All (Page 5) Articles 2020 Archives

Your Support Matters!

Your donations are vital to help us keep the light shining.

Donate Now

Biblical Foundation for Online Outreach Strategies

Instead of spending all of our time focused on re-gathering, we need to ask ourselves how we are have been doing the essential things that go with being Jesus' church

Phil Ware acknowledges the burnout and frustration in our church leaders from having to do church online and virtually, but at the same time challenges us to go back to the book of Acts and see how using our technologies to share Jesus is essential.

ToGather: Called to Receive a Blessing (June 28, 2020)

Jesus shared his love, his life, and his amazing grace with us on the cross, so will we follow Jesus and live the way of the cross in our lives?

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins lead us into worship in song and the Word to experience, proclaim and rejoice in the power of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and his call to us to remember and renew and relive the forgiveness of the cross to our daily

Desert of Trial

Because he knew the true and living God, the heart behind the Scriptures, he could recognize the forger, the fraud — Satan — who tried to distort and misuse truth and Scripture.

James Nored and Phil Ware discuss the temptations and trials of Jesus and why they are important to us and what they have to say to us as people who are part of God's story.

Using YouTube® To Reach More People (Really!)

If the goal is to reach people who don't know much or anything about you, your church, the Bible, or God, you must meet them at the point of the question.

Lee Wilson gives us practical advice, understanding, and techniques to use our online ministry more wisely.

Tired, Uncertain, and Opening Our Church Doors, Again

Their buildings might be closed, but their churches were still open and living out their mission.

Phil Ware introduces a series of weekly messages to help us deal with the challenges of the new world we are called to minister in today, focusing on the biblical foundation for answers to these challenges.

ToGather: I Will Celebrate! (June 21, 2020)

David danced with all his might amid the reverence and honor given to God as the ark, the representation of God's power and presence, returned to his people.

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins lead us into worship in song and the Word to experience, proclaim and rejoice in the majesty, goodness, and grace of our God who is powerful and present among us.

In the Footsteps of Jesus

Jesus said this was the right thing for him to do!

James Nored and Phil Ware remind us of an important reason to be baptized: not only was Jesus baptized, he also said it was the right thing to do and called on all his disciples to be baptized and baptizers.

Leaving a Multi-generational Legacy

As fathers, we can leave behind messes for our children and grandchildren; more importantly, we can leave behind a lasting legacy of faith!

Phil Ware reminds us that as fathers and grandfather, we will leave behind messes but we can also leave behind a legacy of faith that lasts for generations.

ToGather: The Scandal and Grace of Jesus' Cross (June 14, 2020)

For us, the cross means everything because at the cross God meets us with overwhelming grace and love that know no limit.

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins lead us into worship in song and the Word to experience, proclaim and rejoice in the power of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

U-Turn to Walk in God's Will

Before we can be useful in living for God, we need to have our U-turn moment!

Phil Ware and James Nored look at what the ministry of John the Baptizer meant for people in his day and call on us to share in this move toward the kingdom of God today.

Sowing to the Spirit: Finding Power from on High

We can trust God's promises that the Spirit is at work in us!

Phil Ware reminds us that God wants us to know that we have the Holy Spirit present and at work with power in our lives!

ToGather: Doing What is Good to All People (June 7, 2020)

We are committed to making Jesus' death, last words, and future vision real in our fellowship and our world, now!

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins invite us to worship God to seek his help in our brokenness and challenge us to do good to all people as we have opportunity.

Jesus Came to Be One of Us! (SOR 4.1)

God didn't come to our world as a heavenly tourist with special arrangements to keep him safe and to give him special treatment in his journey through mortality with all its grit and danger.

James Nored and Phil Ware remind us to push past the glittering lights of Christmas and see that God came to be one of us in the gritty and dangerous birth of Jesus of Nazareth to a virgin named Mary and her faithful to Torah husband to be, Joseph the car

Jesus' Loose Lug Nuts and His RagTag Band

Could it be that we are more afraid of being contaminated by the world than motivated by Jesus to be salt and light?

Phil Ware reminds us that we want to not only share in the Lord's Supper, but we also want our table to be like Levi's table of grace and friendship.

ToGather: A Party for Jesus with Sinners? (May 31, 2020)

Let's awaken our hearts to the greatness of God, the assured hope we have in our future with Jesus, and our mission to take Jesus' grace to the world.

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins invite us to worship God and remind each other of those who are lost, left out, and left behind that need to be at Jesus' table of grace and how we are called to reach the lost as our mission.

This Is Our Story, Too! (SOR 4.0)

The more most of us examine our past, the more we realize that our family tree is full of interesting stories that have shaped our identity.

James Nored shares about God's story through Abraham and David to Jesus and Phil Ware helps us understand the meaning of the story through the genealogy of Jesus.

Forgiveness and Power

Can I actually be better?

Phil Ware reminds us that God can make us better after we have been broken and use us to do his work in the Kingdom because of two things: forgiveness we receive in Jesus through baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Donny, Marie, and LeBron: Real People, Real Words

We actually exchanged real words with both of them. It was amazing. Would you believe that they are both real living, breathing human beings?

Michael DeCamp shares a chapter out of his new book, "Loving Out Loud," and challenges us to use our words to bless and not hurt, to give life and not steal it from someone.

ToGather: How Do I Keep My Sinful Flesh in Check? (May 24, 2020)

Those of us who have followed Jesus for any significant length of time know that keeping our sinful flesh in check is a challenge.

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins invite us to worship God and keep our sinful nature, our flesh, in the past and nailed to the cross and lead us in worship through this practical home worship guide.

One Like Moses (SOR Egypt 5)

Moses brought down God's Law from his mountain. Jesus demonstrated God's love on a hill outside Jerusalem!

James Nored and Phil Ware move from Abraham and Moses to Jesus in God's great story of redemption and show how Jesus becomes the fulfillment

In the Power of the Spirit

We live our lives where we place our focus!

Phil Ware reminds us that by focusing on Jesus and our need for Jesus to be the transforming presence in our lives the Holy Spirit transforms and conforms us to Jesus with increasing likeness.

ToGather: How Can I Start Over with My Life? (May 17, 2020)

Our message points us to 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Paul's promise that if we are in Christ, we are a new creation!

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins invite us to worship God and celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit as we are transformed to be more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ as we trust in God to give us a new fresh start in life because of Jesus!

God's Character Shapes His People

God alone had earned the right to speak truth into their lives, compassion into their hearts, and righteousness into their behaviors.

James Nored and Phil Ware remind us of the importance of the 10 Commandments and the two divine principles of God and Jesus and call us to live them in our daily lives.

A Shattered Lamp and a Broken White Stallion

How do you put a shattered life back together?

Phil Ware talks about a broken horse statue and a shattered pink lamp and how God not only forgives but also purifies us and makes us whole.

ToGather: Valuing Women of Faith and Courage (May 10, 2020)

Happy Mother's Day! Today is Mother's Day in many part of the world, so let's celebrate women of faith and courage who have blessed our lives and empowered the work of God in our world.

Phil Ware and Demetrius Collins invite us to worship God and celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit as we are transformed to be more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.