IDENTITY - Candlewood Church

IDENTITY: The Goød Life

June 2, 2024 • Pastor Glenn Garvin • Romans 6:12–14

What does God consider to be the “good life?” God has made us in His image to behave like God, but not become God. The “good” life is supposed to be the “God” life. A life full, beautiful, and productive is a life that is doing the good work of God in the Kingdom of God. A follower of Jesus is intended, even expected, to reflect a life that is busy looking and behaving like Christ. It is our highest purpose in life.

IDENTITY: Amity to our enemies

May 26, 2024 • Pastor Glenn Garvin • Matthew 5:21–22

Division has plagued human relationships ever since Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the garden. It can be difficult to see the image of God in another person when that person opposes us, does us harm, or spurs violence against us. The first expression of our brokenness came in the form of extreme violence when Cain’s anger boiled over into murdering his brother, Abel. We’ll be tackling some hard questions this Sunday: What does Jesus have to say about all of this and how do we see the image of God in our enemies?

IDENTITY: Nuncio to the Nations

May 19, 2024 • Pastor Glenn Garvin • Acts 2:5–12

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday! What is Pentecost Sunday? It is the ancient Jewish holiday called, Shavuot. It’s the remembrance of the single most important event in Israel’s history: the giving of the Torah(the first five books in the Hebrew Bible) to Moses at Mount Sinai. However, it’s also a modern holiday that today celebrates the Feast of Weeks. In the New Testament that meant all Jews were commanded to travel to Jerusalem to commemorate that feast. Pentecost is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word Shavuot. The New Testament Pentecost is the Old Testament Feast of Shavuot. Why is that important in our current series of IDENTITY? Because the Day of Pentecost as seen in Acts 2, is the object lesson picture of what God intended the Church to look like in representing His own image. Find out why that is so significant for our lives today!

Realizing my Identity Means Realizing my Purpose

May 12, 2024 • Pastor Robin Garvin • Matthew 22:37–39

Happy Mother’s Day! This Sunday is the next level of the “who am I” question, as we follow up with “so what?” We’re asking, “Now that I know where I came from, who’s image I bear and who designed me, does that knowledge make a difference in how I life? Should it? While we tend to define IDENTITY from a deeply individualized perspective, we don’t fully become who God intends us to be outside of other-image bearers. Join in as we dive deeper into identity discovery and the people around us.

IDENTITY: Crafted to connect

May 5, 2024 • Pastor Glenn Garvin • Ephesians 2:19–22

Have you noticed a change in the way we connect in our relationships? We’re living in a strange time in history as both all-time highs and lows are happening simultaneously. Social media and digital technology have accelerated the way we connect but it also creates surface-level relationships. In other words…quantity vs. quality within our relationships. However, God created us to be relational! He created us on purpose and for a purpose. Let’s find out why relationships play such a critical role in our lives.

IDENTITY - 3 - Miracle of life

April 28, 2024 • Pastor Glenn Garvin • Psalm 139:13–18

God cares deeply about our physical bodies; He created us to live in them! However, some believe the body to be evil, “carnal,” earthbound, and overall not good. But did you know the Bible takes a very high view of our physical bodies? In fact, God declared our bodies very good! This week we’ll take a look at our identity from the perspective of our physical bodies…all the way from conception to the grave.

IDENTITY – Shattered Reflection

April 21, 2024 • Pastor Glenn Garvin • Romans 1:19–23

The good news! God made us out of mud and fashioned into us His image, His very likeness of attributes. Sure, we got our moral capacity, dominion, and power over creation – just like God. However, we also received a free will which came with the capacity to do right or do wrong, good, or evil. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow nailed it in poem about a little girl, but clearly it’s about all of humanity, “There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, She was very good, But when she was bad she was horrid.” Why is their evil & suffering in this world? Look in the mirror and see our shattered reflection. But God is the master of Kintsugi, golden repair. Let’s find out how God restores the broken!

IDENTITY: What does it mean to be human?

April 14, 2024 • Pastor Glenn Garvin • Genesis 1:26–27

In the 60’s & 70’s it was common to hear people seeking to “find” themselves. It was a journey to discover who you are and why you exist on this planet. This was coupled with the rise of the “Self-Help” ideology; a self-directed improvement of oneself —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally. These ideologies launched a massive industry ranging from programs, books and experiences, eventually becoming an estimated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/self-help#:~:text=some%20consider%20the%20self%2dhelp,education%20or%20proper%20self%2dcontrol.. People are still searching either find themselves, fix themselves or seek an identity that feels right to them. God speaks about our identity in a completely different way. Where do you find your identity?