Here’s the paradox of following Jesus: we can’t pay for the privilege since we have nothing worth offering, yet at the same time God asks for everything we have when we decided to do so. That’s the discipleship challenge we looked at this past week – the cost.

Life, especially life with God, is full of tension. One of the tensions is that we are freely able to choose to receive God’s forgiveness and grace through the completed work of Christ on the cross and that it doesn’t cost us anything while at the same time it is a costly choice because God asks for our all in trusting and following Jesus not only as Savior, but as Lord. (How did you like that mighty sentence?)

We spent time in two main passages on this day: Mark 6:8-11 and Luke 14:28-33. We also drew attention to how God provides us with gifts and abilities to be able to fulfill the good works He has created us to do. There was an opportunity for some practical response in this service.

Here’s what we did together: Continue Reading…

Our journey through the Discipleship Challenge continued this morning as we looked at serving, and the key to serving – humility. Our focus was the example that Jesus set for His disciples when He washed their feet in John 13.

There is a great amount of depth in this passage. Not only did Jesus visually bring together a great amount of teaching about what it meant to be part of the Kingdom of God, but also reinforced who He was, what He had been doing, was about to do, and what it means for us. As He said, if we follow His example, we will be blessed.

One of the takeaways from the message this morning was as we looked at the role of humility and pride in relation to serving. Humility isn’t so much about thinking less of ourselves (also called false humility), but thinking of ourselves less.

In our worship time, we focused on remembering that our identity and fulfillment are found in Christ, especially as we follow fully in His ways with the Discipleship Attitude.

Here’s what we did together: Continue Reading…

What is discipleship really about? What does it mean to really follow Jesus? We continue to explore the discipleship challenge on Sunday mornings.

This week, we were in Luke  9:23-27 which contains one of the most well-known verses describing the cost of following: that we must deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Him. And we must do it daily. Part of living the discipleship life will mean taking a risk. Giving stuff up, even good stuff, in order to know the best of what it means to be a child of God.

As we looked at this core aspect of discipleship, we also took time remembering who Jesus was and what He did through the cross.

Here’s what we did together. Continue Reading…

We had two opportunities to worship together this past weekend. We had a special evening gathering combining the two campuses that are part of Genesis Church into one. Part of our plan for 2012 is to have a joint campus event on the 5^th Sunday that happen throughout the year.

This first one was an evening of prayer, praise, and communion. We called it Near the Father’s Heart which grew out of the New Living Translation version of John 1:18: No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Our original plan was to focus on worship and praying in some different areas that are near the Father’s heart. However, after participating in a study from Francis Chan on communion, the structure of the evening took a sudden turn. We recast a huge part of it to be able to spend time doing communion together in a significant way. Part of our desire in doing a joint campus event was to draw the two campuses into a greater unity, and it seemed that experiencing communion together would be a good idea. Continue Reading…

What does it mean to really be a disciple and to follow Jesus in the way that He said, “Follow Me?” That’s what we looking at over these next weeks as a church, and discovering it may not be as easy as is thought.

This morning, we looked at Luke 6 to see the role obedience plays in the discipleship way. Obedience is a hard thing. It means surrendering fully to another, and in this passage, Jesus asks why people call Him “Lord,” meaning Master, yet don’t do what He says to do.

Unless our foundation is built on obeying and following all that God commands, our foundation is weak and may not weather the storms that will come. And that means obedience, listening to God, and honoring Him in all we do.

That was our challenge for today.

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During His time on earth, Jesus often said to people “Follow Me.” That same invitation is extended to us still today. But, what exactly was He saying? There are many opinions of what it means to be a disciple, but Jesus had something specific in mind.

This week we began a new series where we will be exploring The Discipleship Challenge. Our desire is to rediscover what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. We’re challenge some commonly held assumptions about discipleship in the church today, and hopefully we will be challenged by the words of Jesus.

Today was all about laying a foundation. Not only for the series, but also the foundation of our relationship with Jesus and what it means to be a follower of His. Discipleship is a choice, and it isn’t always easy, but the burden is light (Matthew 11) when we join with Jesus.

Here’s what we did together: Continue Reading…

This past weekend was the concluding Sunday of our missions week. Not only were we able to hear about what God is doing in the country of Mexico, we were also reminded from Matthew 5:14-16 of the importance of being light in whatever context we find ourselves in.

We gathered and celebrated the saving grace of Jesus through singing, prayer, the Word, giving, and being together.

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This week we kicked off a week long focus on missions. As part of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, spreading the love of Christ around the world is a big deal for us. In fact, the CMA started as an alliance of people committed to the worldwide spread of the Gospel.

We take intentional steps to continually remind people of who we are and the importance of the Great Commission, including what it means for each of us. Being points of light is important not only around the world, but in our own neighborhoods and communities.

We will have a number of events this week, and we began by having a retired missionary to Mexico share about his experiences as a missionary, but how he continues to see God at work around the world.

Here’s what we did together: Continue Reading…