Common Ground

Psalm 96:1-13 Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! We live in a world charged with wonder and awe. From the sound of children laughing and giggling, to the loving embrace of a friend who knows you inside and out. God has set us into a place where his goodness and blessings truly abound, if we just have the eyes to see them. Psalm 96 is a song of joy that comes from the truth that God has done and is doing amazing things for his people. All creation shouts and sings a new song that the universe has never heard before and that this the song of love and thanks to a God who is coming to be near his children! Even if we have to wait on it, he is near, he is closer than yesterday, so we just have to sing!! Join us as we lift up our voices to the King who reigns forever and ever! 

Psalm 80:1-19 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. What would restoration look like for you right now? How were you designed? What are the reasons that keep you rusty and broken down? Psalm 80 is a beautiful reminder that the face of God has planted a vineyard and is longing to restore his children from all kinds of rust and dust that keep us out of commission inside the kingdom of God. Join us as we look under the Psalm 80 asks us to look "look under the hood" and restore our run down hearts. 

Psalm 51:1-19 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. How does one reconnect with the sweet love of God after sinning horrendously? We have all had times where we deliberately strayed from God's love and perhaps from the spouses, and friends that we have promised never to stray from. How do you come home, when you've damaged every relationship the matters to you? How do you come home to God? Psalm 51 is a huge clue into the puzzle of restoring the joy of our salvation, that sweet embrace of God the father from his wandering child. Join us as we worship the God who loves sinners back into the family of mercy! 

Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Where does Psalm 23 take you? For many, it transports them back to a struggle in their own life, or to a funeral of a loved one. Still, for others, Psalm 23 has been a song of God's great provisions. No matter what comes to mind when you think of Psalm 23, we are very thankful, that in the light of such tragedy as Las Vegas this past week, that we are able to come into the fold of God and hear the words of King David, "I shall fear no evil..." We need that now. So join us as we gather to pray through tragedy and to worship our great Shepherd King.

Psalm 22 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. What does it mean to have a king that suffers? What did it mean for Israel to have a king that was near to death and then saved at the last minute? If God has forsaken the king, what hope do we have? And yet, Psalm 22 does not end with despair, but rather unprecedented hope! The words, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me..." have been the content of many a Good Friday service. These were the very words that Jesus spoke on the cross, connecting what he was doing, to what the Psalmist wrote. Join us as we dive into the mystery of the cross and to experience the hope that comes after the kings, cry for help!

Psalm 8 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? The glory of God is all around us. God's rule and reign is on display for everyone to see. We see it as we look up to the sky and we see it in the birth of a newborn baby. We feel it in our bones that God is closer than we think. And yet, this Psalm of creations talks about God's infinite love for humanity. He has taken his authority and placed it upon us to tend and steward as if we were truly made to bear his image in the world. Join us for a time of worship to our creator out in nature. O Worship the King!! 

Psalm 6 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. The Psalms teach us how to pray. They give us permission to pray our true emotions and feelings void of pious rhetoric. Our prayers seldom get to the heart of the issue because we are giving God our false self in prayer. David in Psalm 6 is broken with sorrow. He has sinned and the is sick with the consequences. As he pours out his heart to God, there is an honesty in prayer that we can all learn from. All of us are either grieving now or we will be in the near future. Join us as we worship Jesus and learn how to pray in our grief. 

Psalm 2  Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." With violence, greed, dishonesty, and pride the kings of this world kick against their creator. It is hard for us not to fall victim to the temptation of empire building and political solutions, rather than taking refuge in God. The Psalmist wants all of Israel to know that the Lord has anointed his King and that they can take refuge in him. Join us as we celebrate and worship King Jesus!

Psalm 1  Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  What is the noise that is keeping you distracted not only from hearing God, but from enjoying him as well? There is something about being on the trail in nature that allows many of us to focus and to have an amazing sense of wonder and peace. It seems that our everyday lives are full of distracted, temptations, and sins that pull us away from the path of obedience and peace. Join us as we launch an exciting new sermon series through the book of Psalms.

James 5: 7-20 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.   If patience is a virtue, it is a neglected one. With the cultural pressures to produce, perform, and consume, there is no time for being patient. Any bump in the road must be leveled, every risk must be mitigated, and every hardship must be averted or out-sourced. Can the toils and struggles of a farmer or a prophet teach us anything of value as we follow Christ through hardship and suffering? James thinks so. Join us as we complete our study on the book of James. Guest Speaker: Dan Lemelin

James 4: 1-10 Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” What does it mean to be a Holy people?  What does it look like for a community to truly put God first?  To take sin seriously? To be double-minded? To live in two worlds?  James does not pull punches when it comes to the failure that awaits us when we live to  serve God and the world, but he also reminds us “He (God) gives more grace.” (James 4:6)  Come join us as we wrestle with some challenging questions and look to God’s Word for guidance. Guest Speaker: Matt McCauley

James 3:1-18 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. How's your speech? What bubbles out when you are angry? How quick are you to comment when things don't work out the way you hoped? Who is suffering right now because of the words that you spoke over them? is there more wisdom in our words or in our silence? What do the words we use have to say about our spiritual condition?  James wants to tell us that "what we say = what's inside" and we may have not just a mouth issue but a heart issue as well. The saints have told us from ancient times that "what comes out of the mouth finds its source in the heart." Join us as we study the ancient text to filter our modern hearts that stream out poison and praise. 

James 2:14-26

James 2:1-13 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. Did you have a sibling who was mom's favorite? A teacher who loved the suck up in the class? How about a boss that picked favorites in meetings and at lunch? What about a church that showed partiality to the rich while the poor were passed over? There must have been a serious problem in the surrounding churches for James to be so adamant in his words. Simply put, copy God and God has no favorites. So why and how do we fall into this so often? Join us as we get to the heart of God's love for his children.

James 1:12-27 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. It's easy to fall into a faith that believes but doesn't act. It's one thing to love God and it's quite another thing to live for him. When you feel stuck in a season of inaction, how do can you get moving again? As we continue in our study of James, we come to a section rich with familiar phrases like, "be doers of the word" and "let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger." Then James concludes this section in a discussion on what "worthless religion" looks like. Join us as we discern and study what it means to have a faith that "does."

James 1:1-11 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. What would it look like for you to "lack nothing" in your existence? It would take contentment not only in your life with God but with your life among others as well. James is not calling us to a naive existence that calls suffering a "happy" thing, but rather he is telling us that it is the trials of life that are the gas in the engine moving us toward "completeness" in Christ. Many people get tripped up in suffering and who can blame them, this life is hard. However, James wants us to know this week that God is love and his love is steadfast in trials, and it is generous in faith and his love shows no favoritism to anyone! Join us as we begin a study in the letter of James and seek the Holy Spirit together to change us and form us in the love of God. 

John 21: 24-25"This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." As we finish out our series on The Challenge of Atheism, it is fitting to talk about what all the controversy is about. We'll be exploring the authority of God as it is expressed in scripture and the Bible. We are living in a time where the Bible is not only seen as authoritative but also it's readership is down considerably. The role it plays in society is changing and the role it plays in the church has been shifting as well. Join us as we fishing out our series in unbelief with a fresh look the authority of God expressed in the text.

Luke 18:9-14 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector."  Just a few weeks before going "mad" Nietzsche published his autobiography, "Ecce Homo" - a play on the words from Pilate about Jesus, in Latin meaning, "Behold the Man." As we continue looking at the gods of unbelief we are culminating our study with the suspicion and atheism of Frederich Nietzsche. While Freud pointed out that God is a made up illusion and Marx called God the opium that people drug themselves with because life is hard, Nietzsche says that "God is dead, and we have killed him." Join us as we dive into the deep end yet again to root out our own hypocrisy and resentment.  

Matthew 5:1-12 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. How are we to live as a people? How are we to live in community? What does it mean when the rich get richer and the poor are forgotten? As we continue in our study of Atheism, it is critical to look in the mirror of how we are treating those around us. Marx will be our guide as we learn how to change the world, not his way, but not without his critique on our way. The way of Jesus will mark us, but what way is that? Join us as we work through the communism and Atheism of Marx to get to a new way. All are welcome. 

Isaiah 1:15-20 "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." What role does our reason and rationality play into our faith? Has reason kept you from belief? Has belief kept you from reason? Join us as we kick off a controversial series in unbelief. This week we'll be doing our best to check our brains back into our faith. Do you have a friend or two who do not believe in God? This would be a great series to invite them to come and ask their questions along with us.