Lake Tapps Christian Church

Lake Tapps Christian Church

There is an epidemic in our students lives with bullying, depression, self-harm & suicide. Experts say it comes from our student's sense of feeling invisible or ignored. As adults we can keep our relationships with students shallow and on the surface. Or we can go deep. When it comes to relationships I like another word better than deep. What if we said the opposite of shallow is personal? Check this out.

Preschool Director Lindsey Ecklund brings us a message about faith that brings others before Jesus. Mark 2:1-12

When you think about Power-UP in a video game, it's better but it's temporary. Usually the improvement lasts for a few seconds. Last we learned that impact doesn't have to be forever to be influential. It's good to know that a little can go a long way. Still, wouldn't it be nice to make an impact for our lifetime? Today we take another lesson from Josiah about how to be consistent with our faith.

When you think about Power-Up in a video game, it's better but it's temporary. Usually the improvement lasts for only a few seconds. Sometimes when we think about improving our lives we want to make a life long impact. We tell ourselves if it doesn't last, it's not worth it. It sort of sounds right until we think about it. Josiah helps us realize that impacts don't have to be forever to be influential, you can make a big difference even with a short impact. Check this out.

At Mt. Sinai, God gives the Isrealites a new identity, rules and practices for life. But they're not meant to stay there - and neither are we. We are meant for the fullness of life that only comes when we head out into the wilderness, the unknown, the wild.

Like the Isrealites in the book of Exodus, we find ourselves trapped, enslaved, and imprisioned by our addictions and our dependencies. Today we start a ourney into the wilderness to find ourselves again, and to find the God who named us His.

One thing I know for sure, it doesn't matter if you're churched or unchurched. It doesn't matter if you describe yourself as a Jesus follower or un-religious. This fact remains--if you're gay or transgender it is rare to experience God's love from conservative Christians. It's why we're going out with this message of hope and love: "No one is far from God." Jesus modeled this truth, leaders of Jesus' church taught this truth, and we're committing to living this truth.

Gender orientation touches on a painful nerve in our culture. With grace, love, gentleness and compassion we talk through gender, sex, transgender and intersex. The good news is that while many feel that in order to have a healthy relationship with God our bodies must become secondary, devaluing our physical nature and emphasizing our mind, soul and spirit. Today we see that God wants all of us, our bodies are central, beautiful and of great value to God.

There are a handful of key passages that help us understand God's intention for same sex attraction. To be honest, it takes careful work to navigate the original Greek and Hebrew languages, it's why we're spending the day talking about it. One thing to keep in mind, while beliefs are essential, how we treat each other is even more impactful. I offend others more with my behavior than with my belief.

One story is of human beings coming about by chance. No creator means no creation means no design means no purpose. Male and female is just plumbing. Gender is a social construct developed out of oppression, sex is just play for grown-ups. Don't tell me what to do with my body. Ironically, we have more guidelines for food, freely admitting that what you eat matters and impacts your health. Sex has somehow been given complete freedom. What if there's a better story?

High School graduation is an exciting time. If you were heading into a big transition in your life what would you 'pack in your bags' to prepare for the adventure that lies ahead? Today we jump into the story of a young man named Timothy who is also preparing for a big transition. He knows where he's from and he knows where he's going, but there is one thing even more useful than that. Check this out.

After spending three weeks talking about the traps and dangers of a crazy busy life we're finishing with a sobering truth. A life that cares for others is going to be, at times, crazy busy. I don't want you to get the idea that living in the way of Jesus means taking a pass on difficult requests, or living for leisure, or throwing a 'me' party. If you hit some turbulence in your schedule, if there's interruptions to your time off, if a difficult text disturbs your work day, don't let it catch you off guard. Today we learn that caring for people, loving people, serving people will have moments of crazy busy. It's OK. Check this out.

Today Jesus give us a big invitation. It's for everyone who feels beat down with heavy burdens. I wonder what he's going to offer us? Here's a clue, it's not new. It seems like everyone wants to sell us something 'new', Jesus offers us something we already know about but overlook. You might guess Jesus will ask us to sacrifice more, after all nothing good comes easy. Or maybe he'll challenge us to be more passionate and committed. The good news is that Jesus sees us all tired and worn out and he promises a life of rest. Maybe you're ready to give it a shot.

It's happening, Jesus is just off-shore teaching from a boat because his life is so crowded with people. Just when we think that the crowded crazy busy life is a part of what Jesus is all about, he redirects our thoughts. It turns out that the busy spiritual life has everything we want except for spiritual fruit. Which means we're missing the one thing that means everything.

We're starting off our Crazy Busy series by studying the story where Jesus goes viral. He's spent thirty quiet years on this planet, his ministry has recently begun and then this happens. There's crowds all over the place, disciples are scrambling and Jesus gives us a heads up on how to handle busy. One thing for sure, we have busy lives and that's not going to change much. But, today we take a lesson on how Jesus keeps busy from being crazy busy. Check this out.

When the Pharisees ask why Jesus eats with "tax collectors and sinners", his answer touches on who's in, who's out, and how human beings have made sense of their relationship with the divine for thousands of years. He's doing a whole new thing, and it might not be the 'thing' you thought it was

Revolutions are times of total and radical change, all required money, power and military force. Maybe that's why Peter does what he does with the sword. Even though he's heard Jesus teach about retaliation--that instead of eye for an eye, we are to turn the other cheek; instead of cursing our enemies we are to love them; instead of lording authority over others we are to serve them. In taking his final stand for Jesus, Peter swings the sword. Today we discover what it looks to show our allegiance to Jesus.

One of the most common objections to Christianity is that it's escapist. It's a way for people to console themselves from facing the painful and ultimately meaningless reality of this life. Escapists have a point, if the resurrection is only about the next life, the after-life then we are guilty of avoiding, sidestepping, and wishful thinking. What we find today is that the early disciples weren't excited about the changes in their next life or after-life, they were claiming that "It changes my life" the here and now life. After the death of Jesus, in the course of three hundred years, the movement exploded through out the Roman Empire.

We're used to revolutions, actually what we're used to is people telling us they are doing something revolutionary. What really happens is that their idea is put into motion because they have the most money, power or military force. We're used to new ideas, we're not used to revolutionary ideas. It's one reason why Jesus is still on our radar 2,000 years later. He did something new and he did it in a revolutionary way. Today we study the revolutionary way of substitutionary sacrifice--I'll take your place, I'll pay the price.