The act of baptism tells the world you're not ashamed of what Jesus has done.

Every week, people all over the world gather into rooms and listen to someone give a speech. Maybe you've heard it called a "sermon" or a "message" or a "talk", but have you ever stopped to think about why? Is it supposed to be inspirational, practical, informational...magical? Is it really any different than a TED talk or a college lecture? Is it even necessary? Well, as you might imagine, Scripture has something to say about it. So, to get the most out of preaching, let's see if we can create the right conditions for God to do something He won't do any other way.

Communion a practice of Christians that has collected all kinds of confusion during its 2000-year history. Is there a right and wrong way to do it? Does it require some special knowledge of level of faith? Am I supposed to feel something? What's the point? the good news is this: Not only did Jesus initiate this special habit, He gave us some simple explanations of why it will remain a crucial rhythm of our life together.

While fear in the darkness of our present situation may cause us to believe lies and put our trust in false security, we put our trust in God and know that he is present as our light in the midst of darkness.

Every one of our Core Values can be traced back to LOVE. To God, LOVE and sacrifice are interchangeable terms. To be the family of God, we must begin by loving sacrificially as we see it in Jesus-deliberate and uninhibited.

Christians are supposed to be full of joy-it's like the secret weapon, right? Maybe you are one and wonder why you feel so sad or depressed sometimes. Maybe you're not one and you think if Christians really had something special, their lives would look a little more...exciting. What is JOY-the kind of joy we sing about this time of year, the kind of joy peppered all over the Bible? What is it? Why don't we have it sometimes and how do we get it?

When Jesus started talking about a "new civilization", a lot of people were understandably excited: they knew life could be better. Could life be more than keeping strict religious rules and traditions?

Jesus inaugurates a "constitution" by announcing a compelling purpose for this new world. Then, his first amendment lays out the requirements for citizenship. But rather than making it easier to get in, he makes it seem impossibly out of reach for any of us. And somehow, this is good news.

Most of us would agree that murder is among the most heinous crimes anyone could commit. So, it's not surprising that any healthy civilization would consider it an outrage. When Jesus says his people don't murder, no one takes issue. BUT, Jesus' claim that every human is guilty of some form of assassination seems exaggerated. It's for effect, right? Today, we'll discover exactly what Jesus was criticizing, why it's so destructive to our relationships and what we can do about it.

We all want to be happy and fulfilled. And a lot of us believe that when it comes to finding fulfillment sexually, the only attempts off-limits to us are ones that limit someone else's attempt to find it. Otherwise, do what you want. Jesus seems to think differently. He seems to think that doing only what we want may, in fact, be the worst thing we could try. In the new civilization Jesus is describing, citizens will go to unreal lengths sometimes to avoid doing what they want. Let's find out what Jesus means and consider whether it's relevant or even healthy for us today.

We're all waiting for something. Maybe it's the "right one" or a job opportunity. Maybe it's a physical recovery or a home. Maybe, you're just waiting for life to get a little simpler. But wherever we are, we haven't arrived. We live in the meantime. Simeon was an ordinary man who refused to distrust God in the meantime. Through his life, we don't just discover that God is worth the wait, but that God is working in the waiting.