The story of the Bible begins with the origin story of our world. The author is answering the question that has intrigued people for generations: How did it all begin? The answer is that our world began with God,  who is the main character of the story of Scripture.  Genesis 1 also contains our origin story. People were created by God in his image and likeness.  John Calvin explains that “man resembles him and that in him God’s glory is contemplated, as in a mirror.” Most significant of all, the image of God in man involves our creation for an identity in communion with our Maker.

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Why is Christmas a wonderful time of year? Well, as Andy Williams croons, there are “kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer.” Plus, we’ll be going to parties, roasting marshmallows, caroling Christmas tunes, and, of course, “much mistltoeing.” It truly is wonderful.

But doesn’t it seem like there must be more to than just family celebrations and great music? Why is Christmas filled with so much wonder? Why is it any different  than other holidays? Why don’t we experience the same wonder on President’s Day or Thanksgiving?

This Sunday, we’ll finish our series through John 1, by looking at the why behind Christmas and why it is so wonderful.

A good neighbor is irreplaceable. Knowing that there is someone nearby who can be trusted to take care of our homes and pets when we travel, or who can help us put up a fence in the yard, or who will loan us a cup of flour when we're baking brings security to our lives. Conversely, many of us know what it can be like to have a difficult neighbor. Who we live with can deeply impacts our everyday lives.

In John 1:14 we read about Jesus coming into the world by taking on flesh. He became like us. That is an incredibly mysterious and wonderful idea to explore. Beyond that, he drew near to us by entering our world. The image John offers conveys the idea of Jesus moving into a community. One translation literally says, "The Word became flesh and took up residence among us (HCSB)." As you can imagine, God moving in completely changes the neighborhood.

Join us on Sunday as we consider what it means that God himself entered into our world as one of us. Things will never be the same.

This Sunday we’re celebrating the third week of Advent, by examining John 1:9-14. In verse fourteen, John tells us that Jesus is the “only Son from the Father.” We often called Jesus the Son of God, but we can easily miss that the phrase is packed with meaning. Join us Sunday as we discover what it means when we say that Jesus is the only Son of God.

This Sunday we’re celebrating the second week of Advent, by examining John 1:4-13. Last Sunday, Jason did a masterful job explaining that John is stretching the human language as far as it can go to teach us that “the Word” is a person, Jesus, who was born to a Galilean virgin in Bethlehem.  

This week we’ll see that Jesus came as the light of men, or he came to illuminate for us who God is and who we are.

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “It’s just another Christmas.” Lights, trees, toy commercials, and planning for family travel can be such a focus that we miss the wonder of what happened in Bethlehem in the Roman province of Judea over 2000 years ago. We’ll take a fresh look at Christmas through the words of John, Jesus’ best friend, to see something we don’t often think about in our Santa-centric time.

I’d love for you to join us this week as Jason Keel, our Director of Discipleship kicks off our Advent series.

Having turn by turn directions on our phones is an amazing blessing - no more pulling out the Rand McNally map in the middle of traffic to figure out where you are! But, have you ever had the experience of following the turn by turn directions and thinking, “I’m not really sure where I am?”

In Matthew 7:13-23, Jesus address the importance of knowing what path we are on and where we are heading. There is an easy way, simply following the turn by turn directions of those around us, but that way he says leads to destruction. There is another way, the way of Jesus! His way is harder, but leads to life.

Jesus begins Matthew 7 with the emphatic statement, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  In Jesus’ day, there was a lot of self-righteousness, one-upsmanship, and finger-pointing going on.  Today it’s no different.  This week we will be exploring how the Gospel informs our interpersonal relationships.  The way we navigate these relationships says a great deal about our core beliefs.  In light of the good news of Jesus, what should our posture be toward those around us?  What do we do when worldviews collide? 

This week, Mitchell Bagley will be leading us through this section of Scripture.

In 1987, the world famous rock band, U2, released “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The song continues to resonate with people in part because being a human is searching. We strive for goals, and when we reach them we find they aren’t enough. We look for love, and when we find it, we realize it doesn’t solve all of our problems. The problem is that our endless seeking can easily turn into greed, self-centeredness, and anxiety.

In Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus address how our searching leads us to accumulating stuff we don’t need, not seeing the world clearly, and even being consumed by worry. He says the answer isn’t to stop seeking, but to change the object of our search.

What motivates you? Could it be family, money, success, or maybe just attention? We seem to live in a culture where increasingly more and more value is placed on how much attention you can garner. The dangers of this type of living can also spill over into our religious life. If we are not careful the motives behind our faith can become more about being seen and less about God.

This week, Pastor Mike led us through Matthew  6:1-6 and 6:16-18.  In our text this week we will see Jesus take three common Christian practices and show us how useless they are with the wrong motives.