Reading City Church

The Bible is far less clear about Hell than what you may have grown up hearing. Complex and eternal realities cannot be talked about with complete certainty. Instead, we can approach these topics with great humility and trust that God will bring clarity in the end. Today, we're looking at the historic and cultural references that are often translated to "Hell," and what the Bible says Hell is intended for. Ultimately, we have never known a time and place in our entire history without God’s presence. No matter what that looks like in reality, the point is to understand God's grace that surrounds and protects us. God does not desire for anyone to experience this kind of existence without Him.

The focus of darkness in spiritual warfare is to pull us into ourselves and doubt God's love - this happens when we believe lies over the Truth of God. When we choose to live out the words of Jesus to "love others as [He] has loved us," we defeat darkness. There isn't a magic formula, it's simply loving others in the same love that has transformed us. Today, we continue to define how to live out this idea according to scripture and the armor that God has given us.

There can be a disconnect between our daily lives and the internal realities of what the death and resurrection of Jesus did for us. We will all experience difficult times in our lives, but we don't always feel the reality that Jesus has overcome that difficulty. In these seasons, we can find some relevant parallels to what the disciples experienced in the moments immediately after Jesus' death/resurrection. If don’t leave God in the hard and confusing seasons in which it feels like the bottom falls out beneath us, we find God and our faith come alive with new and deeper meaning.

The victory of Jesus doesn't just impact our future, it affects who we are NOW. His suffering and his death and his resurrection was a work that remakes us into people of God whose shame is banished, where death does not have the final word, where we are in deep communion with God again, and where we learn to love others as God has loved us. We often spend our time trying really hard to BE different instead of being transformed by the knowledge that we ARE different, and then choosing to live from the knowledge of that reality.

We're continuing our series about the supernatural themes and ideas of the Bible and what it tells us about God. This week we start to examine the idea of spiritual warfare and what God actually asks us to do. Having a personal doctrine of spiritual warfare in which we feel we must battle Satan is a dangerous game to play. It can often end up putting people exactly where Satan wants them - which is focused on the darkness, or themselves, more than God and others. Ideas about spiritual warfare can seduce us with a list of the right actions and words that are needed to successfully push back darkness and in so doing, it elevates man and method above the work of Christ. Putting on the reality of who we are in Jesus Christ is what eliminates the darkness. Owning this identity prevents lies from taking root in our mind.

We are continuing our study of what the Bible says about Satan, specifically the influence that he has (or doesn't have) on the world. The purpose of this study is to define our true identity in the love and power of God and how we do not need to fear the world or its ruler, no matter what we face. Part of this is acknowledging the ways of the world that are not aligned with the Truth of who God is, but may feel right to us. We humbly ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and show us ways that we are acting with hard hearts or anger instead of the grace and love of Christ.

To many Americans, the idea of Satan seems very archaic and ignorant. The Western world does not accept the existence of evil beings as readily as the idea of angels or other holy beings. We are generally hesitant to label darkness in the world. Recognizing the ways that we've been formed by the world and choosing to turn to God's truth is important and that's what we've focused on a lot in the past few months. Today, we're asking what is behind the "patterns of the world" that goes against the heart of God?

This is the first part of our new series about the supernatural things that are described in the Bible. Our intention for this series is to make our faith big again - to break out of the boxes that we put God into and to embrace wonder again. We're starting with studying what the Bible says about angels: what they do, why they exist, and how they appear. There will be lots of scripture references in these episodes, so please email info@readingcitychurch.com if you would like a full list of what is referenced during this sermon.

We are concluding our short series about women and men in the Church by acknowledging wounds of the past and taking a peek into a potential future of how the Church could operate if we move in grace and understanding - knowing that we won't always get things right. We are after a life-giving vision of women and men side by side, based on the clear heart of God in scripture, made a reality through Jesus. We believe this to be best for a healthy church community and for a more full representation of God to the world.

We are continuing to examine God's heart for men and women in the context of scripture, culture, and our own biases. The filter through which so many view the scriptures is still through an unredeemed lens - one that seems bent on preserving the consequences of sin instead of the new way of redemption, or reconciliation, and trust between men and women. This week, we are specifically looking at the Bible verses that are primarily used in the Church to silence women's voices. We will use historical context and also humbly offer a different understanding of Paul's intention for writing these words and how he wanted the Church to operate.

We're continuing to look at the role and interactions of women and men in the Bible, this week from the perspective of the New Testament. Jesus affirmed women with a depth that is difficult for us to grasp today. He redeemed them, engaged them, elevated them, equipped them with His teachings, and sent them to proclaim His truth. He revealed a kingdom that included men and women, side by side. This is our spiritual reality through Jesus. We are both created in His image. We need both actively fulfilling what God has called us to for the Church to be the Church.

This is the beginning of a short series that is meant to give a larger understanding of God's heart for women and men. This Sunday we're starting with the Old Testament, specifically Genesis to set up God's original design for creating humanity - male and female - in the image of God. We're starting out by recognizing that many of the roles, reactions, guidelines, and other norms that determine how we feel about the difference of the sexes come from a broken place and are shaped by our experiences and culture. We want to do our best to stay humble and lay aside our biases in order to talk about how we can begin to heal the gap that has come between women and men in the church and the world.

Every year we take some intentional time to reflect on the goodness of God in our community and our church. We use this time to talk about the life of the church and the budget, but also to remember what matters most in our relationship with God and each other. This is our last week to hear a short challenge about a topic that is important for your spiritual formation. You'll also hear from a few members of our staff about their experiences with some of these topics. This week we are talking about transformation in our church.

Every year we take some intentional time to reflect on the goodness of God in our community and our church. We use this time to talk about the life of the church and the budget, but also to remember what matters most in our relationship with God and each other. In the next three weeks, you'll hear a short challenge about a topic that is important for your spiritual formation. You'll also hear from a few members of our church family about their testimonies and experiences with some of these topics. This week we are talking about action opportunities at our church.

Every year we take some intentional time to reflect on the goodness of God in our community and our church. We use this time to talk about the life of the church and the budget, but also to remember what matters most in our relationship with God and each other. In the next three weeks, you'll hear a short challenge about a topic that is important for your spiritual formation. You'll also hear from a few members of our church family about their testimonies and experiences with some of these topics. This week we are focusing on the connection and formation opportunities at our church.

We all have 3 versions of ourselves. There's the "Ideal You" which is the you that you usually present to the world. The "Real You" which is the you that you only show to certain trusted family or friends who have earned your trust. There's also a "Real, Real You" which is the you that is eternal. It's the You that was created in the image of God that Jesus created brand new. There are forces that conform us in this life - positively or negatively. In Romans 12:2, Paul is asking us to consider all the ways we have been conformed and then challenges us to be transformed by renewing our minds.

In this Advent season, we are looking at men and women who chose to follow a difficult calling from God and then gifts that came through their obedience. This week, we learn about Simeon and Anna and their "Delayed Gift." There are processes that take place in our times of waiting that grow our character, expand our ability to trust & help us let go of our need to control the outcomes of things. If we can live in a rhythm of surrender to God and continue to listen for His voice, the delayed gifts of God cause beautiful things to happen within us that even prepare us to receive the gifts that we long for, and keep our focus toward Heaven. Can we learn to lean into the spaces between "now" and "not yet?"

During the Advent season, we are looking at the good gifts of God that often show up in surprising ways and we may not consider to be gifts at the time. This week, we are focusing on the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the "unexpected gift." They are faced with acknowledging a hurt they've carried for a long time - the lack of a child - and a miraculous promise. The unexpected gift can come as a shock. It can completely interrupt our processes and cause whole new ways of thinking and being to emerge. And so there is this caution for all of us - that when the unexpected gift shows up, we may choose to hold on to cynicism and dismiss it, rather than to dare to hope and be disappointed again. How do we trust God and learn to hope again?

In anticipation of Christmas, we are opening and examining the very good gifts that Christ gives us, which we may or may not understand. This week, we start with the "unseen gift" and read the stories of Mary and Joseph as they take on a responsibility and gift they never anticipated: birthing and raising the Son of God. Change comes through unseen gifts. Our struggles offer us unseen gifts that call us to step out into the unknown - into what is not comfortable. These gifts teach us how to become our better selves, stretch our capacity and increase our ability to remain at peace. By inviting God into your life, He may disrupt it. Is there a gift in your life that you can now see, which you wouldn't have identified as something redeemable when you were in the midst of it?

We are finishing our segment of scripture for this series by returning to the question of "what matters most?" Jesus addresses a crowd of people who are used to certain responses, religious ways of living, or cultural biases and he challenges how they are observing a situation. His words would have been confusing and difficult for them to accept. In the same way, his words challenge us to reform our thinking. Loving God and loving others is a difficult mandate sometimes, but true love as He intends it requires a new perspective.