We think of Christmastime as a season of giving, and that makes sense because the original Christmas story of the birth of Jesus is actually a giving story also. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son." In this message, we look at the true meaning of Christmas and explore what it means to be cherished by God.
12.15.19 - Called
Everyone in the Christmas story was chosen for a purpose. Mary struggled a bit with that calling from God, as did Joseph. In this message, we look at what it means to be called by God and how we can respond to God’s call in our lives. We also interview the Brents to learn the passion that God has placed on their hearts as a family.
Please note that the Brents will be living in an area that is sometimes hostile to Christianity, and so the exact location has been extracted from the audio. Thank you for understanding.
12.08.19 - Carried
Mary is told by God that she is supposed to carry God’s baby- a boy named Jesus. How terrifying was that for her? And while she was carrying God’s baby, who was going to carry her through this difficult time? In this message, we look at the idea that God carries or sustains us when we are in pain.
12.01.19 - Created
Two thousand years ago, when Jesus came to earth as a child, the world could not possibly foresee what that would mean for the history and fate of humanity. But God knew, and he had planned for this since before the dawn of creation. Join us this Advent season as we explore the implications of that Holy Night so very long ago.
11.17.19 - Death to Self
The book of Esther ends with the Israelites gaining victory over their enemies. In many ways, that feels satisfying as we all love a good underdog story. But for as many questions as it answers, it kicks up other hard questions about God’s judgment and wrath against a group of people. In this final message of the Esther series, we look at how God brings about ultimate justice and how we can experience his grace in the midst of justice.
11.10.19 - When God Brings Justice
We are surrounded by injustices throughout the world. Injustices in our personal lives, systemic injustices, or injustices against ethnic groups and nations. Does God sit back and let it all happen without intervening? Why would he do that? In this message, we look at how a dramatic turn of events allows the Jews to escape genocide in Persia and how God brings about justice in a tough situation.
11.03.19 - Pulling The Strings
We talk a lot about luck in our culture. When things go well, we say we had good luck. When they go poorly, we say it is bad luck. Where does chance fit into God’s plans? Is luck a real thing? And if not, how do we explain the unusual coincidences in our lives? In this message, we will watch Queen Esther put together a plan to ask the King to rescue the Jews, and see how God is working behind the scenes through all the coincidences.
10.27.19 - This Is Your Moment
What if all the circumstances of your life were leading you up to one crucial moment? How would you handle that moment? Would you recognize the opportunity you have? In this message, we look at the heart of the book of Esther and look at Esther’s courage as she leverages her position as queen for the sake of her people, the Jews.
10.20.19 - The Sky Is Falling
What we do when it looks like everything is falling apart? We’ve all had those moments where even our best plans seem to come undone. In this message, we will look at a turning point in the book of Esther where things are going so well, and then things unravel pretty quickly, and we will look at how pride is usually the cause of our undoing.
10.13.19 - The Invisible Hand
How does God work in our lives? How can we see his handiwork? What do we do when God seems absent? What do we do when it feels like God has forgotten us. In this series, we will look at those questions as we study through the book of Esther - A story set in ancient Persia where the people of God felt abandoned by God. In this message, we will set the stage of the story and see the beginning of God’s work.
10.06.19 - Traveling Companions
How does marriage fit into our journey in life? What is the point of it? How does it help us and shape us? In this week's message, we will wrap up our journey up "the second mountain" as we talk about marriage and how God uses it for our good.
09.29.19 - Blazing a New Trail
So much of our adult lives is spent at work. But are we really doing what God is calling us to do? And what does it mean to be “called” by anyone to anything? In this message, we will look at our vocations and look at how discovering our vocation helps us add meaning to our lives.
09.22.19 - Base Camp
In our journey through life, we don’t want to go it alone. We are designed to connect to others and be in all sorts of relationships.
In this week's message, we will look at the base camp on the climbing journey: the place where we make connections and talk about how living in community can fuel us for the climb.
09.15.19 - Reliable Guides
We all go through life listening to voices - the voices of parents, friends, and teachers who are trying to steer us right. But what are the right voices to listen to? Who are the reliable guides to lead us through life?
In this week's message, we examine the role of faith as a guide in our climb up the mountain of life.
09.08.19 - The False Summit
All of us are in some way climbing a mountain: A mountain of success, achievement, or significance. But even though we are climbing this mountain, we rarely stop to ask ourselves if that mountain is worth climbing, or ask ourselves why we are climbing it to begin with.
In this week's message, we looked at the mountains society encourages us to climb and look at an ancient king who discovered a different mountain.
09.01.19 - At Work
One of our hardest challenges is learning how to be Christians in the workplace. With pressure from our co-workers, and the desire to succeed, sometimes we are tempted to act differently than what we see in the scriptures. In this week's message, we looked at how we are called to be holy, and what that looks like when we are at work.
08.25.19 - In Your Home
God calls his people to be Holy. But how do we do that? What does that look like in the modern world?
In this week's message, we will look at how our cultures sets boundaries and think about how God calls us to set different ones. How can we be holy in our own homes? This message will consider Paul’s teaching in Colossians and will look at how we should be living it out in the day to day.
08.18.19 - In Your Heart
Our culture has rules that are written and some that are unwritten. There are values and standards that go along with being an American. But are followers of God called to live by the cultural standard or are we called to something else? In this series we will examine our own boundaries and look at what lines have been drawn by God and how we can live them out in our modern world.
08.11.19 - Be: In Community
As women, there are many relationships and friendships we create throughout our lives. In the context of these relationships, we must learn how to encourage one another and build each other up rather than tearing each other down.
Join us this Sunday at the Byrd Theatre at 9:30 or 11:00 AM as Abby Barras speaks to us about the importance of building each other up.
08.04.19 - Be: Set Free
Culture tells us a lot of lies about what women “should be” in our society. We’re digging into the Bible to see what scripture really says about how and why God designed women: with worth, power, and purpose.