Pursuing the Presence of God: The Passage

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This week in our Pursuing the Presence of God series, Pastor Josh discusses the passage, or the path to the presence of God. In contrast to the process, ritual, and restrictions associated with entering the temple in ancient Israel, the curtain was torn at Jesus’ death and the way in to God’s presence has been made clear and accessible to all who come through Jesus. However, it is not a path to be taken lightly. As explained in Hebrews, we must not trample the sacrifice of Christ but must honor Him and pursue holiness. We don’t “trample the Son of God underfoot” by continuing in our sin because grace and holiness go hand in hand.

Pursuing the Presence of God: The Passage
Josh Pavel

Christmas Presence: Joy

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You’ve probably heard the phrase “happiness depends on circumstances, joy does not”. Joy accentuates the pleasurable, good things of life. Joy shared in community brings something of the Kingdom of God. Joy with God is not one directional or transactional. The joy of the Lord is reciprocal in its nature - we give and He gives. In Advent, there is joy in God’s coming and closeness. The key to lasting joy isn’t in seeking joy itself, but in pursuing the joy bringer.

Christmas Presence: Joy
Josh Pavel

Christmas Presence: Hope

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Advent places the church, every year, in longing for the fullness of the throne of God to be realized. We need Advent, even if we never reach Christmas morning. What we long for is not a nostalgic look back or presents, what we’re longing for is the presence of the Holy Spirit. Hope is what grounds us now in the expectation and preparation for God’s future. In order to get from our past to God’s future, we must go through some pivot point, something that will connect those two disjointed realities: Jesus is the connection.

Christmas Presence: Hope
Josh Pavel

Identity in Christ: Saints

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Most of us probably don’t feel like we qualify to be called saints, but Paul wrote to the Corinthians, a church that had all sorts of problems, and told them that they were God’s saints. By the power of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are indeed, made righteous - saints. And this type of sainthood isn’t something reserved as a posthumous honor, it’s meant to describe our lives on this earth as we reflect God’s glory and do the works He created for us to do.

The Names God Calls Us: Saints
Josh Pavel

Identity in Christ: His Handiwork

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This week, Pastor Josh begins a new series, The Names God Calls Us, by looking at how we are referred to as God’s handiwork in Ephesians. We often find ways to identify ourselves by so many factors that aren’t who we really are. Our identity comes from who God says we are. We have a specific identity and purpose in Christ that matter.

The Names God Calls Us: His Handiwork
Josh Pavel

The Names of God: El Roi

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In Genesis, Hagar is the Egyptian slave of Abraham and Sarah that encounters in the desert a loving God that both sees and hears her. In John, Jesus convinces Nathaniel that He is the Son of God by how clearly He sees Nathaniel. In both cases, God sees these people beyond their present circumstances, meets them in their pain and doubt, and then gives them guidance and walks them through their confusion and trouble. We learn from this how God will absolutely meet us where we are, but He will not wallow there with us. He meets us in our pain, our sorrow, our lack and he leads us through and out of it, if we will obey and walk with Him.

The Names of God: El Roi
Jessica Geelen

The Names of God: The Lord Who Sanctifies

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Many of us are crying out that we're the light of the world, but we're unwilling to walk out the process of sanctification. Sanctification is a walking out of the righteousness we've been given and it doesn't happen all at once. The book of James tells us that through persevering we are made complete. Being sanctified means that we listen and obey every day - it's the interchange between God and us. We can't "manage" our sinful nature or minimize it - it will lay dormant and catch up to us eventually. We have to kill it with sanctification. 
*The video shared at the beginning of the sermon can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mcXtontujA

The Names of God: The Lord Who Sanctifies
Josh Pavel

The Names of God: Jehovah Shammah

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Jehovah Shammah, meaning "God is there" as used in Ezekiel, may seem at first like it keeps God at a distance. God's omnipresence means that "God is there" is never at the cost of "God is here". However, by looking into this name, we realize the beauty of hope, the beauty of blessing "the other", and even the beauty in the separation of "here" and "there". 

The Names of God: Jehovah Shammah
Josh Pavel

The Names of God: The Lord Is My Shepherd

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"The Lord is My Shepherd" is a name of God that we are very familiar with, but have lost a lot of connection to living in capitalistic 21st century America. This name says as much about the "Good Shepherd" as it says about us. Looking at Psalm 23 and John 10, we see that the Good Shepherd leads us to places we would never go on our own, and profoundly connects the Divine Intention to our mortal selves. Instead of being SERVED by this name, we instead get to see the profound humility understanding that the "The Lord is my Shepherd." 

The Names of God: The Lord Is My Shepherd
Josh Pavel

The Names of God: Jehovah Shalom

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Peace is the concept that is the foundation of Kingdom rule and reign. But if we define peace simply as the absence of conflict, war, anxiety, etc, then we have an incomplete picture of the fullness of the peace that God offers. God's shalom is the nature of the very presence of God. The peace of God is something of substance that occupies our hearts and drives out fear. 

The Names of God: Jehovah Shalom
Josh Pavel