A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” In the face of unspeakable evils in the world, how can we respond? Peter challenged early Christians to remain faithful to live out the story of Jesus. How does that make a difference? How can the Jesus story lived out in our lives be a path of resistance? And how does the resurrection make that resistance possible?
Continue readingMessage: “Can These Bones Live?” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” Sometimes, being good is easy – just minor tweaks to a bad habit. But there are sins that live deep in our bones that seem impossible to change. These sins test our faith in a God who brings life from death. To these bone-deep sins, God speaks life. How can we trust in God’s life-giving power and find victory over even these evils?
Continue readingMessage: “Cultivating Conflict” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” When faced with conflict, we all tend toward either fight or flight. But neither of these options creates peace. If we want to be the peacemakers God calls us to be, we must learn to cultivate conflict into flourishing community.
Continue readingMessage: “Mind” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “[w]hole.” We struggle to discern God’s will, as though it is a deep mystery. But learning to see the world from God’s perspective is how we love God with our minds. To learn to see “upside down”, we immerse ourselves in the Scriptures. They provide a God’s-eye view of the world, of our neighbors and of us. God’s will is not difficult to discern. God wants us to see from God’s point of view.
Continue readingMessage: “Hearts” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” We’re told to “Follow our hearts,” but we know desires can be destructive. How do we know the difference between desires that bring life and those that lead to hurt? Jesus invites us to love God with all our hearts, and discovering what he meant by that gives us the key. When we allow the Spirit to order our desires, we find the path to a fully human life!
Continue readingMessage: “Who’s Getting My Best?” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” We all have only so much relational energy, and pornography acts like a hole in our relational gas tanks, draining away the love we’re meant to share with others in our lives. The big lie of porn is that it’s victimless. Porn hurts everyone, from the people who make it to the people who use it to the families of the users. Porn is injustice because porn reduces persons created in God’s image to objects to be used for others’ pleasure. How can we resist the toxic effects of porn on our culture? How can we be a church that affirms God’s image in everyone?
Continue readingMessage: “I’m a Believer” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” The way we’re told to follow God often seems like a bewitchment – ignore our problems and questions and just believe. But in John 6 we see that what Jesus calls us to is not blind faith, but a carefully considered commitment to follow him to the Cross. Coming face-to-face with Jesus’ sacrificial love makes believers out of all of us.
Continue readingMessage: “Living for Peanuts” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” We all cling to certain things in our lives – our jobs, our families, our beliefs. But all too often, the way we cling to those things brings exhaustion, despair, defeat – in a word, death. We find true life in letting go of our lives, allowing them to “die” so that we are free to grasp the life God offers us. Only when we lose our lives are we free to find the life that truly is life!
Continue readingMessage: “Deal of a Lifetime” from JR. Forasteros
A message from the series “Best of JR. Forasteros.” We think of religion as a part of our lives, something we add to make the rest of our life better. But Jesus compares his new Kingdom to something so valuable it’s worth our entire lives. Accepting Jesus’ invitation to God’s Kingdom changes how we live every aspect of our lives.
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