Today, I want to talk to people who trust Jesus, but can’t trust God the Father. I have a feeling that many of us view our heavenly Father like we view an abusive father. We have to walk on eggshells, afraid of incurring His wrath. Maybe you feel as if He is distant, uninvolved with your life. Or maybe you feel a heavy weight of trying to please Him, of somehow trying to earn his favor.

Whatever the case, I want to introduce you to a God described this way in 1 John 4:8: God is love.

Today, we’re kicking off a series through one of my favorite letters in the Bible. 1 John was written to Christians who were confused about what it meant to be a Christian. It’s often been assumed that John was writing this letter to directly combat a first-century distortion of Christianity called Gnosticim. Though I can’t fully explain this belief system in 2 minutes, they took a dualistic approach to life. Everything on the world is evil, but there is a spirit world in which everything is good. So, our body is always going to be evil, because it’s natural. Our only hope for deliverance from this oppressive was through knowledge.

I am not going to give you the silver bullet but today we will explore some concerns that I see from my end. I want you all to know that I asked the kids back in the kids department and some teens these questions:

1. What is it that your parents do that frustrates you the most

2. When is it the hardest to communicate with your parents

3. What are your parents usually doing when you want their attention

In this series we've covered the next steps that are the same for each person. However, much like a chess game has over 250 billion possible looks 4 moves in, each person's next step is going to look different as they walk with Christ. Today, we look at constants we can look to to help us find our next step, no matter where we are in our relationship with Christ.

So, what does a follower of Jesus look like? To find out, we're going to look at Jesus himself. Pastor Matt draws four things from His life using some snapshots that are recorded for us in Scripture.

Church, this isn't just a great idea. It's the great Commission. It's our calling.

Found people find people! I will do everything I can to equip you and empower you to do what God has called us to do, but ultimately you have to respond to God.

If we will do this as a church and we'll step outside these walls and do what we've been talking about here this morning. Idaho and the entire United States and eventually the entire world will be changed because we took the Great Commission seriously.

Shortly after performing one of his tremendous miracles in which he fed 4000 men (and who knows how many women and children), Jesus asked his disciples what they were hearing about His ministry. "Who do they say I am?" he asked. People were conjecturing that he was John the Baptist 2.0, some said Elijah (considered to be the greatest prophet of Israel), while others said Jeremiah or some other prophet. Then, Jesus asked a probing question of his disciples: "But who do you say that I am?"

Simon Peter blurted out, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus after affirming Peter's response in Matthew 16:18 said this: I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

OK, this sounds good. Somehow the Church is going to be such a powerful force that it's going to take hell by storm. The gates of hell won't be able to stand up to it. Great. So, what's the Church? This is the first of three questions I want to ask this morning.

By the time we walk out of here I want us to be able to answer that question. What is the Church? To be more specific, I want us to understand why we need the Church and the Church needs us.

We all have different personal preferences:

Some of you love that the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Those of you, Christians, hate it.

Some of you don't care.

Some of you like steak. Some of you prefer salad.

Some of you like chick flicks. Some of you prefer action movies.

We're different.

How many would say that you're a morning person?

How many would love to shoot that person that raised their hand?

We have different personalities, preferences, needs. And, probably, the next step we need to take is varied. Today, I want to start at the beginning. You see, while there are any number of next steps to which God may be calling you, the first two steps are always the same.

Why does God allow us to go through tough times? If God does not allow them, He is either unable to see the future or He is powerless to do anything about it. If neither of these are true, there must be a reason a loving God would allow it. Today we look at Hebrews 12 and the reasons we may face trials.

In the middle of training camp, players are tempted to question their commitment. When they signed the contract all they saw were the possibilities. As they're hoisting the Lombardi trophy, all they think about is the thrill of the moment. But, in training camp? Not so much. They want to quit. But, let me fill you in on something. Without training camp, there is no Super Bowl. Training camp is a critical point leading to the title Super Bowl champion.