![[Sunday] Beautiful News - Vanishing Grace](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1675435076313-HR5466XIU5C13G4RWG6A/VG4a.jpg)
[Sunday] Beautiful News - Vanishing Grace
What does beautiful news look like? Perhaps, it looks like ordinary, dare I say, small things, like providing for someone who's hungry, loving your spouse, and being a good neighbor. Perhaps these small things provide the cooling shade of a great tree for us to rest under.
What does beautiful news look like? Perhaps, it looks like ordinary, dare I say, small things, like providing for someone who's hungry, loving your spouse, and being a good neighbor. Perhaps these small things provide the cooling shade of a great tree for us to rest under.
Questions for this week.
When is a time when you have received good news?
Read Isaiah 52:7 and Hebrews 13:1-8. What does it look like when God’s good news comes?
Read Matthew 13:31-35. How does good news come like a “mustard seed?"
What is a small “mustard seed” way God has used someone to bring good news to you that really affected you?
What might you do to bring a “mustard seed” of good news to someone this week?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![Christmas Dinner at Mission BBQ [photos]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766111458710-ULPCKS16DAZCMUN7LI93/PXL_20251218_000243197.jpg)
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Know Me Better Man Stave 3](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1765482111687-AQYCM4FZQV9BO7JIPL02/Christmas+light+3a.jpg)
Week 3 Vanishing Grace Together Groups
Who Are the Grace Dispensers
Together Group Video Week 3
Discussion Guide | Week 3
![[Sunday] Love Laid Down - Vanishing Grace](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1674835948785-FT4PCOB9XY8UQMPGCZPP/VG3a.jpg)
[Sunday] Love Laid Down - Vanishing Grace
This is how we know what love is, that He laid down his life for us. This love is like a cool breeze on a hot day, good news when surrounded by the bad, and liberty to the oppressed.
This is how we know what love is, that He laid down his life for us. This love is like a cool breeze on a hot day, good news when surrounded by the bad, and liberty to the oppressed.
Questions for this week.
When are times that you’ve been able to share good news with someone?
Read 1 John 3:11-18. Why did Cain kill his brother? How does a similar attitude prevent us from truly loving our neighbor?
What does Jesus do to enable us to simply love our neighbor?
What impact do you think Jesus' followers would have on the spiritually uncommitted people if we--pilgrims, activists, and artists, all united as a church community -- carried out John’s charge to “not love with words or speech, but in actions and in truth?"
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Sunday] A Song of Christmas Light - Pointing to Greatness Stave 4](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1766107074577-MKU6U8LW1N5S1EATE1RW/Christmas+light+4a.jpg)
I Like It, So God Would Too
Egocentrism in Believers’ Estimates of God
Egocentrism in Believers’ Estimates of God
Read The Whole Article at I Like It, So God Would Too - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
eligion is often seen as a moral compass — it is frequently used by believers as a guide to doing and believing the right thing. People may disagree on social issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty and back their opinions by invoking God as the ultimate advocate of their beliefs. But how do people reason about God’s beliefs? In an interesting set of six studies by Nick Epley and colleagues, it was argued that people are remarkably egocentric when asked to infer about God’s beliefs — that is, people seem to draw on their own beliefs about these issues when asked to infer what God’s beli……………………………………..
Read The Whole Article at I Like It, So God Would Too - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
Week 2 Vanishing Grace Together Groups
We have a Problem
Pastor Cris Together Group [Bible Study]
Together Group Video Week 2
Discussion Guide | Week 2
![[Sunday] Uncomplicated Love - Vanishing Grace](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1674230189454-CL2E9LS648I57WDNKNFC/VG2a.jpg)
[Sunday] Uncomplicated Love - Vanishing Grace
The young man who pushed aside his family now thinks of only their love as he longs for the pig feed. We tend to make love more complicated that it needs to be, but perhaps its simple.
The young man who pushed aside his family now thinks of only their love as he longs for the pig feed. We tend to make love more complicated that it needs to be, but perhaps its simple.
Questions for this week.
Describe a time you’ve felt most fulfilled in life.
Read 1 Corinthians 13. According to this passage, when we speak and act without love, what do we produce? And to what extent might we deserve the unpleasant words people use to describe Christians?
What does love always do (v. 7), and what impact will these actions have on our relationships and interaction with those who do not acknowledge God?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Mark Driscoll and My Desert Temptation
It’s not every day that I’m near the church of a man whose rise (and fall) was the topic of so much controversy.
Read the rest at Mark Driscoll and My Desert Temptation - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
We were driving our rental car around cactus-lined streets on the first day of our snowbird getaway to Scottsdale, Arizona when we realized exactly where we were. We were only a few blocks away from a place of podcast infamy and evangelical intrigue: Trinity Church — AKA, Mark Driscoll’s new church.
It’s not every day that I am near the church of a man whose rise (and fall) was the topic of thousands of Twitter threads, blog posts, and podcast episodes about podcast episodes. That Sunday, we learned, Driscoll was starting a new sermon series titled “Real Romance: Sex in Song of Songs.” Perfect…………………………….
Read the rest at Mark Driscoll and My Desert Temptation - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
Week 1 Vanishing Grace Together Groups
We have a Problem
Pastor Cris’ Together Group
Together Group Video Week 1
Discussion Guide | Week 1
![[Sunday] Wells of Grace - Vanishing Grace](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1673530020140-DF98JJAF79TFM4TK0BCN/VG1a.jpg)
[Sunday] Wells of Grace - Vanishing Grace
Jesus was sitting by a well, and she showed up. All by herself, she carried with her the weight of so much struggle. While it would be so easy to belittle her, Jesus instead is a well of grace that is like a cool drink of water on a hot day. Maybe we can be like that.
Jesus was sitting by a well, and she showed up. All by herself, she carried with her the weight of so much struggle. While it would be so easy to belittle her, Jesus instead is a well of grace that is like a cool drink of water on a hot day. Maybe we can be like that.
Questions for this week.
How do you interact with people who are antagonistic to your faith in Jesus or living a life full of sin?
Read John 4:1-42. Why would the woman be at the well in the middle of the day? How would people in her day viewed Samatarians? How does Jesus respond to her?
What are some ways you can be a grace dispenser this week?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Vanishing Grace Together Groups
Meeting together to talk about Grace
New Together Group Weeks Released Sunday at 11am
We are stronger together and any challenge is better when helped.
I encourage you to meeting with other people to watch each week’s video and go through the discussion questions.
![Philip Yancey on Facing the Canon [Good]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1673053717655-PHP9GW9J76M01Y1EHD6X/maxresdefault%5B1%5D.jpg)
Philip Yancey on Facing the Canon [Good]
Philip Yancey, author of Vanishing Grace is a great interview about his love of Grace.
Philip Yancey, author of Vanishing Grace is a great interview about his love of Grace.
![[Sunday] Following Light - The Book of Advents](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1672969335403-APA5I5N562IPH71T9X0Q/BOA+7a.jpg)
[Sunday] Following Light - The Book of Advents
The Magi followed God’s light of a star. Wait, those foreigners were following God’s light? Surely God’s people will follow the light rather than going back to darkness.
The Magi followed God’s light of a star. Wait, those foreigners were following God’s light? Surely God’s people will follow the light rather than going back to darkness.
Questions for this week.
In your own words, before rereading in the Bible, tell the story of the wise men.
Read Matthew 2:1-12. Now retell the story of the Magi.
How does Herod and all Jerusalem respond to the news that the Magi bring?
Why do you think they respond that way?
Read Isaiah 60:1-6. How can we follow the light of Jesus, as he brings the nations and Magi of the world to him?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Ringing in the New Me
Life has changed, but have I really changed?
Read whole article at Ringing in the New Me - Mockingbird (mbird.com)
t’s the time of year when our New Year’s resolutions slowly begin to unravel. It doesn’t usually happen all at once, of course. A cheat day here, a provoked outburst there, compounded by the multiplication of days and weeks, and what once felt possible eventually becomes fanciful. Even my best intentions can’t always hold up to the temptation of a Chick-fil-A milkshake.
Every new year is filled with hopeless optimism that I can truly change. At the beginning of this year, I took time to look back and reflect on all the ways that my life is different than it was just 365 days ago. I moved to a new state, I got a new job, I got engaged. Life has changed in some sizab………………………
![[Sunday] Simeon - The Book of Advents](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1671683973557-KHIHT6N1G4G8TVFXZEGE/BOA+6a.jpg)
[Sunday] Simeon - The Book of Advents
Simeon waited his entire life to see the Christ.
Simeon waited his entire life to see the Christ.
What Had happened at Grace this week.
![[Sunday] Prince of Peace Christmas - The Book of Advents](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5852f18a20099e30cd2c01dc/1671683129733-WENISFPSXKWH4SV3FA3E/BOA+Christmas+Dayjpg.jpg)
[Sunday] Prince of Peace Christmas - The Book of Advents
Joseph is a righteous man, yet he is having to deal with the surprise pregnancy of his bride to be. But here we see the Prince of Peace Shining though Joseph.
Joseph is a righteous man, yet he is having to deal with the surprise pregnancy of his bride to be. But here we see the Prince of Peace Shining though Joseph.
Questions for this week.
When you think someone has sinned grievously against you, how do you respond?
Read Matthew 1:18-25. Based on Mary being pregnant, what would Joseph have logically thought happened?
How does Joseph respond to this? How is that just or righteous?
How does this foreshadow Jesus and his righteousness?
What Had happened at Grace this week.
Christmas Eve- Advent of Emmanuel
Throughout history God has come to be with us which culminates with Jesus at Christmas.
Christmas Eve 4pm Service
7PM Service, Starts where the two different services differ.
Throughout history God has come to be with us, which culminates with Jesus at Christmas.
Christmas Eve 4PM and 7PM
Countdown to Christmas Eve at 4 PM
What Had happened at Grace this week.
While the Ghost points to the grave our ambition digs, Jesus answers by becoming the humble Child who enters that grave to raise us to new life.