happens a lot—have you noticed?

You get up early to read the Bible and pray; you connect with God; you come away filled and energized. Then the kids get up. Or you get to work. Or…you fill in the blank—but it’s back to earth, back to real life. It reminds me of one of favorite prayers:

ILL: Dear Lord, so far today, I’m doing alright. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, or selfish. I have not whined, complained, cursed, or eaten any chocolate. I have charged nothing on my credit card. But I will be getting out of bed in a minute, and then I think I’ll really need your help!

It’s bad when the high point of your day is before you get out of bed, and then it’s all downhill from there!

Today we are reading two stories from the gospel of Luke: one up, the other down. One glorious experience on a mountain top; the other an embarrassing failure back down in the valley. Up…then down. We’re going to unpack both stories and then finish talking about the ups and downs of life.</