This Advent season is a time for renewal -- to refocus on God, to evaluate where we are in our journey, and to ask the hard questions. In this message, Kathy Keasler invites us to explore how we might renew our life with God at the end of such a difficult year.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Luke 3.1-6; Lamentations 5.21; 3.22-26

// A Lamentation for 2020 by Kathy Keasler --

Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us…See what has happened to us in 2020!

Our normal routines have been uprooted!

Our dinner tables have been reduced to only us…no one else invited.

Schools are now screens. Teachers are viewed in a one inch square on the computer.

The loss of lives is something that we have not seen in our lifetime…and it is still rising.

The needed supplies we purchased at ease before have become scarce and expensive.

We're not sure who to believe because everyone is called a liar.

A simple mask now divides our nation into our political positions.

We didn’t ask for this, God.

Our children are affected…our seniors did not experience the cherished graduation ceremonies, soccer games that were canceled, hanging out with friends is no more.

Weddings are canceled as well as family celebrations!

We look to our past and ask the question: Who have we become?

And this poem could go on and on!

And it is heartbreaking.

If we look back at Lamentations, we see it does not leave us with just the lament; God comes to his people time and time again.

// How do we renew our lives with God?

1. Prayer life -- ask God to heal you in areas that you need healing. Is there someone you have not forgiven? Is there anger you're holding onto?

2. Scripture reading -- what passages have always resonated with you? When will you make time this week to revisit them and reflect?

3. Ask God to heal the hurts in your life and family.

4. Talk with other Christians about the things that really count.

5. Journal about what God teaches you.

// Isaiah 40.28-31

If there's something we could all use a little more of after the year we've had, surely it's encouragement. We begin our Advent journey where Jesus began his ministry. Join us as we look at Jesus' baptism and family tree and let yourself be encouraged in your own story and identity.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Luke 3.21-38

// If you haven't already or haven't lately, talk about how you're talking to one another.

// PART 1 -- Encouraged in our STORY

// What is Luke telling us with this genealogy?

// BIG IDEA 1 -- Our story thus far doesn’t have to dictate the whole story moving forward, we can “invert the pyramid” for those who come after us.

// PART 2 -- Encouraged in our IDENTITY

// Why was Jesus baptized?

// QUOTE -- “If you know you are the Beloved, you can live with an enormous amount of success and an enormous amount of failure without losing your identity. Because your identity is that you are the Beloved.” (HENRI NOUWEN)

// QUOTE -- "It’s about funneling ourselves into a central place. Our choice is not to focus on the narrow, but to narrow our focus. The gate that leads to life is not about restriction at all. It is about an entry into the expansive. There is a vastness in knowing you’re a son/daughter worth having. We see our plenitude in God’s own expansive view of us, and we marinate in this."

// BIG IDEA 2 -- If you are in Christ, you cannot out-believe your Belovedness.

// CLOSING STORY -- Check out Jay Speights' journey of discovering his heritage.

God's divine desire builds bridges between different people. Now more than ever, we've got to be willing to walk across. In Acts 8 God is chasing a eunuch who is chasing God. It's Philip who is open enough to close the gap. Like Philip, we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is inviting us to invite others into the family of God...even people we would have never expected.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Acts 8.26-40

// We celebrate birthday parties after someone is born! Baptism is the celebration of someone being born into new life.

// BIG IDEA 1 -- God’s divine desire builds bridges between different people but we’ve got to be willing to walk across.

// BIG IDEA 2 -- The Holy Spirit invites us to invite others into the family of God.

// Some ways to discern the leading/prompting/invitation of the Holy Spirit -- 1. / Is this about me or are the “arrows pointing out” to others in love, charity, and service? 2. / Does it look like, sound like, feel like Jesus? 3. / Can I trust that there will be more life and love in the outcome regardless of my own perception of how this goes? (Our job is openness and obedience, we trust God for outcomes)

// BIG IDEA 3 -- Philip discerns, listens, asks, and listens AGAIN before he speaks. (How often do Christians follow his lead?)

// EXPLORE FURTHER -- Isaiah 56.1-8

// REFLECT -- What would it look like in your relationships this week if you committed to show genuine, uncommon, unexpected curiosity? Start with those closest to you. Be intentional as you encounter others.

What happens when crisis pushes us out of our comfort zones and into new territory? While this year has been a challenge for everyone, we are not the first ones blazing new trails. God's people have always been "New Territory" people. And when we choose to lean into God's presence and power, we find that there is always life on the other side of crisis, no matter how difficult it seems.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 8.1-25

// We'll learn how they trusted the Spirit's leadership in: 1. New Places, 2. New People, and 3. New Perspective

// We're reminded that the story we are believing, telling, and embodying is a powerful critique of and alternative to the powers of the world using violence, fear, and division to elevate themselves over God. It is a story worth living and even dying for.

// This crisis disrupted their lives but it did not destroy their purpose.

// Big Idea 1 -- "Scattered" becomes "Sent" when we follow the lead of the Spirit into new places we never expected to go.

// Big Idea 2 -- "Them" becomes "us" when we follow the Spirit's ever-expanding circle of who is reconciled into the reign of God.

// QUOTE -- "The delay of the Spirit was not for a defect of faith or of life for the Samaritans. Could it be that God waited for Peter and John so that they could watch the intimate event? Here and now these disciples, especially Peter, will see a love that extends into the world. They will watch as God stretches forth divine desire over the Samaritans. They must see again the Spirit descend and sense afresh the divine embrace of flesh. Disciples of Jesus must be convinced not only of God's love for the world but also God's desire for people, especially peoples we have been taught not to desire." / WILLIE JAMES JENNINGS

// Big Idea 3 -- "Control" becomes "Surrender" when we release our pride and receive God's life.

We are shaped by stories. In the longest speech recorded in the book of Acts, Stephen retells the story of his people on the threshold of life and death. But what happens when the keepers of tradition disagree with the story's ending? The challenge for God's people in all times and places is this: to pay attention to God and to respond appropriately.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 7

// 1. Adam's Story, 2. Stephen's Story, 3. Our Story

// BIG IDEA 1: There are different stages of our faith journey but only one faithful destination: relationship and partnership with the living God.

// BIG IDEA 2: The challenge for God’s people in all times and places is to pay attention to God and respond appropriately.

// BIG IDEA 3: In the embrace of God there is no love to earn but there is always a next step to take.

// REFLECTION: Do we know the Story? Tell the Story? Live within the Story?

The stories we believe and receive shape our identity. What story has been shaping you lately? Stephen, an early church leader, embraced and embodied the story of Jesus even in the face of opposition and death.

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 6.8-15

The movement of the gospel to everyone everywhere experiences a kink in the hose in Acts chapter 6. It will take the flexibility of the community and some Spirit-enabled servant leaders to get ministry moving again. God has gifted us, called us, and given us different roles in the same body. How might these two vital questions we ask in this message transform us and our community?

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Acts 6.1-7

The religious leaders are in a meeting. The apostles are in the street. The religious leaders are trying to stop the Jesus movement. The apostles are on the move with God through the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. The religious leaders are working *for* God without God. How can we avoid that trap in our everyday lives?

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Acts 5.12-42

// My favorite question -- Where are you on your journey with Jesus?

// We can do good things without God. We can keep on going without God.

// How can we discern the difference in moving with God or without God?

// 1 -- Is it God-initiated or Human-Initiated?

// 2 -- Is it Other-Oriented or Success-Oriented?

// 3 -- Is it Holistic or Mechanistic?

// Where do we go from here?

// 1 -- Jesus' Presence

// 2 -- Jesus' Example

// 3 -- Admit we don't know it all and commit to listen.

// 4 -- Admit when we're wrong and commit to extend grace to ourselves and others.

Our series in the book of Acts resumes with two contrasting snapshots of the church's life together. One is a remarkable bright spot of how solidarity can transform a diverse community. The other is a drastic, dire picture of how dishonesty can threaten to dissolve it. What do we make of these portraits? How can we foster solidarity, generosity, and honesty in our own lives?

// SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Acts 4.32--5.11

// SOLIDARITY is imperfect and impermanent but never impossible when we let the Holy Spirit work within us.

// SOLIDARITY is "oneness" in "heart and soul."

// SOLIDARITY is the divine desire.

// SOLIDARITY says "I see you as family."

// “True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.” -- PEMA CHODRON

// GENEROSITY says "I share with you as family."

// "Money here will be used to destroy what money normally is used to create: distance and boundaries between people." -- WILLIE JAMES JENNINGS

// God's power is working within you when love of neighbor is flowing out of you.

// This season requires more intention, not less.

// HONESTY says "I will speak to you as family."

// 1 Corinthians 3.16-17 (NIV) -- 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

// In what ways do we need to repent of our lack of solidarity, generosity, and honesty? How can we live into these three relational building blocks more?

Isaac Hernandez takes the first snapshot of the early church's life together and explores how we might live like their example today. How might you connect with others in our community this week?