TILT Commissioning Gathering

Last night, we "wrapped up" a combination of our series "Reconstructing the Call" as well as the last two weeks we spent on the Journey to the Cross. We did this with a commissioning gathering. One of the fallacies of much of the modern Church is that only professional clergy and missionaries are commissioned in any sort of 'formal' way. We believe we are ALL commissioned and are ALL ministers - right we are today. So, we had an evening of commissioning everyone at TILT based on the character of God - as Creator, Provider, Compassionate, Redeemer, Just and Revealer (yes, I couldn't figure out a noun for compassion and justice...). If you would like to read more about the model we used, read this post and this document. We'd love to hear your thoughts, so post your comments here! (Click on comments below.)

For each of the six groups, we read a Scripture specific to that group as well as the following passage from 2 Timothy 3.6-9:

6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 8 So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. 9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life.

Read this document here for the specific verses for each group.

The Way of the Cross | Gene Tempelmeyer

Gene talked on Sunday night about what exactly it was that caused the Pharisees and many of the Jewish people to want to kill Jesus. It was Jesus' life and ministry which led to his death. What does it look like today to follow Jesus? How will that push against our culture? You can download Genes's sermon [right-click and select save target as... for Windows]. Or listen to it below:

Journey to the Cross | Gene Tempelmeyer

Gene talked on Sunday night about Jesus' self-awareness of his own death and what it meant - to him and to us. We have tended to reduce the meaning of Jesus' death into one dimension, rather than acknowledging the many dimensions of its meaning for all of humanity. You can download Genes's sermon [right-click and select save target as... for Windows]. Or listen to it below:

God's Call IN Your Life | Stations

As we sometimes do, last night was an evening where we participated in stations, listening to God through a series of reflections and visual set-ups. They were all about God's Call IN Your Life. Read the stations handout here.

God's Call ON Your Life | Bill Hall

Bill gave us a message tonight talking about God's Call on our lives - the big, broad perspective. He used the story of Joseph, as well as a ton of other Scripture to reveal the gracious God who was working FOR us before we were even created. Yikes!
You can download Bill's sermon [right-click and select save target as... for Windows]. Or listen to it below:

Called to Creation | Gene Tempelmeyer

This past Sunday at TILT, our focus was on "Called to Creation", as part of our continuing series on Reconstructing the Call. Unfortunately, Gene had prepared a message for us but was sick and couldn't make it. We had an eventful evening otherwise! However, Gene did preach a similar message earlier to the morning communiy. So, you can download Gene's sermon from then. Or listen to it below:

Called to Ministry | Monica Kay

In addition to a homegrown video (check out TILT Art), Monica spoke to us about our calling as ministers of the Gospel, no matter what we do. We are ALL ministers, ALL the time! Our competence in that ministry is not based on education, skills, or anything but our sufficiency rather comes from God. Download Monica's sermon. Or listen to it below:

"Sabbath Way of Life"

Scott Moore | From Reconstructin...

Greg spoke tonight about our call to the Sabbath. All of creation is designed to need rest - we see it in agriculture, exercise, everywhere. We simply need rest, as much as our society tries to deny it. Why? How do we actually have a Sabbath DAY? It's a challenge - do you trust God enough to give up your work for a day, knowing that you will have enough time to do it. Have you ever considered that if you are never able to complete what you feel you are suppoed to, then some of those things cannot be God's will for your life? God is not going to ask of you more than you have time for!! Can we look at time as a delight and blessing rather than the bane of our existence? Listen to Greg's sermon. Read Greg's sermon here.

Called to Community

Matt spoke to us tonight about being called to the same unity in community as Jesus and the Father were united. Quite the calling if you ask me! Thankfully, Jesus prayed on our behalfs for this unity (John 17) and is still praying on our behalf now. And if anyone's prayer is going to be answered, it's going to be Jesus' isn't it? (well, God hears and responds to everyone's prayer, but anyhow...). Read the text of Matt's sermon. Or, Listen to Matt's sermon.

TONIGHT: "Called to Community"

Tonight, Matt will be teaching about community, our straying from biblical truth by 'individualizing' faith. He'll be using Jesus' prayer for us from John 17. It should be a dandy evening as it always is as we listen to, hear from and respond to God (who is Father, Son, and Spirit...just have to throw that in there...).

NEW SERIES: Reconstructing the Call

Print out a copy or view a bookmark with all these details here.

The Christian Church today has been handed down many different understandings of what it means to be called by God, but are they all true or biblical? Over the next few weeks we will be breaking down some of the poor assumptions we have and we will reconstruct our understanding of God’s call on our lives based on the foundation of Scripture.

Jan. 14 | “Come Follow Me” | Matthew 4:18-22
These words spoken by Jesus sound so simple yet can be so complex. When Jesus calls us to follow Him, what does it mean to be His disciples?

Jan. 21 | “Called to Community” | John 17:6-26
“Christianity is about my relationship with God, not religion, so I don’t really need church. I just want to follow Jesus.” What does Jesus have to say about this?

Jan. 28 | “Sabbath Way of Life” | Mark 2:23-28
Many of us see the Sabbath either as a day of legalism void of fun and pleasure, or as an irrelevant and idealistic day off, impossible to achieve in our fast paced lives. However, if God took a day off after creating the universe, is it possible that rest isn’t for the lazy but is of the heart of God?

Feb. 4 | “Called to Ministry” | Mark 5:1-20
I don’t work for the church, so how am I a minister? I hardly know what’s in the Bible! What do I say? What difference can I make?

Feb. 11 | “Called to Creation” | Romans 8:18-23
What role do we play in ‘ruling’ the Earth as God commanded in Genesis 1? Does it really matter how we treat the Earth if we are destined for heaven anyway?

Feb. 18 | “God’s Call ON your life” | John 6:25-58
Why can’t I just live my life as I see fit? Sometimes it feels like God is in the way of my happiness. If God has called me, why does life often seem so pointless and without direction?

Feb. 25 | “God’s Call IN your life” | Matt 6:25-34
Should I take this job? Should I buy this car? Should I eat pasta or soup? These are questions we ask ourselves, but are they things God has an opinion on? A specific plan for our lives? What does God call us to in the smaller details of life?

Past Stations

In line with our view of teaching at TILT, we sometimes use what we call "stations" as a teaching for a given evening. Stations combine Scripture with images and objects and we journey around the stations, listening and reflecting on what we hear from God. Two of the handouts from stations in the past are uploaded: Easter 2005 | Advent 2006 (unfortunately, we don't have the associated images included this time around).

Teaching at TILT

At TILT, we affirm the crucial nature of proclaiming God’s Word as we gather together. We acknowledge that it is “living and active”, but also are aware that proclamation of God’s Word is much more than reading the Bible or preaching a sermon (not that there’s anything wrong with them!!). We embrace various mediums of proclamation – yes, Scripture reading and preaching, but also videos, art, and what we like to call ‘stations’ (a contemplative exercise where we move from one station to another, each with a visual and written aspect). This area is a resource to access what happens weekly at TILT worship gatherings. Audio from sermons, links to videos, text of handouts, pictures of stations – whatever is happening will be posted here.