Before God brought the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, he first took them through the desert, in the liminal space, in order to shape them and equip them for the Promised Land. Likewise, God will often take us through our desert to prepare us for what is to come, and that is often where we experience His glory.

Join us this weekend as we welcome special guest speaker Karl Martin — visionary leader and founder/CEO of Arable, a leadership house dedicated to cultivating healthy culture and shaping leaders who impact the world.

You won’t want to miss the wisdom and encouragement he’ll bring!

Praising and worshipping God brings His glory and His presence into our lives. He inhabits, enthrones, or sits among our praises. When we praise and worship, we invite His manifest presence or His glory to dwell with us.

God’s glory, His manifested presence, shows up in our lives as interruptions. They rarely come when it’s convenient. But those interruptions are actually invitations, moments when God steps into your story to do something greater. “Interruption is God’s invitation to do something greater with your life.”

In keeping with the Abide theme for the year, our Christmas message will focus on the glory of God. It is His presence that draws us and keeps us. We will focus on how the glory of God is His presence made visible among us. The transcendent God making His presence felt. It is the wind of His Spirit blowing in our midst. The incarnation means His glory is not distant, it is here. Our response to His glory is holiness, worship, and the mission of bringing others out of the darkness into His presence of light.

This week’s message focuses on Rebekah, a woman who gave beyond what was expected. Her story, along with others in Scripture, shows that when we give freely and with faith, God not only meets our needs but also shapes our future in powerful ways.

The health of any church community depends on how we handle relationships, especially when conflict, disappointment, or differences arise. Scripture gives us clear warnings about certain attitudes and actions that can quietly erode unity and love within the body of Christ.

Being thankful has a dramatic effect on your whole being and changes the way you treat others and the atmosphere around you. The story of the ten lepers in Luke 17 reminds us that while all were healed, only one returned to thank Jesus, and in doing so, he found true wholeness.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most well-known teachings. But we often focus only on the act of compassion, not what it took for the Samaritan to respond the way he did. He was healthy in five areas of life, which enabled him to love his neighbor and bear another’s burden. 

Peace often feels fragile, easily broken by conflict or pride. Yet Scripture reminds us it’s not accidental, it’s something we pursue. In Romans 12, Paul shows us how to walk in peace that begins with God and flows into our relationships. True peace is more than the absence of conflict; it is the presence of Christ shaping how we think, speak, and treat others.