Pastor Ryan bears down more deeply on John 1:3,4, making clear the meaning of the term "abundant life" - "Zoe" type life. We look together into John 3 and John 10 to learn what we must do with our Jesus, the "Logos" of the universe, to receive this abundant,"Zoe" life: believe on Him, and follow Him!

Pastor Ryan introduces us to this year's Advent season with a deep meditation on John 1:1-18. We discover the most amazing and incredulous event in history: the "Logos", that which holds the world together , created all things, created us, became flesh, and dwelt among us!

He gives us hope: hope that He is bringing order to the disorder and brokenness of the world, included our own lives!

Pastors Symps and Ryan present to us the last installment in our series on "Faithful Witness" Pastor Symps begins with a short devotional on I Peter 2:9, then Pastor Ryan leads us in a deep exhortation on John 17:20-23. Here our Jesus prays for US, praying that we would be one in unity, so united in one as He is with the Father! And then, with such unity, that this be a witness, a faithful witness, for the world to see and believe in Jesus!

Pastor Ryan leads us through a deep and sober discussion of II Corinthians 3:17-4:12.

Here we venture into a reality found in all of Scripture: God demonstrates His witness of His glory through our weakness. When we are weak, we are then strong in Christ Jesus. When we (think we) are strong, we are actually weaker in our witness of His glory - it is through pain and suffering that we truly find God's means for Him to glorify Himself, as others are witness to His faithfulness through our trials.

Pastor Symps leads us through a detailed look at I Corinthians 12, investigating not the "what" of the spiritual gifts, but the "why"- why the Holy Spirit distributes these to the body of Christ, for the body of Christ.

The Great Commission teaches us of God's comprehensive commission to mission work, and Pastor Ryan today speaks of God's specific commission for each of us, using whom He has molded each person into, using our joys, our victories, our hurts, our anguish, our reconciliation through Christ in receiving His charge for a specific child of God to reach a specific people in a specific place in a specific time with a specific message.

Colossians 1:19-29 is our Scripture for today.

The Great Commission teaches us of God's comprehensive commission to mission work, and Pastor Ryan today speaks of God's specific commission for each of us, using whom He has molded each person into, using our joys, our victories, our hurts, our anguish, our reconciliation through Christ in receiving His charge for a specific child of God to reach a specific people in a specific place in a specific time with a specific message.

Colossians 1:19-29 is our Scripture for today.

Pastor Symps teaches on the early work of missions that the Church began, prompted, initiated and led by the Holy Spirit. We learn of the integral part that all believers have in the sharing of the Gospel to all the world - the role of the missionary and the supporter are, as Paul describes, a "partnership in the Gospel".

Acts 13 and Phil, 1, 2 are studied in today's sermon.

Pastor Ryan reminds BCC of one of our pillar mission beliefs: "God calls us to be the salt of the earth and light of the world in the city of Fort Wayne, and to every other place the Holy Spirit sends us".

We start with the Beatitudes (Math., Ch. 5), those express promises of mercy and peace that cannot be earned or achieved - they must be received from our Lord God - and the world needs Beatitudes people! Our walk with the Lord and our mission with people is mostly in God's work in our everyday life, the greatest place where you realize you need God's grace and mercy, to realize your specific God-given calling, to realize God's grace towards the world.

Pastor Symps expounds on the life and ministry of Phillip, called to serve tables in Acts Ch. 6, to be called by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus - his life is an example of obedience to the Great Commission, as he moved precisely as our Lord dictated: go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the world: in Phillip's case, the Gospel preached to the Ethiopian in Acts ch. 8!