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Our transformation pastor, the Rev. Dr. Kevin Yoho, shares an energizing and interactive message from the Bible each week. Hear and share the Good News!

Mar 05
Love0

2019-03-03 Message- FaceTime With God

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Mardi Gras is all the buzz this week. From New Orleans to Cape May, the festive celebrations that precedes Lent’s constraints is a lot to take in as groups of people interact at arm’s length along streets and balconies.  All of us want to feel connected, but noisy, chaotic, whirlwinds of activity is not what we are truly looking for. Each of us, and every community, longs for something substantial, sustainable, and shareable. We want to be “face to face” with experiences and people that bring us love, peace, forgiveness, justice, and hope. 

Imagine what it would be like to have FaceTime with God? While you can’t pick up your phone and dial God, if you could, that kinda sounds terrifying, right! What would you say? How would you act? FaceTime with God is the title of the message from from Luke 9 and Exodus 24. It will take us from Mardi Gras to the mountain of God with Moses and Jesus. Let’s follow Moses up to the mountain where he experiences God’s incredible and indescribable holiness. When he came back down the mountain, everyone knew something was shockingly different! The people in the camp couldn’t even look at his face because it was so bright! Moses had to put a covering on just to get through his day. Then we visit Moses who joins Elijah who have a conversation with Jesus and his companions on another mountain. In a similar manner, the majestic glory of God was dazzlingly bright. Wow!

FaceTime with God might appear to be a risky idea except that God is good and accessible to us. Where we see God, where we see Jesus “face to face,” is not just in “religious” settings, a beautiful sanctuary, or even in some miraculous vision. Where we see God, where we discover Jesus’ presence most brightly, is in our daily, face-to-face encounters with God’s word, creation, our neighbors, our enemies, our friends, the faces of each and every child of God on this earth. Let’s see God’s face and show God’s face as we make a difference in our neighborhoods in the name of Jesus Christ. You are invited to come as you are and get involved. There is a place for you, here! (If you’re new to our church, discover more about what we believe and why we do what we do by visiting a special Welcome First-Time Guests page on our website, here.)

Listen to this message and discover how and why to have FaceTime with God. You got this!

Mar 03
Love0

2019-03-03 Message for Kids- Mardi Gras is For Everyone

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Where did Mardi Gras come from? Well, it means Fat Tuesday. Why is it called Fat Tuesday? Because people wanted to eat-up all the foods they decided not to eat during the 40-days of Lent so they had festive parties to empty their cupboards and refrigerators. They also decided not to wear fancy clothes and jewelry during Lent. Lent is Latin for the number “40”, and the 40-day Lenten Journey begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes at Holy Week and Easter when Jesus was raised from the dead! So let’s get ready for what’s ahead by sharing these beads to celebrate that Jesus walks with us every day. We should share that message with others, too. These beads will help. Would you help me give away these beads to the congregation today?! What do the beads say on them? Peace, Justice, Power, Hope, Love! God loves us and is powerful to protect us and give us peace, justice, and hope!

Feb 24
Love0

2019-02-24 Message- Invest In the Future

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All of us want to invest in worthwhile activities because we will earn a proportional return. Paul, the apostle, in his letter to the house church in Galatia, used an agricultural analogy of planting and harvesting. Let’s consider his guidance if he used an analogy of investing and return, as follows: Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person earns an interest on their investment. Those who invest only for their own benefit will earn a return of devastation from their selfishness, but those who invest for the benefit of the Spirit will gain a future, eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not get tired of investing in the future, because in time it will be worth it, if we don’t give up (based on Galatians 6:7-9). This week we will consider how investing in the future is a core principle in Scripture as we look at the story of Joseph and the powerful words of Jesus. You may remember Joseph as the favored son with the multi-colored coat, but his focus on the future gave him courage to forgive. The future was also in view when Jesus shocked his audience when he said things like, “Forgive your enemies. Pray for those who attack you.”

Across our country and around the corner, in classrooms and living rooms, there is a climate of rushing to judgment. When have you “turned the other cheek” or extended mercy? Can you recall a time you have  received mercy and forgiveness? There is a better way. We can find reconciliation and acceptance from Jesus. Find it here!

And thanks for listening to this important message, and trying with me, and all of us, to put it into practice!

Feb 24
Love0

2019-02-24 Message for Kids- #Selfie or #Selfless

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A recent survey of people ages 18-24 revealed that “selfies” are their most popular genre of photography. The result of the survey is supported by evidence from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other media. What’s the difference with a Selfie? Who do you see when you take a selfie? Of course, yourself! The thing is, when you’re always focused looking at yourself you don’t see who? Others, right! When we are walking around all day, whether our phone is in front of our face or not, if we are constantly thinking about ourselves, what we want, we might be being selfish! Jesus wasn’t selfish. He freely gave himself for us so we would be forgiven and given an amazing life! And, Jesus doesn’t want us to be selfish either, but to be selfless!

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

So let’s remember: less selfie, more selfless. Selfie’s are O.K.. Selflessly paying attention to others is Jesus’ way!

Feb 17
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2019-02-17 Message- The Largest Room of Our Lives

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Imagine your life is composed of different rooms. Rooms to relax. Rooms to eat in. Places to exercise, and another to enjoy a hobby. Some rooms are especially equipped for making things, or assisting in meeting the needs of guests and taking resources from inside to share with others outside in the neighborhood. Andy Andrew’s in his book, The Traveler’s Gift (2002), writes about a room called Never Was. He calls it “a giant warehouse of a room that holds all of the things God was ready to deliver to people, had they only persevered in prayer a moment longer” (157). For many of us, the Never Was room is practically the largest room in our house. It doesn’t have to be that way.

This week we will visit our house of rooms in our lives as we hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah when he spoke to a war-torn and weary country about God’s hope. We will hear Jesus pronounce blessings available to all. Are you looking for a blessing? Do you need resources to move your hopes and dreams from Never Was, to It Is Now? The blessings Jesus gives are for everyone, especially those who don’t feel blessed; the hungry, the poor, and those who are cast aside by others.

Feb 17
Love0

2019-02-17 Message for Kids- The Image on a Dollar, the Image on Your Life

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Happy Presidents Day! Whose image is on this ONE DOLLAR bill? Right. George Washington. George Washington, like every president, like everyone, did lots of wonderful things for the country. And, well, some not so good things, too. But he is honored for the good. And, to honor dead presidents, we have placed their image on the currency we use. Its a way to be reminded of those great things. For example, George Washington said, “It is impossible to govern without God and the Bible”. Even in Jesus’ day, they put the image of the king on their coins. But did you know you have an image on you? Yes, that’s right. You are created in God’s image. So when you look in the mirror, I want you to remember that you are created as a unique expression, image, of Jesus. We want to look more and more like Jesus each day. When you help others; Are active in doing good things. You show that image most clearly. You may even be president one day! But until then, all of us help each other to show God’s image in how we act and through the decisions that we make as we serve others. So happy Presidents Day. And be joyful, because you are made in the image of God.

Feb 10
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2019-02-10 Message- Going Overboard With God’s Love

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Though dealing with shortfalls and underperforming, a lack of energy or assets, or shortcomings consumes a lot of our attention on scarcity. Our true challenge is dealing with abundance! We cannot embrace God’s unexpected, outrageous abundance. (Think about that.) Our 305-year “young” mission is to represent God’s abundance. But too often, we are overwhelmed with scarcity, just like Peter and James and John do in this week’s message from Luke 5:1-11. Its the problem of too much. God does so much. So much love, so much forgiveness, goes overboard on mercy, unending compassion, amazing and abundant grace and goodness. Our “problem” is being afraid to let go of the scarcity life and instead embrace the abundant life of God’s love offered to us.

Experience the amazement as the disciples’ fish nets were filled to overflowing in this energizing message of God’s overboard love.It’s time for the church to “Go Overboard.” To go overboard in love. To go overboard in trust. To go overboard in compassion. To go overboard in mercy. To go overboard in neighborliness.

How will you go overboard with God’s abundance this week?

Feb 10
Love0

2010-02-10 Message for Kids- God’s Overboard Love- Like Skittles

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How big is God’s love? Some people have used pretty big words to describe God’s big love, like supererogation. Can you repeat that?! Supererogation is so much love, it is extravagant. Amazing. Overwhelming and super abundant. Because God’s love is beyond measure. In the Bible, God’s love letter to us, Jesus-follower, the Apostle Paul, tried to describe God’s love when he wrote, “And I ask God that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-10). That’s a whole lotta love!

God’s overboard love is like Skittles. Pouring a bag of Skittles, it overflows, more and more. God’s love won’t stop! Goes everywhere. Can’t be stopped. It goes on, and on, and on!

Remember that God’s love is available to you. It will never run out. You can count on God being with you always. God’s love is for ever, and its for you!

“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that” (Ephesians 5:1-2).