GateCity Buckhead

Formed for a Purpose begins. Over the next five weeks in 1 Timothy, Pastor Hazen Stevens looks at how God shapes our lives, spiritually and naturally, so we can fulfill a God-given purpose. Part 1 opens with the story behind the letter: Paul stoned and left for dead in Lystra, Timothy growing up in the aftermath, fifteen years on the road together, and a young leader left in Ephesus under real pressure.

Like a potter with one hand inside the clay and one outside, God uses internal and external pressure to raise us into the shape He intends. In 1 Timothy 1, Paul gives his spiritual son three things: he clarifies the opposition, anchors him to the larger story of God's mercy, and calls him to lock in on his assignment today.

Key Scriptures: 1 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy 3:10-11, Acts 14:19-20, Acts 16:1-3

The Call: stop living in the fantasy of someday or the nostalgia of what God has done. Thank God for the pressure that is shaping you, anchor to the gospel, and lock in on what He has called you to do today.

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In Part 4 of Incense & Oil, Pastor Hazen Stevens walks us through Psalm 133 and the blessing that unity releases. Like the precious oil running down Aaron's head to the edges of his robes, blessing flows down from the head to the edges when God's people dwell together in unity. Unity in the church produces faith in the culture. When we really carry one another, confess, and pray for one another, God does more than add. He multiplies, and that is where He commands the blessing.

Key Scriptures: Psalm 133, Psalm 134

The Call: pursue unity with the people God has placed around you, carry one another, confess and pray for one another, and make room for the blessing the Lord commands where His people dwell together.

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In Part 3 of Incense & Oil, Hannah walks us through Psalm 131 and the gift of a quieted soul. Some things belong to God alone, and a quiet soul stops demanding to control them. Like a weaned child resting with its mother, we can lay down what we were never meant to carry and find rest in the faithfulness of God. Zahria also shares a testimony of what that rest has looked like in her own life.

Key Scriptures: Psalm 131

The Call: hand back to the Lord the things that belong to Him alone, quiet your soul before Him, and put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.

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In Part 2 of Incense & Oil, Pastor Hazen Stevens sits down with Son Byrd and Angel Colon for a conversation on Psalm 124 about how praise and worship break strongholds and bring freedom. Just as Israel sang on the far side of the Red Sea, praise is our response to God's hand of deliverance. Son and Angel share how worship carried them into freedom, why worship is a sacrifice we offer even when we don't feel it, and how to steward a breakthrough once the snare is broken.

Key Scriptures: Psalm 124, Exodus 15

The Call: bring whatever is holding you to the Lord in worship, trust that our help is in the name of the Lord, and walk out the freedom He gives.

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Worship and prayer rise like incense before God, and his blessing comes down like oil. In Part 1 of Incense & Oil, Pastor Hazen Stevens opens the Psalms of Ascent, the songs pilgrims sang on the road up to Jerusalem, the same songs Jesus sang as a boy. From Psalm 122 he shows four marks of the one who goes up: a joyful response to God's invitation, united praise, an altar that is also a throne we can petition, and the release of shalom, nothing broken, nothing lacking, nothing lost.

Key Scriptures: Psalm 122, Psalm 133, Acts 10:4, 2 Corinthians 2:15, Hebrews 4:16, Luke 2:41-52

The Call: let the Prince of Peace bring his shalom into your heart, then your home, then your city. This week, pray for the peace of Atlanta and ascend daily with us in prayer.

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On a special guest Sunday in our Family Matters series, Montell and Kristin Jordan join Pastor Hazen Stevens at GateCity Buckhead for an honest conversation about marriage and relationships: what it takes to build a covenant that lasts, and why a marriage with God at the center is a cord of three strands that is not quickly broken.

Key Scriptures: Ecclesiastes 4:12

The Call: put God at the center of your marriage and your relationships, and keep choosing each other.

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In Part 7 of Family Matters, Pastor Hazen Stevens closes seven weeks in Ephesians with a question: why does Paul end a letter about family with armor? Because the family God is building has an enemy, and the person across the table is never it.

Before the armor come three things: strength that comes from the Lord, a struggle that is not against flesh and blood, and an evil day no one gets to schedule. Then, piece by piece, the full armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. And after the armor: pray, pray, pray.

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 6:10-24, John 10:10

The Call: be strong in the Lord, suit up before the evil day comes, and take your stand in prayer for your family and all the Lord's people.

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In Part 6 of Family Matters, Pastor Hazen Stevens opens Ephesians 5 and the call to walk as children of light. Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live like it.

From "not even a hint" of what belongs to the dark, to the truth that light is how words travel, this message traces what it looks like to receive the light of Christ and release it through your speech: words that bless, a life kept filled, gates that are guarded.

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 5:1-14

The Call: receive His light, release it through your words, and make one concrete commitment this week to walk as a child of light.

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In Part 5 of Family Matters, Pastor Hazen Stevens crosses the great pivot of Ephesians: after three chapters of what God has done, Paul turns and says "walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called." Not to earn the fullness, but to live it out.

From the unity of one body and one Spirit to the gifts that equip the family to build itself in love, from putting on the new man to putting away the old, this message traces what the walk actually looks like when grace goes first: a life renewed from the inside, imitating God as dearly loved children.

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 4:1-6, Ephesians 4:7-16, Ephesians 4:17-24, Ephesians 4:25-32, Ephesians 5:1-2

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In Part 4 of Family Matters, Pastor Hazen Stevens reads Ephesians 1-3 the way you'd read a mountain range: following the recurring words, the pivots, and the crescendo that builds until God's family becomes God's dwelling place, filled with all His fullness.

From the eight-fold trail of "in Him" to the mystery that erupts in chapter 3, this message traces one chain: blessed, chosen, adopted, made alive, seated, brought near, built together, filled. And the crescendo is always love, a love that surpasses knowledge, prayed over your home by name.

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 1:15-23, Ephesians 3:1-13, Ephesians 3:14-21, Ephesians 4:1

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