Zootown Church

In Week 2 of this Advent season, we look at something the world so desperately needs…Peace. In the prophecy of Isaiah, it says the Messiah would be the Prince of Peace. That’s who he is, that’s what he desires, and that is what he will accomplish. The issue is so many of us are waiting for the other person to make peace, but we can’t control other people. There really is nothing we can do to change world history or the chaos that ensues, but we can have peace in the middle of the carnage. Advent is a time to recalculate where we need to change in our peacemaking abilities.

The Advent season has arrived, and in Week 1, we look at "Hope". Hope is something essential for life; without hope there is no moving forward. But what are we hoping in? Some think a new president will bring hope, some not. Some think a better economy brings hope, but for some, that doesn’t matter. During this season, we look at the passage where it says “We have seen a great light” and that will be our theme. But how does light bring hope? We break this down this week and all through this season.

In this last sermon of the series, we look at a subject that all of us agree on but find it so hard to remember…gratitude. Don’t we all appreciate it when people recognize what we do? If we serve someone, doesn’t a "thank you" feel good? Now imagine being Jesus and all the blessings and mercy he shows humanity even in our sins...yet how many say “Thanks, Jesus.” We look at an interesting passage today where Jesus bucks the Old Testament system of blessings and curses. What’s fascinating is it proves there’s one dividing line to Christ, those who see their need for mercy and those who don’t.

As we continue in the series "The Real Miracle", we look at an intense moment between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus was about mercy; the Pharisees were about justice. The issue here is justice never fixes anything, it doesn’t change the situation, it doesn’t redeem the two parties. We see this example this week with a man with a withered hand who was in the temple. They knew he was in the temple and the Pharisees used him as a prop, which means they didn’t care about him or his healing; they cared about looking pious. Jesus comes along and breaks all their manmade rules because he is about healing, even on their sacred sabbath. 

In week three of “The Real Miracle” we look at a touchy subject -- demonic possession. In our age of scientific reasoning, many have thrown out the spiritual world as nonsense. What they don’t know is they are in the minority! Most cultures believe in the supernatural realm and look to it for guidance and also to be aware of its dangers. Jesus himself talked a lot about Satan and the demonic world, but he wasn’t afraid of it. This week we look at a man who was mute because of a demon, but what was the purpose of God loosening his and our tongues?

In week two of the “The Real Miracles” we look at a woman who was ostracized from the community she loved for 12 years because she had a blood disorder. In those days if you were sick, you were unclean, you couldn’t touch people, and if you did, they had to go wash everything they owned. She lived in a terrible existence of isolation. However, she heard of this Jesus guy who healed people and never turned anyone away, so she boldly goes to see him. She is such a great example to us, that no matter what sickness or sin we have, no matter what people have said to us about us, that is not the heart of God.

One of Jesus’ main parts of his ministry was healing. We have recorded history that these miracles took place and continue to this day. But why did he do it? Obviously because he loves people, but why worry about our bodies if they’re sinful and will be resurrected someday anyhow? The Bible is spiritual, yes, it is history in some sense, but its main point is to direct our souls. If you look at Jesus’ miracles, there was more going on than it seems. If you read it in the spiritual sense, he was healing more than just their legs. This series dives into that as we look at the real reason behind these miracles.

We wrap up our five-week series on the vision of Zootown with the next phases of our building project. There is no real timeline for it other than when the money comes in, but this answers the why are we doing it question. Every generation is worried about the next generation that is being raised. What they miss is we are the ones raising them! There is so much cynicism regarding the youth of America right now, and we don’t want to fall into that. We want to be bridge builders, peacemakers, creators for our children’s future. We also have other plans for office space and functionality of the building, which is all discussed in this final episode.

In the 4th installment of this vision series, we talk about the other purposes of our building project. Namely the community. We live in a post Christian America, so what do we do about it? Do we become judgmental, cynical, angry about it? Do we vote the right person in and get back to law and order? Or do we fulfill the call of being salt and light laid out by Christ? With all these churches closing that means there is a lot of real estate out there and many of these fallen churches are becoming community centers. How about we skip the closing part and just make the Church a community center now?

As we continue our series on our fundraising campaign, we focused the first two weeks on vision. Who are we, what are we doing here, and where are we going. This third week is looking at the hard numbers for what this will cost and why it’s important to design this building the way we did. However, Pastor Scott gives a brief history of Churches being built throughout history and why they have been important and how we are a continuation of their work.