August 2026 Messages
SERMON SERIES: VINTAGE VIBES
PAST SERMONS (OVER FOUR DECADES) REIMAGINED FOR MODERN LIFE
Pastor William Green
Horizontal Worship | August 30 | 10 AM (CST)
Our mission is to use our resources—both tangible and intangible—to minimize human suffering and enhance human well-being. This is godliness to us..
We live out this mission by faithfully stewarding the Six Holy Currencies—relationships, time/place, gracious leadership, truth, wellness, and money—engaging in a continual cycle of blessings through listening, learning, relating, and sharing so that our collective resources may bring healing, justice, and flourishing to others.
The “Jesus Before Christianity” series addresses the crucial need for clarity about what it truly means to follow Jesus Christ, beyond the label “Christian.”
“Jesus replied that you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Jesus is not lowering the importance of loving God; He is raising the importance of loving people.
- Vertical worship says, “God, You see me.”
- Vertical worship praises God’s mercy.
- Vertical worship honors God’s justice.
Horizontal worship participates in that justice.
- Vertical worship thanks God for provision.
Horizontal worship calls us to become God’s provision for someone else.
- Vertical worship honors God’s presence.
Horizontal worship creates spaces where people experience that presence through us.
- Vertical worship honors God’s holiness.
- Vertical worship lifts praise.
Horizontal worship lifts people.
- Vertical worship celebrates who God is.
Horizontal worship reflects who God calls us to be.
- It gives people a framework for interpreting the world.
- It helps people connect faith to real life.
- It strengthens emotional, social, spiritual, and relational intelligence.
- It reduces harmful forms of religion.
- It equips people for public engagement.
- It protects the church from political manipulation.
- It encourages responsible citizenship.
1. We examine the headlines through Jesus’ ethic.
2. We evaluate rhetoric and policy through the teachings of Jesus.
4. We treat voting as an act of neighbor‑love.
5. We embody Jesus’ agenda in daily life.
6. We listen to the stories of people most affected by public and policy decisions.
7. We practice courageous conversations.
8. We support local efforts that protect human dignity.
9. We practice scripture‑centered reflection before political conversation
10. We build bridges across differences
11. We refuse to share harmful or unverified information
12. We make space for lament
13. We let vertical worship lead us to horizontal action
Horizontal worship protects us from a faith that feels holy but behaves harmfully. Worship is authentic when vertical and horizontal meet. It is when we adore God and attend to one another.
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Pastor William Green
Your Only Option Isn't God's Only Option | August 23 | 10 AM (CST)
Pastor William Green
Your Only Option Isn't God's Only Option | August 23 | 10 AM (CST)
Our mission is to use our resources—both tangible and intangible—to minimize human suffering and enhance human well-being. This is godliness to us..
We live out this mission by faithfully stewarding the Six Holy Currencies—relationships, time/place, gracious leadership, truth, wellness, and money—engaging in a continual cycle of blessings through listening, learning, relating, and sharing so that our collective resources may bring healing, justice, and flourishing to others.
The “Jesus Before Christianity” series addresses the crucial need for clarity about what it truly means to follow Jesus Christ, beyond the label “Christian.”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
God gives us eyes to notice what is right in front of us.
God gives us ears to hear the gentle nudges of grace.
God gives us intellect to discern opportunities that don’t sparkle but still save.
God gives us intuition to sense His presence in the ordinary rhythms of life.
Something happens when God sees you.
Something happens when God steps into your story.
Something happens when God interrupts your assumption.
The miracle he expected came but in a different form, through a different medium, with a different kind of authority.
God gives us eyes to notice what is right in front of us.
God gives us ears to hear the gentle nudges of grace.
God gives us intellect to discern opportunities that don’t sparkle but still save.
God gives us intuition to sense His presence in the ordinary rhythms of life.
- Something changes when you stop demanding signs and start receiving invitations.
- Something changes when you stop praying only for miracles and start thanking God for moments.
- Something changes when you realize God has been forming you long before He has been fixing you.
- Something changes when you stop chasing the spectacular and start honoring the subtle.
- Something changes when you stop demanding signs and start receiving invitations.
- Something changes when you stop praying only for miracles and start thanking God for moments.
Pastor William Green
The Pressure to Be First | August 16 | 10 AM (CST)
Our mission is to use our resources—both tangible and intangible—to minimize human suffering and enhance human well-being. This is godliness to us..
We live out this mission by faithfully stewarding the Six Holy Currencies—relationships, time/place, gracious leadership, truth, wellness, and money—engaging in a continual cycle of blessings through listening, learning, relating, and sharing so that our collective resources may bring healing, justice, and flourishing to others.
The “Jesus Before Christianity” series addresses the crucial need for clarity about what it truly means to follow Jesus Christ, beyond the label “Christian.”
“When Jesus saw him lying there, knowing that he had already been there a long time, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” The sick man said, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone who will help me. I need somebody who will put me into the pool. When the water starts to move, I try to get in. But someone else always gets in before me.’”
- People’s stories shape their responses.
- People’s histories shape their hopes.
- People’s experiences shape their expectations.
- Ask About the Story Behind the Struggle: An individual’s present conditions are shaped by past realities. Ask: “What has this person lived through?”
- Listen Without Defending Your Assumptions: Listening is not waiting for your turn to speak. It is suspending your assumptions long enough to hear truth you didn’t expect.
- Avoid Comparing Their Journey to Yours: Comparison kills compassion. Your path is not their path. Your strength is not their strength. Your access is not their access.
- Let Compassion Interrupt Your Theology: Sometimes religious people cling to rules more tightly than they cling to mercy. Allow compassion to correct the parts of us that sound more like religion than Jesus.
- Choose Grace Over Assumption Every Time: Grace sees what judgment cannot. Grace hears what assumptions ignore. Grace understands what perspective reveals.
- Sometimes You’re Tired of Trying: Because the pressure to be first wears people out.
- Maybe There Is Loneliness You Don’t Talk About: Because pressure isolates people—even in crowds.
- My Story Is Too Heavy for a Simple Answer: Because pressure makes people feel they must justify why they aren’t “ahead.”
- Tell Me How to Be Healed When I Don’t Know Where to Start: Because pressure convinces people that if they don’t start perfectly, they shouldn’t start at all.
- At Times I Feel Stuck but Everyone Else Is Moving: Because pressure makes comparison feel like condemnation.
Ask About the Story Behind the Struggle: An individual’s present conditions are shaped by past realities. Ask: “What has this person lived through?”
- Listen Without Defending Your Assumptions: Listening is not waiting for your turn to speak. It is suspending your assumptions long enough to hear truth you didn’t expect.
- Avoid Comparing Their Journey to Yours: Comparison kills compassion. Your path is not their path. Your strength is not their strength. Your access is not their access.
- Let Compassion Interrupt Your Theology: Sometimes religious people cling to rules more tightly than they cling to mercy. Allow compassion to correct the parts of us that sound more like religion than Jesus.
- Choose Grace Over Assumption Every Time: Grace sees what judgment cannot. Grace hears what assumptions ignore. Grace understands what perspective reveals.
Pastor William Green
Perspective Taken | August 9 | 10 AM (CST)
Our mission is to use our resources—both tangible and intangible—to minimize human suffering and enhance human well-being. This is godliness to us..
We live out this mission by faithfully stewarding the Six Holy Currencies—relationships, time/place, gracious leadership, truth, wellness, and money—engaging in a continual cycle of blessings through listening, learning, relating, and sharing so that our collective resources may bring healing, justice, and flourishing to others.
“When Jesus saw him lying there, knowing that he had already been there a long time, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” The sick man said, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone who will help me. I need somebody who will put me into the pool. When the water starts to move, I try to get in. But someone else always gets in before me.’”
The “Jesus Before Christianity” series addresses the crucial need for clarity about what it truly means to follow Jesus Christ, beyond the label “Christian.”
Ask About the Story Behind the Struggle: An individual’s present conditions are shaped by past realities. Ask: “What has this person lived through?”
- Listen Without Defending Your Assumptions: Listening is not waiting for your turn to speak. It is suspending your assumptions long enough to hear truth you didn’t expect.
- Avoid Comparing Their Journey to Yours: Comparison kills compassion. Your path is not their path. Your strength is not their strength. Your access is not their access.
- Let Compassion Interrupt Your Theology: Sometimes religious people cling to rules more tightly than they cling to mercy. Allow compassion to correct the parts of us that sound more like religion than Jesus.
- Choose Grace Over Assumption Every Time: Grace sees what judgment cannot. Grace hears what assumptions ignore. Grace understands what perspective reveals.
Perspective‑taken reminds us:
- People’s stories shape their responses.
- People’s histories shape their hopes.
- People’s experiences shape their expectations.
When we find ourselves at our own Pool of Bethesda no matter how long we’ve been there we must recognize that sacred things are happening beneath the surface.
Grace reaches people whose pain came from the outside and people whose pain came from their own decisions.
1. Brené Brown: “We don’t have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to.”
This reminds us that life is not designed to be carried solo. It means we are built for connection, support, and shared strength.
- You don’t have to solve every problem by yourself.
- Asking for help is not weakness; it is wisdom.
- We flourish when we let others walk with us.
2. Anne Lamott: "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… including you.”
This is a gentle reminder that rest can reset us.
- Step away when you’re overwhelmed.
- A pause can restore clarity, calm, sanity, and serenity.
- You are not a machine; you need breath, quiet, and space.
- Renewal often comes from stopping, not striving.
3. Barbara Brown Taylor: “You are not lost. You are simply on a path you did not expect.”
Life’s detours are not failures. Detours often reveal things you would never have seen on the straight path.
- Confusion does not cancel God’s presence. You are not wandering alone; you are being led in ways you may not yet understand.
- Confusion can be a classroom. You may be gathering wisdom, resilience, or clarity that will matter later.
- Your story is still unfolding. Being in an unexpected chapter does not mean the story has gone wrong.
- God often works in the places we didn’t plan to be. The unanticipated path may be the very place where grace becomes visible.
4. Brené Brown: “Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.”
- You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to be present.
- Showing up emotionally, spiritually, physically is an act of strength.
- Courage often looks like staying in the room, not running from it.
- Being there matters more than having all the answers.
