God’s outpouring of His generous grace to all mankind took hold of Mary’s life in a way that changed everything. In one moment her plans for marriage, family, and her future hung in the balance of God’s plan. Her response? “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as You have said.” What do you do when God wants to pour out His generous grace through your life in a way you never imagined? When His call for you to follow Him into His plans for your life drastically changes the direction and plans you’ve made?

As we begin looking into the biblical narrative leading up to the birth of Christ in Luke’s Gospel, we will meet an elderly couple who discovered that God’s generous grace can break into our unwanted circumstances, our disappointments, and even our struggles to believe His promises. Though our individual circumstances differ, God has generous gifts of grace in store for all of us as we follow Him in faith, believe His promises, and obey His will for our lives.

From Genesis to Revelation we discover that God is generous. He delights in pouring out His generous grace upon people who come to Him in faith to follow Him. The greatest outpouring of God’s grace happened when He sent His only Son Jesus to be our Savior from sin. Jesus set aside the riches and glories of heaven to become human and die in our place to set us free from sin.

How does cultivating a lifestyle of giving thanks affect our relationship with God and other people? How does it change us? Learn what the bible teaches us about the transforming power of gratitude. 

What should it look like for us respond to God’s goodness in our lives with thanksgiving? The account of the grateful leper in Luke 17:11-19 provides us with a powerful example of gratitude on display.  

There are several roadblocks to prayer, the first being simply not praying! Some additional roadblocks are asking with the wrong motives, unresolved sin in in our lives, busyness, unresolved conflict with another person, and unbelief. Let's look at all of these.

Paul Malmin, Bubba Ellis, Larry Bulls, and Craig McMurtry share testimonies and great music with us this morning.

The key to praying prayers that get answered is not necessarily praying longer or harder, with better words, or with more people, but in praying from a life that is being transformed (Rm 12:2), in the leading of God’s Holy Spirit as He directs our hearts toward His agenda and the things He wants to accomplish for the glory of His name.  

Getting answers to our prayers isn’t about praying longer, harder, or with more heart; it’s about asking God to do what will glorify Him most. We learn to do this as we deepen our relationship with Him. When we start to pray this way, things come into focus and we’ll experience joy we never imagined we could.

Ray and Martha Blundell were missionaries for many years in Africa. They share how they became missionaries and some of the highlights of their lives on the mission field and after.