This weekend, we continued our journey through First Peter. Peter continues his pattern of explaining who we are and our position as Christians, by virtue of what God has done, and now how we should live. Together we explored the often addressed theme of living as a part of God's family in a fallen world. Peter gives us great advice on how to make a difference as dual citizens of heaven and earth.

This weekend we continued our journey through Peter's first letter to a group of young New Testament churches. We are beginning to see a common theme throughout the book: This is who God is, this is what he has done for you, therefore, live like Him. In the second chapter we see this as Peter uses powerful imagery familiar to him as a Jew -- the image of a cornerstone. He urges us to build our lives upon Jesus the cornerstone and grow up in our faith to become living stones in his powerful church.

This week we welcomed Pastor Jimmy Stanton as he continued on our journey through 1 Peter. As a culture, we love outrageous things...we like them, we share them, we converse about them. To be "Outrageous" is to be, say or do something out of the ordinary; something that blows one's mind so to speak. Good or bad, our culture eats it up! Jesus is the most "Outrageous" person, who did the most outrageous act when He shed His blood so that the people He created could be restored in eternal, personal relationship with Him again. Why doesn't a culture that spends so much time sharing and conversing about "Outrageous" things grab a hold of the most outrageous person ever, to touch history?

This week we welcomed Pastor Nate Boven, Revolution Youth Pastor; as he shared with us about holiness. In I Peter 1:15 God calls us to "be Holy as He is Holy." For many this means a list of rules we need to follow in order to be found worthy of the grace that we have received, but Peter points out that holiness is about responding to the salvation and grace we have been freely given. Holiness comes through the process of our pursuing God's purposes, as an act of love for what He has done and out of a reverent fear of who He is. Holiness is the key to an abundant life and the key that allows us to dwell with God forever. Come along as we explore our Call to Holiness.

This weekend, as we continued our series in 1st Peter, we explored the inheritance of the saints apprehended by faith and kept in heaven for us. In this day, faith is much maligned and often juxtaposed with reason. But, the apostles had two reasons for their faith. They often pointed to the evidence of prophecies in the resurrection to anchor their faith, and Christians need to look forward to heaven as our prize and think about the greatness of the inheritance that we have to keep our focus on what matters.

This week we welcome Guest Minister Garry Miller, Director of the Michigan chapter of Chi Alpha, as he shares with us about having a missional vision. Having a "Missional Vision" for doing everyday life is all well and good, if we actually implement it. There's often a break down between "inspiration" and "implementation." Finding your way through that requires a change in the way we see things! Let's look at the prophetic picture found in Judges 15.

Last week we launched our series on I Peter called a Living Hope. We established Peter’s authorship and explored the idea that we are chosen by God and called to live in this world in order to make a difference. This weekend, we will looked at the profound inheritance we have as sons and daughters who have been born again. The resurrection gives assurance to our faith and grounding for the joy that should be our banner as we live in this world.

This week we launched into a new series called, "A Living Hope, as we began reading together through First Peter. Peter wrote to a group of outlying Gentile churches to encourage them to live their lives for the glory of God in what could be a culture hostile to their faith. He calls them elect exiles or chosen pilgrims. Peter's letter relates to us today and brings encouragement, instruction and hope. This is a series that you won't want to miss!

As we celebrate the birth of a nation, we look to God for direction and insight into how we should live our lives in perilous times. The first two chapters of Romans gives us a wide view of a culture in crisis. When a nation suppresses the truth and denies God and his created order, they are left with the depraved human heart to guide them. The church however, must live changed lives in order to shine the light of Christ into our world. Together this weekend we looked to God to help us move forward in interesting times.

Real Church? To be a real church is to be true to the way God designed it to be according to scripture. We've consolidated what it means to be a real church in a one liner... "Love God and people with Passion and Action," go ahead just do it! Maybe there is something more foundational to why we do or don't accomplish this vision for the church in our own lives? I believe there are two core reasons why it's difficult to accomplish this statement. First, to love God is to be obedient… Second, people are messy… To love God and people with Passion and Action we have to be "Obedient to God" and "Get messy."