Jesus often ministers in public. Even gatherings that appear private (like his meal with Zacchaeus in Luke 19) feature onlookers who question Jesus's ministry. In this message Bob talks about how the church needs to have a public presence if we are to minister like Jesus.
The worst thing for community is division. All churches have differences, but those differences do not have to produce division. God's chief vehicle for the division and despair of the world is a united church.
Every church faces the temptation to think bigger is always better. But the earliest Christians knew that the practices that Jesus taught them were the ones that would sustain them, no matter what size their church. In this message we explore the importance of small groups in the life of a church.
The Christmas message is hope. But it can be hard to be hopeful in a world drenched with cynicism. Bob encourages everyone to bring hope to gatherings during the holidays, so that people can remember the true reason for the season.
Christmas is not intended to be a season of giving gifts, or even receiving them, but instead a season of remembering God's true gift (Eph. 2:8). This gift is received with gratitude. This message considers Jesus's Parable of the Ten Lepers (or, the Grateful Samaritan) as a way to think about our practices of gratitude during the holidays.
Holidays are something we look forward to, but can be something we dread. The stress, worry, and anxiety can build up in unhealthy ways. In this message, Bob considers some of the systems that make gatherings difficult and shows how the Letter to the Philippians shows how Christians can be a non-anxious presence in all circumstances.
All of us feel alone sometimes. And this is not God's plan. The church is God's instrument for community.
We all know the commission..."Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" but our focus may have landed on the wrong things. Ultimately this is a command to make disciples, which may look a little differently than we think.