Well, we finished up our Heroes series in a wonderful way. What a great weekend as we watched people respond to God’s call and heroically stand to follow Christ. This Sunday, we will have a great opportunity to be “fearless” in the form of generosity. We will discover how we are blessed in so many ways, and how God has called us to “do good” with all we have been given.
It’s an exciting weekend for our church as we bless those both locally and globally who are in need.
Jeff
This week we finished reading The Gospel of Mark and have started into the book of Exodus and how God used Moses to deliver the people of Israel out of slavery. As you reflect on the end of the Gospel of Mark and Jesus’ last hours with his disciples, notice how much He speaks about them not falling asleep, both literally and figuratively. Jesus wants His disciples to be ready and looking for what God is doing.
Part of you is eager… but another part is as lazy as an old dog.” if Jesus said this to you , what would you say or do? Mark 14:37-38
What are some areas of your life that you feel eager and attune to what God is doing?
Where are some areas in your life that you have “fallen asleep” or are not letting God have is much say in?
I hope you are enjoying our Heroes series where we are all learning that life can have its challenges, and we can either cower and shrink or stand up and be heroic.
There’s still time to sign up for our winter session of Rooted. It’s a unique and powerful experience I know you won’t want to miss. You can visit the patio this weekend to sign up or go online. So many of you have shared how Mariners Ocean Hills is such a great place and has become your church home. If that’s you and you’re looking for a way to find connection and become more involved at Ocean Hills, Rooted is a great way to do just that. Jump into community with a group of people for 10 weeks, and allow God to draw you into closer relationship with Him and with others.
And one final note this week, our junior high students are away at winter camp, please lift them up in prayer. Pray that God will keep them safe and bless them with a growing relationship.
Blessings,
Jeff
Our Beautiful Mess series is up and running!
You can always catch past messages here. And you can interact with us on Facebook here.
This week, we’ll be talking about the vast majority of our relationships – not the immediate or intimate relationships, but everyone else. How do you relate to the world around you?
There are a few keys from Romans 12 that could change your life, and all your relationships. Honor someone you care about and invite them to join you.
Don’t miss a week of this series. We’ll have different elements each week–art, food, special music, date nights, dancing… you just never know.
Enjoy this 80 degree January day! May God bless you, heal you, and lead toward healthy relationships.
caleb
I’ve already run for dear life straight to the arms of God.
PSALM 11:1 (Day 12 of the Daily Message)
This past weekend we talked about living in the reality of being God’s “dearly loved children.” Most of us understand the idea of being children. We were once kids. Some of us have kids. But, for a lot of us, it seems, we’ve got no real concept of what it means to be “dearly loved.” Consequently, most of how we view what God intends for our relationship with Him centers around our ability to be good, do good, and generally try not to ask for too much. But, that’s not how dearly loved children live.
I had a number of conversations with people after church last weekend (as did the Mariners staff) about this idea. So many of us have broken relationships with our own dads. Because our first and most lasting impression of who God is, stems from the relationship with our own fathers, a lot of us are in need of repair. We’re longing to be understood and heard. We’re longing to live in the reality of being God’s loved children. It turns out, that is the critical component in all of our other relationships. Being deeply loved enables us to deeply love.
It is my prayer that you would know this kind of love. It is my hope that you wouldn’t settle for bland religious moralism. There are far too many people masking deep loneliness in wonderful and admirable veneers of career, beauty, parenting, goodness, and hard work. This week, consider that you are God’s dearly loved child; that in Jesus we don’t have to live as orphans, we can be known and loved the way we were intended to be.
I’m looking forward to this weekend as Doug Fields continues in our series on relationships called Beautiful Mess. Continue to be the great invitational and inclusive community that we are by bringing people who, like us, are a “beautiful mess.”
-Jeff
P.S.: For those of you who were here this past Sunday…
I mailed the picture to my dad.
Who are you? When we look at that question through the lens of culture, we tend to start with what we do, the relationships we have, what we possess, the things we’ve accomplished, how we look…or the places where we fall short of the world’s or our own expectations. That’s why I loved where we started our Beautiful Mess series last week…our identity. Who we are – that we were designed and created by a loving heavenly Father to walk in the fullness of a relationship with Him and one another. I can’t wait to see how this series continues to unfold and the healing that will take place as our lives are reshaped by our Creator.
I’m looking forward to this weekend and all that it holds for our church and community. There are so many opportunities to love the people around us and invite them to see the beauty of the Church on display. The Beautiful Mess series continues. Kenton will be laughing and mocking me as I swim across the lake after our Saturday night service (I can’t believe I lost the bet:), and of course our winter session of Rooted begins next week. If you’ve never been to Rooted or there are folks in your life looking for a place to dive into understanding more about who they are, who God is, and how His story gets lived out through His Church in this world, we’d love to have you join us.
Peace…
kyle
Join us for our new series that explores some of life’s most essential relationships – marriage, sexuality, friendship and parenting – all of which can be wonderfully beautiful and incredibly messy.
Huntington Beach Campus
Sundays: 8:30a, 10a, 11:30
Huntington Beach Central Library
Directions and more info
A new weekend series for high school students.
Check it out:
Sundays, 11a, Student Center Room 1, Irvine Campus
Join us for our new weekend message series starting July 7&8.
Get service times and directions:
Not to worry. We’ve got you covered.
Click here to get caught up on last weekend’s messages.
Continue reading Weekend Wrap-up
