Refresh
Sept 10 - Oct 15, 2023
Overflow
October 15, 2023 • Pastor Bryan Eckelmann • John 4:27–42
With a question and an invitation (Jn 4:29), the woman initiates spiritual conversations with the very people who judged and rejected her. The Samaritans conversations with Jesus then allow the Samaritans to move from borrowed faith to owned faith. Opportunities for some of the deepest spiritual conversations come with those who know us (and our faults) best. Join a small group…! Share your story!
Where the Spirit Leads
October 8, 2023 • Pastor Bryan Eckelmann • John 4:16–26
Jesus uses multiple images, questions and invitations to offer the woman a spiritual conversation. There is no ‘spiritual conversation’ formula or script (bad news for some of us!); rather, we count on love for the person to urge us and the Holy Spirit to guide us.
At the Bottom of the Well
October 1, 2023 • Pastor Bryan Eckelmann • John 4:7–15
Spiritual conversations may begin with our thirst/need, but they end with Jesus. God has created the human heart to be thirsty for something beyond itself and beyond life. Jesus is both the gift of God and the one who gives us the Spirit (the living water). Every true spiritual conversation leads to Jesus.
#parched
September 24, 2023 • Pastor Bryan Eckelmann • John 4:4–8
Surprisingly, spiritual conversations best begin with our need, not other people’s need. For instance, Jesus was vulnerable, tired from his journey and thirsty for water. Are you and I willing to be vulnerable? And spiritual conversations only happen when we cross barriers. As a Jewish man, Jesus was not supposed to talk to women. Questions are the lifeblood of conversations, and especially spiritual conversations. Questions place the asker beneath the asked; and good questions invite the hearer to share their experience without judgement or assumption.
WWJG - ?
September 17, 2023 • Pastor Bryan Eckelmann • John 4:1–5
"Jesus had to go through Samaria..." God creates divine appointments when I am given the opportunity to talk with someone about what is truly most important. But I am good at missing them. I need to become more attentive to the moments I don’t always see – people with whom we’d never think to have spiritual discussions. But what if we were attentive? So, stay open to what God might do. We challenge each person to notice, to invite, to prepare for, and to experience “spiritual conversations” – discussions about faith and the deeper parts of our lives.
More Ready Than You Know
September 10, 2023 • Pastor Glyn Norman • Acts 8:26–39
In the story of Philip and the Ethiopian we see the following: 1) Philip was listening to God and open to his promptings; 2) He reacted with instant obedience and took a risk; 3) God was already working in this man's life; 4) Philip was willing to initiate a spiritual conversation; 5) He was relevant in his speech; 6) He invited the man to a lifestyle not just a belief system.