Rising Church

In this series, we dive into the history classic Christmas carols and learn how they came to be. This week, we learn how Joy to the World came from a desire bring new life and energy into the Church.

As RISING Church prepares to transition into in-person meetings again, what is it going to take to prepare our new space to gather together?

The voices we listen to shape us in a powerful way. Do we know what the Father thinks and feels about us?

As Jesus teaches us to rethink prayer, the second category of petition Jesus teaches us to pray and ask our heavenly Father for is "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors". The word forgive here is the Greek word "aphiemi", which literally means "to send away from, to let go, to release, to discharge". Our prayer is not that God would send us away from him, but that God would send our debts, our trespasses, our sins, our offenses away from us! The most dangerous part of this prayer is the "as", which just as easily could be translated "as, like, according to, as long as". Is that something we really want to pray, that our Father would send our sins away from us as long as we have sent the sins others have committed against us away from them? The reality is in this fallen world we live in, others will sin against us. It's not a matter of if, but when. Everybody at some point will sin against us, disappoint us, hurt us. Jesus teaches us that we need to forgive others. Why? Ultimatel

Jesus is challenging us to rethink prayer, and has given us the Lord's Prayer as a template for how to rethink prayer. When it comes to the "Father Give" portion of the Lord's prayer, what kinds of things do you typically ask God for? Do you ask God for needs or wants? Jesus teaches us to ask God for "bread", this word that encompasses far more than simply bread, but involves all of our basic needs as human beings. "Give us today our daily bread." As our Heavenly Father, God knows that we have needs, needs for food, water, shelter, companionship, health, etc. Our Father also knows there is a huge difference between needs and wants. Jesus is teaching us to pray that our Father would provide for our needs. Jesus is also teaching us to pray for our daily provision, our daily sustenance, our daily ration, what we need to survive the day. So often we pray for tomorrow, what we need a week from now, a month from now, a year or decade from now. We worry and stress over the distant future. Do we trust our

Has your prayer life grown stale? Do you find yourself offering up the same "canned" prayers over and over again, prayers you say by heart, but not necessarily with heart? Perhaps now would be a good time to rethink prayer and turn away from your old habits and ways of thinking about prayer, and turn in a new direction. In the Lord's prayer, Jesus attempted to give us a new model for prayer, a new template to follow. His goal wasn't to teach us the exact words to pray, but to teach us how to pray. For most of us, prayer is about asking God for this or that. This isn't wrong, God specifically tells us that in every situation, we should bring our prayers, petitions and requests to God. He is attentive to our voices. This is just an incomplete view of prayer. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus gives us what I have called three "pre-petition postures". Three postures we should take in prayer before we ask God for anything, before we bring all of our prayers, petitions and requests before our heavenly Father.

May is just around the corner, and as we slowly begin reopening and emerging from our shelter-in-place orders, none of us know exactly what this next month holds. Will it be more of the same? Or will things start to get back to some semblance of "normal", whatever that new "normal" may be? In the midst of this uncertainty, now would be as good a time as ever for all of us to rethink how we think about prayer. Perhaps our prayer lives have been stuck in a rut. Maybe our old way of praying, or our old way of thinking about prayer, needs a reset, a reboot, a restart. Maybe we need to think differently about prayer, repent of our old ways. Philippians 4:6 tells us, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" I don't know about you, but in our present circumstances, it's hard not to feel anxious about all kinds of different things. Is it possible for us to not be pulled apart, pulled in opposite directions, divided, to

I 100% believe God wants to use this time, redeem this time, for our good, and for his ultimate glory! I pray that we will take Isaiah 55 to heart. I pray that we will repent, this word meaning to think differently, change our minds. I pray that we would turn towards God and seek God while we still can. We do not have an unlimited amount of time to seek God, so lets turn away from our old ways, our old ways of thinking, and let's turn towards God, his ways, and his way of thinking. As believers, could this be the wake-up call we desperately need? As non-believers, could this be the final call? I pray that through this, we would have a change of perspective, and would move towards a God-centric view of the Universe, rather than a me-centric, egocentric view of the Universe. I pray we would view our current struggles and troubles in light of the fact that God's ways are higher than our ways, God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, as high as the heavens are above the earth. I pray that this time wo

I hope you were all able to celebrate the true power and hope we have because of Resurrection Sunday this past weekend. The reality is Jesus is with us in this current storm. When Jesus sees us, when Jesus sees our condition, our struggle, our brokenness, Jesus weeps. As we talked about this past Sunday, Jesus just plain ugly cries. His heart breaks. Jesus knows exactly what it will take to bring us peace, God's peace, a peace which surpasses all ability to understand. Jesus knows this peace will protect us. Jesus knows this peace will keep guard over our hearts and minds. Jesus knows this peace will act as a shield around us so that we do not need to fear. Jesus knows that he is the source of this peace. Without Jesus, there is no peace. Jesus desperately wants us to have his peace, and this is why when Jesus ugly cries over us and our condition, he says, "if you, only you, knew what would bring you peace". Ultimately Jesus laid down his life so that we could have his peace. As Isaiah's 700-year

On Palm Sunday, Jesus enters the congested city of Jerusalem along with thousands upon thousands of other pilgrims, all in town to celebrate Passover, this annual celebration of God's deliverance of the Hebrew people from the hands of their Egyptian oppressors. This was a tense time, especially for the Romans, the Jewish people's current oppressors and overlords. If there was ever going to be a revolt against Roman tyranny, surely it would happen during Passover. So as Jesus enters the city, the people begin crying out "Hosanna", which literally means "Save Now! Deliver Now". This was their rallying call, like chants of "U.S.A." during the Olympics. The people start declaring of Jesus, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Both of these shouts of praise are shouts of expectation. Both references to Psalm 118:27-27, a messianic psalm looking forward to God's deliverance of his people once more. The crowds believe Jesus is the prophesied and long-awaited Messiah. So why do the crowds' sho

Hebrews 10:23 states, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." This Greek word translated "unswervingly" was used to describe how in the midst of a tempest or storm, a ship's captain would bind or restrain the ship's wheel and rudder with ropes in order to stay on course. Failure to "hold unswervingly" would result in shipwreck. We are all in the midst of a storm, perhaps the largest and scariest storm any of us have ever experienced in terms of size and scope. This storm will test our resilience. This storm will test if we truly believe in this hope that we profess to believe in as followers of Jesus. Is this hope true, or is it just a nice sentiment we sing about with our lips, but struggle to truly believe with our hearts and minds? Is God, the one we put our hope in, faithful? Will he deliver on his promises? The answer is yes. God is faithful. God keeps his promises. God keeps the promises he has made, but God does not keep promises that he has not m

Psalm 46 confidently begins, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." For many of us, it feels as if the world around us is shaking. The seas around us are in complete chaos. Our lives are being shaken to the core. In the midst of such uncertain times, is it possible for us to not fear? Is it possible for us to not be shaken? Or are those just empty and hollow words we sing with our lips, but not our hearts, in the latest worship song? Perhaps the key to not being shaken during shaky times is found toward the end of Psalm 46 where it states, "Be still, and know that I am God." In other words, "cease striving and know, acknowledge, be aware that I am God." This brings up 2 key questions. First off, is it possible for us to know, acknowledge, be aware that God is God if we are never still? Second,

We are living in historic times. None of us have ever faced anything quite like this before. Maybe we aren't sure how to respond? In the midst of this chaos and uncertainty, is it possible for us to have peace? Jesus made us this promise in John 16:33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus is clear, in this world we will have trouble, "thlipsis", this Greek word that literally means "pressure; being constrained, hemmed in, restricted without options". We live in a fallen, broken world. Tribulation and trials are inevitable. In this world, you just plain have trouble. If we are going to have peace in the midst of that trouble, we have to remember God's promises. Jesus promises us that in him, we can have peace. Peace is definitely a possible outcome for us. Times like this will test the quality of the anchors that we have each anchored our hope, our faith, our lives in. When you r