Refuge Church Ojai Valley

Stir it Up: Follow Me!

Obedience is never a word we like to hear. In our world obedience is seen as less than or something to escape, but in God’s Kingdom, it’s at the heart of knowing Jesus. It’s so easy to want to skip this part of following Jesus and it’s so tempting to want to ignore it when it comes to our life as a church. But Jesus is serious about obedience so we must be.

The Hardest and Greatest Thing

Maybe the hardest thing, as a follower of Jesus, is knowing what to do with our anger. People can do harmful and painful things to us and the world can dish out a whole lot of struggle, so what do we do with our anger? Thankfully, God gives us a clear and focused way to stir one another up when anger comes our way.

Teach us How to Pray

When Jesus teaches us how to pray, he is not giving us some religious words to sound holy or spiritual. He is stirring us up! When he teaches us to pray, he is teaching us how to see ourselves, inviting us to see God differently and telling us a new way of living is coming.

Stir it Up

Our Guest Speaker, Zack Totten, breaks down with us what it looks like to spend time with Jesus and have a relationship with him. This is a super practical message where he lays out how to walk through a time of study and prayer in a way that actually helps us hear from God. 

Elusive Community | Kyle Costello

Community centered around Jesus is radical because it's a community that's not centered around you. Most of us say we want community, but often we want an echo chamber or a group that exists to serve our own wants. Jesus community is different; it says we really find what we need and we really serve ourselves and others when we are 100% focused on him.

Stir it up: "You Must Start Here"

For way too long, the church has been understood as a boring, sterile place. The reality is, the bible describes the church as something far different. The book of Hebrews says we are even supposed to gather so that we can stir one another up! That's right - we are supposed to meet together to encourage, cheer, applaud, and ignite one another to live a life sold out to Jesus. So what does that look like? This week we kick off our series "Stir it up" and find our starting point.

Born for Revolution - "Two Gifts Equals a Whole Lot of Grace"

From the beginning, Jesus has no interest in ever being separated from grace. From the beginning, grace is given as a gift. No one earned Him. No one deserved Him. Once he is on the scene, he shows us what grace in the flesh looks like. He fulfills the prophecy about him that says he will be a Mighty God. This means he is on a mission and nothing will stop Him. He also fulfills the prophecy that says he will be an Everlasting Father. This means he will eternally be serving, leading, and attending to His people. This Christmas, what would it mean to us if we truly received everything Jesus is? What would it mean if we trusted and said yes to Him being our everyday Mighty God and our eternal Everlasting Father? 
 
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Born for Revolution - "The Burden is His"

When Jesus was born, he was born for a mission and a purpose. The Prophet Isaiah knew this and told people about this hundreds of years before Jesus’s birth. This Jesus would be monumental and one of the things he would bring with him is a completely new way to live, to love, and to worship. Don’t tolerate a tame Christmas, listen to how Jesus brings a message at Christmas that is nothing short of a revolution. 
 
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Upon this Rock

The church is important and we all need it, blemishes and all! Jesus died for her and one day he is coming back for her. But while we wait she serves as the first line of defense here on earth and she teaches us and counsels us in times of need. Thank you to Juan Fallas from Real Life Church in Valencia for bringing the word this morning!

The Greatest Way to Live

When someone tells you to be thankful or grateful how do you respond? Does it bother you? Does it feel forced? What if gratitude and thanksgiving was the key to living life well? What if God actually designed us to find joy, love, and fulfillment but that those came out of postures of gratitude? This week we celebrate a holiday on a calendar, but in reality we see that God has created us to be thankful, and at the heart of our gratitude lies our path to living life to the full.
 
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