Pastor Jeff Edwards ended our series about Authentic Living with a underrated requirement for an authentic Christian life… gratitude.  When Jesus runs into ten men in Luke, He shows us how an inauthentic life takes good things for granted.  Authentic means thankful! Jeff used Luke 17:11-19 as his scripture reference.

We learned that it's our natural human desire to go into hiding when we sin.  But living authentically is living vulnerably.  Ephesians 4 says that when Christ changes us on the inside, it shows up on the outside.  Pastoral Intern Emmanuel Ayele preached for the first time at MCCC!

Pastor Jeff Edwards spoke about the number one reason people leave churches, workers leave jobs, and marriages fail.  In his humble opinion it’s… unresolved conflict!  We learned that Jesus gives us some steps to be followed in pursuing authentic relationships with others and resolving conflict. Jeff used Matthew 18:15-22 as his scripture reference. 

Valerie Salkeld spoke about expressing ourselves when emotions are high. What do others hear? What do they see? What does God see? Looking at the older son in Luke 15, we will learn what happens when we struggle with assumption, blame, and misunderstanding. We also celebrated Communion. Please have your elements ready so that you can participate.

Pastor Jeff Edwards spoke about the most important thing in successful relationships with others.  Communication!  Jesus gives us a couple of rules to guide this communication in Matthew 7:1-12, and the bible gives us a number more.

Pastor Dave Chow spoke about how many say you should just take life as it comes.  But if you do nothing to counter the messages of culture around us, you will adopt those values by default.  A better plan is to transform your life by renewing your mind.  We dove into how using Romans 12:1-2.

Why are carry-on bags such a problem when flying? This gets in the way of getting where we are going!  Pastor Jeff says a similar thing stops us from getting to our life destination.  What’s thwarting our life purpose?  We need to rid ourselves of excess baggage!  Hebrews 12 tells us how – with a goal, a hero, and discipline. Have a pen and paper ready. Jeff gives an assignment!

We welcomed back Dennis Bunio! He spoke about how God has placed every one of us in a position to choose between two kingdoms.  Living authentically as a Christ-follower means needing to choose which kingdom will have the priority in our life - the one ruled by the world or the one ruled by Christ. Dennis used John 18:28 – 19:16 as his scripture reference.

Worship Pastor Dave Chow will speak about how we have so many decisions to make this fall (and all the time!). How do we do it?  Ask God!  To enter into an authentic relationship with God, we need to learn to hear His voice and understand His will for our lives through Bible reading and personal interaction with the Holy Spirit. Dave will use 2 Timothy 3:16-17 as his scripture reference.

Pastor Jeff Edwards spoke about our priorities. What would you say are your top priorities in life?  Would people around you agree that you are showing those priorities?  Authentic living means bringing what you say and what you show together.  The bible tells us that we have a superpower at our disposal to become the people we want to be. Jeff preached from Ephesians 2:1-10.