This is the third message dealing with the implications of what happens when grace and truth has encountered a person who will be a vital part of a healthy community. The person who is authentic is not posing or posturing. They don’t need to “vault”. They are self-aware, honest, willing (at the right time/place) to be vulnerable. They bring their best, but understand their limitations

This is the second message dealing with the implications of what happens when grace and truth has encountered a person who will be a vital part of a healthy community. The person who is growing in grace will be marked time alone with God and engaged in spiritual practices wherein God can shape them. D. Bonhoeffer once said: “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.”

This is the first message dealing with the implications of what happens when grace and truth has encountered a person who will be a vital part of a healthy community. The person with a “generous spirit” will be marked by gratitude, humility, an appreciation for others, well-meaning for others, sharing with others, a life for others. They are friendly and “open-hearted”. Think of Jesus welcoming the children or when he was willing to be interrupted by those in need.

Today's message introduces a new series in which we aim to understand how disciples of Jesus reflect his image to each other and to the world. Understanding the vital role of grace and truth will provide a foundation for being faithful as individuals and as a faith community so that hope and healing, challenge and conviction become what we are known for in our homes, workplaces, neighborhood, and world.

Through looking at two different people from the Old Testament, we will share about how Power, Love, and Self-discipline are key to discovering the superhero within.

Times of transition can be stressful. As Paul Kaak taught at the beginning of this series, we’re often tempted to skip over the neutral zones that lie between an ending and a new beginning. Instead, we crave stability and the comfort of that which we’ve grown accustomed to. As we think about this specific season in the life of NewSong, what good can come about from transition? Could God be using this time to prepare us to be even more effective as a church? If so, what do we hope to see on the other side of this transition, and what should we pray for God to do in us as a congregation if we persevere through this time?

Through the perspective of recent losses I’ve journeyed through, I’ll set up the ability to reflect on the losses that both New Song is journeying through as well as personal losses in people’s lives. The text is the story of David dealing with the loss of his child as the consequence of his sin. While not a parallel to what New Song is experiencing, what David does is profound for how to deal with loss. The short answer is what I call the spiritual discipline of “mourning.” This will be an important discipline in the life of the church over the next year.

This is a message that shares my own story of brokenness and depression and how SOULeader was founded. I briefly overview the six dimensions of formation that we focus on through everything we do at SOULeader. I end with a story that shows that even in the midst of our brokenness there is hope because God designed our lives to reflect him through the brokenness.

My intention next Sunday is to think about how the corporate body proceeds through a transition. Since we are the body of Christ, what did Christ's body do and we to should do? How do we walk in his way and do what he would do together.

Message from Paul Kaak on May 29, 2016