Every culture has a way of identity formation. Every culture has a way of helping individuals determine who they are and how to express it and live it out. Ours is no different. In this very important message, Max Vanderpool outlines how our culture shapes identity and why, more often than not, it doesn't work.

Jesus didn't save us to find safety and refuge inside a church building. He saved us so that we could be the church, so that we could be his family, so that we could be his hands and his feet here on earth in establishing his kingdom...here on earth. You and I have a crucial role to play in God's Big Story...and deep down, we know it.

Jesus didn't save us to find safety and refuge inside a church building. He saved us so that we could be the church, so that we could be his family, so that we could be his hands and his feet here on earth in establishing his kingdom...here on earth. You and I have a crucial role to play in God's Big Story...and deep down, we know it.

In the Gospels, we see Jesus consistently reversing what should be absolutely irreversible. He heals lepers. He restores sight to the blind. He commands a dead guy to come out of a tomb...and the guy obeys him! Jesus even restore the cut-off ear of the servant of the high priest on the night he was arrested. Despite all of that, his followers struggled with doubt and skepticism that he had actually risen from the dead. But once they were convinced...once they saw him with their own eyes (and ate with him); they became evangelists and together, with the Holy Spirit, turned the world upside down. The resurrection is that important.

In the Gospels, we see Jesus consistently reversing what should be absolutely irreversible. He heals lepers. He restores sight to the blind. He commands a dead guy to come out of a tomb...and the guy obeys him! Jesus even restore the cut-off ear of the servant of the high priest on the night he was arrested. Despite all of that, his followers struggled with doubt and skepticism that he had actually risen from the dead. But once they were convinced...once they saw him with their own eyes (and ate with him); they became evangelists and together, with the Holy Spirit, turned the world upside down. The resurrection is that important.

Everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus: his teaching, his life, his ministry. He was the fulfillment of God's promise. And his death on the cross cemented, once and for all, that currying favor in God's sight has absolutely NOTHING to do with our performance. In a word, grace.

Everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus: his teaching, his life, his ministry. He was the fulfillment of God's promise. And his death on the cross cemented, once and for all, that currying favor in God's sight has absolutely NOTHING to do with our performance. In a word, grace.

We all have peaks and valleys in our lives. Sometimes, things go well. Sometimes, they don't. What if it's in the valleys that God most clearly demonstrates His commitment to us? What if you're never so far off script that God can't bring you back? 1,700 years of history in roughly 7 minutes - which points to how amazing God really is.

We all have peaks and valleys in our lives. Sometimes, things go well. Sometimes, they don't. What if it's in the valleys that God most clearly demonstrates His commitment to us? What if you're never so far off script that God can't bring you back? 1,700 years of history in roughly 7 minutes - which points to how amazing God really is.

God made a promise to his people that he would always love them - and he kept it. Listen as Max discusses God's promise.