Restore Mtown

"Blessed are they who hunger & thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied." Anger isn't always wrong. It's holy when the anger fuels you to help. Help those oppressed, dismissed, overlooked, and betrayed. The second half of this verse is really hard to reconcile in this season. The Hamilton lyric, "I'll never be satisfied" seems a lot more appropriate. Overwhelmed with this reality this morning. Is there hope? Does Jesus have a plan? Does the Church have a part?

Our scars tell a story. What is your defining scar?For most of us, our defining scar is not physical. It is emotional, relational and maybe even spiritual.Today, we look at how each of us is a scarred person, persons filled with fire and fear. We see how our fire (passion) will help fuel us to keep going, while our fear will kill our momentum.

Dr. Paul Daniel is the Executive Director of Center Associates (Marshalltown and Tama, IA). Paul uses his wealth of mental health knowledge, and deep faith to help us understand the season, struggle and opportunities we have before us. Paul talks about how trauma, specifically, COVID-19, affects our brain, decision making, emotions, and spiritual lives. Along with touching on how we can stay connected, deal with stacked-trauma (tornado + COVID), communicating with our kids, and more.

"Whatever can be taken away from the Church, is not essential to the Church." - Erin Ryden What is Church? Is it a building? A pastor? A service?  Covid-19 has caused fear and frustration, but God has also used it to help us realign our values, understandings, and actions to what really matters. Join us, as Pastor Dylan, Pastor Sarah, and Erin talk about how God is using this season to shape and show what the Church truly is. 

Covid-19 has forced us to live differently. As individuals, families, churches, communities, countries and the globe. This can produces a lot of fear. The question is, what type of fear does it produce? Today we dig into the story of Martha, Mary and Jesus, and look how God deconstructs the fear of man and reconstructs in our faith the fear of God. Please join us in digging in deep to the better way forward. 

Here is Pastor Dylan's interview (4 minutes long) with KFJB1230 from Friday, March 20th. A big thank you to Ken Huge, News Director, and the KFJB team.  www.1230kfjb.com  KFJB Facebook Page

As we journey through the Christian life, all of us face seasons when God strips everything away in hopes that it will narrow our focus onto Him. He does this because he loves us; he does it so he can remind us of our identity and of our inheritance. As we enter these desert seasons, the devil meets us there in an attempt to steal away the very things God has given to us. It is in the desert that we must take a stand against the enemy. It is in the desert that we must throat punch the devil. How to throat punch the Devil: Hit him hard. Hit him first. Hit him often. 1. Wake up running to Jesus. Run to him early, run to him often. Make him your firstpriority.2. Put on the armor of God – get ready for battle because whether you like it or not,you’re in one.3. Read God’s word. Know God’s word. Speak God’s word. Share God’s word.Memorize God’s word.4. Pray. Speak to God, but also listen.5. Declare truth over your life, your situation, and your people.6. Don’t do it alone, we’re better together.

We all have a snapshot of God. It is that default image we have had since childhood that tends to shape our faith experience.  What is your snapshot?  Is God old? Is God angry? Is God judgmental? Is God compassionate? Is God a miracle worker?  Whatever your view, we must ask, “Is my view of God broad enough?  Do I see him for all he is or am I seeing just a small snapshot of him?”  Listen as Pastor David challenges us to move from a snapshot view to a portrait view of God.

Here is the interview Pastor Dylan with Pastor Terrell Walters of Beacon of Hope Church in the Jordan Neighborhood in North Minneapolis shown at our "Serve" Sunday Night (2/16/20) If you are interested in joining us for the June 25-28th trip, please contact us at info@restoremtown.com 

Pastor Ryan preaches in the third week of our Counter series. Ryan shares about confession and how we can live within "Greater Things" as we move towards what God has for us. In the culture, confession is viewed as weakness. In the Economy of Jesus, confession owns the moment and honors those to whom we are confessing. Confession elevates them to the place God sees them in. Confession removes the space between God and us and Others and us.

“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.” - John Wesley. Why is generosity essential in the Kingdom of God?  Today, we will not answer how? what? where? who? But why we should be generous. We will explore Jesus' interaction with Lazarus, Judas, and Mary with her perfume. In this story, we will see what generosity is and isn't. Generosity is dependent on a mindset of abundance, a posture of humility, & a drive to apply.  

In our first "Tell" Sunday Night, Lauren shares her story of God's promise, the stronghold of insecurity, the power of Jesus, and the pursuit of seeing God's promise fulfilled in her and through her. Recorded 1/12/20

We are called to Greater Things; We are capable of Greater Things. However, Greater Things = Harder Things. Join us as Pastor Dylan shares his personal story of great failure, pain and ultimate healing God gave him after 12 years of praying, pushing forward, and wondering if God would ever heal this painful situation in his story.   

We wrapped up our Greater Things with a panel of Restore leaders sharing insights on how each person grew to understand God's deep love for them, and develop a deeper love for Him. Please join us, as we hear from LaVonne, Erin and Lauren's story! 

The Greater things of God is His love is WIDER|LONGER|HIGHER|DEEPER God’s love is HIGHER than our comprehension…. What does this mean? It means anything we discuss today, we need to imagine His love is exponentially more. We don’t have the language, brainpower, or imagination to encapsulate this reality. Join us today, as seek to explore an uncontrollable, unfathomable, unimpeachable, and unedited God who transcends our world. How does this transcendent God translate his "bigness" into His character of love in His relationship with the world...the people He created?

"But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3:8-9 What does it mean to be loved by a God who sees a day as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day? It can be nerve-wracking. To know that God is not a quick fix God. To know that God will not eject us from our current situation.  It is also encouraging. That we are more than "our last at-bat". God sees us as more than what we currently are.  Join us as we develop a longer-view of God, and learn to rely on His timing and His promises.   

January is the season of reinvigorated goals, and reissued Y memberships. If you look at social media almost everybody’s “2019” was the worst ever, and everybody proudly proclaims this year will be the best year yet. Many people will seek to attain more this year - more money, love, experience, opportunity, peace, etc. Many people will seek to have less this year - less stress, less drama, less distance from family. The reality is our focus is often consumed with less and more for 30 days, and then we go back to our default rhythms of life. But life is not a pursuit of more or less, but life is the pursuit of “Greater Things” or “Lesser Things”. Fear reduces us to lesser things, but Love unlocks greater things. Join us, as we begin to dig in Greater Things for 2020 at Restore and in our personal life. Today we dig into Ephesians 3:14-21, and seek to discover a wider view of God's love. 

God has arrived. The holiday season is a time of anxious anticipation of the coming Messiah. Join us as we dig into what Jesus' arrival means today, and the good news that is surrounding His return.

This week Pastor Ryan talks about the Love in the last week of our Engage Mtown series. What do we do when we are faced with the decision between safe and love. Pastor Ryan talks about the life of Ruth and Naomi. About how grief changed them and how it will change us. Do we try to hide our wounds from others like Naomi? Ruth lived a life that was high in character and that was what was known about her. Love is a declaration when it costs us something. It cost Ruth her future and it pointed to a greater love in the birth of Jesus. Ruth stepped into a life of love and faith. 

Nehemiah 10:8 tells us that,  “The joy of the Lord is your strength!”  What does that even mean?  How do I find the Joy that I am desperate to have but that is largely missing from my life?   Join Pastor Dave as he shares two stories, one from the Bible and one from a classic Disney cartoon, that both teach us how to position ourselves to allow Joy from the Lord to spill over onto us.   

Have you ever wrestled with God? Do you think that it is okay to wrestle with God? What if wrestling with God was essential for finding peace with God? Join us as we continue to dig into Advent (the anxious anticipation of the coming Messiah), and seek how we can experience peace amidst turmoil and tumult. We look at the promise of peace, the reality of conflict and the hope of the future.   

The season of Advent is an annual opportunity to reorient ourselves toward the Christian hope: that one day Jesus will return and restore all things to their intended order.  In Scripture, we often see hope framed around dreams; dreams of the future, dreams of our calling, dreams of the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives. One man whose life was dramatically impacted by dreams is Joseph. At age 17 Joseph had a dream that shifted the trajectory of his entire life; unfortunately the road to get there wasn’t as easy as he had hoped for. After sharing the dream with his family he is abandoned by his brothers, enslaved by the Egyptians, wrongly accused, discarded by his master, imprisoned and forgotten. While the dreams of God often have detours, we know they never hit dead ends. God uses every circumstance and hardship to develop us into men and women who have the character to fulfill the dream of God in their lives. 13 years after receiving the dream, Joseph finally has the opportunity to fulfill it. He’s released from prison, given a prominent position in Pharaoh’s ranks, and is used by God to save an entire nation from the threat of famine. What the enemy intends for harm, God uses to accomplish his good and glorious plan.   

Is there a prayer of thanksgiving in seasons of failure? We expect suffering (external forces complicating life), but what happens when we are faced with our own shortcomings, stupidity, arrogance, bias, prejudice. Simply put...FAILURE. The core tenets of our faith are to LOVE GOD & LOVE PEOPLE. Every time we fail it is not about the event or act, but about a lack of love of God, and in turn, love of people. Today, we look at a great failure of love for God and people through King David. What happens when Nathan confronts David on his dehumanization and desecration of Bathsheba, Uriah and ultimately God Himself? How does David respond? How do I respond to the illumination of my failure? Why does God challenge David? To damn or to free? Why does God challenge me? To damn or to free?

“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” - Woodrow Wilson We live in a culture with the perpetual desire and numerous depictions of finding your "soul-mate". It is always framed as a romantic relationship, but are romantic relationships really the foundation of all relationships? Have you always been married? Was your marriage your first relationship? Do you have to be married to be used by God? Do you have to be married to fulfill all God has for you? We are all built for friendship, regardless of marital status. Today, we look at the relationship between David and Jonathan and see that friendship, not marriage, is the foundational relationship in our lives. Join us as we look at how God used David's "soul-mate" to support David and model the arrival of humanity's "soul-mate" 1000 years in the future.   

7 billion on the planet. 30k in Marshalltown. House full of people. I feel all alone. Can I thank God when I feel left out...hopeless...alone? Our 20's are often marked by PROMISE and PROBLEMS. This was also true for David. In 1 Samuel 16, David is anointed as the next king of Israel. We would think that should be a time of celebration, which it is, but it also means that life will be easy. David's anointing didn't bring ease, it brought problems that produced loneliness.  Did David have a prayer of thanksgiving in his loneliness?  Do we have a prayer of thanksgiving in our loneliness? God uses our loneliness to strip away all the life preservers we use to keep afloat, so He can lift us up and place our feet on the water to be able to walk with Him. David's season of loneliness produced Psalm 19 and 23.  

In Acts chapter 17, Paul wraps up his address in Athens with a call to repentance.  All of us must approach God through repentance.  It is through repentance that we give the Holy Spirit permission to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves.  Listen as Pastor David challenges us to change the status quo and approach God with our shoes untied.

God is near... Does that fill your soul with joy? Does it trouble you? The God who creates also inhabits His creation. He desires to connect with us, and created each of us with a desire to connect to Him.  Join us as we dig into how our soul is a magnet drawn to the creator, but our soul struggles to find him due to being blinded by sin.  Today we ask the question "how do we shift from a God who is near, to a God who is known". 

  “To create is to reflect the image of God. To create is an act of worship.” - Erwin McManus The first characteristic God reveals about Himself is not that He is love. Nor that He is good. We learn that He creates. As the origin story of all of existence zooms in, we see God as creator. “In the beginning God created…” As image-bearers of God, we reflect His character. We reflect His creativity. Today we jump into how our creativity points us back to our creator, and our sin confuses our creativity with being the Creator. 

EVANGELISM This word carries a lot of connotations with it. For some it means sharing the "Good News" (The root 'evangelion' means 'Good News'). For others, it is someone SHOUTING the "Good News" at them (Think Bullhorn Preacher outside of any sporting event). Ultimately, it is about communicating and connecting people to Jesus. This message is for all of us who have tried to force people to hear about your thoughts on Jesus, or felt forced to hear someone's thoughts on Jesu. This message is for all of us who remained silent about Jesus, because "forcing" people didn't seem very much like Jesus. This message is for all of us who want to communicate and connect people to Jesus. Join us as we look to Paul, and see how he did not fall prey to SHOUTING the Gospel or resigning himself to be silent about the Gospel. He instead, was able to share the Gospel in a powerful and personal way that connected all walks of life to Jesus.   

The worst four-letter word in the Kingdom is "they" or "them". In the Kingdom of God there is only us. Today we will dig into Paul's journey into 1st century Athens (Acts 17) and look at the shocking similarities to our own modern-day culture.  Join us as we dig into what it means to be "church for the rest of us" as we celebrate Restore's 4th birthday and kick off our new series "Us & Us".   "Two thousand years ago people thought God was for thePharisees. The Pharisees were the religious people who claimed moral superiority.Then Jesus showed up. And EVERYTHING changed.Jesus claimed to be God, in the flesh, but He hung out with irreligious people who everyone thought to be morally inferior. Jesus was called a ìfriend of sinnersî because He spent time prostitutes and tax collectors and Roman soldiers. And people began to realize that God wasnít just for the Pharisees, that God was for the rest of us.Today, somehow people still believe that God is for the religious people who claim moral superiority.But theyíre wrong.God is STILL FOR THE REST OF US." - Vince Antonucci    

We often look at self-control through the lenses of buffets, bars, and ballgames. Can we say no to an extra pass through the dessert bar? Can we stop at zero or 1 drink? Can we keep our emotions in check after a bad call by the ref? We look at self-control as a way to abstain from certain activities, actions, etc.  But what if self-control is more about abundance than it is about abstinence? What if it is about a greater work of God?  Join us as we dig into the fruit of self-control through the lens of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-27 and Jesus in Philippians 2:7-8. 

All of God’s giants have been weak men and women who have gotten hold of God’s faithfulness.-Hudson Taylor Our stories are marked with a combination of failure and faithfulness. Today we dig into how God's faithfulness helps build a bridge from our failures into a life of faithfulness. Join us as we look at God's incredible work in us, but also what God wants from us. From throwing away idols to walking in step with Him to build faithfulness in us. Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 3; Joshua 24

Am I good? How do I become good? Is God good? We have an interesting relationship with goodness. We are drawn to goodness, but we are highly skeptical of anyone or anything that claims to be good (without flaw in both character and conduct). Each one of us has heard and probably uttered the phrase "too good to be true".  Join us we dispel impostors of goodness (boy scout & lady justice) and dig into what true goodness is rooted in and how we can experience it today. 

“For many Christians, following Jesus means we are just really, really nice.”-Sharon Miller, author Kindness is not simply a feeling of compassion, a smile or an open door. Kindness is compassion expressed through generosity. Yet, we, especially in the Church, buy into the greatest impostor of kindness. It is the surface smile, open door or warm feeling we call niceness.  Join us as we dig into the difference between kindness and niceness, and how choosing kindness can transform us, our neighborhoods, and the way we think about church.   

The impostor of gentleness focuses on the moment rather than the promise. God chose to speak to Elijah in a gentle whisper, it was to draw him close to himself. In this message Pastor Ryan digs into the Impostor of gentleness and helps us see the authentic from the fake.   We all want to find a place that we can be vulnerable even if it is for a moment. Gentleness invites us into a vulnerable place we want to go to. We have the ability to use the gentleness in the fruit of the spirit to help those around us dig deeper into their lives.

Patience should be considered more of a “vegetable” of the Spirit, we need it but we don’t really want it. This week in our series on the Fruit of the Spirit Pastor David explores two common imposters of patience and how to cultivate the real thing. 

There always seems to be a mountain of obstacles that interrupt our peace: anxiety, fear, relational strife, hardships, trials, injustice. This week we dive into a familiar story to address the impostors of peace and where true peace comes from.   We pick up the story in Exodus 13. After 400 years of slavery, the Israelites had finally been freed from their captivity to the Egyptians. The identity of slavery had been ingrained into the Israelites for nearly 20 generations, but God was moving them from slaves to son.   When they left Egypt, they marched out boldly armed for battle and camped near the Red Sea. But when the Egyptians pursued them through the desert, their confidence came crashing down. They cried to the Lord and questioned Moses’ leadership. In an instant, their confidence in God shattered.   The Israelites fell prey to the belief that peace is simply the absence of conflict. Like many of us they did everything in their power to avoid it. No matter how much we try to avoid conflict, it always catches up with us. It is in the avoidance of conflict that chaos is born.   What do we do when we find ourselves camped between conflict and chaos? What do we do when we’re sandwiched between the two things we’ve spent our entire lives avoiding? Isn’t that the place where peace really matters? If peace can’t be employed in that place, it shouldn’t be employed in any place.   Peace isn’t produced in the avoidance of conflict or the absence of chaos. Peace comes when we look chaos and conflict in the face and say, “I don’t have control of this situation but I know the God who does.”   “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” – Exodus 14:14

This week we look at Joy and what the impostor looks like for our lives and relationships. Are you happy? The impostor wants us to settle, settle for almost, settle for good enough. Pastor Ryan talks about how at times we see Joy as a Sasquatch we have heard of it but is it really there? Pastor shares that we can also become suspicious of joy in our lives.   What do we do with the impostor in our lives? How do we move from happy to joy?

The "Fruits of the Spirit" are the 9 markers of every healthy culture, community, and relationship. As with anything great, there are numerous knockoffs, fakes, and impostors that seek to deceive us. During our series, we will dig into the real and dispel the impostors that cripple our culture, community, and relationships. To kick off our series, we dig into the most elemental and essential characteristic...love.  God describes Himself as love. He implores us to love others as our self. He even says if we don't love others, we don't love Him.  It cannot be overstated, love is important. The more important something is, the more impostors there will be.  Join us as we dig in to dispel impostors and look to Jesus' words in John 15 for God's definition of love. 

"Evil spirits were expelled." Evil spirits....seriously? Like Poltergeist? Stranger Things? Voodoo? Ghost Hunters? Ghostbusters? Many of us are skeptical of the reality of evil spirits, but I believe we almost all agree that there is more to life than what we experience or can prove in a scientific lab. I believe we can all agree that not everything in our world is working for our good.  This is the reality of spiritual oppression. Spiritual oppression creates prisoners and captives. Join us as we dig into how the Holy Spirit gives freedom to both prisoners and captives. 

A diverse church is God's idea because a diverse church reflects the diversity of God as Father, Son & Holy Spirit.  Acts 6:1-7 is as relevant in 21st Century America as it was in the 1st Century Roman Empire. As diversity brought about conflict, the Holy Spirit used 12 Apostles, and 7 Spirit-filled Greek men to elevate the oppressed Greek widows to a level playing field with their Jewish counterparts.  Join us as we dig into the power of humility amongst leadership, and the unique perspective each gender, different ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds, age, amongst other defining characteristics, teach us about God. 

Every time a person is baptized a miracle has occurred. Is the water miraculous? No. It is H20 like the rest of the water that covers 70% of our globe. Is the baptismal special? No. We use $200 horse trough.  It is the public expression of the life-giving, changing, transforming, legacy shifting work of Jesus in a person's life. Check out our message from our Baptism Sunday at Grimes Farm Ampitheater. 

We have all seen a balloon bouquet. At graduation parties, wedding receptions, and floral shops. Helium-filled balloons of various colors and styles kept together by one weight.   This is an apt metaphor for the Church. Different people, personalities, ethnicities, gender, backstory, gifting, and experiences kept together by one weight. The Triune God. Father. Son. Holy Spirit.  In today's message, we dig into one of the hardest accounts of the New Testament. The story of Ananias and Sapphira. Through this difficult story, we see a battle over who receives glory in the church (Glory literally means "weightiness"), and why that has far-reaching repercussions (both good and bad).