Last week we saw the heart God desires of those who lead His church in Eph. 4; that leadership in God’s Kingdom calls us to live out God’s heart so others learn to bear His image. This week, we’ll study the role of Elder, as Paul outlines it in his letters to Timothy & Titus. The common themes show how elders are to shepherd themselves & others in God’s heart & Word through a life of humble discipleship.

Closing prayer from The Valley of Vision

Building from Covenant Renewal Sunday, we’re going to walk through a quick mini-series on leadership. If we’re going to be living out our mission / vision / values of discipleship, what does it look like for our church’s leadership to match this? How do we lead others into God’s image? Ephesians 4 shows us that leadership in God’s Kingdom calls us to live out God’s heart so others learn to bear His image.

Closing prayer from The Valley of Vision

Pretty much exactly what the title says! We've understood the concept of faith in America historically in terms of "revival," but scripture seems to talk about faith more in terms of "covenant." Why is this distinction important? Is it even important? We'll take a 30,000' overview of Exodus to see how the Old Testament presented faith in terms of covenant and what that means for us, the church, today; namely, that God’s people live with a heart striving to reconcile Creation to Creator through worship, trust, and relationship.

Closing Prayer from The Valley of Vision.

As the book of Exodus draws to a close, Moses provides a perfect summary to his narrative of the foundation of God’s people. Mirroring a pattern seen throughout the entire book, Exodus 40 makes sure we see one last time God’s design for His people. Exodus 40 reveals that God reconciles His people and anoints them with His Spirit to bear His covenant fruit.

Closing prayer from The Valley of Vision

Exodus 38 revealed the testimony of our faith: when people look at our lives, they should see a story of our faithfulness to pursue bearing God's image and His faithfulness to fulfill His reconciliation promise. This week, guest preacher, Andrew Cook shares with us how Exodus 39 keeps this testimonial language going in light of discipleship. Exodus 39 shows us that discipleship is a rhythm of reminding us where we came from and pointing us forward to the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Exodus 37 showed us that discipleship involves bringing life under God’s design as the Holy Spirit works out God’s image in us. This puts life into the perspective of testimony: when people look at our lives, what testimony do they see? Exodus 38 shows us that discipleship involves our faith testifying about our faithfulness to pursue bearing God’s image and His faithfulness to fulfill His reconciliation promise.

Closing prayer from The Valley of Vision.

Exodus 35-36 have shown us about how the Holy Spirit disciples us & others to keep the Sabbath and build the temple. But what exactly is this discipleship? What does it look like? How does it take place? The picture of discipleship in the closing chapters of Exodus is simply this: that discipleship involves bringing life under God’s design as the Holy Spirit works God’s image out within us.

Closing Prayer from The Valley of Vision

Exodus 35 begins the “closing action” of the narrative, and it opens up an important question: what does it look like to carry out God’s covenant? As Israel is faithfully restored to God’s covenant in Ex. 34, what does it look like for them to now walk out their faith? Ex. 35:1-29 shows that covenant life with God is a rhythm of Sabbath-keeping and temple-building enabled and directed by His Holy Spirit.

Wrapping up the golden calf narrative, we’re humbled to watch how God chooses to respond to Israel’s sin. In the midst of catching His people in the middle of infidelity to the highest, most offensive degree, what does God do? Exodus 34 will show us how God responds to our sin by introducing Himself to us, inviting us to covenant with Him, and drawing us near through His Messiah.

As we continue on in the golden calf narrative, a dramatic shift takes place. Just as a lightbulb goes off in a cartoon to show when someone finally “gets it,” we see the lightbulb go off for Israel and Moses as they finally get who God called them to be / what He set them aside to do. Exodus 33 will show us today that we were made to be in God’s presence; therefore, we work toward restoration in God’s covenant.