Journey Community Church

To Live is Christ // Week 6: Discovering Your SHAPE // Pastor Blaine Keene

Each and every person who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord is called to serve God's purposes. Discovering our unique SHAPE is essential to fulfilling our role in the body of Christ.
 
S.H.A.P.E. =
Spiritual Gifts (and fivefold calling): What are your spiritual gifts and fivefold calling? How did you discover them?
Heart (Passion): What are your greatest passions?
Abilities: What are your abilities or skills?
Personality: What is your unique personality/wiring?
Experiences: What life experiences have shaped you significantly?
 
"But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it...So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." -Ephesians 4:7, 11-16 NIV

To Live is Christ // Week 5: Community // Pastor Blaine Keene

Christ-Centered community is where we experience the failing love of imperfect people (including ourselves) and the unfailing love of God in Christ.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." -1 Corinthians 13:4-8

To Live is Christ // Week 4: Healing // Pastor Blaine Keene

What brokenness, pain or wounds are hindering your flourishing? Experiencing the perfect love of God in Christ – deeply, personally and continually - brings healing, wholeness and freedom.
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:38-39

To Live is Christ // Week 3: I Want to Know Him // Bob Hostetler

It's an amazing thing to want to know Christ. But it comes at a cost. Are you ready to know Jesus, even if it means leaving the rubbish behind?
"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." -Philippians 3:7-11 NIV

To Live is Christ // Week 2: Identity // Pastor Blaine Keene

We become new creations in Christ in an instant, but living from our new identity in Christ is a life-long process of transformation.
“We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.” - David Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." -1 Timothy 1:15-16

To Live is Christ // Week 1: Lordship // Pastor Blaine Keene

What would it take for you to describe 2025 as the best year ever? Living your best life hinges on surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” -Philippians 1:21 NIV

Advent Week 6: The People of The Gospel, The Church // Pastor Blaine Keene

The Church (according to Christmas) is an Incarnational, Missional and Sacrificial community of imperfect people centered around Jesus.
What would it look like to approach our shared life and ministry together this way in 2025?
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” -John 1:14

CHRISTMAS AT JOURNEY // Advent Week 5: Jesus is the Gospel, The Light of the World // Pastor Blaine Keene

Darkness is the typical and consistent experience of all people in our broken world. But Jesus, the light of the world, is the Gospel. 
 
Reflection Questions:
How can you celebrate and give thanks for Jesus being the light of your life and the world?
 
How can you be more intentional about letting the light of Christ shine through your pain, difficulties, and darkness?
 
Today, will you choose to trust Jesus to shine light into the darkness within you and around you?
 
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” -John 8:12 

ADVENT WEEK 4: The Gospel of Grace // Pastor Blaine Keene

The story of Christmas is a demonstration of the good news of the grace of God. 
 
1) How is the grace of God affecting (transforming and redefining) my identity?2) How is the grace of God affecting (empowering and redirecting) what I do?3) How could I share this good news of grace with someone else this week?
 
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." -1 Corinthians 15:10

ADVENT WEEK 3: The Gospel of Promises Fulfilled // Pastor Blaine Keene

The invitation of the Gospel is to trust in a better covenant and better promises.
How is God inviting you to trust in a better covenant and better promises in Jesus Christ?
Old Covenant: Outside behavioral modification vs. New Covenant: Inside out life transformation.
Old Covenant: Knowing about God vs. New Covenant: Knowing God.
Old Covenant: Striving to follow the law vs. New Covenant: Surrendering to trust in Jesus the Messiah.
"But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises." -Hebrews 8:6