Disruptions are opportunities to encounter and trust God in new ways.

Disruptions are a direct assault on our sinful inclination to assert our will in any and every situation.

Sometimes when nothing is going according to our plans, everything is falling into place for God’s plans.

Reflection Questions:

1. How is God revealing His presence?
2. How is God inviting me to trust Him and His good plans?
3. What step can I take to trust and obey God?

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means 'God with us')." - Matthew 1:23

1. The Good Shepherd came to Refresh and Restore Weary Sheep. (Matthew 9:36, Psalm 23, Isaiah 40)
2. The Good Shepherd came to Rescue and Redirect Lost Sheep. (Luke 2:10-11; 15:3-7; John 10:1-4,9-10; Ezekiel 34, Zechariah 9)
3. When we trust in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, it leads to JOY in heaven and in us. (Luke 2:10-14, 20; Luke 15:5-7, John 15:11)

Reflection Questions: 1) Are you ready to trust Jesus to bring refreshment and rest to your weary soul? 2) Are you ready to trust Jesus to rescue or redirect you? 3) How could you share this good news with someone in your circle of influence?

God still speaks to unlikely people in unlikely places.

4 Practical Tips to Hear God Speak to YOU:

1. Create space and pace to listen.
2. Submit yourself to God’s purposes – even when you are troubled or afraid.
3. Know God’s promises through God’s Word and God’s Spirit.
4. Listen for good news that increases joy, peace and power.

“For no word from God will ever fail.” - Luke 1:37

This Advent, we are praying that we'll keep our focus on THE GIFT in the midst of all the other gifts.

The greatest gift we can offer Jesus is who we are becoming.

An Advent Prayer: Lord God, we want to keep our focus on THE GIFT, and to become more like Jesus during this Advent season. Please convict us of sin and reveal how we need to change. Holy Spirit, we invite you to change us from the inside out. Lord Jesus, we want to offer you the gift of our surrendered and transformed hearts this Christmas. Amen.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus invites us to:

1. Repent
2. Rest
3. ReSurrender
4. Receive

The freedom, healing and transformation which we all need – the spiritual awakening and liberation for which we long is not found in a program, but a person. His name is Jesus.

How is Jesus inviting you to trust him? How are you choosing to respond?

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." - Matthew 16:24-27

The fruit of spiritual awakening is a new Community, new identity and new mission.

AA Step Twelve: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Wesleyan Covenant Prayer: “I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

The goal of the Gospel is communion with God in Christ by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

1. Communion with God gives GRACE for honest SELF-EXAMINATION.
2. Communion with God helps us KNOW God and God’s WILL.
3. Communion with God gives POWER for constant GROWTH.

AA Step Eleven: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

"Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” - John 4:13-14 NIV

This week's worship gathering looked a little different as we welcomed guests Carl & Alyssa Adkins and invited them to share more about Alyssa's recovery journey and sobriety, what it's like to walk through recovery with your spouse, and how to invite your kids into the process.

We also held some space to walk through Alcoholics Anonymous Step #10: "Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it"

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:2