The Upper Room Fellowship

Sermon Summary We begin the year asking ourselves a crucial question: one year from now, how do we want to be different? This new series, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, explores why spiritual maturity and emotional health cannot be separated.Many of us experience a gap between the abundant life Jesus promises in John 10:10 and our actual reality. We might be exhausted, anxious, or struggling in relationships despite our spiritual disciplines. The problem isn't God's promise. The issue is we've been pursuing spiritual growth while ignoring 90% of who we are.Like an iceberg, only 10% of our lives is visible (behaviors, attendance, service). The other 90% remains hidden (how we process emotions, childhood coping mechanisms, unspoken fears, unnamed shame). Traditional discipleship often leaves this 90% untouched. We can read our Bibles daily and still explode at our kids. We can serve in ministry and still have marriages dying from emotional distance.God created us as integrated beings with bodies, minds, wills, emotions, and spirits. All of these reflect His image. When we suppress our emotional lives in the name of spirituality, we don't become more like God. We become less human.Jesus promises rivers of living water flowing from the center of who we are (John 7:38). But when our hearts remain hard, anxious, wounded, or shut down because we've never addressed emotional health as a discipleship issue, that river gets blocked.The invitation is simple but scary: "God, you can have my emotional life." What would happen if we let Jesus into the rooms we've kept locked?URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

Greetings from the Upper Room Fellowship, a church in Columbiana, Ohio, where we seek to Know God, Share Life, and Serve Others together. At the Upper Room Fellowship, we believe in a relational God who created us and will go to whatever lengths possible to connect with us so we can experience his perfect love. We believe that His love is open to all and has the power to transform lives and communities.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

We often romanticize Christmas with cozy sweaters, twinkling lights, and sentimental nostalgia. But the reality of that first Christmas was scandalous. God looked at broken humanity and became one of us, born to an unwed teenage mother in a forgotten town, arriving in a stable because there was no room anywhere else. This is love at its purest.In 1 John 4:7-12, 19, we discover what real love looks like. John repeatedly calls us "beloved" because that's our starting point. God's love makes us beloved, and from that place, we're called to love one another. Not tolerate. Not coexist. Actually love.Love comes from God, and because God is infinite, love is an inexhaustible resource. When we love others, it reveals two things: we're born of God and we actually know Him personally. If our faith doesn't produce growing love for people, we've missed the point entirely.God's love is defined by three actions: Love initiates (God came after us when we were hiding), Love does (God didn't just think warm thoughts but sent His Son), and Love sacrifices (Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for our sins).Because of the cross, God isn't disappointed in you. You stand before Him clothed in Christ's righteousness, not your own. You're not just tolerated but delighted in. Holy. Blameless. Beloved.The question is simple: will you receive that love? Stop performing. Stop pretending. Stop running. Jesus came so you could be free to live and love like He does.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

We explore Advent as "WAIT Training" - celebrating Jesus' first coming while anticipating His return. Living between two gardens, in the "now and not yet," presents unique challenges, especially when joy feels just out of reach.Joy is more than a feeling. Kay Warren defines it as "the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things."Scripture reveals Jesus as a man of great joy. People wanted Him at their parties. Children ran to Him. He came "feasting and drinking," fully engaged with life. We find joy by staying close to Jesus and abiding in His ways (John 15:10-11).We must also choose joy. James 1:2-4 calls us to "consider it pure joy" when facing trials. First Thessalonians 5:16-18 exhorts us to "rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances." Corrie Ten Boom gave thanks for fleas in a concentration camp, discovering later that those very fleas kept guards away, allowing Bible readings to continue.Sometimes we avoid joy because of its vulnerability. Nicole Zasowski reminds us that protecting ourselves through pessimism or cynicism doesn't remove the sting of potential loss - it only robs us of hope and delight. Gratitude spoken out loud helps us tolerate joy's vulnerability.We don't get exemptions from suffering, but God's grace meets us in every circumstance. As we practice this WAIT training, remember: our faithfulness in waiting matters less than God's faithfulness in coming. His Spirit offers joy right now, and our joy will be complete when Jesus returns.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

Greetings from the Upper Room Fellowship, a church in Columbiana, Ohio, where we seek to Know God, Share Life, and Serve Others together. At the Upper Room Fellowship, we believe in a relational God who created us and will go to whatever lengths possible to connect with us so we can experience his perfect love. We believe that His love is open to all and has the power to transform lives and communities.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

We kicked off Advent by exploring hope in three dimensions: today, tomorrow, and eternity. Hope isn't just wishful thinking like a Browns fan before kickoff. Biblical hope is the eager anticipation of kids stacked in the hallway on Christmas morning, knowing something good is coming even if we don't know exactly what.We dove into Jeremiah 29:11, that verse on every graduation mug, but we looked at the full context. God told the exiles in Babylon to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the prosperity of their new city because they weren't going home for seventy years. The promise wasn't escape but permission to thrive while waiting. God was planning good things even in exile.Then we met Simeon in Luke 2, who waited his entire life to see the Messiah. After 600 years of Israel's waiting and however many decades of his own, Simeon recognized Jesus when others couldn't because he held onto God's promises despite his circumstances. We need to do the same, especially when depression, anxiety, or addiction makes us feel hopeless. Combat those lies with the 7,400 promises of God in scripture.Finally, we looked at Job's restoration. God doubled everything Job lost, including his children, because the seven who died weren't gone forever. Job had fourteen kids when you count eternity. Death has lost its sting through the resurrection.As we enter Advent, we celebrate what has been and what is to come. We live between two arrivals of Jesus with strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

We wrapped up our Holy Spirit series by addressing two major challenges that hinder Spirit-filled community: consumerism and control. In 1 Corinthians 14:26, Paul describes a church where everyone showed up ready to contribute—a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation. The Corinthian church was messy and broken, but the Spirit had freedom to move among them.We're shaped by consumer culture from birth, training us to evaluate church by what we get rather than what we give. Discipleship has always been about formation through imitation and practice, not just accumulating information. We gather to contribute and receive, not to consume a service.The second challenge is our need for control. Paul commanded things be done "decently and in order," but we've taken this to an extreme. Jesus said the Spirit is like wind that blows wherever it pleases. We can't schedule or manufacture the Spirit's movement. That makes us nervous, especially when someone shares something vulnerable in a Table Group or we sense a word during prayer. At those moments, we face a choice: stick to the plan or lean into what the Spirit is doing.Throughout Scripture, God calls people who feel unqualified. Joshua following Moses. Gideon hiding in a winepress. God doesn't wait for us to feel ready. The miracle happens after we step into the river, not while we're standing safely on the bank. We move from theology to practice to culture by consistently taking risks in community until hearing God and stepping out in faith becomes second nature.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

We continued our series "The Way" by exploring Ephesians 5:15-21, where Paul calls us to be filled with the Spirit rather than drunk with wine. Paul wrote to Christians in Ephesus, a city saturated with pagan religion, excess, and Roman imperial propaganda. In that hostile cultural environment, he urged believers to be intentional about how they lived.When Paul contrasts drunkenness with being Spirit-filled, he's addressing more than alcohol moderation. In the ancient world, people worshiped gods like Bacchus through intoxication, seeking transcendence by losing control. Paul is saying: don't let wine (or anything else) be what fills and controls you.We're all designed to be filled with something greater than ourselves. This God-shaped hunger was meant to drive us back to our Creator. But when humanity fell, that desire got redirected toward created things: money, success, relationships, consumerism, social media, political movements. Whatever fills that void will eventually enslave us. As N.T. Wright says, "You become like what you worship."Being filled with the Spirit isn't like refilling an empty cup. The Greek suggests immersion, like baptism. We're plunged into an infinite ocean, surrounded and saturated from the inside out and outside in.Paul gives us four practices of Spirit-filled living: encourage one another with psalms and hymns, worship through singing, practice thanksgiving in all circumstances, and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. These practices keep us immersed in the Spirit rather than controlled by culture. Worship is the greatest catalyst for growing in God's presence, realigning our hearts with truth and transforming our relationships, families, and communities.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

Prophecy isn't fortune telling or a Christian version of psychic readings. At its core, prophecy is simply hearing what God is saying and repeating it. We serve a God who speaks directly into the lives of his people and community through individuals who submit themselves to the authority of the Spirit and the community.In the Old Testament, prophets stood at the margins of power, speaking truth to kings and calling people back to faithfulness. In the New Testament, this prophetic function was distributed throughout the entire body of Christ. After Pentecost, the Spirit indwells all believers and distributes gifts as he determines. According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, prophecy functions for "edification, encouragement, and comfort," primarily building up the local church.We need both Word and Spirit. Scripture serves as our tuning fork, the measuring stick that tests whether what we're hearing aligns with the character of Jesus. When someone shares a prophetic word, we ask: Does it resonate with Scripture? Does it confirm what God is already speaking? Does the character of the person speaking give weight to their words?The Spirit speaks through pictures, words, phrases, impressions, and highlighted scriptures. We don't have to act immediately on every prophetic word. God opens doors, and our job is to walk through them when he makes the way clear. Sometimes people get it wrong, and that's okay. We extend grace, test everything against Scripture, and stay open to God's voice.We're invited to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, stay grounded in Scripture, remain submitted to community, and practice humility as we learn to hear from God together.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

We're continuing our series "The Way" by exploring the gifts of healing and what it means to pray for the sick. In 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul explains that spiritual gifts are given for the common good of the church, and healing is the only gift mentioned in plural form. We are the delivery system for God's healing gifts.The early church expected healing to be a normal part of gathered life. James 5 instructs believers to pray for the sick, anoint them with oil, and trust God for restoration. This expectation stands in contrast to two perspectives that hinder our prayer: cessationism (the belief that miraculous gifts ended with the apostles) and the idea that suffering is always God's tool for spiritual growth. While God can redeem our suffering, sickness was never part of His original design. We live in the tension of the "now and not yet" kingdom, where healing sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't, but we always pray with faith and expectation.Jesus demonstrated that healing was central to His ministry. Matthew 4:23-24 shows that He spent significant time healing every disease and sickness. When Jesus healed, He was revealing what reality looks like when God is in charge. He then commissioned His disciples to continue this work through the Holy Spirit's power.We can all pray for healing using a simple five-step model: locate someone who's sick, ask permission to pray, place a hand on their shoulder, pray simply in Jesus' name, ask for feedback, and repeat if needed. The goal is always to demonstrate God's love, whether physical healing occurs or not.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship