Rediscover Jesus
Rediscover Jesus: Things are not Always as they Appear
April 10, 2022 • Pastor Tammy Long • Mark 11:4–22
"There is an ancient Indian fable. Six blind men, who could not see an elephant, went to touch and feel the elephant. The first blind man touches the leg, and thinks the elephant is a pillar. The second blind man touches the tail and thinks the elephant is like a rope. The third man touches the trunk and thinks the elephant is like a thick branch of a tree. The fourth man touches the ear and thinks it is like a big hand fan. The fifth man touches the belly and thinks the elephant is like a huge wall. The sixth blind man touches the tusk of the elephant and thinks it is like a solid pipe. They began to argue about the elephant and every one insisted that he was right. A wise man who was passing by explained to them, “All of you are right. Everyone was telling it differently because each of you touched a different part of the elephant. The elephant has all of those features you said.” There are four morals of this story: (1) truth is relative to one’s own perspective, (2) we should respect the opinions of others. (3) The broader truth is that none of the blind men. based on their personal experience, sees the full picture of the elephant. (4)“Things are not always as they appear.” Let’s rediscover Jesus, whose appearance is different from our previous perceptions of Jesus, and let us remember that things are not always as they appear."
Rediscover Jesus: Turning Life Upside Down & Closing the Gap
April 3, 2022 • Minister Douglas Ericsson • Mark 10
"We continue our journey through the Gospel of Mark to rediscover Jesus leading to the culmination of this sermon series on Resurrection Weekend. We are discovering a fresh Jesus as an amazing man! Jesus is a fully human man with hunger, emotions, getting tired, and influencing others;. Jesus is also fully divine; He has extraordinary power in healing the sick, calming the storm, feeding thousands, and speaking with authority. Jesus controls the spirit world and nature, and Jesus understands the human heart. Jesus calls people to himself, and they follow. Jesus is constantly challenged by the religious leaders of his day. Jesus is training and molding his disciples. One focus of today’s message is that Jesus wants to turn your life upside down, as He radically transforms the lives of people he encounters by rearranging their priorities, turning their lives right side up, and blessing them with joy. The other focus of today’s message is that there is a gap between our lives and the lives Jesus invites us to live in the Gospel..."
Rediscover Jesus: Glory and Power
March 27, 2022 • Minister Paula Fuller • Mark 9:2–10
"We continue our journey in the fourth week of our sermon series on Rediscovering Jesus through the lens of Mark’s Gospel. Mark begins with the good news about Jesus Christ. The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew, “Joshua” or the Aramaic, “Jeshua” that means “Jehovah is Salvation.” Mark begins the Gospel with Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Jesus introducing a new era to humanity. Let’s explore the glory of Jesus revealed in the Transfiguration and the connected power of Jesus as we operate in that power through fasting and prayer in the Kingdom of God...."
Rediscover Jesus: Radical For Sisters
March 13, 2022 • Pastor Tammy Long • Mark 5:21–34
"When all the voices of God’s creation are not represented or respected, when all voices are not allowed to speak or even invited to the table to participate, the result is a top-sided, broken world that is missing the richness God intends for all. Every voice matters; every person matters; every story matters. We have trouble fully embracing that truth. We need special months to help us recognize, remember, and celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of all voices. Special celebration and appreciation months like Black History Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Indegenous People Month, and the current March month of Women’s History Month remind us how far we have yet to go in fighting the blaring and broken inequities we are still fighting today. Despite the progress over the years in gender equality, a wide gap of disparities in gender equality still exists today. Around the world, due to uneven access to education, 2/3rds of illiterate people are women. In the US, working women still make only 79% of what their male counterparts earn, and men make more than women in every US industry. The gap is worse for women of color where racism is a known linked factor, with poverty hitting women of color particularly hard. Women are still fighting a mindset that is contrary to the vision God had in creating women. To be more like Jesus, we will Rediscover Jesus’ way of being Radical for Women..."
Rediscover Jesus: The Great Beginning
March 6, 2022 • Pastor Tammy Long • Mark 1:1–15
"When we first accepted Christ, many of us had special joy, passion, and love at the beginning of our relationship with Christ. Like any relationship, feelings come and go; there is a different rush when the relationship is new. If you want more intimacy with God, you are not alone. If you are not sure what you believe any more, you are not alone. If you are part of a growing trend of people walking away from Christianity as they’ve known it, to simply being spiritual or trusting more in science (as if it has to be one or the other), you are not alone. If you consider yourself Christian, but the lures of this world’s culture, comfort, and complacency are huge temptations pulling you away from God, without the power, faith, or trust in God you thought you had, you are not alone. Perhaps you fall somewhere else on the spectrum: For example, you believe in God and try to follow Jesus, but you wonder why you don’t feel happier, more fulfilled, or have a sense of purpose, mission, and vision; something is missing, and you are not alone. What if the sense that something is missing is actually an invitation not to move away, but to move forward in God’s direction and rekindle, reboot, and rediscover who Jesus really is? When something is missing or lost, the guidance is always to go back to where you last had it by retracing your steps back to the beginning. This sermon series, “Rediscover Jesus,” will journey back to the beginning to rediscover what we might have lost along the way..."