There’s a lot of stories in the Bible that don’t really seem to connect to one another, isn’t there? In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with Abram that makes sense but then there are a whole bunch of episodes that don’t seem to advance the story line…at all! What are we to do with that? Why are those stories in there? Maybe there’s a bigger point God is trying to make through these stories that relates to us and to how we understand life today!

What is a covenant? How do you define that word? Most of us think of a contract when we hear the word covenant, which isn't a bad definition but it doesn't go quite far enough in explaining what a covenant is, at least not in Biblical terms of covenant. In Scripture, a covenant was more like an unbreakable vow and covenants, unlike contracts, were affirmed in some pretty weird ways. In Genesis 15, God creates a covenant with Abram that is both odd and strikingly beautiful at the exact same time.

KidsTown Lesson: https://tinyurl.com/Kidstown-Lesson

Most of us have heard of the story of Adam and Eve. Most of us know the gist of the story too. Nakedness, apples, trees, talking snakes! But what if there’s more going on in this story than just this? What if this story is really about a rebellion and a lesson that raises an important question…what voices are you listening to in your life right now?

Christians love to fight over the story of Creation. We fight over how long each “day” lasted, whether everything happened in the order the Bible talks about it and even if it was just God the Father involved or other persons of the Trinity. Rarely, however, do we talk about the WHY of creation. Specifically, why God prompted Moses to write the way he did. This week we dig into the WHY of Genesis 1 and 2 and what we can all learn from it!

Shakespeare famously quipped – “All the world’s a stage, and the people merely players.” While he may not have meant it in this exact way, there is truth in his saying. We are all part of a grander story, a meta-narrative so to speak. There is one large story that gives meaning and purpose to all of life and each of us has a part to play. The question is, do we know what story we’re a part of and are we willing to play our part?

How was Christmas for you? Hopefully it was fun and restful and a day marked with celebration of the Savior! So how about today? A lot of people, AFTER Christmas, experience what some call the “post-Christmas blues.” It’s the letdown that comes for so many after the holidays are over. Even though Christmas was over, God’s involvement with Mary and Joseph didn’t end. There is more to the POST-Christmas story than meets the eye.

If I had been in charge of announcing to the world about God's Son being born, I wouldn't have selected shepherds: unclean, uneducated, unknown. But who best to tell about the Lamb of God being born, than shepherds?

One of the hardest things to wrestle with is unmet expectations. You have a plan, an idea of what life is supposed to be like and then life throws you a curve ball. Someone leaves. Sickness hits. The job dries up. There are a lot of curveballs in life. What do you do when your plans don’t pan out? What can God do with those unmet expectations?

You’ve probably heard the cliché – ‘Big things come in small packages’ before. It’s such a great truth that is easy to lose sight of in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and amidst the cultural pressures to go bigger with everything. Often times, it’s not the big, powerful, or flashy things that make the difference. It’s the small acts of obedience or kindness that change the course of history.

God has given us an amazing vision for 2026. It flows from our definition of what it means to be a “devoted disciple of Jesus.” In 2026 we are going to focus on a phrase we are calling “Fellowship around the Word.” We believe that God is going to do some amazing things in this next year as we get serious about Him and His people.