3/16 Sermon Recap & Reflection Questions

Sermon Recap

Pastor Suzanne taught us about the character Annas - who served as the high priest, but was removed from his position by Rome. Annas then appointed his sons as priests and continued to operate with authority behind the scenes.Annas was treated unjustly and then felt justified in his attempts to maintain power and even sanction violence. Annas should have been the person who recognized Jesus, and ended up being the person that assured his death. Suzanne asked us...
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3/9 Sermon Recap & Reflection Questions

Sermon Recap

Pastor Bep asked us to consider the power dynamics in the story of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Pharisees and Roman officials show up with physical displays of power: big numbers and weapons.

Jesus, however, displays his power through choosing submission to his arrest and by speaking truth instead of turning to manipulation or force.

Peter tries to step in to use power to control the situation by cutting off someone’s ear, and Jesus instead, uses

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2/23 Sermon Recap & Reflection Questions

Sermon Recap

Pastor Suzanne talked about how the Holy Spirit invites us to choose into practices that bring peace. She talked about how the command “do not let your hearts be troubled” is more accurately translated “do not let your hearts be continually troubled.” Jesus himself talked about being troubled, but that we are encouraged to choose practices of slowing down that keep us from continuing in our anxiety and trouble.The world tells us that we will get peace through e...
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2/16 Sermon Recap & Reflection Questions

Sermon Recap

Pastor Suzanne talked about how we are living in a world where it is getting harder and harder to discern what is true/real.She gave us the image of a flashlight to describe how the Holy Spirit works to reveal to us what is true. She reminded us that Jesus is truth. So more than facts to argue with, truth is a person to submit ourselves to. If we want to know truth, we need to look at Jesus.She called us to two action steps:First, start with yourself. Rather th...
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2/9 Sermon Recap & Discussion Questions

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Sermon Recap

Pastor Suzanne talked about the Holy Spirit as our comforter (paraklete). In the passage Jesus is preparing his followers for the time when he will no longer be with them. He promises not to leave them as orphans (ones with deep grief), but to send them a comforter. She talked about how, in the Greek, the word for comforter refers to one who responds to a call to help (like the short clip from Mrs. Doubtfire) and comes ...
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2/2 Sermon Recap & Reflection Questions

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Pastor Sara asked us to consider the question: “What are you longing for?” She talked about the story of the Samaritan woman and how Jesus invited this woman to look at her places of thirst and longing so that the Holy Spirit could meet her with Living Water in the places she most needed it. Pastor Sara told us that the Holy Spirit is meant to be the place that we go when we realize we are thirsty and longing for somethi...
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1/26 Sermon Recap & Reflection Questions

 

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Sermon Recap

Pastor Suzanne kicked off a new sermon series on the Holy Spirit. She reminded us that learning to recognize and cooperate with the Holy Spirit is the key to a life of transformation, guidance, ad power to love and serve God and others.She reminded us that the Holy Spirit is God, a person, and they have their own mind, emotions, and prays for us when we don’t know what to pray. The Holy Spirit is the personal presence o...
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1/19 Sermon Recap and Reflection Questions

Sermon Recap

As we looked at the list of all the names of people who brought their unique gifts to help rebuild the wall around the temple in Nehemiah, Pastor Suzanne reminded us that if we are going to build things and create new habits, we need other people.She named that we often don’t invite others in because we are proud, or stubborn, or afraid, but that ultimately research shows that people are most fulfilled and better at reaching their goals when they have other peo...
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1/12 Sermon Recap and Discussion Questions

Take a moment to remember and appreciate Pastor Suzanne’s graphic creation skills.

Sermon Recap

Pastor Suzanne reminded us of Newton’s laws of motion: An object at rest wants to stay at rest, and an object in motion wants to stay in motion. So as we look to build habits that help us build our bridges, getting started is often the hardest part. Suzanne taught about how Nehemiah had to overcome his fear because of the culture, his history, and his personal story to start the p...
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1/5 Sermon Recap & Reflection Questions

1/5 Sermon Recap

Pastor Suzanne shared the unfortunate statistic that only 6% of people actually accomplish their New Year’s goals and resolutions. As we look at our goals of building our bridges to God, Self, and Others we are going to look at the strategies used by Nehemiah to practically build something so that we can realistically achieve our goals. Nehemiah was called by God to return to Jerusalem during the Israelites’ exile to help rebuild the wall around the city. T...
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12/29 Bridge Devotional

Video from Pastor Suzanne

  My Next Bridge

  Adult Bridge Opportunities...
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12/22 Advent Devotional - Mary

Women in the lineage of Jesus

Mary - invitation into God’s story

Date: December 23, 2024

Dive in and Read: I Samuel 2:1-10; Matthew 1:16; Luke 1:46-53

Opening prayer: Lord Jesus, as we celebrate Your birth this season, we also recognize the humble women who are part of Your heritage. We celebrate all these women who have heard and accepted Your call on their lives even in their lowly and humble circumstances. We have a foreigner (Rahab), a widow (Ruth), the grieving (Bathsheba

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12/15 Advent Devotional - Ruth

Women in the lineage of Jesus

Bathsheba - transforming the impact of other’s sin

Date: December 16, 2024 WARNING: This content may be triggering for people with traumatic sexual experiences.  Dive in and Read: 2 Samuel 11; Matthew 1:6

Opening prayer: [Eph 1:18-20 NASB20] 18 [I pray that] the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the bound

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12/8 Advent Devotional - Ruth

Women in the lineage of Jesus

Ruth - ancestral mother of our Redeemer

Dive in and Read: Ruth 1 - 4; Matthew 1:5

Opening prayer: [Eph 1:7-8, 17 NIV] 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ... 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know h

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12/1 Advent Devotional - Ahab

Women in the lineage of Jesus

Rahab - Faith Hall of Famer in belief & action

 

Dive in and Read: Joshua 2:1-24; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25

Opening prayer:  New every morning is your love, great God of light,

And all day long You are working for good in the world.

Stir up in us a desire to serve You, to live peacefully with our neighbors and to devote this day to Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ the LORD. Amen. 

 

Discover: Matthew lists five women in the lineage of

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