Life has a tendency to change our plans for us from time to time. Many times these changes are undesirable circumstances. When this happens our view of God can be effected. Suddenly we aren't sure God knows what He's doing or that He truly cares about us. That is precisely when we need to stop and recognize that God is in control and His hand is on our life.

Trusting God in the midst of confusing times is a challenge for the most faithful Christ follower. The prophet Jeremiah understood shows us the importance of trusting God despite what we can see and understand. Just as the clay is shaped and refined by the potter, God has a plan and is at work in each of our lives.

According to Jesus, there are some non-negotiable characteristics in the life of a Biblical Man. We spent the first week of this series discussing LOVE. In Matthew 23 we see Jesus calling out the religious leaders for their neglect of JUSTICE, MERCY, and FAITHFULNESS. For the man after God's own heart, all four must be active and obvious in his life. Only then will we begin to live out our original purpose and design.

Men are creatures of habit. We tend to create a patterns in our day to day responsibilities and activities. Once those habits are established, we're very unlikely to adjust them and even less likely to remove them from our lives. The problem arises when our habits either cause us to overlook the needs of others or even cause difficulty to the people in our lives. Our example of leadership in Jesus requires sacrificial service.

There is a lot of literature on what makes a man. For the follower of Christ however, there is one source that we should look to for the definition of manhood: the Bible. Each man is unique and we all have different personalities and interests, but Scripture gives one unifying characteristic. Jesus set a standard and it's time we aspire to be the men we were designed to be.

Knowing God changes everything. Don't breeze past that so fast. Most people think they need to love God more; serve God better; sin less; and generally be a better person in order to truly know God. The Bible teaches us that if we truly know God, everything else in our lives, behaviors, and choices will fall in step with God. Many of us need to switch our thinking. The bigger question is do you know god or just know about God?

Ever wonder what you should and shouldn't pray about? Some people pray about anything and everything. However, for some of us there seems to be some things that don't seem worthy of a request from God. What may surprise you is that Jesus himself instructed his followers to bother God with our requests. Because God is never bothered by our prayer. Sometimes He may just be moved by our persistence.

If prayer is one of the most important parts of faith, why is it that so many people struggle to actually pray? The answer to that question has a lot to do with our failure to understand the purpose of prayer. Some people pray while others feel as though they simply don't know how. In this two week series we're going to see exactly what Jesus says about prayer, and what his expectations are for our prayer life.

For centuries women have been viewed as inferior to men. That is not what God intended. As a matter of fact, Scripture is clear on the value of women. Sadly, one of the biggest culprits historically in the devaluation of women has been the Church. Possibly the only people who have made life more difficult for women are women themselves. It's time women stop believing the lies they have been told and tell themselves, and start listening to their Creator.

Each of us have our fair share of hurt and pain. Some of that pain we've brought on ourselves. However, in many cases we can point to a person or situation that left us bruised and battered. As we conclude our series on the life of Joseph, we see a beautiful picture of God's love for us as Joseph forgives his brothers. God's forgiveness in our life has given us the opportunity to have faith; in turn, our faith now requires us to offer forgiveness to the people around us.