trinity forest church

From August 9 – September 6, we’re doing a short, five-week series based in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Calling it “RENEW,” here’s what we’re asking – What does it look like when God goes to work to renew a person? A relationship, a group of people, a church, or even a whole community? 

We start week 1 with Colossians 1 – and Paul’s brilliant picture of the gospel we hear, it’s heart, it’s hope – and how we get in on it by grace through faith. This is the practical route of all renewal: the work of Jesus for us, worked out in us.

Faithfulness is a word big enough to hold both sides of trust: the trust we exercise toward God and the trustworthiness we offer to others. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to keep trusting God even when the road is uncertain, and to become people whose lives read as evidence that God is at work in us – so that our community can say, “I’ve seen faithfulness in you,” which is really another way of saying, “I’ve seen Jesus in you.”

Gentleness leads us to careful repair, instead of carelessly condoning.

Reflection questions:

Come along with us for week seven of our fruit of the spirit – self-control. All summer we’ve been looking at the fruit the Spirit grows in us as “the life we’re made for:” the life of Jesus, showing up more and more in us. Self-control is a personal challenge for each of us, and one we’re reluctant to address. But God’s grace we’ll discover that ”self-control” is my spirit going to work with the power from God’s spirit to bring discipline to my desires – so my whole life is more under God’s control and reflects the light and life of Jesus.

Week 7 of Fruit of the Spirit brings us to Goodness. We have a lot of confusion about this one – what do we mean when we call something “good?” What does it mean to say God is good?  And how could we know? Come with us and look to Jesus here – and the call in God’s word to pray and to work for the good of others in our communities as we reflect the goodness of God.

Week 5 of Fruit of the Spirit brings us to Patience – or really, Endurance, Forbearance. It’s a tricky but powerful word, and the scriptures show us that it’s less a virtue we cultivate than a Spirit-grown part of our character that shows up and shows out as we deeply trust in Jesus. Come with us and look to Jesus here and the race he ran, finding inspiration, strength and power for enduring in the daily race of faith.

Week 4 of Fruit of the Spirit finds us on Love. Our guest preacher, Brian Martin, leads us deeper into Galatians 5 and the huge theme of love. Brian reminds us of the big idea of our whole lives and shows us the new “who” we love, the new standard for how we love (like Jesus!), and the new power to love – the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It’s summertime! That means a new series: the Fruit of the Spirit. Join us as we take ten weeks and set the tables and sit down for what the Holy Spirit is growing in us. Week 1 kicks it off with basics on fruit – what’s at stake, what it is, and how we get it. We discover that the Holy Spirit is committed to reproducing in us the life and character of Jesus Christ himself. That’s great news – and by grace, through faith, we are growing!

It’s the final week of our series The Story – and we return to Acts to talk about Praying the Story. One of the essential ways God works in prayer is connecting our understanding of his mission (in our heads) with our passionate obedience to his mission (in our hearts). Let’s hear how God called and sent people in his church … and how God is calling and sending each of us into the lives of those closest to us where we live, learn, work and play. May it be that through us they discover and live out their own part in God’s Story!

We’re back! After a few technical difficulties recording – we have Week 6 of our Story series! This is when we start to put the chapters together. If the good news of Jesus is a story that is about reality, and if it is the true story of the whole world – how does it help us make sense of our own stories? Does God really have a part for us to discover and live out? And what does that living – and telling – look like?