Our finance lead, Jonathan Godbey, shares a message about our relationship with money and stepping into giving. Jonathan draws from John Wesley's framing on the topic: gain all you can; save all you can; and give all you can. Psalm 122:1; Psalm 19:14; John 21:15-17; Matthew 22:37-40; 1 John 2:16; Deuteronomy 8:17-18.

Continuing our discussion around the idea that "We All Go Together," Josh shares about the heart of hospitality behind stepping into serving. Bill invites us to follow Jesus' words that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and shares specific ministry needs that the RCC family can help with. Exodus 33:14-16; 1 Peter 4:7-11; Romans 12:3-13; Mark 10:45. 

As we continue our series and enter the season of Lent, Josh looks at Luke 3 and 4, where Jesus hears God call Him the Beloved and is then led into the wilderness where He is tempted. During Lent, we have the opportunity to fast as well, and in doing so, we are not only giving something up, but we are also stepping into a space to take something Jesus has for us. In the wilderness, Jesus fasts for 40 days before He is tempted, and the story prompts a couple of questions for us to consider: (1) What do we do with unmet hunger? and (2) Does our version of success look like what God has in mind? Luke 3:21-22; Luke 4:1-13. 

Josh shared a couple of quotes from Debie Thomas: 

1) "Many of us “give up” something for Lent each year.  Chocolate, wine, television, Facebook.  The goal of these fasts is to sit with our hungers, our wants, our desires — and learn what they have to teach us.  What is the hunger beneath the hunger?  Can we hunger and still live?  Desire and still flourish?  Lack and still live generously, without exploiting the beauty and abundance all around us?  Who and where is God when we are famished for whatever it is we long for? Friendship, meaning, intimacy?  A home, a savings account, a family?"

This week we have a guest speaker, Aaron Vickroy, who is the Associate Director for Staff Development at the UGA Wesley Foundation in Athens, Georgia. Aaron calls us to live a life that is a prayer. Looking at a number of verses from 2 Chronicles, we see how we participate with what God is seeking to do in the world. That participation comes through prayer but it also comes by the way we live our lives. God wants to open our lives to Him in such a way that our life becomes our prayer. A question to consider: Where are the ways that we're living disconnected from our prayers? 2 Chronicles 7:14-15; 15:2; 16:9. 

Aaron shares several quotes during his message:

1) "The great Christian revolutions come not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen when someone takes radically something that was always there.”

                                 -- Richard Niebuhr

2) “God does nothing except through prayer.” 

                                 -- John Wesley

3) “Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets his people to pray.”

                        -- Charles Spurgeon

4) “Prayer moves the hand, that moves the world.”

                        -- Charles Spurgeon

5) "I want a life that does more than just pray sporadically, but that is itself a prayer."

                        -- Ken Shigematsu

Josh continues our series of talks explaining what we mean by "We All Go Together" and encourages us to step into being present with Jesus. Whether we are reading Scripture, going to church, meeting in small groups or whatever we are doing along our spiritual journey, the point of all of it is to meet with Jesus -- to be present with Jesus. He is the destination. For example, the point of Scripture isn't to bring us to a room or a building, but to be present with Jesus in community. Some questions to consider: What are things that may hinder me from being present with the RCC body? Who around me needs encouragement? Do I need some encouragement from others in the body? 

Josh shared a quote from Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns related to deconstruction that many try to engage alone instead of in community: "A few words about deconstruction. In order to move out of toxic environments it is often necessary to exert power of 'I' and stake one's claim over against repressive systems. Once the power of 'I' is gained, it is especially hard to let go of it, especially when the 'I' is wounded. We can become trapped in our power of deconstruction and find ourselves in what Mark Taylor calls, 'amazing grace' -- endless possibilities and no closures. A life of mutual display, but one fearful of common values, common stories. Longing for community but afraid it may harm us. In such a world, everything can be deconstructed -- except the 'I.' We protect the wounded self. But who wants to live in this wilderness? The way out is not going back. It is going deeper. Deeper into the call of Christ to 'come and die.' The paradox of the 'via negativa.' 'All to Jesus I surrender' may seem like call to return to a life you struggled to be free from. It's not, because it offers true freedom. Freedom to love and be loved. Ending with a quote from T.S. Eliot: 'The only hope, or else despair, lies in the choice of pyre or pyre.' "

Josh shares from Psalm 1 this morning as we continue our three-month focus on the importance of the local church, living in community, and being formed together. Today, we're looking at what it means to step into spiritual formation. Formation is already happening. We are being formed by one thing or another. One group or another. Are these what we want to be formed by? Three questions to consider: What am I pursuing? How am I currently being formed? What things hinder me from desiring to be formed by God in my day-to-day routines? 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 12:1-2; Psalm 1.

Josh shared a few definitions today for spiritual formation and spiritual disciplines:

1) James Bryan Smith - “Christian spiritual formation is the process of being transformed into the image of Christ, through a relationship of intimacy with God, by the power of the Spirit, in order to live a good and beautiful life of faith, hope, love, joy and peace- for the sake of the world.” 

2) Ruth Haley Barton - “Spiritual transformation is the process by which Christ is formed in us …for the glory of God, for the abundance of our own lives, and for the sake of others." 

3) Evan B. Howard - “The intentional and semi-intentional processes by which believers (individuals and communities) become more fully conformed and united to Christ, especially with regard to maturity in life and calling." 

4) Spiritual disciplines: "Any intentional space or practice done with the goal of cultivating attentiveness to God and what the Holy Spirit wants to do in and around us."

This week, we start a 3-month journey looking at a tagline that has become a part of RCC: "We All Go Together." We want to flesh out the heart behind that line. It includes the importance of gathering collectively on Sunday mornings and committing to spiritual formation in small groups. Kara kicks off this focus today as a part of the new season of groups. We often focus on the early church through the lens of Acts 2:42, but the fruit we see there was birthed out of that new group of believers in Acts 1 -- a group that gathered together to pray, worship, eat together. Looking at the life of Jesus, we see him model practicing the disciplines as well. Both were practicing spiritual disciplines before there was such a label for it. Kara shared about the groups that are available this season for people to join. Psalm 51:10; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:22-24; Acts 1:13-16; Acts 2:42-47. 

Kara shared a couple of quotes this week: 

1) Donald S. Whitney: “Although God will grant Christlikeness to us when Jesus returns, until then He intends for us to grow toward it. We aren’t merely to wait for holiness; we’re to pursue it.”

2) Richard Foster: "Thus, the daring goal of the Christian life could be summarized as our being formed, conformed, and transformed into the image of Jesus Christ…. Now, we must insist that this way of life is reliably sustained in the context of a like-minded fellowship. Essential to our growth in grace is a community life where there is loving, nurturing accountability. Christlikeness is not merely the work of the individual; rather, it grows out of the matrix of a loving fellowship. We are the body of Christ together, called to watch over one another in love." 

Josh continues the discussion of our racial reconciliation prayer of the season. Jesus is the ultimate reconciler, and we need his wisdom and guidance as we practice the ministry of reconciliation. The work will also require humility, mercy, washing wounds, fellowship, and justice. Acts 2:42-47; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Acts 16:16-34. 

Josh shares from 1 Corinthians 12 this morning about the Body of Christ. Paul wrote these words in his letter to explain what being a part of the Christian community means. He borrows some militaristic language of the time to flip things around, driving home the point that there is no superiority in the Body of Christ. All parts of the body matter. We all have some gift or gifts to offer to build up the body. 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. 

Josh also shared a quote from RJ Whitney: 

"The human body has 206 bones, 639 muscles, and about 6 pounds of skin, along with ligaments, cartilage, veins, arteries, blood, fat, and more. Every time we hear a sound; every time we take a step; every time we take a breath, hundreds of different parts work together so that what we experience is a single movement, our minds and bodies working as one unit. Even the greatest engineers struggle to achieve anything like it in mechanical form. The human body represents one of the most complex systems in existence."

Josh shared from Romans 8 where we see three groanings: creation, humanity and the Spirit. Paul talks about the firstfruits of the Spirit. That deposit from the Spirit reminds us of what is to come. Hope fits where we are in the present -- it encourages and sustains while we wait. Where are you groaning? That may be where God is trying to build you up. Romans 8:1-28.