Have you ever had a friend, spouse, family member, or someone close to you let you down? Maybe they didn’t follow through on a promise or weren’t there when you needed them most. Moments like these can shake our confidence and make us wonder if we can truly trust them again. We’ve all felt that sting.

But the good news is that Jesus never fails to keep His promises. Just as He fulfilled the prophecies of His birth spoken centuries before it happened, we can trust that He will continue to be faithful to His promises for us today and for tomorrow.

This Sunday, we’ll be diving into Luke 1:26–38 and looking at Jesus’ birth announcement—seeing how every part of His story fits into a much bigger promise God made long before. As we consider what it means to trust Him as Immanuel, “God With Us,” we’ll discover that if He kept His promises in the past, we can confidently trust Him with our future.

- Pastor Brandon Marchetti

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49517148

Christmas season is here! While many people will be celebrating all over the world, there is a sad disconnect between the holiday and the Savior we celebrate on it. Who is Jesus really? It’s a question that everyone needs to ask at some point, and I pray they do.

The gospel accounts of Matthew and Luke both include answers to this important question. They display everyone’s favorite part of any “Bible in a year” reading plan… Genealogies! Matthew records from Abraham to Jesus on Mary’s side, and Luke comes from Joseph’s side all the way to Adam. One gives Jesus legal credibility to the Jews, and one gives connection to all of humanity as we could all be traced back to the very first man, Adam. These lists of people contain som interesting characters and ultimately point us to God’s redemptive power and providence to be able to use whoever He desires to accomplish His perfect will.

Join us this weekend as we launch our Christmas series “With Us”, looking at Immanuel! It truly is a powerfully important thing to know the One who has come, God in flesh with us, Jesus.

-Pastor Ben

Key Verse - Luke 3:23 (NIV) - "Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,"

Key Passage - Matthew 3:23-38, Luke1:1-17

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49517146

WOW! We serve an incredible God! He has truly been at work here at Mitchell Berean over this last year, just has he has been in the 70+ years of people gathering in this local body. We are seeing people come to faith in Jesus, disciples multiplying, the Gospel going out, missionaries being sent, shepherds being raised up, saints being equipped and serving faithfully, and God providing for us from His abundant riches. It is truly a blessing to sit back and reflect on who He is, what He has done, and how He is moving.

Those three areas are where we want to focus as we gather for our Celebration Sunday this week! Who God is, and the unbelievable truth that He has sought after relationship with us. This alone is worthy of endless celebration, yet He goes beyond and has blessed us by doing so much for us! Then He invites us to be part of His mission and works through us! This all should have us overwhelmed with joy!

Ephesians 1 teaches us about the blessings we received in Jesus that are ours in the heavenly places. God has lavished upon us in accordance with the riches of His grace found in Jesus for all who put their faith in Him. My prayer this week is that as we gather you come ready for joyous praise being lifted up to our ever deserving God!

-Pastor Ben

Key Verse: Ephesians 1:7 (NIV) - "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace"

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49496624

Jesus was radical. Over the thousands of years people have studied, learned, and read about Jesus it feels that we have forgotten just how truly radical He was, and is! From His personal walk with the Father, to His intense focus on accomplishing the mission He came for, there are radical things we should be in awe of.

One thing that we see in Jesus as his compassion. Intense, deep, gut turning moments for Him where He “should” have been focused on Himself, and yet we see Him care deeply for those around Him. Imagine if we had radical compassion like Jesus did in Matthew 9 as He saw the crowds and cared for them because His compassion was for their real condition.

Join us this weekend as Greg Stier, the founder of Dare 2 Share Ministries shares with us about what it looks like to be Radical Like Jesus.

-Pastor Ben

Greg Stier Bio - Greg witnessed the Gospel radically transform his tough, inner‐city family before he reached adolescence, sparking his passion for evangelism. In 1991, as a young church planter, he founded Dare 2 Share to equip teens to reach their peers with the Gospel. Three decades later, millions of students have been trained and mobilized across the U.S. and around the world. Greg and his wife, Debbie, have been married for 35 years and have two adult children, Kailey and Jeremy, and Jeremy's wife, Kat.

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49496623

In our series “Radical Like_,” we have studied various individuals from the Old Testament who lived with radical faith through their faithful obedience to God. This weekend we take a look at our first person from the New Testament, and it is someone whose God-given purpose was to “prepare the way of the Lord.” (Matthew 3:3). He was prophesied about in the Old Testament, born the son of a priest and given the Holy Spirit before birth. His purpose in life was clear, and he spent his life fearlessly fulfilling the purpose of pointing to the One to come, Jesus.


While you and I were not granted the Holy Spirit before our birth or individually prophesied about in Scripture, our purpose of pointing to Jesus is similar. We may do that in different ways depending on who God created us and the specific gifts the Holy Spirit has granted each person, but all of us as believers can find true fulfillment in life when we realize our one goal, one objective and purpose in life is to point to Jesus.

Bring a friend! See you Sunday!

Key Verse: John 1:29 - The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49496622

Prayer. We are called to be consistently, and constantly, praying. The Most High God over all the universe desires to be in connection with us, and to hear from us. I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY!!! I know how inconsistent I am, how full of complaint and selfish requests, and how unworthy I am to be in connection with Him. Why would He want to hear from me?!

The simple answer: He loves us. God made us to be in relationship with Him, and gives us the opportunity to be brought into his family through faith in Jesus. He pursues as a father pursues his child, and invites us to enter His throne room with boldness. There are some great examples of people who consistently prayed in the Bible. One of them is Daniel, who fervently prayed throughout Israel’s exile in Babylon.

Daniel prayed so consistently that his enemies were able to use it against him. They manipulated the law to their benefit and made it illegal for Daniel to continue with his regular pattern of prayer. When Daniel saw this he went up to his room and prayed, just like he always did. He knew the risks, but he also knew the one to whom he was praying. Daniel’s radical faith powerfully held him to trust in God even in the midst of dangerous times.

Join us Sunday for our worship service where we will dive in to how we can be more radical in our prayer life.

- Pastor Ben

Key Verse: Daniel 6:10 (NIV) - "Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before."

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49496620

When I think of my level of commitment to Trying things that seem impossible, I realize that it’s not very high. I find myself functioning from a realist mindset based in what I have determined is most likely to happen. While it’s not wrong to have a realistic view of things, there are definitely moments that God calls us to walk by faith and trust him to be the God who can do impossible things!

When Moses saw a bush burning on the side of a mountain and went over to check out what was happening I don’t think he was expecting God to speak to him. I don’t think that was even on his radar as a possibility! His reactions to what God had called him to showed a struggle of identity in self, and also in God‘s identity. The Great I AM was ready to answer Moses’s doubts, and walk Moses to faith filled obedience. Moses was not ready.

Sometimes God calls, and we want Him to call someone else. But when He calls, He equips, and He goes with and before us. Radical trust in Him leads to incredible things!

Join us this Sunday for one of our worship services as we look at what it takes to live radical faith!

-Pastor Ben

Key Verse: Exodus 3:14 - God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49496618

Satan works very hard at causing Christians to forget the plot God wants us to live out. He wants us to forget who the main character is. He wants us to forget God's purposes, and why we were created.

This Sunday we will be looking at the Old Testament hero Joshua. What made Joshua great was that Joshua understood that God was the hero of his story, and that his job was to follow God's leadership in his life.

Don't miss this: letting God lead your life is radical.

Our stories may not be written in the history books like Joshua, but in God's eyes, our lives hold just as much value and significance as Joshua. Pastor Tyce Jensen, the President of the Berean Fellowship, will be encouraging us from to be radical like Joshua, courageously following God's leadership.

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49496617

What would you risk to bring someone to Jesus? Your reputation? Your job? Your life?

This question may seem intense, but as we think through radical faith as a church I find that more and more the answer to this question determines a lot about the faith we walk in. Some of us would give everything, while others of us would be more cautious. Wherever you are at the call has been clearly given to us by Jesus to “die to yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Me.” What would it look like to have a faith willing to do that? Radical.

Elijah had radical faith. He came on the scene at a time of great idolatry in the nation of Israel. Following the rule of king Ahab and his wife Jezebel they had committed themselves to the false god Baal, who was supposed to be the weather god, controlling the provision of water needed for rich harvests. Elijah begins by declaring the LORD’s power over weather with a 3 year drought, and then came straight at Baal on Mt. Carmel. He shows us radical faith in his bold, public stand for the LORD in the midst of a fallen people. His boldness to trust in God set the stage for one of the most clear displays of the One True God’s authority over all.

Elijah was willing to risk everything to call people back to God.

Join us this weekend for a worship service where we will dive into this moment in the life of Elijah, and grow in our understanding of what it looks like to be Radical Like Jesus!

- Pastor Ben

Key Verse: 1 Kings 18:21 - "Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing."

For this week's Scripture and notes:

http://bible.com/events/49496616

Are there limits to your trust? Of course there are! We live with people who are not always trustworthy, and this has taught us to question and guard against trusting things outside of ourselves. This is no different when it comes to our trust of God. Though He has never been untrustworthy, He often seems to lead us into places that feel risky, difficult, and unwanted. Instead of trusting Him, we run. Instead of following Him we try to lead. Instead of submitting to His strength and will, we look at the circumstances and lean on our own understanding.

Gideon was just like us. He had grown up in a time where trust with God was broken. Israel was under constant attack from the Midianites, and it seemed as though God had fully abandoned them. So when God showed up to call Gideon to follow Him into battle, it makes sense that Gideon was doubtful. I would have been too! Even in his doubt God was the Good Shepherd who lead him through, and helped him learn how trustworthy The Lord actually is.

Gideons faith didn’t start radical, but God did radical things through Gideon’s willingness to trust just a little more with each step.

Join us this weekend for a worship service as we dive into what it looks like to be more radical in our faith!

- Pastor Ben

Key Verse: Judges 7:2 (NIV) - "The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’"

For this week's Scripture and notes:

https://bible.com/events/49496615