Watch/Listen
Topic: Free Will
Destination: Known
We are meant to live with meaning, but our world seems to offer meanings that ultimately fail to measure up to their promises. Jesus came into the world to give us meaning, the kind of meaning that can only be found from knowing the destination of the journey of life.
Inspired Imperfection
In this first installment of a 2-part series centering around Greg’s new Inspired Imperfection book we look at what it means for scripture to be “God breathed.” Additionally, we explore to the potential consequences of keeping or removing the bible as an authoritative source in the life of a follower of Jesus. Greg makes the case that far from detracting … Read More
Return to Innocence
This weekend we continue our study of how attachment theory can be used as a descriptive tool for our connections in relationships with others as well as how we connect with God. How we have connected with others, both positively and negatively, is usually a good approximation for how we think of and connect with God. Some of this appears … Read More
Inside-Out Encouragement.
In this fourth installment in our Take Heart series we explore what it means to be encouraged in our ability to build skills and competence in the areas God has entrusted to us. Discouragement can come externally from factors outside of our control that can be overwhelming, but it can also come from feelings and patterns of passiveness within that … Read More
Bad Elephant
In the third installment of our Crux of the Matter series where we’re looking at how to have difficult conversations with those we disagree with, Greg furthers the discussion of the relationship between our conscious reasoning and our subconscious feelings and emotional based instincts. Although we like to think of ourselves as rational logic driven decision makers, research continues to … Read More
It’s All About Say-So
In today’s sermon, Greg tackles questions about spiritual warfare and how it related to the nature of God, relationships, and free will.
Fog of War
There is a very common understanding in many Christian circles that everything happens for a reason, we can’t understand what comes to pass because God’s ways are higher than our ways, and ultimately every single act, no matter how consistent or inconsistent with the God revealed in Jesus, is a direct result of the power, control, & sovereignty of God. … Read More
Facing The Grim Reaper
In our new series entitled ‘Non-Perishable’ we start by exploring why death is such a foreign concept in our culture, and why having a proper perspective on it is so important for our theology and life in the present age. Confusing the works of Satan with the works of God can have tragic consequences to our worldview and interpretations of … Read More
Why We Can’t Know Why
This week in our Moving Pictures series we explore the film ‘The Adjustment Bureau’ to better understand the complexities of a world with free will. Every decision we make unfolds massive ripple effects, making it almost impossible to know why things happen as they do. Our hope in the midst of this beautifully complex world is found in God who is infinitely smarter than we can ever understand. Read More
Fatal Illusion
This is our first week of the new sermon series, Moving Pictures. In this series we will look at different movies that show a particular theology. This week we were entertained with the film, Bruce Almighty, a film which highlights the question of free-will. Greg takes us through the illusion of fatalism. The foundation of fatalism (also understood as determinism and/or Calvinism) suggests the world and all its happenings are determined. All that unfolds, including all suffering, is a result of fate, a pre-determined destiny of events established by God. But, there is a different way of understanding the world and God’s relationship to the created order. God created a world with free-will; where humans have the capacity to freely choose life or choose death. God is a relational God and longs for relationship with humans who freely choose love. With the free-will understanding of the created order we discover God is not the author of all that unfolds in the world, but that humans play an integral role in what comes to pass.
