Women coming together to seek and experience genuine faith.
IF is about a generation of women coming together in a spirit of humility and unity to seek and experience genuine faith and pray that God will work in even greater ways. For more info, click here or search “IF” on our website. Contact Erin, iflocalsocal@gmail.com, with questions.
Fri, Feb 5, 5:30-9p & Sat, Feb 6, 9a-4p, Worship Center
$10 suggested donation, $10 boxed lunches available
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
– GENESIS 1:27
NOTE: You’ll have to indulge me a bit today. I’m going to brag about one of my own kids. Every parent undoubtedly overstates things about their kids — good and bad. In fairness, I owe it to you to give you a chance to prepare yourself with whatever “grains of salt” you need to enable you to read on.
I was looking back through some of the things in one of those “drawers” in which we put all the stuff we feel guilty getting rid of, but don’t really know what to do with. That drawer used to be full of all kinds of coupons for fast food restaurants (i.e. buy a burrito, get a burrito free) and expired oil change discounts. Now, it’s largely populated by kid-art I’m not “allowed” to throw away. There are cloudy landscapes and rainbows. There are a number of pages with my kids’ names inscribed with several different colors. There are saved pictures comprised entirely of stickers. But, every so often there are a few surprises. I came across this picture of a bird that I had placed in such a drawer a few years ago. Upon rediscovering it, I was overjoyed it wasn’t thrown away. My son painted it when he was nine years old.
I’m still struck by it. I have to remind myself that this is the work of a 3rd grader. I have a hard time fathoming how he was able to communicate all the intricacies and details of this bird and its shimmering reflection through the end of a brush. In looking at it, it’s hard not to say, “he was made for this.”
He has a five-foot by five-foot homage to Jackson Pollack on the wall in his bedroom that he painted a few years ago. Every drop of paint had an intention in color and placement despite its apparent randomness. He rarely goes anywhere without something on which to create. He draws cities and roads in perspective. He makes cartoon characters. He draws action figures. Sometimes what he puts in a notebook is little more than a rough outline or a doodle. Other times, he’ll disappear into another world that is silently bursting with creative force. To see him at work in art, is to see him fulfill what appears to be a part of his intended destiny.
We have lots of ways to describe this kind of person or the work they create. We say it about athletes, other parents we admire, people with great business acumen, comedians, actors, and leaders. We’ll use terms like: “They’re in their element,” “they’re a natural,” or that they have “God-given talent.” Of course, to observe a remarkable other person, it’s not uncommon to find something deeper within us in which we wonder, out of a place of shallowly buried insecurity, if we’re one of those people too. Or, more specifically, what if we’re not?
Said differently: is there anything about which we can say, “I was made for this?” Not many of us will have the gifts to become professional athletes, nor captains of industry, nor our idealized version of anyone. But there is something for which all people were created. It’s something about which everyone can say: “I was made for this.” The answer is both utterly spectacular and decidedly simple. And it’s the basis of our new teaching series. It’s the one thing for which everyone was made and the one thing in which everyone always needs help in figuring out.
This week, we’ll kick off our new series. This is a perfect opportunity to bring people who are wondering about big questions of purpose, meaning, and belonging.
See you soon,
Jeff
![Refreshing-Your-Marriage-compass[2]](http://marinersmedia.org/compass/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Refreshing-Your-Marriage-compass2.jpg)
Refreshing Your Marriage offers a yearly tune-up for your relationship. Whether you require a major overhaul, some minor repairs or just a healthy adjustment, RYM offers something for every stage of your relationship. RYM is almost full (only 45 spots left for couples).
Register and more info at refreshingyourmarriage.com
Registration promo code- MarinersMV ($80/couple)
Refreshing Your Marriage
Jan 29-30, Community Center (Irvine campus)
Friday, 6-9:30p, Saturday, 8:30a-4p
‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you:
Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.”
-Exodus 7:16
When the alarm went off at 3:15am I felt only anger. It was the middle of the night, after all. I had intended to get a few hours of sleep before our long drive home. But, perhaps because of the pressure to be well-rested coupled with the necessity of waking up on time, my sleep was miserable. I don’t think I ever let myself really drift much past that early twilight sleep that ebbs seconds before slipping unconsciously into a nightly slumber. Nevertheless, I got up, drank a cup of coffee, loaded a few remaining bags into the trunk of the minivan, and then delicately transported each of my kids from their beds into the backseats of our multi-cup holding, front-wheel drive, adventure machine.
I drove through the early morning, waiting for dawn to come. The snow had fallen the night before and the plows hadn’t gotten to all the streets on which we were to drive. The car, loaded with my most precious cargo, now fast asleep, headed down the Utah highway toward home. I was afraid — afraid of crashing, afraid of the snow, afraid of the hassle of having to put snow chains on the car. I cursed the fact that I didn’t really do much more than lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Yet, I didn’t really fear falling asleep while driving. I was kept awake only by the tension I felt in my shoulders and forearms as I gripped the steering wheel with enough force to flatten a penny like those souvenir penny squishers at boardwalks and tourist traps. Eventually, as the dark subsided, Amanda and the kids awoke.
Then, the real battle began.
Not surprisingly, being limited to the small space within the minivan for upwards of fourteen hours transformed us. Like astronauts headed for a distant world, the lack of mobility and outside contact blossomed into conflict and despair. Watching movies on borrowed iPods and DVD players could only provide momentary and limited escape. No technology existed that could teleport someone completely out from within a confined space and into freedom. We required no social scientist, nor an anthropologist, nor a psychologist to inform us that lengthy periods of captivity have an adverse affect on human beings. The irony, of course, was that this captivity was one we chose, planned, and anticipated with joy. It wasn’t a captivity of invasion or oppression. But, now, several hours from home we weren’t our best selves. There were unwelcome smells, violations of personal space, hoarding of blankets, vocal longings for rest stops, and frustrations about the length of the journey.
The Bible is a story about releasing people from captivity into freedom. What is curious, however, is that God isn’t simply interested in freedom for freedom’s sake. He longs for freedom as a means to a particular outcome:
“…that they may worship me.”
Apparently, captivity and worship are at odds with each other. This week, we’ll look closely at freedom expressed in worship. Consider who God may have placed on your heart to bring to our church: people trapped in some kind of familiar, but uninvited captivity and people (like many of us) who sometimes forget how to live as though we have already been freed.
See you soon,
Jeff
Join us for our weekend message series where we’ll explore our relationship with God.
Service times
Sun: 9 & 11a
Thu: 7p (college/young adults focused)
Last weekend, it was amazing to watch as many got baptized during our services. This was a beautiful picture of the active work God is doing in hearts throughout our community! Jeff Maguire reminded us that through baptism, we are not only given new life in the body of Christ, but we are baptized into the body of Christ, which is the community called the church. What a great reminder that we need one another in order to walk out our faith!
On Tuesday, we had our Community Kickoff and hundreds of you jumped into Rooted and Life Groups. It was so great bringing everyone together, reminding us of our need to be known and connected. It was powerful seeing so many of you taking bold steps into fellowship and I can’t wait to see the way God will meet you as you build friendships in your groups. For those of you that may have missed it, it isn’t too late to get connected in a Rooted group – Just come to the MV Campus on Tuesday at 6:30p and I will help you get connected!
This weekend, Doug Fields will be with us to share a message out of God’s Word. Please plan to join us as we worship together. I look forward to seeing you on the patio after services!
Tim Keller
This nine-week Dave Ramsey class will show you how to apply God’s Word to your money. Register online or contact Tim, tkeller@marinerschurch.org
Tuesdays, Jan 19-Mar 22, 6:30-8:30p, Upper Room
Membership Kits $99, Space is limited
The Daily Walk Bible offers a straightforward and engaging reading plan that provides context and insight as you read from Genesis to Revelation. It’s our hope you will find rest, encouragement, passion and surrender as you read the Daily Walk Bible and see how the Spirit teaches and leads you into a deeper understanding of our Father’s love.
Available in the bookstore for $15
The walls seem bare now. But for a few remnant pine needles on the floor, the place where our proud tree once stood, adorned with all its Christmas-ness is now vacant. I swell with arrogant pride about the fact that my exterior Christmas lights have been removed before some of those “other” people — the un-neighborly ones who have yet to de-decorate.
We’re on the other side of the “holidays” now. We’ve completed the requisite duty to visit our extended family members. We’ve sworn off all things bearing the words “pumpkin” or “peppermint” for at least a year. Gone is the controversy over cup-color from everyone’s favorite coffee chain. We’ve run through the moral implications and family headaches that come with returning those “meaningful” gifts people gave us. We’ve made peace with the fact that we ate too much. So, we’re also re-upping our commitment to that gym we keep paying for. It’s simultaneously a time to return to things as they ought to be AND a time to step courageously into some new things.
The Bible tells the story of new life bursting through in Jesus. Nothing puts that reality on display better than the symbol of baptism. It depicts the burial of an old life with its old patterns of behavior and thoughts and beautifully expresses the picture of a new life that has come in Jesus. This week, not only will we give people a chance to make a first time commitment to Jesus, we’ll also give people an opportunity to be baptized.
We’ll tell God’s story through the Bible. We’ll illustrate in baptism. This will be a great opportunity to include people who have never been to church, never really connected with Jesus, or who are simply curious about God. I can’t wait to see what God does this week at Mariners MV.
See you soon,
Jeff
P.S.: Don’t forget to register for the Refreshing Your Marriage conference at Mariners Church, Irvine (January (29th-30th). Our very own Doug Fields and Jim Burns will lead us through the experience. They’ll weave together humor and real-life conversations to make the “refreshing” experience approachable and meaningful. Last year, the whole Mariners MV staff attended and had an unbelievable time together. Join us. You won’t regret it.
