Sunday, June 6, 2021
Randy teaches through the second of our three part series on 2 Peter. Find audio for our weekly messages on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and sermon notes here on YouVersion.
Family Day June 13
Join us on June 13 for an all family service with fun worship for our kids!
Note: We will be meeting at IHOPU, Room 105 for that Sunday only as The Culture House space is not available. The next week, we will be right back at The Culture House. This is a one week shift only.
Join us at 10:30am in room 105 at IHOPU (map here), at the intersection of Main and Highway 71 in Grandview!
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Randy started a three part series on 2 Peter.
You can find the audio on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and sermon notes here.
Sunday, May 9th
What’s the difference between giving to missions and being a missions sending church? Randy tackled that this Sunday, as well as interviewing Steve & Kristen Hickey and Daniel and Karla Grenz about their missions efforts.
Sunday, May 2, 2021
Randy taught on the power of transformation - what part is God’s doing, and what part is ours?
Audio version available on SPOTIFY or APPLE PODCAST
Bible Study Helps
With so many resources being put online, it has never been easier for us to read the Word and read what others have written about it.
Here are four of my favorite online resources and why.
The Bible app
It should go without saying, but the best place to start studying the Bible is with the Bible itself. The Bible App by YouVersion, available for iOS, Android, or the web is the most convenient place to read online.
Make sure and sign up for an account. It’s free, and it syncs your notes and progress - if you use your phone to read the Bible at the park, then log in on your computer, all your stuff is there!
Consider one of their many reading plans. They have kept me on track for many years.
Explore reading in different versions! Some times an old, familiar passage looks a little different when reworded.
Enduring Word Commentary
Have you ever felt like a theologian was going out of his way to make things complicated? This commentary, written by Pastor David Guzik of Calvary Chapel in Santa Barbara, California, is an excellent commentary for starting out. Written by a pastoral perspective, it brings people along into the study in a way most commentaries don’t.
When you’ve read a passage in The Bible App, go over to this commentary to get Pastor Guzik’s thoughts. He brings in a lots of context in an easy to read way.
Bible Gateway
While the first two resources are valued for their simplicity, the Bible Gateway site offers a greater variety of things but has a somewhat clunky interface. What is listed here is by no means all they offer but will serve as a quick way to find these specific things.
They also offer a paid service with more bells and whistles, but there is a lot available for free.
Revelation Commentary
While the Enduring Word is a great overview of scripture, Revelation Commentary contains in-depth thoughts on the last book of the Bible. While it is compiled from four contributors, it largely contains reflections from Robert Van Kampen, who’s excellent book, The Sign, lays out an excellent overview of the end times.
Van Campen’s book can be found here on Amazon, but his commentary is all online for free.
Palm Sunday
Randy teaches about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and why it was so rattling to those in power.
If you’d prefer audio, you can find it on SPOTIFY and APPLE PODCASTS.
21 Day Fast Focus
The Bridge is fasting April 5-25. You can participate no matter where you are!
A focused fast can bring clarity and purpose. An unfocused fast is discouraging!
It’s good to focus on several levels. Let’s face it - sometimes we need to pray for ourselves! And we also need to set our sights higher to pray for others and the work of God on a global scale.
Personal: Ask for a Unique Tenderness before the Lord.
Life is hard and it makes us hard. Fasting can soften our hearts to respond to Him in ways we may not have when doing business as usual. Use these 21 days to ask Him to give you a tender heart and unusual perception of His voice.
The Bridge: Pray for God’s direction to be revealed.
Pray for a depth of community that exceeds anything we’ve ever experienced. Pray for ministry opportunities that we have yet to have perceived, and for leaders to rise up in those areas. Pray that we impact our world with the good news of Jesus.
Global: The Revelation of Jesus to Jews.
Recently, Lou Engle as he shared his thoughts on the story of Ruth, a gentile woman who pledged her devotion to her Jewish mother in law. Ruth knew that her future was knit to this Jewish woman. She followed her back to the land of her people..
After studying the book, Lou felt the Lord spoke to him and said, “When Ruth begins to glean in Israel’s field by praying for her salvation, then she will begin to reap the full gentile harvest blessings of the kinsman redeemer in the line of Boaz, Yeshua, the Messiah himself.”
Ruth’s pledge, “Your people shall be my people, your God shall be my God”, stands as a call for the modern Gentile church to cry out in prayer for the salvation of God’s chosen people, the Jews, knowing that seeing the salvation of the Jews, we will also hasten the day of the Lord
Join us in person for worship, prayer and sharing!
Join us at Joel Richardson's studio at 13162 State Line Road at 7pm on Tuesdays and Fridays during the fast.
It’s located in the Village of Seville shopping center, just next to The Breakfast Spot restaurant.
We will also make it available via zoom for those who can't get there in person.
If you missed the recent messages on fasting, you can find them here:
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Part two of Randy’s teaching on fasting.
Looking for audio? You can find it here on SPOTIFY or APPLE PODCASTS.
Also, the informative fasting videos from Dr Vaughn Lawrence can be found here.
Sunday, March 14, 2021
This week, Randy started a two week series on the value of fasting in the life of a believer. Video is below, and audio can be found on SPOTIFY or APPLE PODCASTS.
Sunday, March 7, 2021
The place and time of receiving a promise is as holy as the place of fulfillment.
As we reach the one year mark of the initial gathering that became The Bridge, Randy talks about markers in progress and the promise of God.
If you’d prefer audio, Randy taught an abbreviated version of this in podcast format. You can find it on SPOTIFY or APPLE PODCASTS
Milestones Matter
Sometimes, you start the most epic journey unaware. That seems to be what has happened to us.
Next Tuesday will mark the passing of a year since I typed out an email and sent it to a handful of friends. It said…
“Because we are hungry to hear God's voice, and because the days we are living in demand a deeper understanding of His ways, we would like to invite you to join us…”
We were not even sure what we were inviting you into. At the time, we were looking to fast and pray for direction and an increased sense of community. We told each other, “Let’s do this for forty days.”
Our first meeting was a little bigger than I expected, but it was so good to see one another again. Our second meeting was moved to a larger spot, and a few more gathered.
Then Covid swirled around us, and we all had to figure out how to use Zoom. We met to pray, to process, to talk, and trade tips on where we could find toilet paper. Those early days of the pandemic were vital - we came to understand that we really needed one another.
At the end of the forty days, we looked around and realized we liked each other, so we tried another forty days. Eventually, we began to hear a word the Lord was speaking to many of us.
Church.
Maybe not like we’ve always known.
Maybe for a time like we’ve never known.
Now, a year later, it feels like we’re coming out from underneath the Covid cloud, to some extent, and we find ourselves still gathering, still believing, still hungry to hear God and have a deeper understanding of what He is saying.
The thing that called us together has kept us together.
This weekend, I’m going to talk about milestones and the past year….what we didn’t know, what we did know, and what we’ve learned along the way.
You’re an important part of The Bridge and we are excited about going forward alongside you.
We look forward to seeing you Sunday morning on Zoom!
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Randy teaches on the levels of obedience that we are called to as believers.
Audio available on SPOTIFY or APPLE PODCASTS
Resurrection Roadshow
Midweeks are fun with The Bridge! Join Steve Hickey as he teaches through the journeys in Acts online at 7pm Central.
Sunday, February 14, 2020
This is an extended Sunday rewind - with further thoughts from Daniel Grenz below the video.
On Sunday, I shared a buffet of practical application for how to apply the lessons from Joseph’s life. I mentioned fasting weekly, praying in tongues daily, and gathering with others for small group community and accountability Email me if you’d like more information on accountability groups or anything else I shared!
While calling us to those things, I want to focus in on sharing more around building lives in the Word and growing mentoring relationships.
Life in the Word
In days of spiritual drought and waywardness, God’s solution is to bring us back to the foundation of knowing Him. To know Him, we first and most look to the written Word. I’ve heard it said that the Bible is the transcription of the very soul of God. While most of us have read the Bible for years, I am convinced that we will never graduate from having a focused, intentional reach for knowing and encountering God through the Bible. While the first step is to schedule a dedicated time to read the Word, even then it is all too easy to fall into a “Bible roulette” approach of opening our Bibles and reading in random locations day by day. Here are a few ways you can engage in a more focused, intentional way with the Bible:
1) Read-Through the Bible: To get a picture of the whole of Scripture, it is valuable to read through the Bible front to back. Whether it be a 30-day plan or a 2-year plan, there are many options for doing this. Grab a friend or do this as a family! Check out specific reading plans here!
2) Book Study – Rather than going for breadth, this method goes for depth in one book. By choosing a book of the Bible to lock into for a period of time, several months or even a year, you will find yourself understanding not only the content, but the heart of the message (and the heart of God) at a deeper level.
3) Topical Reading – If you find yourself wanting to study a specific focus, such as the mercy of God, the Old Testament Covenants or the work of the Spirit, topical reading and study is a great way to dig into a specific focus.
Regardless of which approach you take, commit to a focused, scheduled time where you ask God the Spirit to open the Bible and teach you God the Word.
Pray daily for “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus” (Ephesians 1:17) to fill the storehouse of your heart. As you are reading, take note when a phrase or verse sticks out, sit on it for a moment and turn that into conversation with God.
I’ve found that questions also help facilitate this conversation:
· What did this mean to those it was first written for?
· What does this show me about who God is?
· Who am I in light of this?
· What is this calling me to think, say, do?
These questions become the doorway into revelation and encounter with God. Journal insight and key ideas that He highlights, along with questions you have, as all of these will bring greater continuity in the day-to-day journey into knowing God through the Word.
Set a time. Choose a plan. Share it with a friend.
Mentoring
One of my favorite promises for what the Church will look like before Jesus returns is found in Jeremiah 3:15: “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.”
At The Bridge, we are striving to find ourselves as part of the company of those shepherds. One of the main callings and defining assignments upon us as a church is to give our time, energy, experience and strength to the next generation in such a way that they are empowered to love God wholeheartedly and touch nations with revival.
Because we all appreciate a concise call to action, here it is:
·Ask God to highlight one person for you to mentor.
Approach them and express your heart for them and desire to intentionally encourage them in their growth in Jesus.
Set a time and place to meet (I would recommend starting with bi-monthly meetings).
Buy them a coffee - or cookie if they prefer.
Take time at the beginning to share your story and create relational equity.
Invite them to share their story.
Ask them what they want to grow in.
Seek the Lord for wisdom on how to support them in this journey.
You have a spiritual inheritance, whether deposits have been made for two months or two decades.
That deposit is worth more than gold for others on their journey. Move beyond the apprehension, the scheduling challenge, and the awkwardness of initiating the relationship and find someone around you to sow into, serve and bless.
And while you’re at it, find someone who can come alongside you as a mentor/encouragement. We believe so much in this that we will be offering more training and resourcing on mentoring for those who are interested!
Click the button below to contact Daniel with more questions or suggestions.
When Nothing Moves
Do you ever look around and think, "This just cannot continue..…”….and then, six weeks later, you realize that nothing has changed, including you? Sometimes, even our relationship with the Lord refuses to budge. We need more than a good quiet time - we need a personal revival.
One thing required for major life change - physical or spiritual - is the crystallization of discontent. It occurs when the hunger for change exceeds the expectation of comfort or ease.
I first heard this phrase used by Jon Tyson. Jon pastors Church of the City in New York City. He’s Australian by birth, gifted by God, and hungry by choice. A few years ago he took his family on what they dubbed a “revival tour”, visiting the places on the earth where revival had broken out in history. The crystallization of discontent in his own life led him to hunger for God more than ever.
Please take some time and listen to Jon tell the story as he shares at our friend, Phil Manginelli’s church in the Atlanta area. I’ve shared this link before, but if you missed it that time, don’t miss it this time. It will stir you.