Sanctuary @ MPPC

Abby McHugh on 2013-11-03 : Why Does the Bible Say That? / Why Does the Bible Say That About Violence? In the Old Testament God commands Israel to wipe out entire nations, killing men, women and children. Oftentimes within the church we simply ignore the existence of these difficult stories, choosing instead to focus on God�s love and kindness. How do we reconcile these two seemingly contradictory aspects of God�s character? How does Jesus� life and teaching inform how we think about the Old Testament?

Scott Scruggs on 2013-10-27 : Why Does the Bible Say That? / How Does the Bible Tell Us to Read the Bible Everyone has an opinion about the Bible. Some think it's historically unreliable; others that it's basically irrelevant. Others say it's God's Word without error or inconsistency. And more and more people simply aren't sure what to think. So how does the Bible tell us to read the Bible?

Abby McHugh on 2013-10-13 : When God Calls / Call to the Wild The Bible is full of stories where God calls people to do remarkable and spectacular things. But there is another sort of calling we see in scripture - it�s a call to the wild; a call to the place of uncertainty and discomfort. God extends this call to each of us, and it�s a calling we can�t risk missing.

Scott Scruggs on 2013-10-06 : When God Calls / Here's How You Know Faith is not a superstitious formula by which we try to gain God's favor by more religious activity or better behavior. Faith is the willingness to respond when God calls. But how do you know when God is calling?

Scott Scruggs on 2013-09-29 : When God Calls / You Won't Feel Ready God doesn't call people on their own terms or timetable. That means you won't feel ready. But God is not asking you to put your faith in your readiness; He's asking you express your faith through your willingness.

Scott Scruggs on 2013-09-22 : Forget You / Less Take, More Give Churches talk a lot about what Christ-followers should say or believe. But what are we supposed to do? How does faith change how we actually live?

Abby McHugh on 2013-09-15 : Forget You / Less Me, More We We are people made to live in relationship and community with one another. Yet too often we attempt to do life alone, convinced that vulnerability with others is a sign of personal weakness, or worse, personal failure. Yet the story of God's redemption makes one thing absolutely clear: we were created for community and only in community do we really find ourselves.

Scott Scruggs on 2013-09-08 : Forget You / Less You, More Him Jesus says there is one primary difference between having a lesser life and a greater one. More of Him and less of you. But what does this actually mean? And more importantly, is it even possible to live this out?

Scott Dudley on 2013-08-11 : Wasted / Don't Waste Your Faith Much of what we think of as 'faith' is actually just religious activity, moralism, and even superstition. But a relationship with Jesus is radically different from religiosity--and it's profoundly better.

Mark Scandrette on 2013-08-04 : Wasted / Don't Waste Your Money We all spend our time and money chasing our dreams in search of the good life. But often, we find ourselves exhausted, deeply in debt and spiritually empty. Jesus made some curious connections between money management and the riches of His kingdom, and part of living the full life He designed us for is to learn to align our resources with our deepest values and passions.

Nancy Ortberg on 2013-07-28 : Wasted / Don't Waste Your Pain When we think about the abundant life that God created us for, "pain" seems like something to avoid or minimize rather than embrace. Ironically, it may be the deepest and most profound way to experience joy, gratitude, transformation and God.

Abby McHugh on 2013-07-21 : Wasted / Don't Waste Your Time In this part of the world we are masters of efficiency. We understand that time well spent equates to progress�success�a promotion. Yet despite our efforts at efficiency, many of us live with a sense that we will never have enough time. Jesus clarifies our real problem is not time management, but purpose. Only when we discover our rightful purpose can we live the life we were created for and stop wasting our time.

Scott Scruggs on 2013-07-14 : Wasted / Don't Waste Your Life The good news is Jesus wants you to have a joy-filled life that is significant and satisfying. The bad news is that we are consistently and often painfully misguided in how we pursue that. Which is why we need to hear what Jesus has to say about how to experience abundant living with no regrets.

Patti Pierce on 2013-06-30 : Elijah / Hide and Seek Do you ever feel discouraged in life? Elijah did too. So what does God do when fear or doubt gets the best of us?

Kevin Kim on 2013-06-23 : Elijah / Battle of the Gods The story of Elijah on Mt Carmel reminds us that God is living and active. Like Elijah and the prophets of Baal, each of us makes decisions every day about who we will serve and follow. Who will you follow?