January 24, 2025
Dear Radiant,
God desires your affection and attention. He is jealous for you.
How does that make you feel?
It makes me a feel a bit uncomfortable and put on the spot.
In human relationships jealousy often emerges from an unhealthy need or dependency on the thing or person we are jealous of. Usually, a jealous person is a needy person — one not sufficient in himself or their current lot.
But God, of course, doesn’t have need. He lacks nothing.
God is jealous for you and He is totally sufficient in himself.
When I consider it this way, it feels quite a bit different. God desires my heart because….he desires my heart. His zeal for us is pure and passionate.
So how do we respond to his jealousy? It’s clear from the scriptures that affection and attention for our jealous God means being set apart for God — not giving away our deepest loyalty to anyone or anything else.
In other words, this means being different, embodying a different way of living in the world, living in and through God’s covenant love.
How the world needs this today!
This a jarring time: wildfires in L.A. persist, wars rage, political idolatry rages on — it is getting real. In this reality – the world longs for a different kind of people, a covenant people that reflect that love of God.
Friends, the love of God is calling us back to himself. There’s fire in His eyes waiting for our return.
See you Sunday at 10AM as we continue our meditation on Exodus 33 & 34!
EVENTS CALENDAR
HOME CHURCHES RESTART
1/25 – Youth Conference at Mid-town Church
1/26 – Newcomer’s Pizza 12:00-1:00PM at Zach and Jill’s
1/29 – Men’s Gathering, 6-7AM at ELC
2/7-8 – Holy Spirit Conference (livestream)
2/9 – Second Sunday Super Bowl party!
5/2-4 – Men’s Conference at Mission Springs (registration opens Feb. 1st)
NEW? GETTING PLUGGED IN….
NEWCOMER PIZZA – If you are newer, newish with us, we’d love to get to know you a bit. We’re relational here — so Jill and I like to invite you over for post-church pizza on 1/26 at 12pm. Sign up here. Let us know! (We’ll have some gluten free pizza too!)
HOME CHURCH – Is where the really good stuff happens as we grow as disciples of Jesus. These smaller communities are reconvening in mid-January. You can fill out the form here if interested.
MEN’S GATHERING THIS WEDNESDAYGuys! You are up! This Wednesday from 6-7AM at ELC’s fellowship hall for a time of community and prayer.
HOLY SPIRIT CONFERENCE We have N.T. Wright (amazing New Testament scholar), Tim Mackie (of the Bible Project!), and more coming for a Holy Spirit conference! Well, let me clarify….Bridgetown church in Portland is actually hosting their seventh annual Holy Spirit conference with those great speakers. We are going to be joining the conference via livestream together, learning and practicing what it means to welcome the Holy Spirit in our lives.
To learn more about the conference you can go here. To sign up to join us for the livestream, fill out this form. This will help us plan accordingly.
L.A. WILDFIRES FOLLOW UP… I had the chance to catch up with my friend, Pastor Steve Wong who pastors at Pasadena Covenant Church. It is a devastating, difficult time and it will be a long road to recovery. There were 12 families who lost homes in the Eaton fire connected to this church. I asked Steve the best way to help and he said that really giving money is most helpful at this time. Here is a link from Pasadena Covenant if to support this community at this time.
MEN’S CONFERENCE 5/2-5/4 (REGISTRATION OPENS SOON!)
Join us for a weekend of impact, challenge, and fun as we worship, fellowship, and grow in our faith journey. It is guaranteed to bless your soul.Our hope is that the men at the conference will feel empowered to rise up as husbands, fathers, and men of faith. Despite their feelings, circumstances, or situations, they will seek out God.Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deed. REGISTER HERE STARTING FEB. 1st.
BAND APP
One way to connect at Radiant is to join our BAND APP group. Think of this as a sort of Radiant message board — our own little social media space. People can extend invites, share about needs and opportunities.
GIVING
Thank you for your generosity and partnership in Radiant’s ministry!
Here’s the link to online giving.
Grace and Peace!
Zach
zach@radcov.org
209-497-3710
www.radcov.org
