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Kyle Kauffman 1/27/24 Kyle Kauffman 1/27/24

Welcoming the Stranger

Kyle Kauffman

It’s easy for the church as a whole and us as individuals to drift in the direction of an inward focus. There are so many needs within the church that we can spend all of our time simply focused on meeting them. But God has given us a mission, and that mission requires us moving out. Moving outward with a welcoming mindset towards those outside the church is uncomfortable and challenging. And yet as we move outward, we do so in the love of Christ, by the power of Christ, with faith in the promises of Christ. As part of God’s family, we can all take steps to move outward and extend welcoming arms toward others in hope that God will use us as a part of welcoming them into his family as well.

Luke 6:32-36

Kyle Kauffman 1/20/24 Kyle Kauffman 1/20/24

Welcoming the Children

Kyle Kauffman

The tendency in our modern world is to either see children as a burden (keeping us from our dreams) or to see children as an idol (having our dreams wrapped up in them). Children can be seen as an inconvenience or distraction getting in the way of what really matters. God shows his value for children in the fact that He himself became a child. Jesus then demonstrated that children are a gift by welcoming them into his life. We have a God who loves children and welcomes children to himself. The church can and should also look for ways to love and welcome children into our lives in an effort to point them to the God who loves them and wants them to be a part of his family.

Mark 10:13-16

Kyle Kauffman 1/13/24 Kyle Kauffman 1/13/24

The Welcoming Home

Kyle Kauffman

It is so easy for us to view our homes as our own private refuges and fortresses. They can quickly become the places where we seek to escape the burdens of other people. What would it instead look like if we saw our homes as welcome centers: places where we could invite others in so that we could get to know them and encourage them? What if, ‘Do you want to come over for dinner?’ was a common invitation in our church? What if it was expected that we will regularly sit around a table with others in our church?. What effect might this have on the church? What effect might this have on others looking in on the church? How might God use that?

1 Peter 4:7-11

Kyle Kauffman 1/4/24 Kyle Kauffman 1/4/24

The Welcoming Church

Kyle Kauffman

The church is meant to be a community that looks and feels different then the world outside of it. The church is meant to be a place where people feel known and seen, loved and valued. We are called to put on display in our culture what we believe in our doctrine. Therefore, if we truly believe God is a welcoming God then we should seek to be a welcoming place and people as the church. However, this does not happen by accident. It happens as God’s grace changes us and motivates us to do the challenging work of welcoming others in. The gospel not only gives us the model for how we are to welcome one another as a church, but it also helps to overcome the fears and desires that would prevent us from being a welcoming people.

James 2:1-13

Brandon Fisher 12/30/23 Brandon Fisher 12/30/23

God Welcomes Us

Brandon Fisher

Welcome is a metaphor for the gospel. Hospitality is central to God’s Heart. The Bible is a story of a God who displays his glory and grace by pursuing the people who have spurned Him in order to welcome them back into His family. This is perhaps displayed nowhere more clearly than in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We see that all of us have spurned God and deserve to be shunned/abandoned by Him. But we find in this story that God welcomes us not on the basis of our merit, but on the basis of His grace and mercy. We find that God goes above and beyond to welcome us back into His family. We find that it brings God pleasure to display His glory by welcoming people into his family. And we find that understanding how great God’s welcome is of us should lead us to be welcoming people.

Luke 15:11-32

Kyle Kauffman 12/20/23 Kyle Kauffman 12/20/23

Upside Down Joy

Kyle Kauffman

Christmas is often a season of great joy. There are all sorts of reasons we make look forward to Christmas, be excited about Christmas, or be happy at Christmas. Yet so much joy at Christmas (and in all of life) is surfacy, shallow, and hollow. This doesn’t mean that it’s bad, it just means that the joy can so easily be taken away. We were not meant for a joy that is simply found in the good things of this world. Rather our hearts were created to find joy in knowing the one who made the world. We find that the real reason for joy at Christmas is because Christmas makes it possible for us to know God. God offers us a type of weighty joy that can only be found in knowing him. So when other sources of joy fade or crumble, our joy in knowing God an remain firm.

Luke 2:1-20

Kyle Kauffman 12/14/23 Kyle Kauffman 12/14/23

Upside Down Comfort

Kyle Kauffman

In our lives the temptation to seek comfort in this world and apart from Gid is great. Our lives can so easily become all about finding and keeping comfort. We end up trying to avoid all that is uncomfortable even when we know God is calling us to give up our comfort. Christmas can so easily just become another season where we look for comfort in what this world offers rather than in God. In Christmas, we find a Savior who choose to give up all his comfort in order to become a man to rescue us and reunite us with God. As a result, we can now find comfort in God that is not temporary or simply circumstantial. Rather it’s actually when our lives become most uncomfortable that Jesus becomes our greatest comfort. And as we find our comfort in him, we are then called to give up the comforts of this life for His cause in this world.

Hebrews 2:10-18

Kyle Kauffman 12/9/23 Kyle Kauffman 12/9/23

Upside Down Focus

Kyle Kauffman

We all have a tendency to put ourselves first. We our prone to prioritize our own desires, interests, honor, and recognition. We seek to look out for ourselves more than we do for others. We seek to climb the ladder and get ahead of others. We look for ways that we can serve ourselves (or that others can serve us) rather than how we can serve others. At Christmas God shows us that he is a God who came to serve not to be served. He shows us he is a God who prizes and exalts humility. He shows us he is a God who prioritizes going down and giving up for the sake of others. Because this is who God is he calls us to prioritize going down and giving up for the sake of others.

Philippians 2:3-11

Joel Wood 12/2/23 Joel Wood 12/2/23

What If I Disagree?

Joel Wood

When it comes to knowing the truth, it is inevitable that we will disagree with others and find ourselves in situations where we feel like we need to speak up about what we believe is true. This may be with fellow Christians where we disagree on some truth or it may be in conversations with those who don’t know Christ where we disagree about what is ultimately true. We are not meant to run from disagreements or to avoid those who we disagree with. Rather healthy disagreement and debate is one of the ways that God uses to help us grow in the truth. We live in a world where we tend to avoid those who think differently than us or seek to shame them and yell them down. But we are meant to engage with one another and not avoid disagreements over the truth while doing it all with love and humility.

1 Peter 3:13-1; Ephesians 4:1-2

Kyle Kauffman 11/25/23 Kyle Kauffman 11/25/23

What’s Your Diet?

Kyle Kauffman

Our ability to know and live according to the truth will be greatly affected by the information we take in. Who and what do we listen to the most, watch the most, read the most, etc? We are people who are inevitably shaped by what we give our attention to. Lots of voices (perhaps more than ever before) clamor for our attention. And we should recognize how valuable our attention is more than ever before. We are meant to give our attention to sources that cultivate wisdom in our lives rather than folly. We are meant to spend more time soaking in the truth then sipping on what is trivial. We are meant to see that more information does not necessarily translate to more wisdom and truth. This week is designed to help us evaluate how we are prioritizing our attention and if our habits in life are conducive to forming us into people who are deeply rooted in the truth.

Proverbs 8-9; Psalm 1; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 3:18