The Resurrection is essential to Christian faith, hope, and love. So why is it that it so very often fades into the background? Without a resurrection, there is no hope. But in Christ even death is gain. The resurrection is the foundation for our faith and the future victory of Christ over death. This week, as we finish looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, remind yourself of the hope of the gospel glimpsed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The book off Malachi confronts the Israelites returned from exile. Malachi searches the hearts of Israel's hope, worship, and relationships with the question, "where is the fer of the LORD among His people?" In this two part series we hear the same question directed at us in the 21st century. Have we decentered God? Have we dethroned Him? Do we hold out hope for Him to work for justice beyond what we can see? Listen to the message of Malachi as God speaks through His word to call us again to...

The book off Malachi confronts the Israelites returned from exile. Malachi searches the hearts of Israel's hope, worship, and relationships with the question, "where is the fer of the LORD among His people?" In this two part series we hear the same question directed at us in the 21st century. Have we decentered God? Have we dethroned Him? Listen to the message of Malachi as God speaks through His word to call us again to "genuine worship and expectant faith."* * The title for this series is...

In the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes from prison to remind the church of the massive scope of God’s blessing. Paul aims to encourage and refresh the Christians in the church of Ephesus. Join us in looking at the opening of His letter to the church at Ephesus, and see how richly God has poured out every spiritual blessing in Christ to the praise of His glory.

The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest collection of Jesus’ teaching that we have recorded for us in God’s Word. In many ways, this Sermon is an expansion of how the Gospel writers summarize Jesus’ teaching: “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is at hand.” One of the great themes running through the Sermon on the Mount is the “God-Centered Life.” Jesus doesn’t use these exact words, but the picture He paints of the righteousness, the sincerity, and the focus of a follower of God clearly presents...

There are countless things in our lives that can hurt us if we do not handle them carefully. We need instruction from a trusted source of wisdom to navigate the pitfalls that life presents us. God has given us instruction in His word to help us live a full and blessed life. Join us this week as we look at Proverbs 3:1-12 at some of the instruction which God has given and how it can produce a positive effect in our lives.

Jesus ministry centered around the Kingdom of God, particularly His teaching. So far in Mark's gospel we have heard little actual teaching on the Kingdom of God. But in our passage this week Mark records Jesus teaching on the Kingdom with 4 parables. Listen this week as we hear from the Lord Jesus about the Blessed Burden of Kingdom Work and the confidence that God's people can have in working alongside God in His Kingdom.

What Mark has shown until this point in the ministry of Jesus is a wide response to Israel's Messiah. Some follow Him closely, some come out to be healed but don’t follow Him, some decide that He has to be killed. How does one man, one message, get so many different responses? Why does this same good news today sound to some people like a death sentence, and to others like the cure from death they have been searching for? Jesus teaches a parable that connects these two ideas. God’s good news...

What do we do, as Christians, when we come up against opposition? If we are faithful witnesses to the work of God in our life—we will come up against opposition. How can we as Christians be prepared, how should we respond, when we face opposition? In Mark 3:20-35 we are confronted with two rounds of opposition to Jesus ministry. Join us as we will look at this opposition and see how Jesus responds. As we look at how the Lord Jesus responds to opposition to His ministry we will learn how to...

As we come back to our series through the book of Mark, we are looking at one the seams in the book. Our passage today is a bridge between the first section of Mark's gospel and the second. In this bridge passage we are reminded of what has come before in Mark's book, and we are given hints about what is coming in the second section. The second section will force us again ad again to ask the question "Who are the followers of Jesus?" Listen in this week as we see from God's word what it means...

As a 'place of worship' churches would do well to investigate what the Bible requires from us as worshippers. While there is much freedom in being 'those who worship in Spirit and in Truth', we still need to be refocused and redirected by God's word in our worship. Listen this week as we look at what it means to worship God rightly by seeing Him, savoring Him, and serving Him.

This week we take a step back from the Signs of Life series. Before considering membership in the Local Church, we are taking time to reflect on the organic membership of Christians in the Universal Church. Listen this week as we examine just a sliver of what the Bible teaches about our union with one another through Christ as Members of His body, and a few practical ways we can meaningfully participate in the Universal Church of God, the Body of Christ.

In this series, Signs of Life, we are looking at different practices of healthy local churches according to the Bible. One challenge for Christians today is knowing what teaching or teachers to trust. With so many options out there, how should Christians measure what they listen to? In the first message in the series, we are taking a look at what Paul urges His disciples Timothy and Titus about the kind of teaching they should give.

Death is one thing every human has to come to grips with. The pain, the reality, and the effects of death are ever present. On this Easter morning we see Jesus address grief in equally compassionate and miraculous ways. Jesus identifies with the pain and grief of Martha and Mary after the loss of their brother. He weeps with them. But then He calls Lazarus from the grave. Jesus has come to identify with humanity in its brokenness, paying with His death the punishment for our sin. But He has...

Why is Jesus rejected? Why in His own day was the carpenter from Nazareth sentenced to death? Why in our day is the teaching of this man not only rejected, but His historical existence questioned in part or in whole? As Mark unfolds the ministry of Jesus and the authority of the kingdom, He puts three stories together that highlight for us, the reader, the offense of the Kingdom of God. Listen to the surprising reasons that endure for the rejection of Jesus, from the Pharisees of His day to...

Jesus came to Call us from death to life. But the people He chooses to call are often not the people we would expect. The Scribes were offended that Jesus would spend time with tax collectors and sinners. But in the call of Levi Jesus shows that His call is all of grace, and His company an expression of His mercy as he patiently shows us how to live. Listen this week as we explore God's gracious call in salvation and His merciful company with those He has called to Himself.

Mark begins with the announcement that something new is coming. The work of God in human history changes with the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth. In Mark's introduction the messenger that Isaiah prophesied promotes the expectation of the Kingdom of God, Jesus is prepared for the ministry of the Kingdom, and then He comes from this preparation with the invitation for all to enter the kingdom through repentance and faith. Listen this week to hear how God's kingdom is introduced by Mark and how...

Isaiah 52

Peter calls Christians to lives of holiness "in everything" they do. As we continue our study in this letter, listen as we ask why holiness matters and what it looks like.

Join in as we continue our study in 1 Peter. In this passage Peter reminds his readers, and us, that the salvation won by Jesus was foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who came to fulfill the Jewish Scriptures. What the prophets predicted, the apostles proclaimed--Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead. Take heart, our message is a message of victory.

Join us this week as we begin a new study in the letter of 1 Peter. As Christians, Peter calls us to two primary attitudes, two characteristics that should define everyone who believe in Jesus Christ: holy hope and steadfast suffering. Watch this first message in a series that will inspire hope and encourage you no matter what kind of obstacles you face as together we turn our eyes toward Jesus and the living hope He gives.

In our last look at Jonah we finally see the 'why' behind all of Jonah's actions. Why run? Why hide? Now, in his own words, Jonah tells God exactly why he left in the first place and why he now would rather die than live. In answer, God has a lesson for Jonah which is important for us all. Listen this week as we finish our series in Jonah.

This week as we continue our study in the book of Jonah, we see what happens when the word of God comes to Nineveh. Jonah is called again to go, and as he obeys the word of the Lord, the city of Nineveh has a chance to respond. And when Nineveh responds to the word of God, how will God respond to Nineveh? Join us this week in Jonah 3.

Have you ever been out of your depth? Have you been brought to a place where a cry for help was the only option? This week as we continue to study Jonah we see Jonah's prayer of thanks after God has saved him. As we look at Jonah's prayer, we not only see how we might pray better, but how God's character and his works help us to pray in any situation. Listen this week to a sermon on Jonah's prayer from Jonah 2:2-9.