Trinity Fremont

This week we see how gratitude isn’t just for the good days. In Philippians 1, Paul writes with joy and thanksgiving, not from comfort, but from prison. He shows us that joy isn’t about how life is going for us, but about how the Gospel keeps moving forward through us.

We see that when we look through the eyes of the Spirit, even hardship becomes a place where Jesus is at work.

 

• Genesis 50:15-21
• Philippians 1:3-19
• Matthew 5:1-16

This week we kick off our new series, The Gratitude Challenge, by taking a closer look at something we usually overlook, our breath. In Genesis, God breathes life into dust. In Ezekiel’s vision, His breath turns dry bones into living people. And in John 20, Jesus breathes His Spirit into His followers.

We’ll talk about how gratitude starts with things that we might overlook, like the everyday gifts God gives: air in our lungs and the Spirit that fills our hearts. Because what you look for is what you see.

Join Pastor Gerber as we explore how learning to see and thank God for the “ordinary” things changes how we see everything.

• Genesis 2:5-7
• Acts 17:22-31
• John 20:19-23

All Saints Day.  It can tug at your heart in a variety of ways.  Our senses can quickly bring us back to one of our loved ones can’t they?  It could be a smell, something we see, something we smell or something or something we hear and we instantly have a loved one in our minds and also in our hearts.

All Saints Day is a time to remember them fondly, but it isn’t always easy.  There is most certainly or was most certainly crying involved.  Now there is waiting involved, waiting for Jesus to return on the Last Day, and there is hoping involved.  Hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to restore all things including our loved ones to a new paradise where they(we) will walk in newness of life forever.  

Crying, Waiting and Hoping - What a process He has given us.  Thanks be to God.  

 

• Psalm 130
• 1 John 3:1-3
• Matthew 5:1-12

If you’ve ever had heart burn, you know it isn’t a burning that feels good.  “Plop, plop, fiz, fiz.  Oh what a relief it is. ” Or at least we hope.

The heart burn that the two of the disciples felt as Jesus walked with them on the day he was resurrected was not a burning that needed relief.  It was a burning from being in the presence of  Jesus, the Word of God himself.

Being in the presence of the Light of the World will do that to a person.  But He is still present in many ways.  That burning wasn’t reserved just for the disciples.  As we are in the Word and the Word is in us, indeed that burning feeling the disciples had while Jesus revealed the scriptures to them isn’t going anywhere.  It is here to stay.  

 

• Revelation 14:6-7
• Romans 3:21-28
• Luke 24:13-35

This week in our Light of the World series, we move from being obviously transformed by the light to walking in it. Psalm 119 reminds us, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God’s Word doesn’t always show us the whole road ahead. It often only lights the next step. But we can walk with confidence because we know who the Light is: Jesus!

That same Light still shines in our lives today, guiding our steps through His Word and Spirit. Join us as we explore what it means to walk in the light of Jesus, one step, one degree of glory, at a time.

• Psalm 119:105-112
• 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
• Matthew 4:18-22

In this story from Exodus 34, Israel is encamped at Mount Sinai while Moses has gone up the mountain to spend time with God. This is the time when Moses delivers to Israel the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God. In this encounter with God, Moses receives more than the Law from God. When he comes down from Mount Sinai, his face is shining.   The Hebrew word translated “shone” (qaran) can mean a radiance that beams out like sun rays. This is not a soft glow Moses generates. He is literally shining so brightly that it’s like beams of light are proceeding from his face.

Ultimately, and somewhat unbelievably, Christians too are called to reflect God’s glory to the world. Paul alludes to this in 2 Corinthians 3:18, where believers are described as being transformed “from one degree of glory to another.” This reference to Moses’s shining face reminds all believers that this spiritual transformation begins with time spent in the presence of God. And it leads to people being so completely transformed that it’s like they’re illuminated.

Are you illuminated by being transformed by Christ’s love for you?

Is it obvious that Christ is in you?

How do we go about going from one degree of glory to another?

• Exodus 34:29-35
• II Corinthians 3:12-18
• Luke 9:28-36

This week we begin a new series, Light of the World, with the very first words of Scripture: “Let there be light.” In Genesis 1, God doesn’t just flip a switch so we can see what was already there, He speaks light into chaos and brings order where there was none. That same creative Word becomes flesh in Jesus, who steps into the brokenness and despair of our lives. On the cross and in the empty tomb, He makes us whole, tov, not just a little better, but complete in Him. Join us as we hear how the Light of the World still speaks into our chaos today.

 

• Genesis 1:1-5
• 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
• John 1:1-5 

It is one thing to “talk the talk.”  It is another thing to “walk the walk.”  The apostle Paul makes it very clear in his letter to the Ephesians that walking in the light of Jesus and bearing fruit for His Kingdom is not only a suggestion, it is indeed what Christians are to do - Bear fruit by walking as children of the light - Jesus.  

Two questions:

1) What are you reflecting in this world?

2) Who are you reflecting in this world?

• Isaiah 60:1-3
• Ephesians 5:3-14
• Matthew 5:14-16

At Trinity, we don’t just learn who we are in Jesus or love because He first loved us, we also Lead. In Ephesians 4, God equips His people so the whole body of Christ may grow. We lead by showing Jesus through our actions, by investing in God’s mission with the gifts He provides, and by telling others who Jesus is. This is our calling as His children, and this is our joy as His Church.

• Exodus 18:13-24
• Ephesians 4:11-16
• Mark 10:35-45

At Trinity, we learn who we are in Jesus so that His love flows through us. This week we focus on Love, because God loved us first, we are called to love others, forgive freely, and serve with joy. In 1 John 4, we hear that God’s love was made visible in Jesus. Now that love shines through us to our families, our church, our school, and our community.

 

• Leviticus 19:9-18
• 1 John 4:7-12
• John 13:1-15, 34-35