Message from Matt Hand on Dec 13, 2015

In a broken and grief-filled world, we will encounter tragedy and seasons of despair. The challenge is to lay hold of a hope that prevails in the midst of suffering.

This message explores how Jesus is both the object and essence of our hope. It teaches us how to find and exercise hope today as Advent people.

The longing for peace is one of the most universal longings of the human heart. We want freedom from external conflict like wars and violence and from internal conflict like guilt and shame. We want to feel a total sense of wellbeing.

This message explores how Jesus fulfilled the Jews' longings for peace ... and how he didn't. And it teaches us how to both find and exercise peace today as Advent people.

If you're going to build a stronger, healthier physical body, there are certain things you're going to need: nutrition, exercise, resistance, coaching, rest, and celebration.

Hear how the apostles strengthened the early church body, spiritually, with these same 6 things.

In one town, Paul and Barnabas were run off like demons and in the next they were worshiped as gods. But in reality, they were just broken men sharing the Gospel with other broken men. And they were very quick to understand and empathize with their audience, so they could share the Gospel intelligibly.

The first recorded sermon of Paul centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ as the climax of God's story, the fulfillment of God's promises, and the Savior of God's people.

The story of Peter's miraculous escape from a Roman prison is a familiar one -- but a story in which the context is often completely ignored. In reality, Peter was delivered right on the heels of James being executed. And our theology needs to be big enough and honest enough to account for both deliverance and death.

It was in the predominantly Gentile church in Antioch where believers were first called "Christians." What was it about this community of faith that led others to recognize them as followers of the Jewish Messiah?

In this revolutionary, 5-act narrative, God welcomes Gentiles into the Church by grace through faith in Jesus, just as he had welcomed Jews.

This text obliterates all forms of racism and demonstrates the true nature of Christ's Gospel for all people.

The two miracles in this text are linked by several astonishing similarities that drive home one main point: God commands the impossible; but the good news is that what God requires of us, He empowers in us.