Canyon Ridge Christian Church Podcast

What does home mean to you? Home is where your stuff is, where you rest, where your people are, and where you can be you. Home is where the big and mundane moments happen, from milestone celebrations to daily chores. For spiritual life, sometimes it feels like a vacation rental. You like visiting once in a while, and when you do, you have meaningful experiences. But, when you're ready to head back to your real lives, you pack up and head out until next time.Take a moment to reflect: is life with God more like a home you've lived in for years or a vacation rental you visit for a few days every once in a while? The difference between a vacation rental and a home is how long you stay. There is a way to be at home with God, where he is the one you always return to, rest with, and root deeply in. For a place (or person) to become home, you need a plan to stay. Watch the message to discover your plan to stay!

Life is full of opportunities and challenges, and everyone wants the strength to meet both with unwavering confidence. With a checklist of goals and hopes for the new year, the things that get unaccounted for are often unexpected turns along the way. How can you be sure that when those come your way, you'll remain strong in who you are? God invites you to rely on his strength with his people, and as you do, you'll find yourself stronger than ever together!This week, spend time reading Ephesians, watching for God's character and his invitation to you. Pray this passage for and with those you love! What you do daily, weekly, often, and repeatedly starting now will position and prepare you to be confident in whatever comes your way.

At this point, it's highly likely you've rung in the new year and written down some new year's resolutions multiple times now. And by now, you're probably accustomed to cultural cliches like "new year, new me" or the sarcastic commitments to resolutions that you expect to fizzle out by February. So, maybe it's worth pausing to be intentionally curious so you may step into the new year with resolution of who you are becoming, rather than resolutions of what you are expecting. In the opportunity of a fresh start and a new beginning, look back, look around, and look ahead at what God is inviting you into. In Matthew 11:29-30 (Message), Jesus says, "Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Watch the message for 3 key invitations to reshape your resolutions in this Scripture! 

You know how at every family reunion is the infamous kids' table? And maybe you have a memory of finally getting old enough to sit at the adult table only to remain at the kids' table for another year. Here's the thing, though - it's the kids' table that always seems to have an extra seat. If your life was a table, who gets a seat? When you look at the life of Jesus, you can see two groups: those who made room for him and those who did not.From the beginning and throughout his life, Jesus was well-acquainted with vulnerability and rejection. It would be the busy, self-righteous, and religious who had little to no space, and at the societal kids' table of the 1st century where Jesus often found space: the sick, the widows, the prostitute. But what is even more remarkable than where Jesus sat down is what happened when he did: the marginalized found themselves included, the helpless and avoided were seen and supported, the grieved comforted, and the sick healed. The people who made space had never been more glad they did. Jesus worked where he was welcome. What first feels like an invitation to Jesus quickly becomes an invitation from Jesus.If your life is a table, does Jesus have a seat, and if so, what do you find transforming in your life and the lives around you?

Have you ever had a costly meal? How do you define costly? Perhaps costly is different for everyone. But, everyone can take a costly step in pursuit of living hospitably in such a way that points to the unreasonable hospitality of Jesus.The Gospel story is a story of unreasonable hospitality - that God would send his beloved son to an inhospitable earth to make space for all people to come alive in him. His unreasonableness on earth and his costliness on the cross changed the world. Take time this week to recount the ways Jesus has made space for you, as he did once at a dinner party for the Pharisee and the immoral woman as seen in Luke 7. How will God's hospitality towards you move you to live hospitably toward others?

Today's culture is where moving faster means getting more done, where busy is a badge of honor, and an internal sense of speed keeps people running without taking a breath. Can you relate? In a season of holidays and festivities, on top of the normal day-to-day run of errands and kid drop-offs and work and school, the pace is not the first thing most people think of adjusting. This is what makes it easy to hear "hospitality" as an essential way of life with Jesus and head nod, but immediately become distracted.Hospitality encapsulates this journey from stranger to friend to family. And, because it's a journey, hospitality doesn't happen in a hurry. That's why pace is not only practical but also purposeful. Look through 3 stories of hospitality in the Gospel of Luke and see what God has to say about unhurried presence as hospitality. Are you living at a pace that matches your purpose?

Hospitality is all about food…until it isn’t. Hospitality is shared space, welcoming people to come as they are in a tangible, experiential way. Jesus demonstrated this in both offering and receiving hospitality for all people. Luke 19:1-10 is a story about hospitality between Jesus and a man named Zacchaeus, which allowed for a man who was lost in the ways of the world to be found in the truth of Jesus. So, hospitality is all about food until it isn’t…and it becomes so much more in the presence and with the power of Jesus. Hospitality is physical, emotional, and spiritual space. This week, take some time to reflect on how Jesus has welcomed you to come as you are. How might you create space for people to come as they are?

How do you become a person who...looks back, looks around, and looks ahead at who God was, is, and will always be? By embodying what you have been taught, keeping at it, staying the course, and walking daily. Look at Jesus. The most compelling thing about Jesus is not only his remarkable teaching, but that his life was a testimony of his teaching. In other words, he taught with his life. When you spend time with Jesus and with the people who live the patterned life of Jesus, you begin to do the things he did with the support of others. And then, you become the person who models the life and way of Jesus to the people around you! Read 1 Timothy 4:6-16 in the Message version. What do you discover about Jesus and his way? What do you discover about people in general? This Scripture helps to understand what it means to become a people who stay the course. Examine your life. What intentional, regular rhythms do you have, whether in daily time with God and intentional time with his people, regular rhythms and spiritual habits? Keep at it. Remember, practice makes permanent. What daily step with the Spirit will you take in staying the course, becoming a person who trains, practices, and embodies the goodness and truth of God with your life?

How do you become a person who...looks back, looks around, and looks ahead at who God was, is, and will always be? By embodying what you have been taught, keeping at it, staying the course, and walking daily. Look at Jesus. The most compelling thing about Jesus is not only his remarkable teaching, but that his life was a testimony of his teaching. In other words, he taught with his life. When you spend time with Jesus and with the people who live the patterned life of Jesus, you begin to do the things he did with the support of others. And then, you become the person who models the life and way of Jesus to the people around you! Read 1 Timothy 4:6-16 in the Message version. What do you discover about Jesus and his way? What do you discover about people in general? This Scripture helps to understand what it means to become a people who stay the course. Examine your life. What intentional, regular rhythms do you have, whether in daily time with God and intentional time with his people, regular rhythms and spiritual habits? Keep at it. Remember, practice makes permanent. What daily step with the Spirit will you take in staying the course, becoming a person who trains, practices, and embodies the goodness and truth of God with your life?

God always has more in mind for you! Where you've been and are now isn't all there is. Followers of Jesus want to become people who step confidently into all that God has ahead. In other words, people who try. But trying will feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and risky. Think back on the moments when you experienced progress or growth - those shaping moments were probably challenging! God will lead you into things where your response to him will be all the difference. How you become who you want to become is by a posture of responsiveness to God. Responding to what God says is putting his Word into practice and living with him in his ways. This is more about who you're becoming in trying.Whether it's starting a prayer team, reaching out to your faces and places, joining or starting a group, encouraging someone, or trying a Discover Bible Study (DBS) together, who are you trying with the support of others? The world doesn't need more people who know a lot about Jesus but don't do anything with it. The world needs people who are responsive to Jesus and, who try to live faithfully every day. So, what is Jesus saying to you and what are you going to try in response?