When Jesus first walked up to a couple of fishermen on the shore and said "Follow me," it was not an casual invitation to just take a stroll down the beach. It was a divine call to enter into a relationship that would not only transform their lives personally, but would radially impact the world for eternity. That call continues to echo down through the ages with the same transforming power and impact to all who call themselves followers or disciples of Jesus. Join us over the next several weeks as we look at what Jesus himself says it means to be follow him.

Whether you make reloutions or predictions for the coming year or not, you don't want to miss Pastor Dan's bold prediction for the gospel in 2015.

Listen now to the fourth in our 2014 Advent Series, Songs of Salvation: Simeon's Song - Salvation Has Come.

Most parents welcome a new born baby with great expectation and hope of what that child will become and accomplish in his or her life. Certainly that was true of Mary and Joseph. However, unique Jesus, from the time he entered the world, was his own awareness of the plan and purpose for which he was born. Now we look at Jesus' perspective on Christmas from the song that was on his lips as he came into the world.

What would you do if you couldn't speak for nine months? When Zechariah was silenced for nine months for not believing God's promise to give he and Elizabeth a baby in their old age, he had a lot of time to meditate on God's plan for his own son, John, but more significantly on God's plan for his cousin Mary's child, who would be the Messiah. When Zechariah gets his voice back after John's birth, one of the first things he does is sing a prophetic song of praise and for the dawning of salvation that would come with Jesus. Listen as we continue our advent series on Songs of Salvation: The Original Hits of Christmas.

You would think that the news of an unplanned pregnancy to a poor young virgin would result in panic rather than praise. Yet, as Mary comes to realize the eternal significance of her situation, she bursts out in song rather than sobs. Here we consider Mary's response to the news that she is carrying the Son of God.

Delayed gratification is in short supply in our day. We live in a world and culture that prides itself on delivering what we want, when we want it. Thus, we easily grow impatient and weary with things that take a long time and demand perseverance. Following Jesus is the ultimate pursuit of perseverance and delayed gratification. In Christ, we are given both the promise and the possession of eternal life by God's Spirit which is gained as we live our lives by faith working itself out in our love for one another. Yet, it is easy to grow weary in the race of faith. Here we conclude our study in Galatians by being reminded of the importance of persevering in the faith by the power of God's Spirit.

The truth of the gospel is that Jesus has truly set us free from the burden of guilt and condemnation for our sin. And yet, as we've seen in our study of Galatians, we know that the life in this fallen world is still filled with burdens that threaten to weigh down the believer and hinder our walking by the Spirit. One way in which the Spirit lifts those burdens is through our leaning on one another in the body of Christ. Here we look at the call and command for us to bear one another's burdens in love.

Christians have been granted great freedom through the justifying grace of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, though, that freedom all too often gets abused. Some reject this freedom and return again to a yoke of slavery that seeks to produce a works-based righteousness that makes them more and more acceptable to God. Others see this freedom as a license to live in any way that they want, indulging every passion and refusing to obey the commandments of God. Here the apostle Paul tackles this issue and reveals to us how our union and communion with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit works in us joyful reassurance, fruitful obedience, and hopeful lives that display the grace and glory of our great God.

Living in a "free" country, we recognize that freedom is a wonderful thing, a gift to be cherished and a cause worth defending and even dying for. But there is a true lasting freedom that is not gained on battlefields or won in election or granted by laws. It is the spiritual freedom which Christ has won for us in the gospel and which leads to true joy and ultimate peace in life, but which also must be guarded and defended by faith.