Missio Dei: Peoria

As Jesus calls us to follow him and his Kingdom, we see there are clear rhythms and practices his disciples live out. These are not how one becomes a disciple or how a disciple proves belonging to the Kingdom, but rather an outpouring of being with and like Jesus.We use the acronym B.L.E.S.S. (Bless, Listen, Eat, Speak, Sabbath) to encourage one another to engage in the rhythms and practices of Kingdom living. This first week we examined how we have been blessed to be a blessing to others.

This Sunday we shared a meal together while we looked at the parable of the hidden treasure Jesus told in Matthew 13. Plus, we commissioned our MC's and sent one another out as ambassadors of Jesus and his Kingdom.Note: Since we did not keep the recording of praying over each of our MC's and hearing the stories of what God is doing in them, the audio for this may seem like it jumps around a bit.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a little yeast in a lot of dough, or a mustard seed growing into a large tree for birds to nest in. Hyperbole? Maybe. But the point seems to be that God's Kingdom is surprising and beautiful nourishing life can grow out of unexpected places — and that growth is for the sake of others.

Weeds wreak havoc on a yard. But poisonous plants disguised as food are a problem on another level. Jesus told a story about how the Kingdom of God is growing in the midst of another kingdom, and which one will remain at the end.

Jesus gave a lot of pictures of what the Kingdom of God is like, or will be like when it comes in full. One of those images was a story of a master who entrusted his servants with different amounts of money while he went away. What they did with it exposed something about their trust and partnership with the master's work, but even more, Jesus' story exposes something about the multiplying nature of God's Kingdom.

While Jesus was tired and grieving, he had compassion on the crowd. Not only did this compassion lead him to speak good news to them, but his compassion led to feeding and nourishing their bodies as well as their souls. But Jesus chose to do this in a powerful way, by inviting the people into the miracle. The food came from among the crowd, the act of service and distribution from the disciples, and the power from God.

What does the Son of David have to do with the blind? What does his healing mean to the world? Explore these questions with us this week as we look at the healing of the two blind men in Matthew 20.

In Matthew 14 we look at an iconic scene where Jesus walks on water to meet his disciples as they rowed across the sea in a storm. How could he defy physics in such a way? Jesus was displaying the full power of the Creator, in the flesh of a man. And what's perhaps even crazier is that he invites a regular human to come and follow him out there.

In Matthew 9 we get a highlight reel of Jesus performing miracles, and the faith of the people who come to him for it. The people recorded are diverse and come from different places in society, but one thing they have in common is they have a great need and they recognize Jesus as the one who can meet it.

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!”This was the welcome Jesus received as he entered into Jerusalem in Matthew 21 — a quote directly from Psalm 118. But did the crowd really understand what they were saying? Do we? What kind of king are you looking for to come and rescue?

Jesus quoted Psalm 110 to the Pharisees and religious leaders to challenge their idea of who the Son of David, the rescuing King they were awaiting, would be. Their misconceptions of what the Messiah would look like and what he would come to do had caused them to miss what God was doing in their very midst.

Psalm 22 is relived in Matthew 27 as Jesus is betrayed, handed over to the authorities, and cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”This week we explored this passage and its' significance in what Jesus was accomplishing for all of creation.

In the month of July we took a break (sort of) from our journey through the book of Matthew to look at some of the Psalms mentioned in Matthew. Psalm 2 is a coronation song for a true and better king.

From Jesus' first model of prayer to his final recorded prayer alone with his Father, we see the heart of the kingdom continue even to the very end. Jesus lives out the prayer "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done" and "Not my will, but Yours" as he faces his final moments on earth. And he invites his friends to join him.

When Jesus taught his followers how to pray, he included how essential forgiveness is. If you withhold forgiveness of another, you do not experience the forgiveness of the Father. What does this mean? What order does this happen in? How can we experience true forgiveness in a way where we both receive and give it?

This week we had a guest speaker, Jerome Parker, one of the pastors of First Christian Church in Phoenix. Jerome took us through the passage of Matthew 19:16-30, where Jesus confronts the identity, possessions, and power that keep us from following him.

Jesus didn't market to people or invite them in with empty promises, good vibes, and exciting experiences. In fact, when people said they wanted to follow him he responded with how difficult it would be. And when he displayed his power and authority, people wanted even less to do with him. And yet, if they were willing to lay down their control and comforts in life, they found that Jesus' power and authority brought the wholeness of life they had truly been searching for.

Jesus not only called people to follow him as disciples, but he also sent them out to bring good news to others. This was a group of people who would otherwise not have much to do with one another, if it weren't for Jesus. It was also a group of people who would otherwise not have much authority or presence in the places they went. But with Jesus, they were formed into a community and sent with the power and authority of Jesus, for the sake of others.

Jesus called out to a couple fishermen to drop their nets and follow him. Their nets were their livelihood. Their security. Their way of life. Are we willing to drop our nets and follow after Jesus into every area of life he may be calling us?

For Easter Sunday 2024 we gathered together with two other congregations to share in the joy and celebration of the newness of life, only because of the resurrection of Jesus. The tomb is empty. He is risen. He is risen indeed.

What is your life built upon? What is at the foundation of all you do and how you view the world? Can it withstand the storms and waves that life will inevitably throw at it?Jesus offers an invitation to come and build your life on a solid foundation that can weather any storm.

You've got something in your eye.Pointing the finger at another's fault or shortcoming comes naturally to us. It was the first response of the first man and woman when God approached them in the garden after their rebellion. 'It was the woman'. 'No, it was the serpent'. Jesus has some wisdom for us when it comes to pointing fingers.

You've heard the phrase “Love your neighbor”, but was Jesus really serious when he said we are to love our enemies? This countercultural and counterintuitive way of Jesus is not only exemplified in his life and death, but it is also an expectation on those who would call themselves his followers. But how can we do this?

Each week over the next two months we'll journey through one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Take time to move slowly through the rhythms of reflection.Read. Listen. Reflect.This week we focus on Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful…”Find the full guide here: missiodeicommunities.com/beatitudes

Ever broken a promise? Ever had someone break a promise to you? Jesus seemed to think this was a pretty big deal. But why did it matter enough to put up there alongside murder, sex, and the tearing apart of households? Could it really be that any time we are not true to our word that is ‘from the evil one'? How can we even have hope of being more honest, reliable, and faithful with our words?

Each week over the next two months we'll journey through one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Take time to move slowly through the rhythms of reflection.Read. Listen. Reflect.This week we focus on Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”Find the full guide here: missiodeicommunities.com/beatitudes

Murder. Sex. Adultery. Divorce. Jesus wasn't afraid to talk about the heavy stuff.But where the religious leaders thought they had these things all figured out, Jesus seemingly takes it a step further and makes it even harder to be right with the Law. When it came to obeying the Law, Jesus seemed to agree with what they all should've already seen through the Old Testament Scriptures, God looks at the heart.

Each week over the next two months we'll journey through one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Take time to move slowly through the rhythms of reflection.Read. Listen. Reflect.This week we focus on Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the humble…”Find the full guide here: missiodeicommunities.com/beatitudes

Jesus said he had come not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill it. But what exactly does that mean? Has he fulfilled it? And if so, how? And what exactly would his listeners have interpreted as 'the Law and the Prophets' to mean?

Each week over the next two months we'll journey through one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Take time to move slowly through the rhythms of reflection.Read. Listen. Reflect.This week we focus on Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn…”Find the full guide here: missiodeicommunities.com/beatitudes

What does it mean for Jesus to call us the salt of the earth and light of the world? How do we reconcile this with Jesus also claiming that he is the Light of the world?

Jesus began his sermon on the mount with the words, “Blessed are…”He went on to make several outrageous claims as to who is blessed. What does it mean to be blessed and how can we make the list of people who are? Is this a checklist to attain? We explore the beginning of the famous Sermon on the Mount by examining the good life Jesus came to offer those in need.

Each Wednesday over the next two months we'll journey through one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Take time to move slowly through the rhythms of reflection.Read. Listen. Reflect.This first week we focus on Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”Find the full guide here: missiodeicommunities.com/beatitudes

Jesus said those who become like children get to enter the Kingdom of God. Why are children so important? What does it mean to become like them? What can we learn from the nature of children, but perhaps more importantly, the social status of children in Jesus' time?

Jesus' first message was that of John, the baptizer: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” What did Jesus mean by this? Who was this message for? How was Jesus bringing the kingdom into the broken world?

Jesus, the fullness of the God of the universe, fully immersed himself into the identity and life of humanity — so that humans could have the possibility of being fully immersed into the identity of being children of God. It is his immersion into our world and his invitation for us to be immersed into his identity that we find true life, fulfillment, fullness, and restoration of who we were meant to be.

John was a voice in the wilderness crying out and calling people out of the kingdom of the world and into a new kingdom. He was sent to prepare people to turn away from one way of living and turn toward the ways of Jesus and his kingdom. That invitation is still being called out today.

When Jesus arrives, the God of the universe become human, he is met with poverty, wandering, oppression, violence, rejection, and suffering. This Christmas season we recognize that not all is as it should be, yet we have much to celebrate because we have a God who has come to be in it with us. And this baby Jesus, grew into a man who loved, served, and healed — and ultimately gave his life over to death so that he could conquer it with resurrection. This is the greatest gift we have been given.

What made a group of magi travel far from the east to come and pay respect to a newborn king of the Jews? How were they able to find him? And once they got there and found the current king wanted him dead, what led them to believe this baby born to a poor family in a little town was actually who they thought he was?The story of the wise men is full of mystery... and may make you rethink how you set up your nativity figures on the fireplace mantle.

We started our series in Matthew during the season of Advent. The first week we looked at the genealogy of Jesus. Family trees and ancestral lineage doesn't always sound like the most interesting of topics, however, Matthew was revealing many very significant truths about who this Jesus was. Join us as we see the promised Rescuer God's people had been waiting for centuries to come.

Wrapping up our series in Hebrews, we come to chapter 13. This seems like possibly the author getting out his final thoughts and recommendations for living righteous before he seals his letter, but it's so much more connected to the rest of the book than that. He has spent 12 chapters making the case how Jesus is better than all else and is the fulfillment of all they had been hoping for. In chapter 12 he referenced Mount Sinai, where God gave the Law AFTER rescuing them from slavery. Now that they've come to a new kind of mountain, Mount Zion figuratively, he is reminding them of how they can live now that Jesus has set them free.

Mountaintops were seen in the ancient near eastern world as places where humans could climb to meet the divine; heaven and earth could touch. In the Old Testament we have a story of Israelites trembling with fear before Mount Sinai because the glory of God came down with fire, clouds, thunder, and lightning. Hebrews 12 tells us we have not come to that kind of mountain, but Mount Zion where we celebrate with an army of spiritual beings as we delight in God. So — what changed? Why can we now approach this mountaintop?

A loving father disciplines his children. For some, we may have this experience to relate to. For others, we hear that word and flinch. We think of cruel punishment. No matter your experience with a human father, we have one who is far better and His discipline is perfect. It is not angry punishment, but corrective guiding leading us to the path of life and goodness.

Chapter 11 of Hebrews is perhaps one of the more well known chapters in the whole bible. Often referred to as the ‘Hall of Faith', it lists off a number of people from Israel's history who “by faith” lived a certain way. If we take a deeper look at each of their lives we will also find a lot of failures and acts of disobedience. Yet, there is one who showed an even better faith — the pioneer and perfecter of our faith — who has given us the gift of a better faith to live by now.

This world offers many ways to live, but really there are two: find what seems right or feels good to you, or live by faith in Jesus. One way leads to life, the other to destruction. One way is fulfilling and brings ultimate joy and satisfaction, the other brings chaos and sorrow.When we say Jesus is better, we don't mean he is subjectively a slightly better option, though any option is fine. We mean he is the only option if you want to experience life and life to the full.

What's the difference between delight and desire? Both are often talked about in the biblical narrative and seem to be key to the story. When delight and desire are misdirected and misplaced, destruction and even death can result. But when we desire what is good and delight in what we already have access to, this leads to flourishing. How can we rightly align our desires and delight? Only through first seeing God desires to be with us and delights over his people!

The sight of blood is alarming. It signals that something is wrong, because blood belongs in the body. Life is in the blood. But for the ancient Israelite culture, blood also signified something else: cleansing. The thought of blood being used to clean anything now is more than strange to us, but there was a cultural and spiritual significance to it for the Israelites. As we seek to understand why, we may begin to understand even more what the blood of Jesus has done for us.

A covenant is the deepest form of promise between two people, intertwining them together. Hebrews 8 shows us that Jesus has brought a new and better covenant, one that fulfills and completes where the old one fell short. The old covenant was good in that it pointed us toward the coming of the new covenant, but only by the new covenant can we completely enter into God's presence. This new covenant has been made available to us by the sacrifice of Jesus, our high priest.

Melchizedek is a mysterious character who only has a couple short sentences written of him in the Old Testament, but the author of Hebrews keeps bringing him up and seems to think he has a great deal to do with Jesus. Who is this guy? What is the connection to Jesus?As we explore chapter 7 of Hebrews, we see that God has been giving us a preview of what would come fully in Jesus all throughout history and that Jesus is the fullness of everything we need.

Storms come in life. That is a certainty. When you hold onto an anchor, you will still feel the push and pull of the waves from the storm, but you will also be held secure where you are supposed to be. Our culture and even religion offer many anchors that end up not really being planted securely into a firm foundation. There is only one anchor for your soul that will truly hold you securely and he is Jesus.