Dayspring Fellowship Podcasts

My Way or the High Way

December 2, 2018
My Way or the High Way
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans
 
The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is upon us. And along with it there seems to come a whole boatload of to-dos…shopping and wrapping and decorating and baking and on and on the list goes. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or to feel stretched to your limits. But in the midst of the rush and crush of the season, God whispers His invitation to come and worship; to come and listen, to be refreshed, refilled, and renewed. May I encourage you in the midst of the crazy-ness to protect space in your Sunday morning for being with your church family? We were designed to do life together, and we need each other! In this and in next week's messages, we're wrapping up our journey through the book of Romans - a series we’ve called Dangerous Grace. This week we are in chapter 14, looking at what it means to live a life of grace, motivated by love. 

Christian Civics

November 25, 2018
Christian Civics
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans 
As Thanksgiving approached I thought about what I am thankful for this year. My list of blessings starts with God's grace in my life, my beautiful family, my job, and my church family.  From here my list continues through the familiar list of things we all too often take for granted.  The incredible blessing of living in a country where we enjoy the freedom to worship as we wish, free speech, the right to participate in free elections, and many other freedoms are some of our most frequently overlooked blessings.  In my reflections on the things I am thankful for this year, my gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy has led me to think of the political turmoil of this past year.  I'm not sure if it is due to the November elections or the seemingly endless demonstrations, rallies, and protests in Portland and Salem, but this year has felt like our country is in greater political turmoil than previous years.  There seems to be a greater dissatisfaction with the current state of our government. Many conversations at work and with friends are heavily seasoned with individuals voicing their frustration and disappointment with an elected official or a controversial ballot measure.  The political and social environment seems charged with potential conflict.  All of this begs the questions: How should a Christian live in a society that isn't Christian?  How should a follower of Christ participate in government and the political process of a government that is not following Christ?  The Christians in Rome were facing similar questions as they sought to follow Christ in a social and political environment that was hostile toward Christianity.  In Romans 13, Paul presents a brief, but essential, answer to the question of "How should a follower of Christ live in a society that is not following Christ?"  

Walk This Way

November 18, 2018
Walk This Way
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans 
It’s Thanksgiving week! And I, for one, am thankful that we’ve made it through those challenging middle chapters of Romans! What joy it is to know that though we aren’t able to comprehend everything about God, we can trust Him completely. In these final five chapters of Romans, Paul begins to challenge us to live out what we’ve learned about being Christ-followers, and to help us understand how to do it. This week we’re talking about relationships; our relationship with God, with other believers, and even with our enemies. This is where the rubber meets the road, where we figure out how to walk the talk. We want to be people who leave the fingerprints of Jesus everywhere we go. 

Where There’s a Will

November 11, 2018
Where There’s a Will
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans
 We’re in the midst of some deep theological territory as we continue in our study of Paul’s letter to the Roman church. Last week we talked about predestination and the sovereignty of God. And we learned that God reserves the right to be mysterious. He is beyond our ability to understand, to comprehend, or grasp. But we know that He is gracious, faithful, just, and trustworthy. So we take Him at His word. This week, we learn about the other part of the paradox: free will, or man’s responsibility in responding to God’s grace. These are complex, but oh, such rich doctrines of our faith. And though they are challenging to work through and try to understand, it is well worth the effort! In this week's message, we lean in as we seek to deepen our understanding of the incredible, unchanging, ever faithful God we love and serve.

Do I Get a Vote?

November 4, 2018
Do I Get a Vote?
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans
 
As a kid, I heard it more often than I wanted to: “Because I said so, that’s why.” It was a difficult answer to accept from my mom or dad, but my perspective was limited, my ability to understand was inadequate. I had to rely on their wisdom, trust their judgment, and remember they loved me even when things didn’t seem fair.This week as we continue our study of Romans, Paul pulls us into some deep theological territory! We’re taking a look at the doctrine of predestination. It’s complex and challenging. It can be difficult to wrap our heads around. Hard truths can be frustrating or they can be faith building. Will you lean in with us as we work together to understand what God has chosen to reveal to us about Himself and how He is at work in our world?And when the truths seem hard to understand, remember God is good, He is just, He is merciful and faithful. You can trust Him.

The Struggle is Real - Part 2

October 28, 2018
The Struggle is Real - Part 2
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans 
I read an internet meme recently that made me laugh. It had a picture of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson experiencing a deep internal struggle and the caption read “Just arrived at the Gym…Forgot my headphones. The struggle is real.”  Another had a picture of the wi-fi icon on an iPhone with only 1 bar of service. The caption here also read, “The struggle is real."  One more had a picture of a lazy panda bear laying on a log.  The caption said, “When you really want to have six pack abs but you also really want to eat 3 donuts and 2 bags of chips while binge-watching the Gilmore Girls." You guessed it, this one also read, “The struggle is real."  We find these memes funny because they poke fun at little disappointments and “struggles” that many of us would not consider being true struggles.     The “struggles” these memes poke fun at are clearly not true struggles that cause us any real harm. But that doesn’t mean we don’t experience true suffering and struggle in our lives. None of us are immune from struggles and suffering in our life. We all experience heartache, true disappointments, and fear.  In our study of Romans 7 last week, Paul shared his personal experience of a genuine struggle in his life.  This week in our study of Romans 8 we find Paul’s answer to the struggles, and suffering in our lives is much more powerful than we ever would have expected it to be. In this message we explore God’s power and purpose in our struggles. - Kap Otten

The Struggle is Real

October 21, 2018
The Struggle is Real
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans 
I recently took one of those personality tests for work. You are probably familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality profile. The profile test I took recently was for the “DiSC” behavior profile. Instead of telling what your personality traits are, like Myers-Briggs, the “DiSC” profile tells you about your default behaviors. That is, how you behave when you aren’t thinking about how you are behaving. These are your natural behavioral leanings. This test asks you several multiple-choice questions, all of which have no right answer. In fact, all the answers seem like the “right” answer, leaving you paralyzed staring at your screen searching for the “All of the above” choice. Hint: it’s not there. In the end, the test produces insights into how you behave using one or two profile types. In all honesty, this is an excellent test that can provide you with valuable insight about your behaviors, both good and bad. In a way, this profile paints a portrait of your behavior that allows you to look at things more clearly. The portrait that this DiSC profile paints of my own behavior is very revealing.  I learned that I have a very optimistic viewpoint to most things. This was affirming because I believe my optimistic attitude is one of my best contributions to a team. Then this profile painted the long shadow of over-reliance on optimism. Every good quality also has the potential to have a dark side. This profile explained that my overly optimistic attitude can cause me to underestimate the time it takes to complete large projects. It said people who are optimistic like me often have problems accurately estimating realistic time lines needed to complete the project and reach deadlines. Yikes! This thing nailed it. I was impressed that this profile knew me so well. I was almost offended that this profile clearly spelled out a flaw in my behavior, publishing this information like the Sunday newspaper for my new boss to read. Ouch!     Even with the initial sting of this feedback, I am thankful that I took this profile. The portrait painted shows many of my best behaviors, habits and work practices. It also gave me a good insight into the areas of my behavior that regularly challenge me or cause me trouble. With this new picture in mind and the lessons it provides, I have the information I need to reduce the impact those flaws have on my work.In Roman 7, Paul paints several portraits of what God’s work of sanctification looks like in the life a believer. In his word pictures and description, we find Paul’s personal self-portrait as he describes his own inner struggle against sin. In the process, we learn a great deal about our own relationship to God, His Law, and to sin as we find Paul casting light on the familiar inner struggle we all know. In reading Paul’s personal struggles, we find important lessons about ourselves. Much like one of these personality profiles, in Paul’s self-portrait of his struggles, we gain a better understanding of who we are in Christ. In this portrait, we have the great opportunity to understand God’s work of sanctification in our lives.   - Kap Otten

You Gotta Serve Somebody

October 14, 2018
You Gotta Serve Somebody
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans 
Our study of Paul’s letter to the Romans has been so rich! I hope you have been encouraged by it! Paul has already helped us to understand our justification, or the right standing we have with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, he begins to help us grasp what it means to live out this new standing we’ve been given. It’s a process called “sanctification.” Simply put, it means becoming more like Christ in our everyday, ordinary lives. This is where the rubber meets the road, where our faith is lived out in practical and transformative ways. Paul helps us understand that though we are no longer slaves to sin, we are now free in Christ; we still have a choice to make. What will you choose?
 

Just Joy

October 7, 2018Just JoyDangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans 
October has arrived, and along with it come a whole bunch of great things that are going on around Dayspring! We hope you'll take advantage of the opportunities available to connect with others and be part of the tremendous story that God is writing in our church. It is an exciting season! We are also in the midst of a fantastic sermon series, Dangerous Grace - Paul’s Letter to the Romans. The Apostle Paul had so much to share with the early church at Rome that was vital to their fledgling faith and fresh understanding of what it meant to follow Jesus. And we have much to learn from him as well! This week, we dive in to chapter 5 and discover all of the “benefits” we receive through our justification in Christ.

Case Closed

September 30, 2018Case ClosedDangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans
Can you believe it? October is knocking on our door! Fall has arrived and is in full “bloom."  The leaves on the trees all around town are beginning to turn…from summer shades to autumn hues. And we’ve reached a turning point in our sermon series, Dangerous Grace, as well. This week, as we continue to learn from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, we begin to look at another important piece of our faith: the doctrine of justification. It’s a really big word! But what a beautiful and vitally important part of our Christian faith to understand. The biblical principle of justification is the distinctive that sets Christianity apart from every other religious belief system. Join us this Sunday as Pastor Chris helps us to better understand what justification is and why it is so important to our faith! - Pastor Chris