Week 02 - Talking to God - The Prayer Practice

This week's community practice focuses on establishing a daily prayer rhythm, whether starting with 10-15 minutes using the Lord's Prayer or a psalm, or deepening an existing 20-30 minute practice by asking God how to integrate prayer throughout the day.

The example of Nehemiah in chapters 1 and 2 illustrates prayer as a simple, honest conversation with God about life's challenges. Faced with devastating news about Jerusalem's walls, Nehemiah's immediate response was to weep, mourn, fast, and pray, acknowledging God's greatness, confessing sin, and reminding God of His promises

In this teaching from Luke 13, we look at Jesus healing a woman who had been bent over for 18 years and what that moment reveals about the true heart of Sabbath.

Sabbath is not meant to be a religious burden. It is a gift of rest, healing, freedom, delight, and worship. Jesus restores Sabbath by bringing people into wholeness.

This episode invites us to ask what is weighing us down, what lies we may have normalized, and how Jesus is inviting us into deeper rest and freedom.

In this session, we explore the second movement of Sabbath–to rest. The idea of rest sounds wonderful, but in reality, rest is a radical, countercultural act of resistance to the powers and principalities of a world at war with God and his kingdom of peace. To practice Sabbath is to draw a line in the sand against all external (and internal) forces that would encroach upon your apprenticeship to Jesus and formation into his image. It’s to say, “This far you shall go, but no further.” It is to defy some of the most powerful forces known to humanity as an act of non-cooperation done in love for community, for the poor, for the earth, and ultimately for God himself.

Sabbath is a twenty-four hour time period set aside to stop, rest, delight, and worship. It is the best day of the week. In our era of chronic exhaustion, emotional unhealth, and spiritual stagnation, few things are more necessary than the recovery of this ancient practice.

From the garden of Eden to the cross, Scripture tells a story of humanity’s failure and God’s relentless love. What we see on Good Friday is the full weight of sin, shame, and brokenness placed on Him. And yet, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame.We walk through the biblical story—from creation, to covenant, to Christ—and see how Jesus fulfills every promise, defeats the power of sin and death, and reveals the heart of the Father. The cross is not a story of God turning away, but of God drawing near—reconciling the world to Himself through love.And in the end, we’re left with a question: Which story are you living in? The garden of shame, or the garden of resurrection?This is the good news: Shame is defeated. Love has won. And new creation has begun.

Life with Jesus was never meant to be lived alone.

In this teaching, we explore Life Together—the invitation into real, meaningful community where transformation actually takes place. Beyond information or individual effort, it’s through relationships that we are formed, healed, and shaped into people of love.

This is an invitation to move beyond isolation and step into the kind of life Jesus modeled—one rooted in connection, vulnerability, and walking with others over the long journey.

What shapes the kind of person we are becoming? In this message, Kim invites us to consider the practice of building a Rule of Life—an intentional set of rhythms that help us stay connected to Jesus. Rather than adding more pressure or religious duty, a Rule of Life helps us slow down, remove distractions, and create space to be with Jesus, become like Him, and do as He did. As part of our Way of Formation series, this teaching encourages us to start small, pay attention to what is forming us, and take one simple step toward a life rooted in Christ.