Messages

New Year’s 2023 Message

What should we do when life doesn’t as planned? We can believe that God is directing us to divine detours! Christmas reminds us that God’s love directs our lives. Pastor Jason looks at a prophecy about the infant Jesus becoming a refugee in Egypt, and we’ll explore how God is still in the business of guiding us to safety and peace.

We always wait for that next big thing—that job, that relationship, healing, and event that will move us up in life. But God is at work in the small things. Christmas reminds us that God’s greatest work comes from a place of humility. Pastor Jason looks at one of the great Bible prophecies about Jesus’ birth: that the King of Kings would be born in a poor, defenseless village. We’ll explore how we can be more aware of God’s power in our lives, especially when we feel weak and vulnerable.

What can we do when life doesn’t make sense? We can trust that God is with us! Rather than praying and waiting for God to “show up” and do something, Christmas reminds us that God is already here! As we start our new message Series The Wait Is Over, Pastor Alex Grahmann will look at one of the great Bible prophecies fulfilled by Jesus birth, the promise of “God with us.” We’ll explore how we can be more aware of God’s presence in our lives, especially when life doesn’t seem to make sense.

THANKS+GIVING. It’s more than a holiday food-fest. God has designed within us a powerful connection between gratitude and generosity. Join us this weekend for worship, communion, and an invitation to “let our thanks lead to giving to God and others!”

During the Get Ready series we’ve learned that preparing for Jesus’ return isn’t about just sitting around and waiting; we have important things to do while we wait! This weekend Pastor Jill Lewolt takes a look at three areas that Paul thinks are important to pay attention to while we live in the waiting: our time, our mind, and one another.

God wants us to be encouraged about the future! This weekend we explore how the early Christians living in Thessalonica were anxious about the end of the world but learned to find hope and take steps to be ready for Jesus’ return—and how we can do the same.

God has a beautiful plan for human intimacy. In this message, we explore how the early Christians living in Thessalonica honored God with their sexuality and how we can do the same. We’ll learn why we should honor our bodies as a part of a larger plan God has for our lives and how our sexual self-control is a way to love others.

God can give us what we need to face any challenge that comes our way. This Sunday, we explore how the early Christians living in Thessalonica held on to their faith in the face of persecution and how we can too! We’ll learn to see our current and future challenges as part of a larger battle that Jesus has already won and how to find endurance with our spiritual brothers and sisters.

When Jesus finished his time on earth two thousand years ago, he said he’d return! He said we’d know he was coming back because there would be wars, catastrophes, and confusing religious teaching. We have all that! Are we living in the “end times?” In this five-week series, we’ll look at the New Testament book of 1 Thessalonians, which was written to people who had a lot of questions about the return of Jesus and the end of the world. We’ll discover God’s advice for living in a world that appears to be on the brink of self-destruction.

This week we finish our Doors series with the greatest door of all! Jesus said he is standing at the door of our lives and asking us to come in. Join us this weekend for a special time of celebration, reflection, and invitation to new life with Jesus!

Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble.” It’s certainly not the kind of promise from Jesus we like to think about. The good news is we can get through crises with the help of God and others! Pastor Jason looks at how God can help us face crises, navigate the grief process, and find courage with the help of others we trust.

We face so many doors of decision in our lives we’re bound to walk through a few that we shouldn’t. In fact, some of us feel like we’re prone to picking the wrong doors at key moments in life. Can we go back? Is it worth the pain to turn around and face that same door again? How do we handle the feeling of regret that comes along with poor decisions in our past? This Sunday, we’ll explore how God wants to help us turn around and find a new path.

There’s a saying that the only constant in life is change. Not true! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So God can help us navigate change well. This week in our ‘Doors’ series, we’ll be exploring how to walk through The Door of Change / Life Transitions. We’ll see how Jesus’ final instructions to his first followers helped them face the future with curiosity and connection with God.

We’ll start our series this week by looking at what we need when making BIG DECISIONS in life. Big Decisions can make us nervous and anxious, but Jesus teaches that God is ready to give us the wisdom we need!