MARCH 22
10:15 I Facebook Live
UTTERLY AMAZED
Well friends, we’re all one week into the national emergency due to the COVID-19 virus. How y’all doing? I’m sure the answers are all over the board. And our answers say much about us — things like where we work, what personality type we have, where we gather our information. But most importantly, this is a great time to find out what we truly value. Testing has a way of making some things clear to us that we can’t see when life is easy, when nothing is asked of us. And what is testing but a time of being asked for things? Let’s dig in this week and see how Jesus handles this, and what it has to teach us, and let’s see why his answers let the crowds utterly amazed.
August 1, 2021
10:15am I Facebook Live & In Person at Vesper Point, Mt Sequoyah in Fayetteville
Watch last week's message here
Title: Shalom
Question of the Week
How would you define peace?
Intro
Like so many words, when a person says “peace” they could mean many different things. Most often what they really mean is being left alone to do what they want, when they want, how they want. What they really mean is they are getting their way.
This isn’t peace. It’s actually something better. But what could be better than getting “my way”? Let’s dig in this week and see what we can find.
Grace and, yes, peace y’all,
J. Ray and the teaching team
The Big Idea:
Any understanding of the Good News must be centered in the promise and practice of Shalom.
Take Away:
Reorienting our understanding away from “personal salvation” towards an expansive restorative vision for all of creation is essential to our understanding and proclamation of the Gospel
How does this fit with Belong, Become, Believe? Our peace is not something we create or achieve, but is a gift from God we receive and practice. That practice begins by welcoming all others who are seeking it, by welcoming “whosoever will”. Through this practice we ourselves are more and more conformed into the image of Jesus who first welcomes us. This practice, experience and the testimony of those who have gone before us forms our confession of faith.
How does this fit with "Belong, Become, Believe"?
The Good News has to be, truly, Good News for everyone, or it’s not really Good News. All of our belonging is rooted in the Gospel. The experience of the Good News is the experience of being welcomed, wanted and beloved. The more we reflect this as a church, the more we come to reflect the Gospel both in action and in word.
Relevent Verses:
What next:
We take a look at hospitality with Laura Holland
Resources
Lisa Sharon Harper on the Very Good News
