1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 Pastor Joe takes a look at what seems like surface-level encouragement to the church in Thessalonica and helps us see how loaded with meaning and insight it was for them - and for us today.

1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 In this text, Paul says some things that are hard to imagine coming out of his mouth about the Jews and the wrath of God. Pastor Mike tries to make sense out of these words, and offers us a warning to be careful about being certain about things in the Bible that are not overly clear.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Paul is one of the most effective disciple-makers ever known. He took seriously Jesus' call to "Go and make disciples," and he imitated Jesus' disciple-making way of offering disciples high invitation and high challenge. In today's text, we see how Paul changed the discipleship metaphor when working with Gentiles, and we see how this metaphor takes the level of expected intimacy between disciple-maker and disciple to an even deeper level.

1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 The church in Thessalonica was new, small, and persecuted, yet their faith and disciple-making had become known throughout ancient Greece.  Pastor Mike looks at what fueled their reputation and encourages us to model our church after theirs.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 What are the marks of a true church? There might be many diverse answers to this question depending on who is asked, but in 1 Thessalonians, he tells the young church that they are the real deal. Pastor Mike shows us the three traits that Paul says they have that makes them a true church and then encourages Foothills Fellowship to see these marks in their church.

Pastor Mike gives us the context of the first letter Paul wrote to the new church in the city of Thessalonica. Paul started the church but was forced to leave the city abruptly. What happened to the church after he left? Did it survive? Did anyone stick to their faith in Jesus, or did they revert back to their old ways?

At Foothills, we're really pressing-in to the practice of listening to the Lord and doing what He says. Pastor Joe gives us an overview of the book of Nehemiah and shows us how Nehemiah listened to the Lord and did what He said - even though the task he was called to was not an easy one at all.

Pastor Mike talks about the experiment we did together this summer and then reveals where we're headed this fall as a church family. The experiment we did was designed to be a model for what Foothills will become in order to pursue our vision and go after our mission.

There is something very telling about the invitation Jesus gave to Zacchaeus. Pastor Mike thinks it reveals not only a very key element of the nature of God, but it also reveals to us an important dynamic that must be evident in our lives as we follow Jesus.

What does the story of a wee little man have to do with a big insight from Jesus about how he views salvation? Pastor Mike looks with us at the familiar story in Luke 19:1-10 and challenges some of our misunderstandings about salvation.