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STUDIO

by STUDIO

Christianity Spirituality

Season 5

Known By Love

At Studio, we want to be a place where God and people meet and to be a people known for our love. That kind of love doesn't happen by accident. It grows as we encounter Jesus and become more like Him. One of the greatest things Jesus changes isn't simply what we believe. He changes how we see and engage with people. Our world is quick to categorize, divide, and label. Before we know it, we stop seeing people and start seeing differences. Sin constantly reduces people. God always restores people. When we look at Jesus, we see a different way to live. He walked toward people. He shared meals with them. He listened. He healed. He touched the people everyone else avoided. Jesus was accessible, tender, humble, and He drew near. He crossed cultural and social boundaries because love was always greater than labels. As His followers, He's inviting us to do the same. To live a life of honor, respect and great value for each other. Honor says, “I don't have to agree with everything about someone to recognize the image of God in them.” Every person we meet carries immeasurable value because they were created in the image of God. What if we slowed down enough to really see people? What if we chose curiosity over assumption, honor over judgment, and love over fear? This week, ask the Lord, "Who have I stopped seeing?" Then take one simple step. Ask God what He loves about them. Start a conversation. Listen to someone's story. Encourage someone. Pray for them. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

Find Me Somebody To Love

This Sunday we explored one powerful question: Does my view of God's goodness shape how I see my circumstances, or do my circumstances shape how I see God's goodness? Looking at the life of Daniel, we discovered that Babylon wasn't evidence that God had abandoned him—it was evidence that God was already at work in places no one expected. While many of us tend to measure God's goodness by comfort, answered prayers, or favorable circumstances, Daniel's life reminds us that God's greatest promise has never been a problem-free life. His greatest promise is His presence. When we believe God is only good when life goes the way we planned, we spend our energy trying to escape difficult places. But when we know His goodness is rooted in the reality that He is with us, and we are in Him, we become free to walk into hard places with hope, courage, and love. What if we've spent so much time asking God who we're supposed to love that we've overlooked the people He's already placed in our everyday lives? Just as Jesus entered the darkness rather than avoiding it, we are called to carry His presence into our neighborhoods, workplaces, friendships, and communities. The world may never believe that God is with them until they encounter people who are deeply convinced that He is. May we stop asking, "God, why am I here?" and begin asking, "God, who are You?" Because when we know who He is, we'll begin to see people the way He does, and love them accordingly. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

7 Common Barriers to Reading the Bible

This past Sunday we kicked off a new series by asking a few simple questions: What kind of relationship do you have with the Bible? Many people believe the Bible is boring, confusing, or difficult to understand. But what if the issue isn't the Bible itself? We looked at seven common reasons people struggle to read the Bible and discovered that behind each one is an invitation to see Scripture in a fresh way. Here are a few ideas we explored: The Bible isn't one book—it's a library telling one unified story of God, humanity, redemption, and new creation. Different books are meant to be read differently. Poetry, history, prophecy, wisdom, and letters each invite us to read with different expectations. The Bible isn't competing with unbelief as much as it's competing with distraction. Scripture wasn't just written to inform us—it was given to transform us. The goal isn't simply to know more about God, but to encounter the God who still speaks through His Word. Our prayer is that every one of us would experience our own Luke 24 moment—where Jesus opens the Scriptures, our eyes are opened, and our hearts burn within us. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

On the Journey of Becoming

We're all on a journey of becoming. Every season is shaping us. The only question is... who are we becoming? When life feels hard or uncertain, it's easy to find ourselves praying, "Lord... when is this going to change?" I've prayed that more times than I can count. But what if God is inviting us to ask a different question? What if this season isn't just about what you're going through... but about what God is growing in you? "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." - James 1:2-4 NKJV James reminds us that God doesn't waste our seasons. He uses them to grow our faith, deepen our trust, and make us more like Jesus. The season may not be easy, but it isn't empty. So here's the challenge for all of us this week: Instead of praying, "Lord, get me out," pray, "Lord, what are You growing in me?" Look for His presence before His answers. Take a moment each day to thank Him for where you see His goodness. Gratitude has a way of opening our eyes to His faithfulness and provision. Our prayer is that we would become people who continue to trust God more - not because life is always easy, but because we know His character. Let's keep trusting God in every season and becoming more like Jesus. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

The Art of Favor

This Sunday we continued our series on Favor by exploring what it means to have favor with man. Luke tells us that Jesus "grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52). While we've spent much of this series talking about God's favor toward us—His delight, love, and covenant faithfulness—we shifted our attention to the reality that favor also exists in our relationships with people. One of the biggest takeaways for me is that favor with man is less about charisma and more about character. Throughout Scripture, favor seems to grow around qualities like wisdom, humility, integrity, faithfulness, stewardship, and service. We often ask, "How do I get people to notice me?" but the better question may be, "How do I become the kind of person people can trust?" Many of the opportunities, partnerships, responsibilities, and open doors in our lives are connected to trust. We see throughout Scripture that both favor with God and favor with man matter. God's favor is received by grace, but favor with man is often cultivated through character. As we continue to follow Jesus, may we become people who are not only secure in God's love but also trustworthy in the eyes of those around us. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

You've Mourned Long Enough

This week at STUDIO, we welcomed back Nate Edwardson, from The Stirring in Redding, California. He took us into 1 Samuel 16, where God chooses David to be the next king of Israel. At the heart of this story lies a profound truth: before God anoints a new generation, He first heals the spiritual fathers and mothers who will pour into them. The prophet Samuel is stuck in mourning over Saul's failure, unable to move forward until God speaks these transformative words: 'You've mourned long enough.” This passage challenges us to examine whether we're allowing past disappointments to define our future. Nate’s talk reminds us that we cannot anoint what God is doing next while we're still standing over yesterday's graves. God is raising up a generation of people after His own heart, but He needs healed, whole, and oil-filled leaders to recognize and release them. The call is clear: it's time to leave the cave of disappointment, become renewed in His Spirit, and position ourselves to see those who God has already prepared in the next generation. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

The Three Dimensions of Favor

This past Sunday we continued our conversation on favor and looked at one of the most fascinating verses in the life of Jesus: "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52) For years I've read that verse and wondered: How does Jesus grow in favor with God if He is already fully loved by the Father? What emerged was a framework that has helped me think about favor in a deeper way. Covenant Favor reminds us who we are to God. We are loved, wanted, welcomed, and accepted. This favor is rooted in God's nature, not our performance. Formational Favor asks what God is doing in us. Throughout Scripture, favor often leads people into seasons of formation. Joseph, David, Moses, Mary, and even Jesus all experienced this reality. Favor didn't remove the process—it worked through it. Entrusted Favor asks what God is inviting us to carry. As we grow in wisdom, maturity, humility, and faithfulness, God entrusts us with greater responsibility, influence, and opportunity. The challenge is that many of us collapse all favor into one category. We assume bigger platforms, greater influence, or more visible success means more favor. But Scripture paints a different picture. The favor of God begins with belonging and often matures into entrustment. My prayer for all of us this week is that we would stay rooted in covenant favor—God's love and delight toward us—while remaining open to the formation and entrustment He has for our lives. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

The Myth of Favor

This past Sunday we talked about Favor — and how many of us have misunderstood it. We often think favor means success, open doors, influence, or easy circumstances. But Psalm 30:5 reveals something much deeper: favor is first about God’s posture toward us. His face turned toward us with delight, nearness, goodwill, and love. One of the most important ideas from the talk was this: pain can coexist with favor. David says, “weeping may endure for the night…” meaning hardship does not mean God has withdrawn His favor. Favor is not merely about outcomes — it’s about living aware that God is for you, with you, and near you. When we become secure in God’s favor, fear loosens its grip, striving begins to fade, and we stop living like abandoned people. My prayer this week is simple: that you would truly believe God’s face is turned toward you and he delights in you. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

What My Mom Taught Me

This past Sunday Eric shared a personal message about four things his mom taught him over the course of her life. Four years after her passing, her life still continues to shape his in profound ways. • Create Space for Becoming — She created environments where people could discover who God made them to be instead of pressuring them to become something else. • Always Worship — Worship wasn’t just a Sunday activity to her; it was a lifestyle of continually turning her attention toward God and relinquishing control. • Be Stealthy in Prayer & Generosity — She prayed with joy, gave quietly, and impacted countless people without needing recognition. • Trust in God — At the center of her life was a deep trust in God. It shaped the way she prayed, loved, worshipped, and lived. Our prayer is that we would become people marked by worship, joy, generosity, and trust in God. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

The "Y" In The Wilderness

This Sunday’s message, “The Y in the Wilderness,” reminded us that wilderness seasons often bring us to a fork in the road—a choice between striving in our own strength or trusting in God’s promise. Through the story in Galatians 4, we saw the contrast between Hagar, representing performance and self-reliance, and Sarah, representing grace and the fulfillment of God’s promises. So often, we feel pressure to earn what only God can give, but His promises were never dependent on our performance. Even in seasons that feel barren, empty, or delayed, God is still at work beneath the surface, bringing life in ways we cannot yet see. The challenge for us is personal: will we trust what we can control, or surrender to what only God can do? As we move forward, may we choose the path of promise—letting go of striving and walking in the freedom of His love, even when it requires trust in the unknown. For more info, you can go to our website, check us out on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. If you would like to support STUDIO financially, you can do so here. Have a great week!

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