For the City - The Blessing: This week, Pastor Jess walks us through Nehemiah.The days in our city are like the days in Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah. There was a ragtag group of broken people. They were a remnant, still standing and wanting to rebuild and inhabit the promises of God over the city.Our city has been burned, and it's been divided, but God - “Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restore of homes” (Isaiah 58:12 NLT).God is calling us to be rebuilders of the things that have been destroyed. He can use you and your children. We may feel like a remnant group, but we have the almighty God and the word. Let it reign in your heart and home and expect God to do the unimaginable.

Easter Sunday Pastor Jess talks about Isaiah and Revelations. We walk through the loyal covenant of God and His faithfulness. We ponder the thought of how Jesus seats us in heavenly places and how we are to never underestimate the faithfulness of walking with God.Pastor Jess reminds us Jesus will make the weaknesses in our lives our greatest strength. With our weaknesses, He is strengthening us. When we're chosen, we come under the rule of God.

How do we faithfully follow our King? People who are faithful to God walk a different direction, and if we walked a different direction together, we may be in a little bit of a different place than we are as a culture right now. If we walk faithfully with Jesus, is the point I'm trying to make. You will have more tribulation than maybe you think you will, and at the same time, you will have less tribulation than you have ever imagined.Our nation is in a place where we need radical people who are radically in love and faithful to Jesus, who are absolutely baptized in His body and into His presence, who are connected to the local church and connected to God and making a huge difference in our culture. It will be easy in one regard, and it will be difficult in another.I know you’re in the midst of tribulation, but Jesus is seated on the throne.

This week we walk through the resurrection in Matthew with our very own Pastor Jess. He takes an unconventional approach, inviting us to ponder where we may have made Jesus the background screenshot of our lives, like an assistant, rather than the forefront and leader of our lives He is supposed to be. We see where we have majored on the blessings and purpose He gives rather than the blessing He wants to form within us.Pastor Jess takes us through his own testimony and displays the introduction of his own relationship with God and how this shifted him to the wonder of God.

This last Sunday Pastor Jess walked us through the power of sin and where it begins as we looked in the book of Romans.What's is behind sin? That which compels and drives us and that is what God is after. When you pray the prayer “lead us not into temption” you are saying “God, keep me from sinning.” The prayer is designed to help us declare we do not want to sin anymore. God free us from the world and our sin and get our story back to the Gospel story.

What am I leaving in? What's living in me? When the question is asked, we find that if we are IN Christ we can form ourselves in His teachings. When we are IN Jesus, we act like Him. What is it that you're following? We were designed to live in God. He wants us to be in Him and Him in us. We move ahead with God when we give up our lives for His journey.

Continuing our conversation asking the question, "Will the real Gospel please stand up?" We look at another aspect of the Gospel - incarnation - as we talk about our Incarnate King with Pastor Jerushah Tanner.

What does God act like? 1) He emptied Himself, 2) He enslaved Himself, 3) He "obediented" Himself. Eat last, speak last, outlast.