Jesus spoke about God's Kingdom from the beginning of his earthly ministry to its end. Something he kept saying is how God's Kingdom isn't like earthly kingdoms. But what is it LIKE? To answer that question, Jesus used parables. Pastor Luke looks at Isaiah 35:1-10 in "Repatriation," part 2 of his 4-part series, "Emmanuel."

"Emmanuel" means God is with us. You might think that idea would be all through the Bible, but the word itself only appears a handful of times. Is it really that important? What does it mean that God is with us? Pastor Luke looks at Isaiah 7:10-14 in "God With Us," the first message in a new series, "Emmanuel."

The world is a mess, or at least parts of it. If you got the job of fixing it, what would you do about Nigeria, or Darfur, or the Fentanyl epidemic? What would you do about affordable housing or the debt crisis, or illiteracy? Some problems seem beyond fixing. But God promised to fix them. How? Pastor Luke teaches from Jeremiah 23:1-6 in "Under New Management."

Jesus announced the nearness of the Kingdom, meaning we can be part of it now. We don't have to wait for him to return, when it comes in its fullness. But return he will, someday, and the Kingdom will be fully realized. What happens then? Pastor Luke teaches from Matthew 13:47-50 in "The Last Division," the concluding message in his series, "Fabulous Stories."

Jesus said that entering the Kingdom of Heaven would be like stumbling upon a great treasure. If that's so, why don't more people do it? What prevents them? Pastor Luke teaches from Matthew 13:44-46 in "Upgrade," part 4 of his 5-part series, "Fabulous Stories."

Have you ever thought that God wasn't helping, or maybe you even thought that God was making things worse? Or maybe you just thought you could use some help but there was no sign that God would provide it. What can we do when God doesn't seem interested in helping? Pastor Luke looks at Matthew 13:31-33 in "Ferment," part 3 of his 5-part series, "Fabulous Stories."

Jesus spoke about God's Kingdom from the beginning of his earthly ministry to its end. Something he kept saying is how God's Kingdom isn't like earthly kingdoms. But what is it LIKE? To answer that question, Jesus used parables. Pastor Luke teaches from Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 in "Strewn," the first message in a new series, "Fabulous Stories."

Christians are called to be disciples who make disciples? But how are we supposed to be disciples, much less make other people into disciples? In the Old Testament, a the story of a foreign general and a prophet has some great examples, but they aren't the general or the prophet. Pastor Luke preaches from 2 Kings 5:1-16 in "A Lesser River," the concluding message in his series, "Headwaters (Bonus Segment)."

Christians are taught to rejoice, which seems strange -- even though our innocent savior died a criminal's death. Christians have no illusions about just how messed up the world can be. So how can we rejoice in the face of that? Pastor Luke preaches from Luke 10:1-3,17-20 in "Rejoice In This," the concluding message in his series, "Captive Thoughts."

"Where was God when that terrible thing happened?" It's a common question, because terrible things keep happening to people. How can we make sense of our faith when bad things happen? Part of the answer is making sure that we're looking at the right part of the problem. Pastor Luke teaches from Genesis 50:15-21 in "Innovator," part 3 of his 4-part series, "Captive Thoughts."