Have you ever had a dream that turned into a nightmare? Have your circumstances challenged your faith? Consider Joseph, who had a dream turned nightmare. His brothers fake his death and sell him into slavery. He’s falsely accused and wrongly imprisoned. For thirteen years, things go from bad to worse but Joseph never loses faith in the end of the story. 50:20 vision is seeing past your circumstances. It’s discerning what’s really happening when what’s happening is happening. It’s discerning the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Joseph exemplifies, LONG VISION. What is it? It’s dreaming generationally. It’s doing what we do for the third and fourth generation.

We think right here, right now. God is thinking nations and generations. We think what God does for us is for us, and it is. But it’s never just for it. It’s always for the third and fourth generation. Legacy is not what you accomplish. Legacy is what others accomplish because of you.

Most of us are educated way beyond the level of our obedience already. We don’t need to know more. We need to do more with what we know. The good news? It’s never too late to be who you might have been. You are one decision away from a totally different life. Change is hard, but it is possible. How? Forgive reality for what it is. Ground yourself in God’s word. And keep putting it on the altar. Put what on the altar? Everything.

Do you ever feel out of place, not good enough, or not worthy of God? Good news: God chooses the lowly, the humble, the desperate, the hungry, the seeker to reveal his grace. All of us will have thoughts this season of whether to journey towards Christ, or allow life to get the best of us. Pastor Joel's encouragement for us is to follow the example of the magi on their journey to Christ during a series of events we would come to know as the Christmas story. They chose to worship Christ despite their challenging circumstances and so should we. What will be your Christmas response this season?

The shepherds echoed the song of the angels throughout Bethlehem, giving proclamation and adoration for all they had seen and heard. As we navigate the joys and disappointments, the gifts and the losses, and the anticipations and frustrations of the Advent season, let us look and listen for where God is breaking into the reality of our existence. How do we sing the song of the angels to our world?

Are you a mere spectator to life? Are you settling for the status quo? In Genesis, we see God inviting Abraham to go beyond the confines of his tent, look up at the stars and count them to consider the magnitude of God's promise to him. In our modern world, where we often feel overwhelmed and insulated, stepping out into nature and meditating on the vastness of creation, can recalibrate our spirits and remind us of God's greatness. Pastor Mark encourages us to embrace a mindset of curiosity and seek not only the miracles of daily life but also a profound relationship with our Creator.

Bill Bryson says "We are just a collection of inert components, the same stuff you would find in a pile of DIRT." How does dirt write poems, produce films, make music, design rockets, engineer software, practice medicine, choreograph ballets or patent inventions? The short answer is Genesis 2:7. Genesis 2:7 credits the Lord God as the One who created us, designed us, and animated us. Listen as Pastor Mark explores the miraculous components of LIFE in God's creation.

You are not a cosmic accident, the result of random chance. You are God’s workmanship. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are the image of God, the apple of God’s eye. You were made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory. Don’t let anyone label you who didn’t make you!

“There are only two ways to live your life,” said Albert Einstein. “One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” Which way are you living? Are you taking things for granted? Or are you taking things for gratitude? It’s time to rediscover a million little miracles that are hiding in plain sight. It’s time to rediscover the God of Miracles—the God who is bigger than big, closer than close, and gooder than good.

Scripture says that you will know know a tree by its fruit. What would someone say about you based on the fruit of your life? Are you introducing people to the nature of Christ through your actions? It’s important that we surrender all we have and all we are to the will of God so that he may guide us in the way of righteousness. Bishop Harvey helps us understand what this looks like and how we are able to draw people closer to Jesus based on how we treat them.