We’re moving on to a new section in our study through the book of Genesis. On May 6th we began a series called Jacob’s New Life, walking through Genesis 29-36. These chapters explore the amazing series of events that unfold in Jacob’s life surrounding his marriages, his children, and his ultimate reconciliation with Esau. Nothing about Jacob’s life has been easy or ordinary, but this section of Scripture has much to teach us about God’s sovereignty, love, and forgiveness.

May 6 – Jacob’s New Wives (Genesis 29:1-30), listen or watch

May 13th – Jacob’s New Family (Genesis 29:31-30:24), listen or watch

May 20th – Jacob and Laban Separated (Genesis 30:25-31:55), listen or watch

June 3rd – Jacob and Esau Reunited (Genesis 32-33), listen or watch

June 10th – Jacob Wrestles with God (Genesis 32:22-32), listen or watch

June 17th – The defiling of Dinah (Genesis 34:1-31), listen or watch

June 24th – God Blesses and Renames Jacob (Genesis 35:1-15), listen or watch

This Sunday, January 10, we’re kicking off a new message series walking through the Gospel of Mark. Mark wrote this fast-paced, action-filled account of Jesus life based on the teaching and instruction of the Apostle Peter – and the entire book gives us a great picture of what it means that God’s Kingdom has come. Join us as we worship Jesus as he is revealed in this amazing book.

This Fall, we’re going to be studying the book of Colossians together. In the book, Paul is writing to a new church that is learning what it means to be Christian in the midst of a spiritually diverse culture.

Tackling immensely practical issues like identity, decision making, parenting, marriage, the letter points us back over and over again to one thing: It all comes back to Jesus. Our families, our church, our work – every part of life is changed when God saves us.

Beginning September 13, join us as we discover how being “in Christ” transforms how we see the world.

How will you prepare yourself to meet with God and His people at Kaleo this week?

Below, you’ll find some very practical advice from Dr. John Piper about how we can prepare ourselves:

1. Begin Orienting Your Heart on Saturday Night
Set aside some time Saturday night to begin the orientation onto worship. Turn off the television and set your mind on things that above with the word of God and a time of prayer.

2. Go to Bed Early
Go to bed early enough so that you are fresh and emotionally alive Sunday morning. The price of late night movies or parties on Saturday will be powerless worship Sunday morning.

3. Get Up Early Enough on Sunday
Get up in time Sunday so that you do not have to rush to get to church, but have a little time to be alone with God and ask his blessing on you and your family and on the church. I can almost promise you that your depth of communion with God in the service will be directly proportionate to the way you have sought the Lord for his blessing Saturday night and Sunday morning. This will take some discipline and some planning. But you will probably never turn back once you taste the fruit.

4. Begin Seeking God as Soon as You Enter
When you come into the sanctuary, begin to seek the Lord. That means that by and large there will be a holy hush across the sanctuary. But it will be a very different kind of stillness than the awkward silence before an event where you want everyone to mill around and talk and nobody is. There is a world of difference. And the difference will be made and felt by whether many of you are really going hard after God, or just politely waiting for the service to begin. You will make the difference in those minutes as to whether a visitor senses cool distance or the reality of God. The very point of those moments of going hard after God is that this room will be filled with the power of God. The goal of those moments is not that people will be impressed with us—either our piety or our friendliness—but that they will fall on their face and say, “God is in this place.” And that will only happen if people are taken up with God.

If you want your friendship to go deep with someone, I invite you to make an experiment. As you enter the sanctuary talking, try saying this: “Let’s finish this discussion after the service. I think the pastor needs our prayers. Let’s do battle for him.” My wager is; that camaraderie in the warfare of prayer will take your friendship deeper than another five minutes of conversation.

5. Become the Actor in Worship
Finally, before every act of worship, whether a hymn or a reading or a prayer or an anthem or a moment of silence or a sermon, say to Lord, “Lord, I come. I come to sing to you. I come to pray to you. I come to listen to your Word. I come to enjoy your presence.” Don’t drift through the service as though the action is on the platform. Become the actor. The greatest action in worship is when a heart that is far from the Lord draws near to the Lord, and focuses on him and desires him and trusts him and enjoys him.

Kaleo, let’s really think about this and put it into practice. Let’s not enter worship haphazardly, but instead give it the priority and attention it deserves. The comments are open – leave a some feedback as to how you do (or are going to) get your mind and heart ready for worship each week…

This Sunday we’re kicking off a 6 week message series called “Untamed” – looking at the first six chapters of the book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends were taken to live as exiles in the land of Babylon and were faced with the same challenge we are today: How do we live a life that is honoring to God in a culture that doesn’t share our faith? How do we live a life that is untamed by the diverse religions, values, and worldviews that surround us? It’s going to be a very practical series – you won’t want to miss a week. This week we’ll be covering the first chapter of Daniel.

Be sure to go get the latest message audio!  For the past two weeks, Jake Umbriaco has brought us some great teaching out of the book of Psalms.  Jake is a great Bible teacher, and did a fantastic job bringing Jesus to the forefront in this short series.