Imagine what the world thought when the prophet exclaimed that the savior of the world and solution to the problems of government would be found in a new born baby! Jesus started this earthly journey as a baby and that means something special for each of us. 

God's plans are holy and perfect for us. They may disrupt our plans however or cause us to have to make some difficult adjustments. This message sees God's plan for Jesus through the eyes of His teen mother, Mary. 

Whenever you see the word, "Behold" in the bible, it means something huge is about to be said. That was the case when the angels visited the shepherds announcing the birth of Christ. They were never the same. God has "behold" moments for you and me also!

John 1 introduces us to Jesus by calling Him "The Word." Seems like a strange way to describe someone. It makes sense however, when you start to embrace that Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us . Jesus brings the voice of God to our lives in a personal and life changing way. 

God is perfect in His delivery of goodness to our lives. He is so seamless and quiet as he does, we can forget that he is around us. The story of the ten lepers who were healed in the Bible tells us that only one of them returned to Jesus to say, "thank you." 

My prayer is that this holiday season everywhere you look you see the goodness of God and celebrate with all your being! God is good and this message tells us how.

This message looks at the second half of the Beatitudes of Christ and how those reflect the kingdom of God in our lives!

We apologize that due to technical challenges yesterday, this audio misses roughly the first 8 minutes of the message. The reading was from the gospel of Matthew 5:3-12. 

God has not called us to be like everyone else. He also hasn't called us to be apathetic about the  world around us or jerks. Those who follow God are to be different because of something that has happened inside the heart. That is where the blessing of being different happens. 

God has a deeper view of blessing that we do. But we have a choice as to whether we buy in or not. The windows of heaven are open if we will just say "yes!"

Even though God tells me not to be afraid, sometimes I am. Does God lead us into dark valleys? Why? How do I learn to trust Him to take me through?