Sonoma Avenue Church of Christ

What are we supposed to hear when we are silent before God?

Hello church family, A buddy of mine sent a message out to his church, and it occurred to me that I needed to share some of the same things (and more) with you. With all that we are doing online these days, it is a great opportunity to share our church with others. Seriously, there may not be a better time than now to share our church with your friends that would not normally attend. ... Here's what you can do: 1. Share the service all over your social media. We are thankful for the few who do this each week. If that's not you, we'd like to ask you to do that. It's one small way that you can help people find Jesus. Seriously. When you share one of our videos it increases the number of people who see it exponentially. 2. When you log into YouTube to watch our service, there's a chat feature there. Let's use it. Say hi, encourage one another, shout AMEN, if you feel so moved. 3. Engage in conversation on Facebook or even over email. Answer questions or reply to posts. It is a good way to stay connected to the conversation that we are having here at church. 4. Make an extra phone call. Send an extra email. Check in with people, see how they are doing. 5. Subscribe on YouTube and Click the little bell icon so it will notify you when we go live or release any new videos. You can do that now at this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt_jOKCh5E1T3NuTjJdRMoQ I know that we would all rather be together in person every week. I want that as well. We have had to make a lot of decisions over this last year that we would not normally have to make in the interest of keeping everyone healthy and safe. While we eagerly anticipate things getting back to normal, we cannot ignore our spiritual health or the spiritual health of our community while we wait. God wants to be a part of your life right now. God wants to move in this community right now. Let’s do the things we need to, to strengthen ourselves and our community so that we are prepared for whatever God has for us. Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV) We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

I was reminded today of just how challenging it can be to create a quiet space where I can listen for God. From the moment I wake up, I have three dogs and two boys to deal with. I have to get the boys ready for school, get myself ready for work, get my puppy ready to puppy. There is a lot going on. The day does not slow down from there. It only gets busier. By the time it draws to a close I am tired and ready to not think about anything for a while. This is the ...cycle of most of my days. So, finding time to be quiet and really present with God in the middle of all of this presents a challenge. But it also reinforces why finding time to be silent is so important. Life is not going to invite you to be silent and still before God. In fact, life is going to do everything it can to keep you busy and preoccupied, so that you never hear God knocking at your door. A commitment to stillness and quiet is a resolution to not let the busyness of my life pull me away from my creator. It calls me back to the true center of who I am. I am not all of the things that I do or accomplish during the day. That is not my center. Even being a husband and father, while so very important, is not my center. Instead, at my center is the very life that God breathed into me, creating me, creating all of us in his image, that we might have relationship with him. In the quiet and stillness I declare that I have not forgotten the one who made me. I must be still and listen. I encourage you, as a gateway to a time of stillness today, to read Psalm 103. It speaks of the ways that our God is connected to us. May that connectedness carry you into a moment of quiet before your God.

Do you have room in your life to hear what God is saying to you?

Hello church family! I hope that you have been having a good week, and that you have had an opportunity to reflect on the hope that we have in the coming of Christ. A big thank you to Wayne Ogle for sharing with us last week. This week we will be lighting the candle of peace and discussing how Jesus brings a new kind of peace to the world. It is supposed to be raining all weekend, so we will NOT be having an outdoor service on Sunday. We will have our live online service at 10:30 am on our YouTube channel so you can join us there. There will be a link posted to our Facebook page on Sunday morning, or you can go straight to our YouTube channel. See you Sunday! Brice

Good morning everyone! Join us live on YouTube for our first Sunday of Advent! rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2

Good morning church family! Here is the link to this morning's livestream service. If you are able to, say hello, amen, or give words of encouragement in the youtube comments. Come worship with us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEuZHOZI6kY

If we are going to love our neighbor, how do we determine who our neighbor is?

Good morning church family. Here is the link to our scriptures from this morning. http://bible.com/events/48479446

Good morning everyone. Here is the link to our YouTube live stream. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgBdRw1mPK0

There is something we need to feel in order to live for the kingdom of God while we are here on earth. We need to feel homesick.

Here is a link to Sunday's sermon on YouTube. The video will also be posted here on Facebook. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqd9eRIAw5U

Here is the link to our livestream on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO4ogLw3-KE

Good morning church. Here is the link to Bible.com with our scriptures for the day. http://bible.com/events/47808123

Good morning everyone. Here is the link to Bible.com with our scriptures for today. http://bible.com/events/45983613

Here is a link to Sunday's sermon on YouTube. You can also watch it below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIJHaoDJ3Mg

What should the public image of the church be? We find the answer in the poor, the orphan, the widow and the foreigner.

Here is the link to our lives stream! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_zvh2WtKjg

Another beautiful Sunday worship! Come join us every Sunday morning at 10 am for outdoor worship or on YouTube at 11:30 am.

Good morning everyone! Here is the link to the scriptures we are using this morning. http://bible.com/events/45130424

We would love to see you tomorrow morning at our outdoor service! Join us at 10:00 am on the back lawn. Bring your mask and a camp chair to sit in. If you are not able to join us in person, we will go live at 11:30 on YouTube. Can't wait to worship God with you tomorrow.

What is the church? What is the difference between the church and any other group of people?

Hey everyone. A point of clarification from my sermon (outside) this morning. The article I mentioned this morning is called "Pro-life evangelicals for Biden." So good to see everyone this morning!

Here is the link for our live stream on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZxU7E9ukIQ

Enjoying worship outside today! Join us every Sunday in person at 10am and online at 11:30am!