There is a contemporary lie that is gaining more traction today: "believe whatever you want, and find God."  We are warned continually about the dangers of false teachings, but too many Christians are not equipped to know how to identify that which is true and that which is false.

Participation in the work of the gospel is a collective privilege for the church.  However, we do not always see it that way.  For many, the work of Christ is either an overlooked nuisance or an expectation for an overloaded pastor. Today we will see how Paul's ministry team carried the mantle of ministry in both the obvious and unexpected ways, as motivated by a deep love and longing within the privilege partnership of ministry.

Sacrifice is not a word you often hear about in today's church.  Properly put, Jesus is our final sacrifice, however what does that leave for His followers today?

We live in a "selfie" world. Unfortunately, that means our culture's values often stand in opposition to God's glory. As the old saying goes, "self praise stinks!"

Because of what God has done for us, we are expected to have a change in our hearts towards one another. However, if we're honest sometimes it can be very hard. We're easily annoyed, and misunderstandings and miscommunication clutter the efforts we make towards unity.

The way we live our lives often speaks louder than our words. As Christians we must see our faith as the essential component of our new identity in Christ, and therefore in obedience to God's Spirit living in us we may see suffering as natural outcome of a new nature living in a cursed world.

It is a difficult thing to suffer for Christ, and it is uniquely foreign for much of our modern world's teaching on Christianity. How should we rightly carry Christ into our spheres of influence, and how can we develop a courage that make us willing to suffer for our faith.

The pattern of our world celebrates the "lone ranger" over the one who seeks cooperation.  We value competency rather than dependency, and individual achievement over cooperation.  We laud the "self-made" man, and we are trained to market our own brand at the expense of all others.

One of the greatest challenges the church faces today is the influence of individualism and a rebellion of God's standards when it comes to the family.  The family is the most fundamental unit of society, and if the family breaks down, we can easily see the results as they prove God's formula true by the statistics found in fatherless homes.

The importance of investing in our children does not end with graduation.  Even adult children are in need of love and support from their parents, and the saying "it takes a village to raise a child" is true today more than ever.