As Epiphany begins, we ask the question, “What does it look like for God to live with us?” Paul’s encounter with the Ephesians in the book of Acts demonstrates that it’s possible to be a Christian but missing out on the life God has called us to. Baptism reminds us that God has not only saved us from our sin, but also saved us for his work of restoration in the world. What does it look like for you to be all-in?

Catalyst Rowlett Podcast

Are You All In?

Christmas is such an intimate celebration – a time to gather with friends and family – that we often forget the global sweep of the story. But two often-overlooked encounters with the infant Jesus remind us of God’s faithfulness – not only to us, but to the whole world! As we look toward a new year, how can we be filled with hope at what God will do?

New Hope for a New Year

Traditions are a beloved part of our Christmas celebrations – from lights and trees to Santa and gift-giving. Changes to holiday traditions can be hard, but change is the one constant of the Christmas story. How can we find Christ present in the center of our traditions, no matter what they look like this year?

Christmas Eve

Who doesn't love Christmas lights? Light is one of the central images of the Christmas season, but sometimes we forget what the light points to: that the darkness of sin is coming to an end. That God is up to something new. That WE are called to be that light in the world! As we prepare for Christmas, what does it look like for us to shine the light of God's hope into the world?

The Light of Christmas

How does our preparation for the Christmas season cause us to miss Christ? Often, our lives become cluttered with busyness and sin that keep us from seeing the God who comes to us at Christmas. Both Isaiah and John the Baptist invite us to prepare a path for God in our lives. They insist a call to repent is a comfort for us! How is repentance a sign of God’s comfort during a busy holiday season?

The Comfort of Repentance

How often in our preparations for Christmas do we forget to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ? While the prophet Isaiah prays that God will tear open the heavens and come to us, Jesus instead comes humbly, in ways we least expect. How can we be alert and attentive this Advent season so we don't miss when Jesus comes among us?

Superman Messiah

In times of trauma and grief, it feels like all the structures that keep our lives stable have been stripped away. But as we enter into the process of Lament, those structures begin to reemerge. It’s not daylight yet, but we can begin to sense that the long night of our grief is ending. Hope draws us together and invites those voices who have long been silenced to be front and center.

The End of Lament

When do we stop praying for healing? What does solidarity look like with those who are hurting? Artist and theologian Katie Fisher shares from Lamentations 3. Putting dust in our mouths is at once an act of solidarity and a declaration of hope.

Dust In My Mouth

Grief is uncomfortable. In the face of tragedy, no words are sufficient to salve our pain. Yet in the face of others’ pain, we find ourselves offering platitudes and speaking for God so we can avoid their pain. But Lamentations 1 is a funeral dirge. We hear the woman’s honest, unflinching cries of pain and see the prophet join her, offering nothing but his presence. How can we learn to be honest about pain so we can begin the process of reorientation?

Sitting With Grief

We avoid pain and grief as much as possible. When faced with someone else's grief, we avoid or offer platitudes. But the book of Lamentations invites us to sit with grief, to enter into the prophetic process of Lament. In this series, we'll explore how to grieve and how to be a friend to the grieving. Ultimately, we'll see how the process of lament invites us to be agents of healing in the larger world.

What Lament Looks Like

We tend to end up in echo chambers, surrounded by people who look and think a lot like us. The danger of this is that we don’t learn how to be challenged. The spiritual consequence is that we end up missing God – imagining God in our own image rather than learning to let God challenge us. Judas illustrates the reason we need to learn to be vulnerable, to open ourselves to strange friendships.

Judas

How do you resolve conflict? Chances are, however you approach a fight, you learned it from your family. Our families shape us for good and for ill. Herodias, the Evil Queen of Jesus’ day, illustrates for us the cost of generational sin. How can we overcome the sins we inherit from our families? And how can we leave a legacy of life for those who come after us?

Herodias

If we know the end of the story, we know how to live in the middle. We conclude our series on the Apostle's Creed by exploring how each of the statements in the Creed shape us. How do they help us live now as a people who will live with God forever? How can we begin now reverse engineering our lives to flourish as God intended?

Life Everlasting

In this week's sermon, we talk about change. How we change. But more importantly, how we help others change. Because the reality is, you and I can't change anyone (even ourselves). We are changed when the Holy Spirit changes us—when God transforms us from the inside out.

The Holy Spirit

n this week's sermon, we're suggesting that God's return is somewhat like the king coming back in the story (illustrated in the intro). We want our good and wise God to come back, to put an end to injustice and evil. And we don't have to be surprised when our king return because God told us exactly what we should be doing as we wait.

Final Judgment

teachings from catalyst church - rowlett, tx. for more info go to www.catrow.org you can also watch LIVE online at catrow.tv

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Catalyst Rowlett Podcast

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