Because we’re so familiar with the Christmas story, it’s easy to forget Mary was probably a teenager when Gabriel showed up and told her she would give birth to the Messiah. She wasn’t wealthy. Nazareth was a small town. No one in the Christmas story was “special” by worldly standards. God’s majesty and sacred presence came to a very humble place. Part of the hope of the Christmas story is that God entered into the details of the lives of people who were just faithfully going about their business. As we near the end of a tumultuous year, join us this weekend as we encounter the God who shows up right in the details of our messy lives.

It’s a funny law of the universe––as we thank God for what we have, we naturally start to become less greedy and more generous. Thanksgiving isn’t just a holiday we celebrate in the United States, it’s a way of life and the “antidote” to some of our deepest issues! As we study Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 9 together, we’ll find the key to our own cheerfulness and our generosity to others lies in the same place: a life of gratitude.

You always know when someone smells either really good or really bad, right? What’s funny (and cool) is, as Christians, we’re supposed to carry the “fragrance” of Christ into the world. The idea is, wherever we go, we “smell like” Jesus––we make people think of God when they observe how we live! To do that in the best way possible means we have to let Jesus lead our lives, both individually and as a church family. When we do that, we’ll give people a glimpse of Jesus, and we might just encounter a life more beautiful than we could have imagined along the way.

Most of us are never just satisfied with our lives “as is.” Sometimes that means we need to practice contentment...but other times, this is actually a good thing, because on some level we’re all longing for transformation. The beautiful news is that Jesus wants to transform us as we walk with him! And that takes shape in lives that produce beautiful results––more on this in our next message from Colossians 3!

In our current cultural moment, we all kind of just define ourselves however we want, right? We build our identities on various principles, passions, goals. The bummer thing is, how we understand ourselves drives how we live and why we do what we do, so if what we’ve built our identities on crumbles...everything else does too. That’s why the only certain place to root our identities is in Jesus Christ. When Jesus is our life, we end up with a deeper joy than anything we could have enjoyed through any other source of identity.

God never saves us for isolation––he saves us for community. In a world divided along every line imaginable, Jesus is truly unique. He brings together people from wildly different cultures, backgrounds, languages, and ethnicities to form a relational network called the church, God’s family, the body of Christ. It means none of us is ever truly alone, and we have a good and loving leader we can look to for guidance no matter what’s going on.

Who is Jesus––really? Whether you love him or hate him, everyone has an answer to that question. A great teacher. A prophet. A healer. A wandering troublemaker. A divisive rabbi. All of these answers are true in one sense or another, but eventually, we all have to take a side on the most controversial of Jesus’ names: Son of God. Is Jesus really God? Whatever your answer is, it’s time to take a second look at who or what reigns as Lord over your life...only when we allow Jesus to be God in our lives will we truly be free.

Becoming a Christian is a staggering event! Listen to this message to find out ten reasons why. What we will discover has the potential to change the way we do life. This is a message you don’t want to miss!