Gateway Church - MO

Just like our bodies need nourishment to survive and thrive, so do our souls. What we feed our bodies impacts our health and our fitness. In the same way, what we feed our minds and souls shapes, nourishes our faith, shapes our decisions and anchors us when life gets shaky. Whether you are new to the faith or have been a believer for years, the Bible is what you need to feed your soul. It isn’t just information – it’s formation. The Bible doesn’t just tell us the truth, if feeds our souls.

If you’ve ever felt like your life doesn’t matter, like you’re just so… ordinary, you’re not alone. But God loves to take what seems ordinary to us and use it to change the world. When we allow Jesus to take center stage in our lives, even the most ordinary of things become opportunities for God to use us to make a meaningful change in the world.

Have you ever felt like a “Scrooge”. You felt small, distant, trapped in the darkness by your past or stuck in the present. There’s good news. Jesus came to transform us. We don’t have to be stuck in the past with its pain and disappointment. We don’t have to drown in the mundane present or face a hopeless future. Jesus, who is ‘God with us’ came to transform our lives and offer us transformation from start to finish.

The Christmas season can be exhausting, frustrating, even discouraging for some. You to try to celebrate it, but it seems to fall flat. Everything seems so cliché or commercial. But what if the problem isn’t the holiday OR how we celebrate it. What if the problem is with our heart. We can be like King Herod in the original Christmas story who had a hard heart and caused grief for everyone else, or we can be like the grinch and let our hearts be changed by the love of Jesus. When that happens, you’ll celebrate Christmas like never before.

Longing, disappointment, and joy. Feelings we have all had during the holidays and feelings many of us have all year round. We all hope for something to fill the void in our lives. Money, things, success and prestige can be nice but will always fall short. True fulfillment is only found in the gift that God gave us that first Christmas, His only son, Jesus.

The story that began in a garden, ends in a city — the New Jerusalem — where God once again dwells fully with His people. Every tear is wiped away, every sorrow healed, every distance removed. We will see His face and live forever in His presence. This series closes by pointing us toward our eternal hope: that one day, the presence of God will fill everything, and we will finally be home.

In Jesus, the story of God’s presence reaches its climax — the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Everything the garden, the tabernacle, and the temple pointed to Jesus. Through Him, God stepped into our world to bridge the distance between us and to bring us back home. This week we celebrate that the presence of God isn’t a place we go, but a person we know — Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

When Israel builds the temple, God’s glory filled the house, and everyone celebrated the fact that God was with them. But over time, just like many of us, they began to trust the symbol more than the God it pointed to. Eventually, the temple became a symbol of pride rather than presence. But just like God reminded them, He wants us to understand that His true dwelling is with those who are humble and obedient. When stop trying to contain God in a building, we quickly discover He will fill us with His life changing presence.

From the moment humanity was exiled from the garden, God has been working to restore His presence among His people. The tabernacle was more than a tent — it was a living reminder that God still longs to dwell with us. His presence is holy, powerful, and guiding — a cloud by day and fire by night for those who follow Him. In this message, we’re invited to make our own lives a living tabernacle, creating sacred space each day to welcome God’s presence into our homes, our work, and every part of our story.

We were created to live in the presence of God — that’s where we are most at home. But sin pushed us out of the garden and away from the fellowship we were made for. The tragedy of sin isn’t just punishment; it’s distance. Yet God refused to leave us exiled. From the very beginning, He initiated a plan to bring us home through His Son, Jesus Christ. This message invites you to take that step — to call on Jesus or return to Him — and rediscover the peace and belonging that can only be found in His presence.