Scripture does not silence the cry of the suffering, and yet suffering remains a mystery. Perhaps it's because it is so deeply connected to love. In commanding us to love, God also invites us to suffer. So suffering is for those of us who will be known as Christians by our love.
Read MoreIn this message we looked at New Testament Scriptures that reference Jesus' tears and how His tears reveal His tender and grieving heart. Knowing that grief will be a part of life until we reach the fullness of God's presence in Heaven, we are invited to embrace and navigate our own grief.
*The beginning of this message was cut off. Please forgive our technical difficulties!
Read MoreJesus lived a life that was patterned after his sermon on the mount. It was a life that showed us that loving one’s neighbor was the way of ending the cycles of violence throughout human history. Jesus tells us that praying a blessing rather than a curse is key to the way of God’s kingdom.
Read MoreIn living like Jesus, how can we adopt a Godly sense of dependence when our culture emphasizes individualism and self-reliance? We must actively pursue an intimate connection/relationship with Christ thru consistent communication (prayer/bible reading/community with each other), even during times of pruning to produce good “fruit” (good works stemmed from Christlike character). It’s only through living a life connected to the SOURCE, we glorify God through Christlike character in service to each other.
Read MoreJesus is necessarily and consistently disappointing IF I believe He is accountable to my expectations or demands. We can also find reassurance in looking at his own human experience of disappointment, abandonment, and pain that he refuses to retreat into divinity, even in his and our darkest moments.
Read MoreJesus' baptism and subsequent time and temptation in the wilderness give each of us a glimpse into what it means to be human and the risk of holding on to who God is and who God says we are even at our most vulnerable.
Read MoreIn scripture, gentleness is always talked about as a positive thing. We are called to face our own fears of weakness by releasing judgment and vengeance to God as we live in mercy with each other.
Read MoreChristian joy is knowing the truest things about you are untouchable. Christian joy is honesty, intimacy, and freedom.
Read MoreEven though Jesus was always focused on his mission, he lived a life that was unhurried which enabled him to not be swayed by the urgent. This message explores what that means in the way we learn to live like Jesus.
Read MoreAs we look to Christ we see that humility is not just a periodic action, but is essential in the very nature of the incarnation. We see Christ setting down His divine place to be eye to eye with us and how that calls us to set down whatever we might hold as a reason to look down on anyone else.
Read MoreIn our first week of the "Living like Jesus" series, we look at one of the overlooked realities about what it means to live like Jesus - which is to be human. The divine makes his home with the stuff of life, the material, the embodied, the soil becomes holy ground. When we look at how to live like Jesus we pause to push back against the temptations to be purely theoretical or philosophical and remember we are created human, and it is good.
Read MoreOn Vision Sunday each year the LBCF leadership reveals what they sense is the movement of God's spirit and the direction for the upcoming year. Our pastoral team shared a vision of returning to foundational language in our community and seeing how those will be lived out in the community now. Words like adoption, ambassador, and abundance as well as our slogan "learning to live and love like Jesus" will be anchors but this year will be teaching and planning around how those values live out practically.
Read MoreWe see in scripture that the life of Christ is not one into more ease, more worldly success, or greater power but instead a descent into service, sacrifice, and self-giving love.
Read MoreAngels served a specific purpose in delivering a message that Christ was coming. Angels were everywhere in the birth narratives of Christ but afterward, they largely disappeared. We find that God now chooses to use people to point others to Christ. We have become God’s messengers.
Read MoreIn this Advent message, we see that God's love is amazing because it always involves a covenant. From the very beginning, he marries us, and calls us his bride. It's not silly, and it's not easy, but it is true and good. It involves suffering, which always has joy in the midst of it. Let's none of us settle for less.
Read MoreGod demonstrates how much He loves us by choosing to be with us, regardless of what we go through. This Advent season, how does leaning into the reality of Immanuel shape the way we love and are with others in the areas we live, work, & play?
Read MoreAs we focus on Christ this Advent season we see in Ephesians it is Christ who is called our peace and we look at how the incarnation is not a self-help guide to quell our troubles, but an immediate and intimate presence amidst chaos in the person of Jesus.
Read More(note: unfortunately, the recording experienced a glitch throughout, we apologize for this distraction and inconvenience). Jesus's way of interpreting the Bible isn't as easy as we think it is. His ways of using scripture are deeply challenging. It is easier, after all, to read scripture for what we want to see than for what he wants us to see. How did he read and view scripture? Jesus brought to them an awareness as to how God was acting in their present time...he brought them to the God of the now, not the God of then. He did this by taking time aware for silence and prayer and to listen to the Father. He did this by reading and meditating on his sacred scriptures. He did this in the company of others, he had a spiritual community. He did this by deep deep dependence upon the Holy Spirit and then promised us that we would have that same Spirit.
Read MoreAs we continue the series on discernment, we consider how we walk discernment out in areas of ambiguity by holding a posture of curiosity that asks God "What are You up to in this moment?", waiting to hear His answer, and responding to guidance in trust and obedience.
Read MoreAs we continue in our journey to learn rhythms of discernment this week we explore discernment through silence and discernment through speaking. Then we get to put that into practice with Lectio Divina on Romans 12:1-2.
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