As we finished out our series "Called Out Ones" the purpose of the church, we looked at the call of Jesus for us to be Peacemakers. Matthew 5:9 “blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called children of God.”  What does peace look like for us as Christians in a cultural moment more divided than ever?

The church must recapture its need for the presence of God. We are His temple!

One of the common images given in scripture for the church is “The Bride” (Eph 5:25-32, Rev 19:7-9). In each of these passages we see the desire of God to purify His bride (the church). Jesus taught in Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”.  We have all sorts of baggage with this word “Pure”. Feelings of shame, not qualified, unobtainable and the world out of all the characteristics of a Christian life, hates this one the most… Why? Todays message we look at what is purity and how do we live it out?

We kicked off our new series "Called Out Ones" this past Sunday. When Jesus first used the word "Church" in Matthew 16:18, He used the greek word Ekklesia meaning "called out ones". God is renovating the Church in this season and it is so important for us to look at its foundations. So what does it mean for the Church to be called out ones?

We all have a cynic inside of us… We never dreamt or planned it, yet we feel this jaded; keep the world at arms length mentality. It looks attractive, tough not having many hopes, wise claiming to see peoples motives and an activist raging against the systems of the world. But this self controlled shield is only a cover up to the deep trauma’s of life. Losing our anti bodies of hope to offer the world… How can the practice of celebration reverse this mindset?

In an age of contempt for another which is found to be a normal view, we must create a beautiful resistance of honor.  Pastor Craig lays the issues which breed contempt, while encouraging us in a life of honor.

The teaching that brought Rome to its knees was “love your enemy” because this is the love God showed us. While we were yet sinners Christ loved us… Hate has become a description for anything that disagrees with me, while love has been reduced to what makes me feel good. Jesus calls us to a type of love which is proactive and dismantles the enemy. Today we look at how we become most like our Heavenly Father.

We live in a growing culture of exclusion... of Us & Them. We are more connected than ever in a world that has radically changed in spiritual & moral value. We long to be a culture that transforms our world, but how? In looking at the life of Jesus, we see He walked the near & far into the kingdom one meal at a time… This message looks at the power of Hospitality which must resist fear.

Baptism is the shadow of the reality of what happened to us when we met Christ. It’s an awakening to the identity of the work already done. As we celebrate Baptism Sunday we are reminded of the victory of new life in us.

Part 4 of our Beautiful Resistance series. Comfort is the great enemy of the soul. The challenge we face as Christians is living in apathy, lacking in interest or having no concern for our spiritual lives. It is not that we don’t have good intentions to be followers of Jesus! Yet these intentions often do not manifest into meaningful action. Much like a man with a dull axe trying to cut down a tree. How can we shift from ideas, to power for change?