As Protestant Christians, we easily lose sight of key liturgical moments in the life of the church. However, the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven forty days after his resurrection is not merely a tradition. Rather, it carries significant implications for the believer’s identity. The Apostle Paul reminds us that, since Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father, we are to “set our affections on things above,” and to have our minds “governed by the Spirit.” Here’s Pastor David with this week’s message, “Discover the Real You.

Defeated, confused, and discussing all that had occurred, the disciples were met by the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus. How did Jesus address their concerns? By interpreting the Scriptures to them. When we struggle with trusting God either in provision, sovereignty, or his presence within us, we must run to the Scriptures which replace fear and doubt with faith and joy. God’s word and the reality of Christ’s defeat of death give us confidence for anything we face. Here’s this week’s message, “Did Not Our Hearts Burn Within Us?”

Do you know who you really are? In so many ways, our self-image determines our overall psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The Bible says, “Be who you really are!” But if you don’t know who you are, you can’t be, or do! Amazingly, our true identity is inseparably linked to an event that took place nearly two thousand years ago. For Christians, the resurrection of Jesus Christ determines our identity, both now and for eternity. Here’s Pastor David with this week’s message, and the first in a new series, “Discover the Real You.”

This Sunday is Easter Sunday, and today, we celebrate with Christians all over the world. All too often, though, it can feel as though we don’t have much to celebrate. The world around us makes a lot of promises. When pursued, we often find that they do very little to fill the gaping hole in our hearts. Sterile and fragile, these promises are full of emptiness. Easter, however, offers emptiness full of promise. The empty cross, the empty tomb, and the empty grave clothes are all packed full of the promise of forgiveness and hope. Here’s Pastor David with this week’s message, “What’s So Special About Easter?”

There was a popular rock ’n roll song several years ago entitled “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” This feeling didn’t originate with the Rolling Stones; human hearts have always longed for satisfaction. In the fourth century AD, the African theologian Augustine wrote, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” Rest, satisfaction, a life without lack: these are all key thoughts of Psalm 23. True satisfaction is found only in the Shepherd of our souls. Here’s Pastor David with this week’s message, “Satisfaction in the Shepherd.”

The English theologian C. S. Lewis once observed, “I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.” Often, the things we think will make us happy or solve our problems are poor and temporary substitutes for that which brings ultimate fulfillment and true, lasting joy. To teach us that lesson, our Good Shepherd sometimes allows the dark valleys of life to strip us of our false happiness in order to lead us to true joy. What we find—and how we find it—is unexpected. Here’s Pastor David with this week’s message, “The Pathway to Joy.”

The lyrics to a certain Christian song say this: “Hidden valleys produce a life song, hidden valleys will make a heart strong; desperation can cause you to sing, hidden valleys turn shepherds into kings.” So often in life, the darkest valleys are “hidden;” we don’t see them coming. They appear out of nowhere, and leave us with surprising pain and grief. But these dark, hidden valleys don’t have to be dead-end streets. They can lead us to the higher planes of contentment and exhilaration in the intimate presence of our Good Shepherd. Here’s Pastor David with this week’s message, “The Darkest Valley.”

Have you ever noticed that the phrase “The Lord is my shepherd” is written on many more tombstones than on lives? It’s tragic that it so often takes the death of someone we love to remind us how we ought to live. As we live in him, our Good Shepherd guides us along the right paths, and he does this not first for our sakes, but for his own sake. We can trust our Good Shepherd with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, knowing that he has all things in his hands. He will never let us down. Here’s Pastor David with this week’s message, “The Shepherd’s Guidance.”

God called the prophet Hosea to reach his people in a very unique way. God commanded him to marry and raise children with an unfaithful woman in order to show Israel their own unfaithfulness in their relationship with God. Because of their sin, God would send them into judgment and destruction, but the book of Hosea also contains a message of hope and restoration. Here, we see a beautiful picture of the gospel, as God, by his steadfast love and mercy, transforms unfaithful men and women into his beloved bride, the church, who loves her heavenly husband. Here’s this week’s message, “Relentless Love.”

Have you ever felt overwhelmed or burdened by God’s call upon your life? Have you ever felt inadequate or without the right qualifications to do God’s work? Have you ever asked God to “send someone else”? You are certainly not alone. God never calls us to do something for his glory that we are capable of doing on our own apart from him. From Abraham and Moses to Peter and Paul, God chooses the weak, the low, the despised, and the unlikely to advance his mission in the world. Here’s this week’s message, “Lord, Send Someone Else!”