The Perfecting Church

Corporate worship is a holy, sacred, set apart activity in the earth. There is no other gathering in this temporal world that can replicate what uniquely happens when the saints of God gather to worship Him. In corporate worship God reveals, relocates and realigns. When we worship together, we are changed together. 

Worship is a covenantal act. It is our response to the on-going, faithful commands and covenantal love of the Lord God. He is looking for our worship; not because He needs it, but because He knows we do.  Worship is the remedy for our unceasing quest to find wholeness, fruitfulness and fulfillment.  Worship is the way we access and extend heaven on earth until the new heaven and the new earth.  

The Lord God of heaven and earth is a jealous God. In both the Old and New Testament, more than a dozen times, He refers to himself as jealous. The creator of all things has made all things for His beloved. But He will not stand for anything taking His place in our lives. He wants our deepest affections and surrender. He is The Jealous God. 

Humanity was created to live from and for the very goodness of God. God’s very goodness isn’t the quality or ability of an individual part; God’s very goodness refers to the completeness and wellness of the whole. We were created to live from and for relational wholeness and wellness — the very goodness of God. 

 All too often wounds of the heart atrophy our response to the Shepherd of our souls, causing us to miss the Provision, Protection, and Prosperity our Abba longs to supply. There are rituals and routines, sacred rhythms if you will, that are intended to align us with the rhythm of heaven so that our cadence and movement flow with and follow that of the Spirit, the One in Whom we live, move and have our being. As we journey through the 23rd Psalm with an eye on the Good Shepherd, may we encounter the deep healing that comes as we rest the weight of our lives on the Lover of our Soul. 

There are times, when God allows moments that bring us to the end of ourselves; times when we face odds and obstacles that we have no way of overcoming; times when we face enemies and assailants that have every intent on destroying us; times when we see our families, friends, and resources under attack with no way of rescue or relief. But those can be the very moments, when God is healing our hearts. Those can be the very moments when we are learning to trust again. Some heart wounds persist, because we refuse to trust God again and again.

Heart wounds are places of unprocessed pain, hurt and hardship affecting the way we see, feel, believe and behave. Some heart wounds go undetected because they’re caused by shared, socially acceptable and normalized events. There is a dimension of our heart healing and wholeness that only comes when we accept and embrace, It All Belongs to Him.  

There are times when heart wounds — places of unprocessed pain, hurt and hardship effecting the way we see, feel, believe and ultimately behave — are caused by despair  and disappointment over what God did or didn’t do. But God never intended on meeting our deepest needs with what could be found in this world. His plan has always been to give us a peace unlike anything in this world.  

Scripture(s):

• John 14:25-28 

Slide(s):

The vision of wholeness, which is the supreme will of the biblical God, is the outgrowth of a covenant of shalom. Where persons are not only bound to God but to one another in a caring, sharing, rejoicing community with nothing to make them afraid.  

 — Walter Bruggemann, Peace

God created the world in a web of relationships that overflowed with forceful goodness. These relationships are far reaching: between humanity and God, between humanity and self, between genders, between humanity and the rest of creation, within families, between ethnic groups, and between nations.  These relationships were “very good” in the beginning.  

— Lisa Harper, The Very Good Gospel

9.22.2024 Message Takeaways  

Some of our deepest hurts are tied to our deepest disappointments. 

We were created for a peace that can’t be found in this world.

We’ve been restored and we are a part of His restoration plan.

When our hearts (soul and spirit) are wounded it hinders and corrupts our thoughts actions and motives. Oftentimes, what we describe as, “the way God made us”, is more accurately described as the way life has wounded us. But there is healing for our wounded hearts. God wants us to be made whole. God wants us to learn to live whole. 

Scripture(s):

• Matthew 25:24-30

• Philippians 2:12, 13

• Proverbs 4:23

Kevin Brown

Sep 5, 2024, 6:30 PM (4 days ago)

to Christopher, Deborah, Joy, Michael, Jill, Lee, me

Introduction:

We live from the heart. It’s the innermost part of our being. We may think with our minds and act from our physical bodies, but we live from the heart. When our hearts are whole, healthy and pure we think and act as powerfully as we were designed. But when the heart is wounded, weighted down and broken it hinders and even corrupts our thoughts and actions. Oftentimes, what we describe as, “the way God made us”, would be more accurately described as the way life has wounded or broken us. But there is healing for our wounded and even broken hearts.  God wants us to not only be made whole; God wants us to learn to live whole. 

Scripture(s): (NKJV)

• Matthew 25:14-30

• Psalm 34:19

Slide:

“If your concept of God is radically false, then the more devout you are, the worse it will be for you.” — Dany Akin, A Theology for the Church 

9.8.2024 Message Takeaways

1. God hasn’t given us all the same gifts but God has the same expectation for us all.

2. We're concerned about what we experience but Jesus is more concerned about what we conclude.

3. Disconnecting from our feelings is not an act of faith; it’s an act of avoidance.