There is something, so simple, that we can all do, that would have a drastic affect on our lives, yet it is something we rarely do. It is prayer. I have heard many reasons people don’t pray, like God doesn’t care, or it won’t change anything, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Prayer is affective as it affects us, the world and God. God cares about us and the world so only imagine what a consistency in prayer could mean and do and you may be approaching its affect, but I can do even more. This Sunday we look at the importance of prayer and how and when God wants us to come to him with our needs.

Do you realize how short and brittle life is? Do you realize how easily this stuff, wealth, and comfort might be taken away from you? The dishonest manager realized this and so it greatly changed the way he used both. It is more like this life and stuff is on loan to us from our master: God. How might we use it in such a way to show ourselves trustworthy for an even greater bounty? This Sunday we explore how this fickle life might prepare for us a lasting and eternal bounty.

In our life, we count the cost of many things. This vacation, this object, this job, this action, these words, but have you counted the cost of being a disciple of Christ? The world may think the cost is something, but we know the cost is even greater. Jesus challenges the way we live in every way. An equally important question is what is the cost of not being a disciple of Christ? We will find that Jesus asks a lot of us, but there is so much more in following him than not.

Do you ever feel like you deserve more? Or maybe you feel like you deserve everything you have or get? I have come to realize that it is the opposite for me. I don’t deserve these blessings, I don’t deserve anything more than anyone else. Not because I haven’t worked hard, or cared for people, but because I was created for so much more. God keeps giving to me anyways and it is amazing how he responds to the littlest I do. This Sunday we explore what we deserve and how God keeps graciously giving to us anyways. 

Do you ever feel the need to be productive? There can be this drive in us to keep moving forward, to accomplish something, to do something. Yet, a lot of progress doesn’t always feel like progress. There are a lot of things we or others do in the name of productivity that don’t actually seem to make the world a better place. This Sunday we look at what we produce and where it directs us. What we will find is that God directs us to a true and lasting kind of productivity.

Does God hear us? Does he care? Will he really answer our prayers? These are all important questions, but the sad reality is that too often we have predecided the no. So, we never ask. God will often provide even when we don’t ask, like any loving parent. The bigger question though, is what do we lack because we never asked God? It might be that God doesn’t respond the way we want, but he knows what is best for us. What do we miss because we don’t invite God in? More than you might think, because God does respond.

Who is my neighbor? A question that could sum up many conversations happening in North America over the past few years. Jesus challenges us to see those who are most different from us as our neighbors but it goes deeper than that. Jesus redefines for us a love that is extraordinary. A love that is about serving one another but more than that, it is about knowing God.

When you hear the word evangelism what do you think? I have found that many people, myself included, start with a poor understanding of what evangelism is. Luke's gospel has the longest section of Jesus sending out his disciples and so gives us a great vision of how we can share Jesus and his Kingdom.

Reflecting on these two women in need what we first realize is the amazing and powerful love of Christ, but as we dig deeper we will see that their need is both more and less than we originally thought. They know as we should that Jesus is the only one that can deliver them.