Beginning a series on God moving toward us first, this message returns to Exodus 3 and the burning bush, tracing how God's initiating love provided for Moses throughout his life, and reflecting that God calls us out of nothing simply because he loves us.

A guest speaker (a therapist) reflects on our culture's obsession with immediate, visible results, healing, and progress, using a personal gardening story and Kate Bowler's book "Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved" to challenge how we measure ourselves.

Drawing on Cistercian monk Thomas Keating's "The Human Condition," this message describes humanity's deep needs for security, affection, and power, and uses Matthew 16:24-26 to call hearers to lay down their self-made systems and find those needs grounded in God.

Continuing the heroes-of-the-faith series, this message pairs civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer with Zerubbabel's temple rebuilding in Zechariah 4:6 to show that being the church against overwhelming obstacles comes "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."

Drawing on 1 John 3:11-18, which defines love as self-sacrifice modeled on the cross, this message tells the story of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was converted by the poor and martyred at the altar, as a model for being the church.

Shifting from God as shepherd to human "sub-shepherds" or role models, this message turns to 1 Kings 19 and the prophet Elijah, set against Israel's demand for kings and its drift from God, as an example of a leader worth following.

Continuing the series on God as shepherd, this message argues we judge a spiritual leader by the culture of God's reign left in their wake, and turns to Matthew 11, where the imprisoned John the Baptist sends to ask whether Jesus is the one to come.

Continuing the series on God as shepherd with Psalm 23, this message turns to John 10, where Jesus declares himself the good shepherd who came that his sheep might have life abundantly.

Continuing the series on God as shepherd, this message examines how Jewish culture distrusted actual shepherds, then turns to Luke 15 and the parable of the lost sheep, where Jesus as shepherd seeks out tax collectors and sinners.

Continuing the series on God as shepherd, this message turns to Matthew 26, the Last Supper and Jesus on the Mount of Olives foretelling that the shepherd will be struck and the sheep scattered, alongside his prediction of Peter's denial.