Messages

Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that if what happens in our lives doesn’t get recognition, doesn’t get likes, doesn’t get people’s attention, then it isn’t valuable. But in God’s view of life, our most important connection – the one that we have with him – thrives in secrecy. Why is that? What’s the benefit of developing a healthy personal relationship with God? How can we become more intimately connected to Him this year?

This year will be full of opportunities to respond to other people’s poor decisions, unkind words, and unwise actions. But what if we didn’t wait for the moment of those events to see what our response would be? What if we prepared for our inevitable stresses by practicing Jesus’ upside-down way of living? This week, we’ll explore what it means to really put Christlike characters into action and prepare to share God’s love at every opportunity.

Many of us enter 2024 with a healthy bit of trepidation: What will our lives be like? How will the 2024 election season shape our culture? What big decisions and challenges will we face this year? Thankfully, Jesus has a message of hope and peace in times of challenge – but that message comes from thinking and acting in ways that are far out of the ordinary. Instead of opinionated and strong, Jesus tells us to be tender and meek. Instead of fighting to be right, Jesus tells us to be pure and peacemakers. We’ll begin this year by taking an important look at Jesus’ upside down teachings and how they can help us transform our 2024 for the better.

This year, our church has focused on understanding ‘The Mission of God’, a concept that goes beyond personal salvation. It’s about following Jesus and working together as a community to help people live better lives through His teachings. We’re encouraged to think about how, as a church, we can join in this mission, aiming to create a world that flourishes under God’s love and guidance.

Christmas Eve services at church can feel like just another thing to get done during this hectic holiday season.  And with the possibility of an even more hectic year looming, is there any hope of a little rest?  This Christmas Eve at Journey, we’ll explore how Jesus’ arrival made way for his new Kingdom where he will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father” and, most importantly for us this year, “Prince of Peace.”  Let’s discover together how to experience the peace that only a true connection with God’s love can bring.

The story of the Three Wise Men visiting the baby Jesus may be familiar to us, but those Magi were anything but familiar to Jesus’ parents – they were almost from a different world! What does this say about the type of people Jesus wants to bring into his Kingdom? What role do we play, then, in the beautiful diversity of Jesus’ family? This week we’ll explore a classic Advent story from a refreshingly new and challenging angle and discover how God is calling people from every walk of life to be part of his Kingdom.

We may have heard the classic Christmas story of the shepherd’s hearing that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But what if we had been those lowly shepherds? What would our reaction have been? How far did Jesus go to share his love with me? This week we’ll explore this famous Advent story and find that we, just like the shepherds, are seen and called by the God of love.

Many of us have heard the story of the angel Gabriel visiting the virgin Mary to tell her that she would have a son, Jesus. But we often overlook a pivotal promise from that interaction: that Jesus’ birth would usher in his Kingdom, and that Kingdom would have no end! But if that Kingdom started 2000 years ago on that first Christmas, where is it now? How can we experience Jesus’ leadership and rule in our lives? This week we’ll see how the classic Christmas stories take on new meaning as we see them as a reflection of Jesus’ character and mission.

Group Discussion Guide To view the Leader Guide for this week, click here. To view… read more

The Holy Spirit can seem like a mysterious, ethereal being in our faith journey, but who… read more

Following Jesus is a lifelong, everyday Journey. What can we do when we grow weary in our pursuit of a simple, flourishing faith or when our lives go off course? We will answer that question this week as we close out this series from Galatians. We will see in chapter 6 that we can help one another through accountability and encouragement to stay focused on the goal of the spiritual life.

What does a real Christian look like? You can’t a Christian by their ethnicity, income level, what they wear, or who they vote for. The best way to identify a real follower of Jesus how they relate to other people. This week in our Simple Faith series, we measure ourselves against what the letter to Galatians calls “the fruit of the Spirit.” We’ll exchange our old “spiritual success measurements” for a simple faith of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentles, and self-control.

A Christian’s life should be full of love, kindness, compassion, and good works. But is that what MAKES someone a Christian, or do those qualities flow from a deeper source? Does where our goodness comes from make any practical difference? This week we’ll explore chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians and be encouraged to explore how vital and life-giving a faith-fueled connection with God can be.

What keeps us from living a simple faith in Jesus?  It’s often a natural but unhealthy focus on ourselves. Sometimes we are scared that we are measuring up to expectations set by us, others, or what we think God’s expects from us. Other times, we are tempted to sit in judgment of others rather than moving toward the very people God is wanting us to befriend.  This week, we’ll see how Paul’s letter to the Galatians challenges us to move from fear to faith.

What is the Christian Faith really about? Put simply… Jesus. We tend to make it complicated. We find Jesus and then we start adding things on – cultural traditions, politics, personal preferences – and by the time we are done, we might be following a different Jesus! This complicated faith is not only spiritually exhausting, but it makes it harder to get along with other people. In this first message of our Simple Faith series, we look at the basic message of the Christian Faith, what’s called the Gospel and start the process of removing the religious “add-ons” that we’ve collected along the way.

Jesus is one of the most influential leaders in history! The secret to his lasting influence was something he called “abiding.” It involves remaining in an intimate spiritual connection with God. In our last message of this series, we’ll explore one of Jesus’ stories that shows what it takes to find and nurture this abiding relationship with God and how we can invite others to experience it too!

Power is not meant to be held; it’s meant to be given away. It’s a natural urge to want to acquire and retain power, but real influence is a dynamic process of “catch and release.” Rather than holding onto our power, God invites us to share who we are and what we have with others. This week, we’ll see how Jesus believed that we are better together and teaches us to intentionally invest in others.

Sometimes good leadership means treating everyone the same. But great leadership that bring true justice and transformation is often more nuanced than that. This week we’ll explore the underutilized power of candor and connection, learning to treat people as individuals and adapting our influence to be the most helpful in each unique situation.

Accomplishing good things requires effort. It’s easy to get discouraged when we face obstacles, challenges, and roadblocks. Rather than negatively reacting to our circumstances, we can be a positive influence by finding resilience with God! This week, we’ll see how Jesus pursued God’s good plan for his life by expecting challenges and wisely bringing people along with him in his goals.

What you do matters, but who you are matters more. It’s easy to get keep our eyes on the best results, largest profits, and the most followers and miss the foundation of true influence and leadership – character. Instead of focusing on the right kind of outcomes, we should be attentive to being the right kind of people! This week, we begin our series by seeing how Jesus viewed God’s good gift of power and how we can follow his lead by practicing humble influence!