Who We Are
Dear Church Family,
This week we closed out our "Who We Are" series with a message called Focused on the Kingdom — and it might be the one that ties everything else together.
We started with a story about hiking the Narrows in Zion National Park — walking upstream, against the current, the whole way. Here's the thing: you don't get to see the beauty of that canyon without fighting that current. There's no shortcut. The reward is upstream, not downstream.
That's what following Jesus feels like too. Every day, we're pulled toward comfort, control, and whatever's easiest — our own little kingdoms. But Jesus calls us to something bigger: His Kingdom, not ours.
Here's the truth we sat with this week:
When we fully surrender to and pursue His Kingdom, we will not be able to build our own.
We looked at what the Kingdom actually is — God's people, in God's place, under God's rule — and then asked how we actually seek it, both vertically (surrendered to the King, trusting Him instead of gripping tightly to control and worry) and horizontally (loving our neighbor, living out "on earth as it is in heaven" right where we are).
And we were reminded: this isn't just a personal call. As a church, we want to help seek and build His Kingdom — not merely our own castle. That's why partnerships, church planting, and missions matter to us. That's part of why we're moving to two services on November 1. It's all the same posture — making room, giving ourselves away, because His Kingdom is worth more than our comfort.
We never fully "arrive" at total surrender in this life. But like that hike — you don't stop just because the current's still pushing back. You keep walking. Because His Kingdom is still moving, and we get to move with it.
A few questions to sit with this week:
What are you white-knuckling right now instead of trusting God with?
Who's one person near you that His Kingdom needs to reach — through you?
Grateful to walk this out together.
-Pastor Aaron Perry