6:8 Church

What if love is not simply one Christian virtue among many, but one of the load-bearing walls of the faith itself?

In Week 1 of What If the Church ________?, we look at the difference between the things Christians have often treated as essential and the things Jesus actually places at the center. From organs, pianos, pews, worship styles, and other pieces of church “furniture,” we turn to the question underneath all of it: What can change, and what absolutely cannot?

Jesus says the whole Law and Prophets hang on loving God and loving our neighbor. John says that anyone who claims to love God while refusing to love others is a liar. Paul says that even extraordinary faith, knowledge, generosity, and sacrifice amount to nothing without love.

So what would happen if the church stopped treating love as decoration and began treating it as load-bearing? What would our communities, disagreements, relationships, and witness look like if we actually learned to love one another, our neighbors, and even our enemies as Jesus loved us?

Why is it that we can know what Scripture says, genuinely want to follow Jesus, and still struggle to actually change?

In this message, we explore a biblical framework for how transformation happens. Drawing from Scripture, spiritual formation, habit research, and neuroscience, we look at the role of desire, truth, application, time, repetition, community, and environment in becoming more like Christ. We also consider why spiritual practices matter, why information alone is not enough, and how God works through our willing participation rather than bypassing it.

We also look at the formative power of suffering. Hardship does not automatically make us better people, even as Christians. But when we learn to endure adversity with God, suffering can become one of the ways he produces endurance, character, maturity, and deeper Christlikeness in us.

Transformation is ultimately God’s work, but Scripture calls us to actively participate in what God is doing in us.

What is good, and who gets to decide?

From the opening chapters of Genesis to the words of Micah 6:8, Scripture tells a consistent story: God shows us what is good, but humanity keeps trying to define good for ourselves. That struggle shows up in the Garden, in Israel’s history, and in our own lives whenever we trust our desires, our fears, or our judgment more than we trust God.

In this message, we explore what it means that God has already “shown us what is good,” why trust is at the heart of the biblical story, and how justice, mercy, and humility flow from believing that God really is good.

We cannot see the whole story of our lives at once. Most of us are simply trying to take the next faithful step.

As Joshua prepares to lead Israel after the death of Moses, God does not promise that the road ahead will be easy or that Joshua will know how to handle everything. Instead, God reminds him of the foundation already formed within him and promises, “The LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Through the story of sending our children to college, an old Lego film, and a six-year supply of animal crackers, we discover that courage does not require having every answer. God has been preparing us, and he will remain with us as the next chapter unfolds.

Day 27

Day 26

Day 25

Today, the 4 are confronted with Joseph and the reality of control.

Join the gang as they head toward the finish line.

Today, Eli see's Mary while the others follow behind.