One of the deepest questions of the human heart is "What is God like?"

John tells us to know what God is like, we look to Jesus and to those who belong to Jesus. 

This message invites us to pray for the grounding knowledge and experience of God's power and love. 

A church transformed by Jesus is a family centered on the Gospel and invested in one another. 

Jesus invites us to bring our circumstances to Him by bringing them to church.

Bring your suffering to church that we might pray together

Bring your song to church that we might praise together

Bring your sickness to church that we might seek healing together

Bring your sin to church that we might seek forgiveness together

Hoping in stuff leads to sin and misery, but hoping in Christ leads to righteousness and joy!

1. Hoping in stuff leads to the sins of idolatry, injustice, and indulgence while producing the miseries of elusive pleasure and eternal pain.
2. Hoping in Christ leads to growth in patience, peace, and perseverance while bringing us the joy of knowing all pain is temporary and ultimate pleasure is forever - Jesus is the treasure!

Jesus changes everything, including our default assumptions about time, control, and our good intentions. 

In this passage, the Apostle John teaches us who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and how we can respond to Jesus. 

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 

In this passage, James confronts us with two kinds of wisdom available to us - worldly wisdom vs. godly wisdom. 

Because our words have tremendous power, we can use them to burn down or to build up.