Posts with the tag “community”

The wall was finished. The enemies were afraid. The people gathered and heard the Word and wept. And then Nehemiah said something almost too simple for a moment that big. Go eat. Drink. Send a portion to those who have nothing prepared. The comeback was complete. And the first thing they did with it was share it. Your story is not just yours. It never was.  Read More

In Daddy's Little Girls, Monty James is absorbing every hit the system throws at him alone. Until he is not alone anymore. The neighborhood shows up. The witnesses refuse to testify against him. Julia walks into the wrong courtroom and cannot walk away. Nehemiah's wall was finished in community. The celebration that followed sent food to everyone who had nothing. And the vision at the center of biblical eschatology is not a series of private spiritual destinations. It is a table. A lavish banquet for all peoples. People coming from east and west and north and south to recline together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom. Solitary religion is inconsistent with the gospel. Because the gospel ends at a table. And nobody sits alone at that one. Read the full post.  Read More

From two years old to ninety plus, GracePointe showed up yesterday. A prayer team on their knees before anyone else moved. Quarters at a laundromat. A prayer walk on First Street. Two cars at a car wash. Yards cleaned for faithful senior members while their neighbors watched and wondered who these people are. That wondering is a door. And we are praying God walks through it. Grace in Action is not a Sunday. It is a posture. And the pointe of grace is always outward.  Read More

Yesterday you went somewhere and handed something to someone. You showed up for someone who needed it. And Jesus says you were looking at Him the whole time. The righteous in Matthew 25 were surprised. They did not know they were serving Jesus. They were just showing up. The service project is over but the posture does not have to be. Resurrection living is not an event. It is a direction you keep walking in.  Read More

Want to go deeper? This blog expands on the message preached on April 19 at GracePointe. Watch the full message at https://gpnaz.church/media. I want to ask you a question I didn't have time to ask Sunday.Who in your life is currently walking away from Jerusalem?Because that is what the road to Emmaus actually is. It's not a scenic route. It's a retreat. Two people who had given everything to a ho...  Read More

For over a century, the Hatfield and McCoy families turned the Appalachian hills into a war zone.  Read More