The Branch Church

<p>This weekend, we explore what it looks like to trust Jesus in the midst of a storm.</p>

<p>This week, we learn how the voice of the Lord helps us to identify any lies we might be operating under in our hearts, and pull us out of isolation and into community with others.</p>

<p>There are multiple voices speaking into our lives. This weekend, we explore more on the subject of discerning the Lord among all the other voices.</p>

<p>When it comes to seeking to hear from God and getting nothing but silence on the other end, what then? We’re talking about that this weekend as our Vox Dei series continues.</p>

<p>Why do we have trouble hearing and discerning the voice of God? This weekend, we’ll look at things we can do to help our hearing and cut down on the interference.</p>

<p>This weekend, we explore the dynamics of God leading through impressions upon our hearts and minds, as well as the experience of hearing His voice in our hearts and minds. Are those things in Scripture? They are, indeed.</p>

<p>There’s no shortage of stories in Scripture of God speaking to people through dreams and visions. This weekend we’ll consider this variable of dreams/visions, hear a few testimonies, and talk about matters of discernment.</p>

<p>Another testimony sets the stage for us to explore the variety of ways the Lord speaks, and to see those confirmed in Scripture.</p>

<p>We get to hear two testimonies this week in our series on hearing God. Chris also shares 5 incentives we have for seeking to hear God’s voice today.</p>

<p>“Why is it when we talk to God we’re praying, but when God talks to us we’re crazy?” (Lily Tomlin) <br><br>We’re kicking off a new series this weekend at The Branch. It’s all about the messiness, mystery, and wonder of hearing God.</p>

<p>Chris is back from his sabbatical this weekend with a one-off message taking us down memory lane. <br><br>We also are taking time in our services to bless and pray over our kids, teachers, administrators, and parents as we school begins this month.</p>

<p>This weekend, our Executive Minister of Ministry and Strategy, Josh Brake will be preaching about breakthrough in the Kingdom of God in Acts 3 & 4.</p>

<p>This weekend, Tim Ketchersid shares what God has been stirring in his heart. From John 6:1-14, he brings us a word of encouragement in the story of Jesus feeding the multitude with what a little boy had to offer.</p>

<p>Have you ever felt like giving up? How should we pray in the face of adversity? This weekend, Ryan Rainey is preaching out of Psalm 11 and talking about how to pray when you feel like giving up.</p>

<p>This weekend, Ryan Rainey explores a dream found in the Song of Solomon chapter 5 and unpacks what we're to do when we feel like God is far away.</p>

<p>This weekend, we are privileged to hear from our Kids Ministry Director, Alexis Hall. In this message from Habakkuk 1-3, she shares some stories from her life, and gives us a glimpse into her own personal experience with prayer.</p>

<p>In this lesson, our Farmers Branch Youth Minister, Hunter Wheatcraft, teaches out of Acts 17 and turning the world right-side up.</p>

<p>This July, we’ll be hearing from some of our staff ministers at The Branch. Hunter Wheatcraft brings us a message on what the Lord has been stirring in his heart: “He has called me friend.”</p>

<p>This July, we’ll be hearing from some of our staff ministers at The Branch. Josh Brake kicks us off with a message on what the Lord has been stirring in his heart: Pentecost in Acts, chapter 2.</p>

<p>This weekend, we wrap up our journey through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:13-27. Jesus paints four pictures to say the same thing. What is it?</p>

<p>“Judge not lest you be judged....”<br>It’s ironic that of all the things Jesus said which we make a judgment too quickly about when it comes to what it means – are His words about judging. This weekend, we take a look at this often quoted (but often taken out of context) phrase Jesus used.</p>

<p>This weekend, Josh Brake guides us through Matthew 6:25-34 and Jesus’s reflections on worry. What we worry about can be revealing. Jesus knew the leverage worry can have on our quality of life and our capacity to live effectively as His disciples.</p>

<p>This weekend, Hunter Wheatcraft guides us through Matthew 6:25-34 and Jesus’s reflections on worry. What we worry about can be revealing. Jesus knew the leverage worry can have on our quality of life and our capacity to live effectively as His disciples.</p>

<p>“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This weekend we’ll take a look at Jesus’ challenging call for us to trust in God as Father and prioritization of His kingdom over our “thingdoms.” While money and material possessions can be excellent servants to the purposes of God, all too often they can wind up becoming terrible masters of our lives.</p>

<p>We have no record of Jesus teaching His disciples how to preach. We do have a record of Jesus teaching them (and us) how to pray. This weekend, in our series on the Sermon on the Mount, we’re walking through what’s known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” It’s something to be prayed and lived.</p>

<p>It’s Graduate Sunday at The Branch, and we’re starting our service by honoring our Graduating Class of 2022.<br><br>This weekend in Matthew 6:1-18 this coming weekend. We’ll be talking about a desire some of us struggle with more than others – the desire to impress and be seen. It can get us into all sorts of trouble, as well as interfere with making a real difference in the things that matter.</p>

<p>“Turn the other cheek. Go the second mile. No one can serve two masters. Do to others what you would have them do to you.” These are sayings that float around American culture today. Not many people realize they are all from the Sermon on the Mount. <br><br>This weekend we’ll see what may be the most challenging teaching Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount. There may be no brighter light emanating from our lives, though, than when we live by it.</p>

<p>What would it be like to see your heart in a jar? People who’ve had heart transplants have. This weekend we hear a story about that and what it has to do with the next part of our journey through the Sermon on the Mount.</p>

<p>“Blessed” is the first word in the Sermon on the Mount. This says so much about the heart of Jesus. We’re beginning our series in the SOTM this weekend with Matthew 5:1-16. <br><br>Did you know it’s possible for pilots, particularly fighter pilots, to be flying upside down and not know it? We do it in life, too. Some of Jesus’s teachings seems upside down to us, and yet we might be the ones flying upside down. It’s easy to do. Because much of our world is upside down.</p>

<p>How in the world do you follow Easter? Jesus answered that. This weekend we read the end of the Gospel of Matthew. Before we back up and dive into the Sermon on the Mount next weekend, we’re first going to another mount found in Matthew 28:18-20.</p>

<p>Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead. The seal that was placed over the tomb was broken on that day. What does His resurrection mean for us today?</p>

<p>You can look at cost in terms of how expensive something is or how precious something is. This weekend we’ll be in what is likely the hardest part of the story of Jesus. The story of the cross. It’s expensive. And yet, it also tells you how precious you are to Jesus.</p>

<p>Can you think of being interrupted by something or someone that you didn’t see coming, yet you wound up incredibly blessed? Or challenged? Or both? This weekend, we’ll look at three very different people whose lives were interrupted by Jesus on the way to the cross in Matthew 27. <br><br>Some interruptions can be life-changing.</p>

<p>So much of Jesus’ ministry was around a table in the context of a meal. This weekend we’ll be in Matthew 26, and His last meal with His disciples in the midst of the most difficult week of His life. It’s at this table that Jesus, Himself, interprets what His death on the cross will mean for everyone.</p>

<p>It’s rare to see the Lord “fighting mad.” But it’s just as important to understand what He’s fighting for. There are moments in our lives when the Lord “disturbs the peace” in order to make it possible for us or others to experience true, substantial peace. This weekend, in Matthew 21:1-17, we’ll look at a story that exemplifies this. There are layers to this story and multiple points of intersection for our lives.</p>

<p>Have you ever had that awkward silence with someone you love after an intense disagreement? Didn’t know how to move forward? That could be what happened with Jesus and His disciples in Matthew 17 along with two of the strangest stories in all the gospels.</p>

<p>This weekend in Matthew, we see Jesus set the foundation for His church. Josh Brake brings us the word from Matthew 16:13-28.</p>

<p>One of Chris’s favorite stories in all of Matthew is finally here! It’s the story of Jesus walking on water — and Peter, for that matter. There are layers to this story as we learn what it means to look FOR Jesus in rough water and high winds. Then to look TO Him.</p>

<p>This weekend, in Matthew Chapter 12, we see Jesus saying over and over again that, “something greater is here….” Chris also talks about the one “unforgivable” sin and the question a lot of folks ask, “Have I already done it?”</p>

<p>It’s possible to give someone a gift that they find offensive. Jesus is the greatest gift of all – and sometimes the gift can be offensive to us. Why does that matter? What does it have to do with following Jesus?</p>

<p>This weekend, Chris is back to bring us a word out of Matthew 9:35-10:39 with Jesus teaching his disciples about authority, risk, discomfort, and sacrifice.</p>

<p>This weekend we come to the calling of Matthew, the titular author himself. Josh Brake is bringing this message to the Vista Ridge campus this weekend.</p>

<p>This weekend we come to the calling of Matthew, the titular author himself. Hunter Wheatcraft brings the word from Matthew 9:9-13 to the Farmers Branch campus.</p>

<p>This weekend we’re taking a tour through a few stories, back-to-back in Matthew 8-9:7. These stories share a common thread or theme that runs through them all. <br><br>And, in case you’re thinking, “Hey, wait a second! We just finished Matthew 4 this past weekend? What about 5-7? What about the Sermon on the Mount?” We’ll circle back around to that after Easter. Stay tuned for more on that later.</p>

<p>We’ve been hearing the phrase “unprecedented times” a lot recently, and while these are turbulent times, they are not unprecedented. “…the people living in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” - Matthew 4:16</p>

<p>Have you ever been in the middle of a fight and didn’t know it? How about a war? In Matthew 4, we walk through a story which none of us would ever know about were it not for Jesus telling His disciples. Because no one was there when it happened. No one except for Jesus. Satan. And a few angels. But He wanted us to know about it. But why?</p>

<p>The story of Jesus’ baptism is actually a perfect setup for a new year! But to get there, we have to go through a man named John the Baptist who dresses like a Star Wars character and eats like a reality TV show contestant.</p>

<p>The King has come, but how do we live beyond Christmas? What does it mean to respond to the coming of Jesus?</p>

<p>The responses to the coming of Jesus are quite varied, and are embodied in the part of the real Christmas story found in Matthew 2:1-12. People talk about “being in the Christmas spirit.” But which one?</p>

<p>Kicking off our journey in the Gospel of Matthew, Chris brings up the front and back of Christmas trees, “coffin apartments,” and what in the world those things have to do with Matthew 1!</p>