Message: “Judas” from JR. Forasteros

A message from the series “Empathy for the Devil.” We tend to end up in echo chambers, surrounded by people who look and think a lot like us. The danger of this is that we don’t learn how to be challenged. The spiritual consequence is that we end up missing God – imagining God in our own image rather than learning to let God challenge us. Judas illustrates the reason we need to learn to be vulnerable, to open ourselves to strange friendships.

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Message: “Jezebel” from Sue Sweeney

A message from the series “Empathy for the Devil.” We work to strike a healthy balance between faith, family, work and all the other elements of our lives. But Jezebel’s story shows us that God doesn’t ask for balance; God asks for allegiance. How can we seek God first – and why is that good for everything else in our lives?

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Message: “Herodias” from JR. Forasteros

A message from the series “Empathy for the Devil.” How do you resolve conflict? Chances are, however you approach a fight, you learned it from your family. Our families shape us for good and for ill. Herodias, the Evil Queen of Jesus’ day, illustrates for us the cost of generational sin. How can we overcome the sins we inherit from our families? And how can we leave a legacy of life for those who come after us?

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Message: “Delilah” from JR. Forasteros

A message from the series “Empathy for the Devil.” What does it look like for Christians to be different from the world? Too often, we treat religion as a brand – one more optional lifestyle for people to choose from. But the story of Delilah and Samson illustrates how following God’s counter-cultural way becomes an invitation for those outside the Church – and life for us, too.

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Message: “Cain” from JR. Forasteros

A message from the series “Empathy for the Devil.” What makes you angry? We seldom stop to think about the cause of our anger – particularly whether that cause is justified or not. But we learn from the story of Cain, the first murderer, that anger can be an invitation to slow down and find life before we lash out and do something we’ll regret.

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Message: “I Believe in Life Everlasting” from JR. Forasteros

A message from the series “Believe.” If we know the end of the story, we know how to live in the middle. We conclude our series on the Apostle’s Creed by exploring how each of the statements in the Creed shape us. How do they help us live now as a people who will live with God forever? How can we begin now reverse engineering our lives to flourish as God intended?

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Message: “I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sin” from Tommy Cash

A message from the series “Believe.” Forgiveness is difficult – both as an internal experience and as an external movement to restore the social relationship that’s been broken. But to be the Church is to insist on forgiveness as essential to a fully human life. The journey of forgiveness is fueled by confession – an honest accounting of where we are before God. What does it take for us to be a people who insists on forgiveness?

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Message: “I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church” from JR. Forasteros

A message from the series “Believe.” What does it mean to be a Church? Church isn’t a building – it’s the people of God, all over the world and across time. How do we be part of the Church? When we find our place as part of the universal, worldwide church it grounds us in how we can be a source of life and hope for our immediate community.

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Message: “Jesus Descended to Hell” from JR. Forasteros

A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” Fear keeps us from risking, from being vulnerable. But confessing that Jesus descended to Hell is an announcement that the power of Death is broken, and that the way of risk and vulnerability truly does lead to life. We can follow Jesus even to the grave, trusting in his resurrection power to bring life where we risk.

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