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  Read 1 Thessalonians 5 (The Message)   1 Thessalonians 5:23-28 “May God of peace himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it! Friends, keep up your prayers for us. Greet all the followers of Jesus there with a holy embrace. And make sure this letter gets read to all the brothers and sisters. Don’t leave anyone out. The amazing grace of Jesus Christ be with you!”   In this passage, Paul reveals God’s heart for His people: peace that brings wholeness. This is not a shallow peace or merely the absence of trouble, but a deep restoration of everything that has been fragmented by sin. God’s salvation reaches the whole person—spirit, soul, and body—bringing integration, healing, and completeness as our lives are centered on Him. Paul makes it clear that sanctification is not som...

SOAP • January 19, 2025 Next Gen Ministries at UC: We want to: cultivate a church community where the next generation-  from infant to young adult- is known, loved, led, discipled, and sent to follow Jesus with resilient faith.   Read Deuteronomy 6 https://www.biblegateway.com/ passage/?search=Deuteronomy% 206&version=NLT   Deuteronomy 6:4-7- “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up."   Even though one of the commandments given by God was to honor the Sabbath, connecting with God on a regular basis was primarily a personal and family responsibility. The people were called by God to worship as a community of fai...

  Over the next 5 weeks here on the SOAP in all of our Sunday worship services, and on Wednesday night gatherings for adults we'll be focusing on our 5 year Vision Plan with specific attention on each of our 5 Strategic Priorities: 1) Discipleship, 2) Next Generation, 3) Human Care, 4) Evangelism and Outreach, and 5) Legacy Building.   Read 1 Peter 2 https://www.biblegateway.com/ passage/?search=1%20Peter%202& version=NLT   1 Peter 2:9- But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.   Earlier in this chapter Peter said: "Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness." (Verses 2-3) In verse 9 Peter told the people in the community ...

  Read Romans 11 https://www.biblegateway.com/ passage/?search=romans+11& version=NLT   Romans 11:18- But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.   Here Paul continues to wrestle (the meaning of the word Israel) with the meaning of the Good News being given to the Gentiles. He says the fact that many Jews had already chosen to reject the gospel opened the door for the Gentiles to walk through into a new relationship with Jesus Christ, but since they were merely grafted onto an already existing tree they had nothing to boast about. Paul weaves a complicated argument about how God has not and will not give up on His chosen people, Israel, even though many of them had given up on Him. We Gentiles need to be grateful that God's grace through Jesus Christ has been made available to everyone.   Paul finds all kinds of ways to emphasize in his writings that none of us have anything to boast about when ...