Tonight's story is one of failure. We all have 'em. It's ultimately about our biggest challenge and one we couldn't overcome on our own. It introduces us to a rhythm we need in our lives as we face our own sins, failures and mistakes. We don't minimize sin, but we do MAXIMIZE JESUS. It's only there that we are fueled by gratitude and can move forward, and not be haunted by guilt and held back. Repentance moves us to worship our great and graceful God. A regular rhythm of repentance keeps us relational right with God.

Jericho falls through God's intervention. The impossible happened. It reminds us of what Jesus said "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Impossibility just isn’t in God’s vocabulary. One of the deepest theological messages of Joshua ch.6 is that God is teaching us to trust Him instead of trusting our own cleverness. God is still in the business of breaking down walls today. You never know what God will set in motion with one small step of obedience.

The Scriptures call us over and over to a practice of remembering, as it comes to remembering God's activity in our lives and his faithfulness. As Joshua does here (ch. 3 & 4) - we're invited to make some 'memory markers' in our lives. Remembering builds our trust & relationship with GOD – the ONE who has helped us in the past and helps us now and will continue to help us securely into the future. REMEMBERING MATTERS – it refuels our soul, reinvigorates our minds, refreshes our hearts & reinforces our love for Jesus!

We're looking into the story of Rahab in Joshua chapter 2. A story where God is at work behind the scenes - where He, because of His love, looks beyond our past and our labels. Remember, God longs to draw people to Himself and lead them to new beginnings. He's always offering us a lifeline of hope and grace.

We begin a new series through the Old Testament book of Joshua and we will see God’s call to be strong and courageous as we follow him. We follow Him on mission, following faithfully and we trust His presence to be with us each step of the journey.

As we finish up our 'Focus' series around the mission of Elements, tonight we turn toward what it means to 'own' our faith and the mission of this church. It means we keep stepping forward in following Jesus. Owning our faith, isn’t about earning our faith, but it is about authenticating it. (Jesus challenges us to follow - see Luke 9:22-25). We (as The Church) are to OWN our contribution to partnering in the mission as well of His Church as well.

Jesus came to serve not to be served. He led by serving. He loved by serving.

Just like Legos, we were created to connect! First with God and then with others. Jesus didn't make this a friendly "suggestion" but rather commanded us to do so!

Tonight we begin our series: FOCUS ...looking at the mission of our church and the heart of our culture we want to have as we live it out. We want to be a people who are always INVITING people into next steps of faith and life with us. We know that what we care about, we share about. So all through the Scriptures we're encouraged to INVITE and share the Good News that we've discovered and been changed by through Jesus. We don't stockpile God's grace, we share it.

Tonight we want to talk about WHY Prayer Matters?! What's the intent of prayer and how can making it a pattern in your life actually refuel your soul? Prayer is one of the most common phenomena of human life. Prayer was vitally important to Jesus – he modeled it well and often, because for Jesus it wasn’t just a PRIORITY, it was a NECESSITY. Truth: Prayer is a learned behavior and nobody is born an expert at it and prayer is a habit that matters.