The connect devotional is a great way to stay connected spiritually to what our community is learning about God right now. It is in step with the current sermon series, studying the scripture through the lens of life application.
Clicking here to subscribe and receive the Connect Devotional in your inbox
To see past posts, click the "All Posts" button above
"let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurancethat faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience"Hebrews 10:22 (This second week of devotionals from the book of Hebrews was originally published in March 2021 and aligned with the sermon series "Jesus, the Radiance of God's Glory.") From an early age as an earne...
Keep Reading"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many timesand in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe." Hebrews 1:1-2 (This week's devotionals, originally published in March 2021, aligned with the sermon series "Jesus, the Radiance of God's Glor...
Keep ReadingI [Jesus] assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time,when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe faminethroughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephathin the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the timeof Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cl...
Keep ReadingAll spoke well of Him [Jesus] and were amazed at the gracious wordsthat came from His lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.23 Jesus said to them,"Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself!' And youwill tell me, 'Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"Truly I tell you," He continued, "no prophet is accepted i...
Keep Reading"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaimgood news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisonersand recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free,to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."(Luke 4:18-19) [We trust God will speak to you as you read this week's devotionals originally published in...
Keep Reading"Jesus stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 'the Spirit of the Lord is on me,because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lor...
Keep Reading"He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath dayhe went into the synagogue, as was his custom."(Luke 4:16) [We trust God will speak to you as you read this week's devotionals originally published in Jan. 2019.) After Jesus's slugfest with Satan in the wilderness, he hops on the speaking circuit and to...
Keep ReadingWe have electricity and who knew that Alex was a light ninja!...
Keep ReadingPeter and John replied, "Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him?... As for us, we cannot help speakingabout what we have seen and heard[The believers] raised their voices together in prayer to GodNow, Lord,consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness." (Acts 4:19-20, 29-30) After a month-long break for our fant...
Keep ReadingJesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.He appointed twelvethat they might be with him and that he might send them out to preachand to have authority to drive out demons.(Mark 3:13-15) The job interview: everyone dreads it. "What will they ask me?" "What if I say something stupid?" Or (if we're more self-assured): "What if t...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! "The hourhas come for the Son of Man to be glorified . Now my soul is troubled,and what shall I say? 'Father,save me from this hour'?No, it was for this very reason I came to this hourNow is the time for judgment on this world;now the prince of this world will be driven out.And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peopl...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! "let us draw near to Godwith a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience" (Hebrews 10:22). From an early age as an earnest, eager to please firstborn kid, I felt the blow any time I failed to live up to expectations or broke a rule. Those easily-trigg...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! In the past God spoketo our ancestors through the prophetsat many times and in various ways,but in these last dayshe has spoken to us by his Son,whom he appointed heirof all things,and through whomalso he made the universe (Hebrews 1:1-2). Several months ago I was dying to do something normal. So when a favorite movie director of mine h...
Keep ReadingThank you for your faithful generosity! Watch this video for a celebration of a terrific capital campaign, an update on our progress, and hopes for more to come! https://vimeo.com/506365978...
Keep ReadingCheck out some 3D renderings from our very own Roman Jennings and the latest numbers on the capital campaign. ...
Keep ReadingCatch this video on the latest news at the new building site. ...
Keep ReadingMaking a Way for our new building. Clearing, capturing run-off, putting down gravel....
Keep ReadingThe site work has begun! Watch Alex drive the big equipment....
Keep Reading8"Rememberthe instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatteryou among the nations,9but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gatherthem from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' (Nehemiah 1:8-9) (Note: If you're just joini...
Keep Reading8"Rememberthe instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatteryou among the nations,9but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gatherthem from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' (Nehemiah 1:8-9) (Note: If you're just joini...
Keep ReadingI confessthe sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's family, have committed against you.7We have acted very wickedlytoward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. (Nehemiah 1:6-7) (Note: If you're just joining us, for this week's Connect Devotional I'm recapping the daily exercises that I ended the message with this...
Keep Reading4When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.For some days I mourned and fastedand prayed before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4) (Note: If you're just joining us, for this week's Connect Devotional I'm recapping the daily exercises that I ended the message with this past Sunday. If you missed the message, you can watch and/or listen to it here.) Nehemiah asked the q...
Keep Reading2Hanani,one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnantthat had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 1:2) This week we're doing something a little different with the Connect Devotional. While the team of writers are away, we're going to play! At the end of yesterday's message I closed out with a s...
Keep ReadingGenesis 4:1-16 Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine it's only about once a century that we experience a global pandemic, and because of the enduring reality of sin there are times in each generation when an event confronts us with layer upon layer of brokenness and sin. And with that confrontation an opportunity to make crooked things straight. Given the magnitude o...
Keep ReadingPrayer walk prompts...
Keep ReadingHighlights and news from CCC on 5.23.20...
Keep ReadingPutting Jesus first frees us from self-absorption. ...
Keep ReadingA life of faith, hope, and love...
Keep ReadingPaul exhorts his readers that love is more lasting than spiritual experiences, that's why it's the most excellent way. ...
Keep ReadingPaul gives the definitive answer to this question....
Keep ReadingLove matters more than the other things that vie for our attention and affections....
Keep ReadingLots of people answering the question "what's the good life?" ...
Keep ReadingYou can either prayerfully expand your dominion (training, skills, mentors, get help) or surrender and embrace your limits. ...
Keep Readingthanksgiving fights anxiety...
Keep ReadingPaul in Philippians 4 invites us to rejoice in the Lord always--one of the ways he's going to instruct us in fighting to win the battle for the voices in our heads. ...
Keep ReadingPaul cites an ancient hymn to help us to understand who we need to be in relation to one another....
Keep ReadingPaul lists things that kill community and exhorts us to get rid of it!...
Keep ReadingThe unique and distinguishing characteristics of Christian community...
Keep ReadingIn Philippians 2, Paul encourages the church to lean into their shared experience in Jesus....
Keep ReadingWe have to learn how to do community and how to do it well. ...
Keep ReadingThe law was an attempt at keeping the flesh at bay. The Spirit was a much better option....
Keep ReadingWhy biting and devouring and destroying happens, especially in religious communities....
Keep ReadingWe need Jesus to help us to really understand what God means by love, freedom, and other key concepts...
Keep ReadingWe've got to understand what real freedom looks like and means...
Keep ReadingGod wants us to be free. We just gotta' get on the same page about what that means...
Keep ReadingOur character formation in Christ leads us to a place where we can ask whatever we want and God will (one day) grant it!...
Keep ReadingSome suggestions for engaging difficult sayings of Jesus...
Keep ReadingFruitfulness comes from abiding...
Keep ReadingA reflective reading of the Good Friday story...
Keep ReadingA reflective reading of the Maundy Thursday passages...
Keep ReadingJesus walked the guys on the road to Emmaus through the Old Testament. ...
Keep ReadingOur disappointments are the other side of our expectations and hopes. Jesus meets us in those and sometimes blows them up for something much better. ...
Keep ReadingJesus asks the men on the road to Emmaus questions to surface their hearts and needs...
Keep ReadingJesus celebrates that the woman does what she can. That frees us to do what we can do and know that Jesus delights in it as well. ...
Keep ReadingWorship is a waste of time and money unless Jesus is worth it. People will always object, and they're right. Unless Jesus is who he says he is and unless God is as good as Jesus tells us he is....
Keep ReadingSometimes you've got to break a valuable thing to do the priceless thing....
Keep ReadingThe chief priests became the type of people who could kill Jesus day by day and bit by bit. ...
Keep ReadingJesus has come to Jerusalem to embrace his necessary ending. We have to embrace ours, too. ...
Keep ReadingRuth and Boaz are both noble people, no matter what. ...
Keep ReadingSometimes doing the right thing is an abrupt surprise to the people around us. ...
Keep ReadingNaomi gives Ruth a crazy set of instructions, Ruth rolls with it. ...
Keep ReadingWhen the church is working well, we're family for each other. The ancient church had to be family for one another because of their level of persecution....
Keep ReadingNaomi utters her first positive words in Ruth on the other side of Ruth's interaction with Boaz, as both Ruth and Boaz do courageous things that bless others. ...
Keep ReadingParticipate in the blessing economy by crossing a typical social boundary or barrier. ...
Keep ReadingGod has positioned us to bless others...
Keep ReadingFaced with all sorts of uncertainty, Ruth takes a small courageous step of faith. God's Spirit makes us strong to do the same kind of work....
Keep ReadingKinship that has morphed into friendship is demonstrated by Ruth's commitment to Naomi. ...
Keep ReadingGod sometimes seems out to get us. Naomi and Ruth's story shows us that's not true...and we have to fight for what is....
Keep ReadingGod's grace is available to us, even in difficult times. Sometimes we just have to slow down long enough to receive it....
Keep ReadingWhat we do when our life feels mostly like we're "without" is something we can learn from. ...
Keep ReadingThe book of Ruth opens up with all kinds of heartache. God is still at work, even though it doesn't look like it. ...
Keep ReadingIn a sober warning to the religious leaders, Jesus warns that they will break apart on him as they continue to refuse to recognize him and receive his words. ...
Keep ReadingThere are lots of warning passages in the Scriptures, how do we receive them as a gift of grace rather than frown upon them as judgmental and angry? ...
Keep ReadingThe Father and the Son are devoted to sharing their inheritance with you....
Keep ReadingIsrael ignored God's warnings, killing the prophets. We do the same thing. ...
Keep ReadingIf we stick with Jesus long enough, we'll bump up against something that's hard for us. Stick with it, it's worth it. ...
Keep ReadingWe all want to be justified on some level. Let God's justification of us carry the day!...
Keep ReadingIf our understanding of God is warped our prayers will be warped. Our prayers can help us to see as a mirror our picture of God--and help us to do some correction if necessary...
Keep ReadingHow do we have convictions and yet live generously?...
Keep ReadingJesus didn't get along with self-righteous religious people like many of our friends who aren't Christians. That's good news!...
Keep ReadingJesus frees us from empty religion to a real relationship...
Keep ReadingGod gives us earthly money to allow us to invest in something eternal....
Keep ReadingJesus challenges us to invest in eternal things...
Keep ReadingSometimes we have to remember reading Scripture is a cross-cultural experience. Be patient, do a little digging and we might learn some things....
Keep ReadingGetting creative with problem solving takes a little step back sometimes...
Keep ReadingJesus includes all kinds of unexpected people in his parables and in his kingdom...
Keep ReadingJesus shows us how to continue to trust in God's goodness even in the midst of our disappointment with his slowness to act on our behalf. ...
Keep ReadingJesus invites us to pray because God is good and God is love. ...
Keep ReadingThe persistent widow persists! How might we persist in our own works that we need to do today? ...
Keep ReadingNobody feels like they pray enough. That's why Jesus gives us instructions to stick with it....
Keep ReadingLuke tells us that Jesus tells us that we should always pray and never give up!...
Keep ReadingJesus describes the heart of God to have a full house marked by the gathering of people who were previously overlooked...
Keep ReadingDaily life can cause us to miss out on the kingdom of God...
Keep ReadingIt's always easier not to go, not to do things. But there's a core of our relationship with Jesus that compels us to get going. ...
Keep ReadingJesus invites us into the great banquet of the kingdom of God...
Keep ReadingJesus challenges the religious and is kind to the people in the margins. How do we do at matching pitch with our audience? ...
Keep ReadingClarity never comes from the crowds. Jesus shows us where it comes from and how to handle the crowd pressures. ...
Keep ReadingJesus tells the demons to be quiet even though they're speaking truthfully about who he is. ...
Keep ReadingJesus heals and touches people to make them well!...
Keep ReadingHealing isn't just for us. It's for us to be a blessing to others. ...
Keep ReadingPeter's married--he's normal! That means the ways that Jesus intersect his life has something to teach us about how he might want to intersect ours....
Keep ReadingWhen we experience Jesus's power and authority in our lives, there's a response of worship and witness that are natural. We need to share it....
Keep ReadingJesus is the re-humanizing agent in a world full of darkness and corruption and pain ...
Keep ReadingThe demons are afraid of Jesus--so we have hope for our own battles against darkness. ...
Keep ReadingGood news: Jesus is the authority we can trust and we were made for....
Keep ReadingSelf-righteousness is one of the biggest competitors for your heart. ...
Keep ReadingThe prophet is rejected in his hometown--what hometown wisdom we will refuse to listen to? ...
Keep ReadingJesus's mission statement doesn't seem to include us, but that's a good thing....
Keep ReadingJesus's first sermon, he reads his mission statement from Isaiah...
Keep ReadingJesus goes home and hangs out at the old synagogue. ...
Keep ReadingMemorizing Scripture helps to cut through the fog of temptation. ...
Keep ReadingLord's prayer, lead us not into temptation...
Keep ReadingTemptation definition, overcoming it....
Keep ReadingJesus in the desert...
Keep ReadingHelping to understand why Jesus got baptized when he was without sin....
Keep ReadingThe crowds obedience in baptism is a good example for us to follow...
Keep ReadingStarting blocks kicks off with a reflection on baptism....
Keep ReadingNew year and a new voice for the Connect Devotional ...
Keep Reading