Good, faithful friendships are blessings from God and necessary for our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Without them, we will not live life as God intends us to live; rather, we will be lonely and unhealthy.

In our Mother's Day sermon on Exodus 2:1-10 titled, “A Faithful Mothers Reward,” we observed that Moses’ mom believed in unbelieving times, acted on her faith, and received the reward for her faithfulness. God always rewards those who are faithful. Join us as we walk through that passage.

Jesus knows what we need better than we do. He also knows where we are. He always finds us where we are and will never withhold his provision from us.

In his account of Jesus's resurrection, Mark gives us a unique perspective of the obstacles the women faced and the way they faced them in faith. They were willing to risk everything for a Jesus they thought was still in the grave. They also received instructions from Jesus to go to Galilee to meet him. They had to walk in faith, trusting that they would see him there. The greatest obstacle that they had to overcome, though, was their astonishment and terror over the glorious power of God displayed in Christ's resurrection. We face the same challenges as we strive to fulfill the Lord's call upon our lives.

Jesus commands us to love one another in the exact same way he loves us -- sacrificially.

When we celebrate Palm Sunday, we worship the king of kings who rode into town on his donkey. He came to free sinners from their sins. He came to redeem men and women. He came to demonstrate his love to the world. But, he wasn't universally received. We must commit to praising him in the face of opposition as those saints along the road did on the first Palm Sunday.

There is no excuse for a Christian to not be generous after we have received the amazing and glorious grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was rich, yet became poor so that we might become rich in his grace. For our congregation to be a biblical congregations, we must respond to God's call for us to be generous beyond measure. It's the only natural and acceptable response to God's grace in our lives.

We are called by our Lord Jesus to be a public witness to his glory and grace to the nations. How do we do that? We spread the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and disciple men, women, and children in the Christian faith throughout the whole world. There is no question about this call to mission in the Bible, especially none in Matthew's gospel. Join us as we work through Matthew 24:3-14 and Matthew 28:18-20 to see our call to take the gospel to the nations.

The Fourth characteristic of a biblical church is dedicated to service. Hearts and acts of service are part of the DNA of a Christian. Jesus taught his disciples on multiple occasions that they were to be servants of one another and of those in the world around them. In doing so, they were following the model he set before them in his life, death, and resurrection. The same is true for us. We must be willing and joyful servants if we are followers of Christ.