Sunday Nights at the Porch

We often think that we have to clean up our brokenness before God can love us let alone be used by him toward his redemptive plan. Yet when we read through the Scriptures we see God always using broken humanity. We are beginning the year with a new series in walking through different people in the Bible who all share one thing in common: imperfection. We start with the apostle Simon Peter, who messed up more than once and yet we see the power of the resurrected Jesus coming to call us into participation with him and his love. 

Pastor Dan Snavley joins us to wrap up the year 2024 with an important message about the Magi that came from the East to visit the newborn King. In this story we see the contrast of the Jews searching for and resting on their knowledge, and the response of some Gentiles who otherwise didn't belong to God's family of Israel. We are led to the question: Is curiosity something that draws us to Jesus?

As our Advent series comes to a close, Tara directs our attention to Mary, the mother of Jesus and her response to the most profound and unimaginable messages from God: that she would carry and give birth to the messiah. As we look to her response we learn the joy that we can experience from God's presence with us in the midst of hardship. We see that submission to God leads to blessing, our posture of praise int he middle of chaos, and joy is the gift we receive when we are with God. 

During advent, we look back to those waiting for the messiah. However, our current celebration of waiting is that he has already come into the mess to take up our pain and suffering. That requires faith during trying times of waiting, which brings hope that the arrival has happened. It also exemplifies God's glory that came down to us in a way we least expected.We often hear the word glory thrown around this time of year, but don't always understand its true meaning. When we see the glory of the lord descending down to the lowly shepherds announcing the arrival of the messiah, we see that God's power works through our individual stories.

Advent is the season of waiting for the arrival of the messiah. As we look back to the first coming of Jesus, that gives us hope for his future promise to return and make all things new. The challenge of looking back is understanding God is always doing something new and unexpected, so where do we look for hope when things don't turn out the way we expect? The answer isn't in looking to the majesty of Jesus, but instead looking to the manger–his humility. 

As we enter into a season of Advent - we join in human history celebrating a time of anticipation for the arrival of the messiah. In our time of waiting, we often find it difficult to keep faith when things around us seem to be crumbling, yet if we look to the Christmas story, we see what faith actually requires and how it helps us in times of need. In Luke Chapter 1, we see the how the faith of Mary guides us into relationship with Jesus. We see how even in times of doubt, God welcomes our questions, and we also see her response of humility. We know we can have faith because Christmas points to God with us, suffering alongside of us, and the promise of his coming back to make all things new. 

As we conclude our series on who we are to be now, as models of the city that Jesus promises upon his return, we look to how it is that we begin to do that. In a world that has become so divided, unity has to start with God who is communal in nature. That is where we draw power to be led by the spirit, guided by the love of Christ, in order to live a life of self-sacrifice. 

As we continue our series "City on a Hill," Joey helps us unpack the question: why are we as followers of Jesus supposed to be hospitable? As we dig deeper into scripture and the history of the Church, we see that it has always been a part of God's character to practice hospitality. God modeled that for us through his gospel as God became human in the person of Jesus, and died for us so we could experience life.  

Jesus calls his followers to be a City on a Hill–a light that reflects out into the world. That means that we are to be now, a model of what God promises will one day come when Jesus returns. We do that through learning how God prioritizes his love for the city throughout scripture. Specifically in Jeremiah we learn that we are to love the city through praying for and seeking prosperity and peace, but also not allow the city to fully influence us. We do that through how we relate to the city, and ultimately looking to the future hope that God promises to bring. 

God created with light, and dwelt amongst us through temple to bless us. We are to reflect his light back out to all the nations as a blessing to others. That calling is to be the city now, as a microcosm and model of what God will one day do when Jesus returns and his new city comes down to fully redeem us as we live within the new heavens and new earth fully with God. We have been given the tools through the Gospel to live that calling out eagerly.

As Tara concludes our series in Prayer, we look to the hope of God who is with us both as we pray for endurance, and also gives us the perseverance to continue praying. 

Presence is often something we take for granted until it's gone, but God gave us the gift of being proximate with each other. We feel that when we are together, but where is God in all of that? When we look to the Biblical story, we see it's a story about the God of with. That even when we can't feel him, his promise is to draw near to us. As we experience his presence, it reveals the reality of our lives, but also always provides a way forward.

We are continuing in our Prayer series, and talking about the power that prayer brings. We are told in Genesis that God shares in his power with us, his human creation. Many times we think of power as ruling over, but when we look at how Jesus exercised his power we see he modeled power under through self-sacrifice. We are given power freely by God, but are we being filled by him in order to access his power and use it to further his kingdom.

Taylor is launching into our new series on Prayer. We are starting with the foundation of God's promise. When we go to God we often feel like he is far away and unresponsive, but if we look back at how he has always been faithful, that gives us strength to trust him in the present and future.

Our last sermon in our values series, transformation. We are in a culture that resists change, but Jesus offers us a different way - the way of transformation. When we surrender to Jesus, he instills a new heart in us, and as we follow him through relationship, we are becoming more and more like him every day until he returns.

It's no secret that we live in a complex world with so much coming at us and taking us in different directions. We fall subject to that as well, and our hearts often become divided in our worship and focus. Jesus came to cut through that division with his good news. Jesus claims that he is accessible to all, and when we go to him and keep our devotion and love on him and his love, we are drawn to deeper relationship with God and with others.

As we continue in our Who We Are series, we come to the value of authenticity. Where we often try to "find ourselves" through looking deeper within, unless we are willing to get real about where we currently are, we will only find a disingenuous version of our self. Jesus offers us a different way, the way of freedom from that bondage of shame and guilt. So if we look within to find Jesus, he tells us what our true identity is in Him and his love. That is how we learn to be more vulnerable and transparent with others, and invite them into a space of healing and growth.

At GP you belong. We are going through our story and laying out the vision and the mission of our church. The first value we are talking about is acceptance, which is to meet people where they are, value each story, and demonstrate the love of Jesus.

God gave us the gift of story to help connect us to him and one another. We want to take a few weeks to walk through the values and vision of GP, and it begins with the context of who we are.

As Joey concludes our series in the Beatitudes, Jesus ends in a rather anti-climactic and seemingly disappointing manner. What does is mean for followers of Jesus to be blessed in their persecution? When we dig into the teachings of Jesus and the rest of scripture, we see that Jesus is reminding of us of three facets of our walk with him. He reminds us of the goal, tells us the hurdles, and introduces us to the team.

As we continue in the Beatitudes, Jesus makes a statement that is easy to overlook. We often think Jesus is teaching us to keep the peace, but instead he invites us to make peace. This can only be done because we have an inner peace with God because of Jesus, as his Spirit empowers us to make peace with others through relationship.

As we continue walking through the Beatitudes of Jesus, we come to a difficult word tangled with baggage. When we hear purity we often feel less than, but if we look to the entirety of scripture and the way God set up his world, we instead see that God is desiring relationship with us. To be with us as we walk through the process of becoming more like him.

We often think of mercy as just simply God forgiving us for being in the wrong. Wile that is a big part of God's mercy, it doesn't cover the rich and robustness of what God's mercy is for us in scripture. When we go to Jesus and we see his loyal love lived out for us, we gain better understanding of what it means to receive God's mercy, and also be the ones who are merciful toward others.

We have a hunger and thirst inside for right relationships with God and with others, but only God can satiate.

This week Taylor continues in our series on the beatitudes from Matthew 5. Looking at the meek as citizens of God's kingdom, as well as how Jesus put that meekness on display. The way that Jesus lived out meekness is an example of the posture that he invites us to join him in day after day.

As Tara continues our series in the Beatitudes, we look at the perspective of Jesus when it comes to grieving and mourning. Jesus in the gospels reminds us that we are not alone in our grief, he invites us to rest upon him, and his comfort that is promised outlasts our darkness today.

We are starting a new series, talking through what the Kingdom of God looks like in the person of Jesus. Jesus comes to the scene making audacious claims that he is bringing a new kingdom down to Earth, and this kingdom is for all who come to him. It seems as though all the wrong people are a part of this Kingdom, but to Jesus it's all the right people who he includes.

As Tara wraps up our sermon series in the book of Micah, we are reminded of how the prophet implores God's people to love God and love others. When we fail to love God, that leads us to enacting injustice toward our brothers and sisters, and God calls us back to himself, while through our worship to God, we can be reminded of who he is in the middle of our hardship.

Micah 6 shows God's desire for justice, even in bringing charges against Israel, his chosen people. God's charge is not brought without hope, however, as it points towards Jesus being the ultimate sacrifice for all sin. It is because of the cross that we now as God's people are able to keep in step with him. Through Christ we are able to "act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God"

Micah 5 is the announcement that a messiah is coming from Bethlehem to save not just the Israelites, but all humanity. Sometimes we rely too much on our own self-sufficiency in the wake of leaving God behind. Micah is reminding us, that we are indeed in need of a savior.

As we continue in our journey through the prophet of Micah, we come to the point in the narrative where exile to Babylon is imminent. The reality is that this is painful, but it is also not the end goal for God and his plan. Rather, his faithfulness is that he promises to be with us and carry us through exile, to the other side. When we experience dark times, we get to look back to the death and resurrection of Jesus, and allow the hope of his coming back to meet us in the middle of the pain and carry us through.

Joey continues our series in the prophet of Micah. Chapter 3 brings more warnings to the corrupted leaders of Israel and Judah, this time getting very specific about how they are using their power to work against God's vulnerable. Micah is posing the question to us, Do we realize what our influence means to others? Bearing the image of God is a high calling, but through the resurrected power of the messiah that Micah was pointing to, we as the followers of Jesus have his Spirit to animate us toward living out our calling that God gave to us.

Micah continues his harsh warnings in Chapter 2 against the leaders of Israel, imploring them to stop oppressing the vulnerable, and for the prophets to stop giving false testimony of God. If part one is about our calling to love God, part two for Micah and the scriptures are about our calling to love others. Chapter 2 ends with our hope that we look to, as we look to the one true Shepherd King as our model of loving God and loving others.

We are starting a new series in the book of Micah. The prophets are a mouthpiece for God and they are mostly concerned with Israel staying true to their covenantal partnership with God: to love God and to love others. Except we often want to create gods in our own image, and this causes a rift in our relationship with God. He is calling us back to Himself, to place God back on the throne of our lives.

God is a generous host, that is pleased to give us his Kingdom, and yet most of the time our lived experience may tell us otherwise. Therefore Jesus invites us into his worldview, where through relationship with Him, His Church, and ourselves brings us closer to his Kingdom of generosity.

As we continue our series following in the footsteps of Jesus through the spiritual practices, Taylor helps guide us through the tough questions of why we pray and how we go about doing it. Sometimes we don't get the answer we are hoping for when we go to Jesus with prayer, but he still asks us to go to him with everything.

We were created to do life in the context of relationship, and yet building community is a difficult thing because it requires work, intentionality, and commitment. However, if we look at the effect that the Holy Spirit has on us, then we begin to see how God is calling us into a community of fellowship with one another. To live life walked out in the context of sharing common ground with one another.

As we continue our series in looking to the person of Jesus as a model of walking this life out, we see how Jesus had the utmost power and authority, and yet the way he exercised that is through service. When we go to the cross of Jesus, at the foot of it we see the towel, and when we receive his grace poured out we become transformed from within, and we get to live out the life he intended for us. A life of serving Jesus and serving others through his Spirit.

As we continue in our series following in the footsteps of the resurrected Jesus, we come to the practice of perseverance. We often want immediacy - instant results, but the life of following Jesus means a life of slow, persistent relationship over the long-haul. And when we come to the narrative of Thomas, we see that throughout his time spent with Jesus, he was willing to boldly come to Jesus with his vulnerabilities, questions, and doubts.

After the resurrection Jesus begins to show up to his followers in a slow and relational way. He invites us into a life with him–following in his ways. We are starting a new series about the spiritual practices, looking at the narratives surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. Today we start with the story of Jesus showing up to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The practices Jesus teaches us in this story is one of presence. Where we learn that as Jesus draws near to us, we are to draw near to him through meditation, scripture, and prayer.

Sometimes we try to preserve an old way of life, while Jesus is inviting us into a journey with him towards new life. On this Easter celebration, we walk through the fact that Jesus was resurrected, and all of his followers will one day become resurrected with him upon his return, but that meets us in the middle of today through his resurrected process. Because of him, we get to live new life.

Usually, during this time of year, we focus on Good Friday and skip over Saturday straight to Sunday, but what does God want to tell us on that long Sabbath day, where Jesus lay to rest?

We often think we are at war against darkness, but if we go to the cross we realize it has already been defeated. When Jesus is about to die, darkness comes over the land, and Jesus asks his Father why he has been forsaken. Then, in that moment, the temple curtain that separates all humanity from the presence of God was torn in half–no longer needed. Indeed, Jesus went all the way through darkness and out the other side so we could experience his light.

Pastor Dan Snavley continues our series as we journey together toward the cross of Jesus. The second trial before the authorities of Rome show the contrast between Jesus and Barabbas, or the Spirit and our flesh. Because of Jesus and his sacrifice, we have the option to choose life over the temporary things of this world.

As we continue our journey with Jesus to the cross, we come to the point where Jesus was falsely accused in a sham "trial." As the Jewish leaders rushed Jesus along the trial process, Jesus remained silent amongst the turmoil and false accusations. Here we see Jesus as he always is, waiting patiently for us to meet him in the temple, meet with him in the silence so he can bring us to new life.

We all have heard God tells us no, and it usually brings us to a feeling of failure, but what if God wants to use it for His victory instead? We are starting a new series journeying with Jesus to the cross. In order that we might understand better who he is, and who we are in him. That journey starts with seeing Jesus in deep heartache, and the contrast of how he deals with sorrow against how we often react to feelings of sorrow.

No matter how much water we drink, we all will have a subsequent thirst. That is where Jesus enters into the middle of our wandering, suffering, hardship and quenches that thirst once and for all, but we first have to allow our thirst to draw us to him and the new thing that he is trying to do in our lives. Once we do, fully reliant on Jesus and his Spirit, that is when we become empowered to go back out and pour that out to everyone else we come into contact with.

We often have a skewed view of acceptance because we typically equate it with agreement, but the gospel shows us how we are radically accepted by Jesus, and as a result radically transformed. This transformation empowers us to go back out and show the love and acceptance of Jesus.

Sometimes we feel like we don't belong in certain spheres, but through the person of Jesus, we become validated when we go to Jesus and he calls us out by our rightful name. When we realize it's not by our own doing, but everything about his sacrifice, that is when we gain confidence and assurance that we need, in order to go back out and spread his love to those who are hurting.

Sometimes an old building can have potential, but it needs someone to see something in it that maybe others don't, and it also requires a lot of work to see it through to completion. That is essentially what God does with us through the person of Jesus. He sees what nobody else can see, including ourselves, and desires to draw near to us in order to take up residence in us, and do the work necessary so that he can spread his love through us.

God's beauty is all around us, but sometimes we fail to see it. Through our going to Jesus, we can find everlasting beauty in him, as he calls us back out to dispel darkness through his Glory.