As we head into Thanksgiving this week, Jimmy Seibert dissected 1 Thessalonians 5:12-19 with us to explore how we can honor God as we gather with friends and family for this holiday.

This week, Dorothy Abshire took us through a tour of many Scriptures that equip us to weather times of trial. We can glean four obedience points from the Word of God: We must let God clean the sin from our lives. We must be filled with Him. We must walk in His discernment, and we must be filled with His courage. Lord, make us strong for the days ahead!

As we prepare for our upcoming three-day Prayer & Fast, Vincent Carpenter's sermon this week focused on Jesus' fasting experience in Luke 4:1-13. The truth is that fasting is more of an invitation from God to draw near to Him than it is an inconvenience. With this understanding, Vincent discussed three truths we need to focus on: Focus on God's provision, not your need. Focus on God being in control, not you feeling in control. Focus on God's faithfulness, not your comfort.

Last week, Mick Murray explored with us our call to the person of Jesus — to follow Him and also to live how He lived — as a sacrificial Lamb, even when He had every right to live as the Lion of Judah. This week, Mick discussed five tools to practically walk in unity: surrender, essentials, prayer, service and truth and love. Listen to the sermon to hear more!

This week, Mick Murray explored our calling as Christians to the person of Jesus. Our mandate is to live how He lived — when He had every right to act as the Lion of Judah, He chose to be represented as the Lamb of God. Our only hope for unity is to follow His example in this.

In Matthew 24, Jesus' disciples asked Him, "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" For the 2,000 years since then, people have been asking the same question. Scripture tells us that no man or woman can know the answer to that question. Our response of obedience to God should be to walk in peace in our salvation, not giving in to fear, and to share Him with our city, nation, nations and the remotest parts of the earth.

This week, Jimmy Seibert focused on Philippians 2:1-5 to explore God's exhortation to believers to live in selfless love.

In the discussion of a topic that is a source of great pain for so many in our world today, Mick Murray and Maddie Echols helped us explore what the Bible has to say about what it means to be male and female. Our hope is to establish biblical clarity about how God has designed us, and that the way He's designed us is good. We need each other. We need both men and women to represent the image of God and fulfill His purpose here on earth as it is in heaven.

In Ephesians 4:1, Paul mentions "the calling" that the people of God have received. This week, Clarence Hill drew the parallel between this calling mentioned by Paul and the calling of the historical high priests. Like the high priests, Lord, give us the grace and faithfulness to maturely carry the family of God on our hearts and in prayer in spite of living in a world torn by disunity.

In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul exhorts the Church to walk in gentleness, humility and unity. He prefaces this challenge by calling himself a prisoner for the Lord. To walk in true unity with other believers, we must first surrender ourselves fully to God and prepare the soil of our hearts to live in grace, not in judgment. Lord, cultivate in us a lifestyle of grace!