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When the author of Genesis writes that we are made in God’s image, he is referring not to a physical likeless but one of function and purpose. This same idea is found in Romans and we see that the work of God over time conforms us. There are things in our lives that do not conform to the pattern of Jesus and those things must be left behind.
People who spend time in God’s presence have evidence of that experience manifest in their lives. The fruit of spending time in God’s presence is humility, change, mission, diligence and blessing.
To have the fullness of God that Paul talks about in Ephesians, we cannot remain on the surface. We have to understand what makes us Kingdom people and let those truths soak deep into us, not trivial devotions that change daily.
When we want to *practice* the presence of God, we have to understand that the practice is much more about seeing, hearing and understanding, rather than earning or achieving. Developing these ways of perceiving the Presence of God may seem simple yet prove to be challenging to our normal ways of perceiving the world.
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.
Pastor Josh begins a new sermon series this week, Pursuing the Presence of God, by looking at what it is that we’re actually pursuing about God. In truly pursuing His presence, we must long for the essence of God, not the peripheral things.
Eric Geelen, of Amadeo Vineyard Church in Phoenix, Arizona joins us to teach about the power and reality of The Kingdom of God.
Part of the miracle of Christmas is that Love, God’s perfect Divine Love, came to the earth in human form. This week after our Everyone Gets To Nativity Play, we wrapped up Advent with a brief sermon about the power of the presence of Love itself at Christmas, in community, and through us.
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.
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.
Pastor Josh wraps up this Identity In Christ Royal Priesthood by looking at the calling on God’s people to be a Royal Priesthood that has both authority and responsibility to serve as kingly priests and to spend ourselves serving those on the outside who do not yet know Jesus.
The description of a “free bondservant” is seemingly a contradiction, but scripture tells us that we are freed as slaves to sin to become slaves of righteousness and that the yolk of God is easy and His burden is light. So what does it look like to be set free to serve another Master?
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.
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.
Guest speaker Jeremy Geelen discusses the significance of Jehovah Tsidqenu, God Our Righteousness.
This week, one of our teen group youth, Jennifer Bruton, shares her perspective on relating to God as Abba while looking at the various roles of fathers in our lives.
Guest speaker Emanuel Williams preaches on the power, might and abundance of the Lord revealed in the name El Shaddai.
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.
We learn from the story of King Saul that God does not shift or change His mind. His glory, unlike the fading glory of an earthly king, stands forever, does not diminish and only God’s glory is heavy enough to remain after death takes it’s toll. In Jesus, all the Glory of Israel dwells in bodily form.
SERVICE TIME & LOCATION:
10:30am Sunday @
190 Rosewood Centre Drive
Suite 101
Holly Springs, NC 27540
E: office@hollyspringsvineyard.org
P: 919-391-8247
