Come Follow Me

Pastor Kent Landhuis

THEME - Following Jesus in 2026 will transform our lives.

TEXT - Mark 1:16-20, 35-39

1. Be with Jesus. (Vision)

• What does abiding with Jesus look like?

• What kind of person will I become when I abide with Jesus?

• What is at stake if I don’t abide? (Why is this a better alternative?)

2. Become like Jesus. (Intention)

• Have I truly decided to change? (Desire without intention is useless.)

• Have I moved from preference to conviction?

3. Do what Jesus did. (Means.)

• “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.” (Dallas Willard)

• Have I identified spiritual practices and a community of accountability?

NEXT STEPS

1. Name your quiet place and time

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2. Name your spiritual practices:

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Four Chair Disciples: Healthy things grow.

The Biblical vision of discipleship points to organic (a seed or a tree), not mechanical growth (an assembly line). Growth is not an event but a slow and steady process requiring nurture, cultivation, and patience. The soil of growth is relationships developed in real-life situations, in real-time, with real people. We divide this process into four stages:

Chair 1: Come and See - Seekers

Chair 2: Follow and Grow - Believers

Chair 3: Abide and Serve - Servants

Chair 4: Go and Bear Fruit - Reproducers

People in Chair 1 explore Jesus and one question key to growth is to ask and answer the question “Is Jesus Lord and savior?”

People in Chair 2 discover new life in Jesus by asking “Who is Jesus and what is his mission?”

People in Chair 3 are growing in Jesus so that they learn to serve Jesus through serving others. They learn to ask, “What is the cost of following Jesus?” and “Where is God calling me to go and what is God calling me to do?”

People in Chair 4 are maturing as disciples and they are reproducing faith in others through discipleship and mentoring. They ask questions like “Who else is God calling?” and “Who is next for me to disciple?” and “How does the power of Jesus work through me?”

Come Follow Me: Abiding & Prayer

Pastor Steve Poole

1. We all abide in something

2. Abiding in Jesus means orienting our lives around Jesus the source of life, strength and

vitality.

• “Just as branches draw life and nourishment from the vine, so believers draw spiritual life, strength and

vitality from Christ. He is not an accessory to our lives; He is the source of our life.” (Rev. Kyle Borg, TableTalk)

• 2 Peter 1:3-7

3. Two core abiding practices are Bible study and prayer.

4. Deeper abiding takes pruning.

SCRIPTURE: John 15:1-5

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

NEXT STEPS

1. Believe and begin following Jesus and abiding in Him.

2. Answer the following questions as you abide in Jesus through prayer this week.

⃞ Envision starting your day with prayer. What excites you? What challenges you?

⃞ Think about your week and come up with a plan. When and where will you engage in prayer?

⃞ Pray and ask God what may need to be pruned from your life? What has He shown you?

SCRIPTURE: 2 Peter 1:3-7

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,

6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,

7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

He Shall Reign: Eternal Song

Pastor Kent Landhuis

Revelation 4

1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.

6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.

7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.

8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,

10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

He Shall Reign: Rejoice!

Pastor Kent Landhuis

THEME - Celebrate God’s glory revealed in lowliness.

TEXT - Luke 1:46-55

GRACE #1- God’s shows mercy to the lowly.

• Luke 1:46-49

• “The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” ~ Job 5:11

GRACE #2 - God shows grace to the lowly.

• Luke 1:50-53

• “For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” ~ Isaiah 57:17

GRACE #3 - God shows up for the lowly--as the lowly.

• Luke 1:54-55

• “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” ~ Zechariah 9:9

NEXT STEPS

1. Delight in your lowliness.

• Celebrate your low estate and need for God’s help.

• Celebrate in the low estate of others and refrain from judgement.

2. Don’t be a Grinch (or a Scrooge).

• Celebrate with generosity.

• Reveal God’s glory in your generosity.

3. Attend to the carols we sing.

• Celebrate God’s glory!

• Rejoice!

GO DEEPER: For continued reflection:

• And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. ~ Matthew 18:3-5

• But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

• Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. ~ James 4:10

Grace & Truth: A Reign of Gritty Love

Pastor Steve Poole

TEXT: Luke 2:22-35

TRUTH #1: King Jesus is God’s salvation

• Luke 2:29-32 & Exodus 13:2, 12-14

• Luke 2:30 –“For my eyes have seen your salvation…”

• Galatians 4:4-5

TRUTH #2: King Jesus embodied gritty, sacrificial love

• Hosea 13:10-14

• 1 Corinthians 15:51-56

NEXT STEPS

1. Believe in King Jesus for salvation

2. Reread the “Christmas story” from Luke and Matthew looking for God’s gritty love.

3. Do a “gritty love” thing for someone this week.

4. Slow down this week so you don’t miss Jesus

ADVENT REFLECTION

(This is an excerpt from "The Anticipated Christ" by Brian Zahnd)

In our high-tech, high-speed, high-stress age, we’re not very good at waiting—it feels too much like doing nothing. But it’s not doing nothing. As we wait, we slowly become contemplative enough to discern what God is doing. Unless we intentionally cultivate some contemplative slowness in our soul, it doesn’t matter if God acts, because we will most likely miss it. When God entered history definitively in Christ, a lot of people who should have perceived it and rejoiced, missed what God was doing or even resisted it. Quiet contemplatives like Simeon and Anna perceived the arrival of God’s salvation because they had learned how to wait.

The deeper truth is that God is always acting, because God is always loving his creation. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always inviting us into their house of love. But when we are consumed by anger, harried by anxiety, and driven by impatience, we are blind and deaf to what God is actually doing in the present moment. God is always about to act in our life and in our world, but if we want to discern the actions of God we must learn to first wait in quiet contemplation. Advent is a season to keep watch and ponder the stars like the ancient magi, to keep vigil in the fields like the shepherds of Bethlehem. God is always about to act and God is always acting. The question is, can we perceive it? Another poem in Isaiah sums it up well:

Behold, I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth.

Do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

~ Isaiah 43:19

O God, you are always about to act and bring about a new thing; help us to wait patiently, that we might perceive and welcome what you bring to pass. Amen.

Grace & Truth: King Jesus is Coming

Pastor Kent Landhuis

THEME - Prepare for King Jesus

TEXT - Luke 1:57-79

1. Expect a visit.

• Luke 1:68 – “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.” (ESV)

• James 4:8 – “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”

2. Expect a visit from God.

• Luke 1:69-75

• Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

3. People are not ready.

• Luke 1:76-78

• Micah 3:1-3, 4:1-4 - “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.” (3:2)

4. Get ready.

• Luke 1:79

• Mark 1:14 - “And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

• Acts 22:16 – “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”

NEXT STEPS

• John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

• 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 – “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

GO DEEPER

Luke 1:57-66 -

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.

58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah,

60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child.

63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”

64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.

65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.

66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.