Vine Worship at Kingwood Methodist

Prayer is a so important to us as believers, but we often asses the effectiveness of our prayer life on the short-term "success" of our prayer life. However, how does Paul frame prayer? What does a vibrant prayer life look like by biblical standards?

When we go to church, we go to experience the presence of Jesus, and then we are released to go serve others! While service certainly still means serving on Worship Team, Kid's Sunday school, ushers, ect. In this time of Covid, it looks differently. How are you still responding to God's love through service?

How often are you fully present with Jesus? Not just "fitting it in" to your schedule, but how often are you fitting your world around spending time being fully present with Jesus?

God's prevenient grace is a mind-bending concept for us as Christians. When we were born as infants, running through our wild years, and through the rest of our story, God's grace pursues us and calls us to himself. As we remember our baptism today, we realize that Baptism is equally initiated by us, and by God. And that in baptism, we show the world who we are, and more importantly, WHO'S we are. 

When was the last time that you did something for the gospel that made other people nervous? As we look at the Magi, we realize that following the star was not just a nice moment for them, but a risk taken that we talk about thousands of years after. What star/what dream is calling calling you to follow? How are you stepping out in faith today to follow God's call on your life?

Today we explore what the OT has to tell us about how we respond to the arrival of Jesus in the NT. How is the incarnation of Christ calling you to change?

Have you ever been left somewhere? Have you ever been forgotten? Many of us may have never physically been left by a parent or care giver, but we have all experienced times where it's felt like we are fighting through life on our own. In our final week of Advent, we talk about God's love that never leaves us, and always fights for us. 

Joy isn't a little better, or a bit of pep, it's a full overhaul of our perspective as believers! It's a complete swap of striving for a better/happier existence, to a life of joy anchored in right standing with Jesus. 

Today, we are talking about peace. Peace is more than just an arbitrary "inner calm," or a "good vibe." Biblical peace is a life fully in balance. However the place that we can gain this peace is not in a meditation schedule or a breathing routine, but by asking the Lord to release peace over our life! Peace does a new thing in our soul that we can't conjure up on our own. 

In the natural world, when there is a vacuum, it is filled by its surroundings. As we take this illustration into account, two questions appear, Are you creating space in your life to fill it with the Hope of Christ? And, How faithful have we been to the idea that we are God's chosen people, filled with hope through joyful obedience? May we be filled with the hope of Christ!