The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a bottomless wealth of hope with significance for all of our lives. This week, as we study the longest single text explaining its meaning, we’ll see its wondrous implications and how it fulfills our deepest longings.

Love is harder than we think. Of course we love our family, our friends, and those who treat us well. We love nice people. But Jesus says everybody naturally does that anyway (Matt. 5:47). That’s not hard. People love people who love them.

The real question is, will we also love those who harm us? Will we keep on loving even when it means bearing burdens we would rather not be bothered with? Will we love when the people we love do not love us in return? Will we love those who are unlovely, undeserving, or ungrateful?

Loving others is challenging. God does not make it easy, but He does make it possible. And He shows us how it’s done.

We are often impressed by people who seem “gifted.” Whether it’s in sports, business, crafts, music, comedy, or something else, there are some people who stand out from everyone else. But what does that mean for us “normal” people? Do we have gifts as well? If so, where do they come from, and what is their purpose? This week, we’ll study Paul’s instructions regarding spiritual gifts, why God gives them to us, and how we are meant to use them.

Sometimes we encounter a biblical passage that seems confusing or even contradictory to other biblical passages. These comments from Paul regarding women in the church might likely be among them. But as we will see this week, his comments have contemporary significance, are not what they may seem on face value, and might, just perhaps, show us something important about God.

The cup and the bread—timeless symbols instituted into church practice by Christ Himself. In some Christian traditions, communion takes a central role in each service, while other traditions seem to minimize it. But what was it like in the early church? This week, we’ll study the early practice of communion and see how it outshines even the greatest of Thanksgiving feasts.

Nothing can make us desire great leaders quite as quickly as experiencing bad ones. But what exactly makes the difference? Are there certain qualities that great leaders share? Does God have a design for leadership? This week, we’ll study two contrasting styles of leadership, the role each of us can play regardless of our official title, and the ultimate litmus test for any leader.

One reason why the book of James is so challenging and practical is that it lays out a series of tests that are designed to help us understand what authentic Christianity looks like in action, so that we may then examine our own lives and faith to see how we measure up. And according to James, one of the things that a living, genuine faith ought to produce within us is Christlike compassion—the way we think about, speak about, and treat the poor and the vulnerable.

This Sunday, our mission partner Eric Prager (Executive Director of Baja Christian Ministries) will be the guest speaker for our annual “Compassion Sunday”. Join us as we consider this challenge from James, and be reminded that loving, caring for, and meeting the practical needs of the vulnerable and hurting all around us is the job of every single believer—as fundamental to our Christian living as evangelism, discipleship, and worship.

Christians don’t always agree on debatable moral issues, and we can struggle even more in how to treat people who don’t see them the same way that we do. But we’re not left without guidance. This week, we’ll study a murky moral issue in the first century church and how Paul instructed them to navigate it. Not only can his teaching help us better relate to one another, but it can be a powerful witness to the world that people on opposite sides can, in fact, continue to love and support each other.

When Christianity burst onto the scene, it upended existing views of both singleness and marriage. For the first time, single people were an esteemed demographic in a community, and marriage took on a new depth of meaning. This week, we’ll study God’s good design for singleness, sex, and marriage, and how it (still) applies to our lives today.

We all, at times, can become discouraged by the darkness we see in our modern world and wonder if it will ever get better. The good news? The letter to the Corinthians provides us with surprising hope. They faced a culture far more immoral than ours, yet they laid the groundwork for a dramatic future renewal. This week we’ll see where Paul instructed them to begin and what it means for us today.