Claim OwnershipRestoration Church
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Sunday Messages
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The Gospel begins in the lowest lows. Jesus entered the world through a poor, teenage mother in a nowhere town – in an empire committed to the exploitation of her people. And as her story comes into focus, she does something surprising: she sings a protest song – a song about how the mighty will fall and the lowly will be lifted by God. (Luke 1:46-55)
The prophecies that promise the Messiah aren’t just words of hope. They are also pronouncements of judgment. Both then and now, sin and injustice wreck havoc in the world around us. Judgment is coming, yes – but not to ruin us. God’s justice restores. (Isaiah 11:1-10)
Theologian Fleming Rutledge tells us that “Advent begins in the dark.” It is a season that encourages us to name and embrace the waiting and the longing we feel. As we begin the season of Advent, the Bible calls us to live in the tension – a tension between the darkness we see around us and the light we know is on the way. (Romans 13:11-14)
For better or worse, our lives are the product of the stories we immerse ourselves in. So as a Church, we need rhythms and practices that reorient our lives around the story God. This week, we’re talking about how our Church practices the story of Jesus together – and how you can walk with us.
To the surprise and horror of Jonah, Nineveh repents and turns to God. And while this would might seem like good news (it was!), it made Jonah furious. Jonah’s story raises an important and difficult question: how do we respond to a God to loves the people we despise? As we close out our time in Jonah, we’re exploring how God’s widening mercy challenges the walls we place between “us” and “them.”
Jonah 2 is a prayer from rock bottom. After running from God, Jonah finds himself sinking deep into the worst moment of his life. And yet unlike Jonah, our worst moments don’t have to harden us. If we allow them to, we can find humility, clarity and a hope that can only be found at the end of our rope.
Jonah is a prophet that does like what he hears from God. So what does he do? He runs. And the result? Rock bottom. But strangely, the belly of the whale isn't a sign of God's anger, but rather his mercy.
It's not a matter of if - but when - we'll reach our own rock bottom. So what kind of God will we meet at the end of our rope? (Jonah 1)
This weekend, our students are leading every aspect of our gathering! As a part of this special Sunday, Our Student Pastor Casey is speaking about rage: namely, our culture’s obsession with reactivity and judgment towards our neighbors. How can we find a better way in Christ?
Sin doesn’t simply bring death and chaos to individuals. From the beginning, it has moved outward – into our systems, policies, and power structures. It subjugates, marginalizes, and disadvantages people made in the image of God. And correcting these wrongs? That’s called justice – and it’s woven into the very fabric of the Scriptures.
In this week's message in our series Restorers, we unpack the centrality of hospitality in the mission of God. (guest co-preacher: Amanda Hubler)
Do you know what the very first word that God uses to describe Himself to Moses? Merciful. Would that be the first word that is used to describe Christians today? The answer is, well… no. And we need to talk about why. This week, we’re continuing our Restorers series by looking at the centrality of mercy and compassion to our mission with Jesus – what it is, what it does, and why *our own* need for it lies at the heart of what God has calls us to in the world.
Our presence in this world matters. How we relate to our neighbors speaks volumes about how we understand our faith. Because we are disciples of Jesus, our posture towards our neighbors is clear: we are servants. This Sunday, we’re going to explore what it means to love and be present to our neighbors not as saviors, but as servants.
It’s a topic that stirs a lot of emotion – and carries a lot of baggage: evangelism. To some, the idea of sharing our faith feels intimidating, outdated, or even offensive. So in this message, we’ll dispel some of the misguided assumptions about what it means to share our faith, and through it, offer a vision for how we might invite people into the story of God.
Every year around this time, we pause to remember our identity and mission as a Church family. This year, as a part of our series Restorers, we’re focusing on how – and why – we join God’s restoring work in the world around us. Over the next 6 weeks, we’ll explore partnering with God through evangelism, justice, mercy, service, and hospitality.
In any given Church, you’ll find a variety of stories and backgrounds gathered into one big, messy family. Our common faith doesn’t always erase our differences, so what makes unity possible? In this message, Justin unpacks what has become a central value at Restoration: the centering of Jesus in everything we do. At our core, He alone holds us together.
At the heart of the Gospel, you’ll find forgiveness. But in everyday life, forgiveness isn’t always easy. As we continue our series Together, we’re exploring forgiveness – what it is, what it’s not, and why it’s central not only to our faith, but to building healthy, meaningful relationships.
If we’re going to find healthy relationships in the Church, sooner in later, we’re going to have to learn how to handle conflict. In this message, we explore the centrality of reconciliation to the Gospel – and give a pathway foward in pursuing healthy vision of conflict that bears witness to the reconciliation we’ve found in Christ.
In the month of August, we're giving our attention to what it means to develop healthy, genuine relationships in the Church. This week, we're laying the foundation by exploring what it means to be a community known by love. (Colossians 3:12-13)
This past week, we finished out our series #TheWholeChurch by focusing on the gifts we might consider more supernatural. One of those gifts, however, is far more controversial than others: the gift of tongues. In this short video, Justin unpacks what speaking tongues is all about, the guardrails for healthy expression of this gift, and why is matters today.
This Sunday is our last week in our series The Whole Church - a series that has focused on the Holy Spirit's worki in both our lives as individuals and as a Church. For the last couple of weeks, we've given our attention to the gifts of the Spirit, and this week? Well, we're talking about some of the gifts we might call... supernatural. Miracles. Tongues. Healing. Are these gifts still an active part of the Church? And if so, how might we pursue them in healthy ways? (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
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