Staying put and planting yourself in a community can be hard, but Jesus modeled staying put for us when he came to earth and lived and died as one of us. The prophet Jeremiah gives us good directions for how to stay put and love our communities like Jesus loved us.

In life and ministry, what we have at our disposal is never enough to meet the needs around us. But when we bring what little we have to Jesus, he multiplies it and gives it back to us to share with the world.

The local church is supposed to function as a family, but sometimes that family becomes dysfunctional. Paul shows us how to maintain healthy family relationships by pursuing peace, worshiping Jesus together, and giving thanks for each other.

A major mark of Christian maturity is the ability to forgive others from the heart, as Christ has forgiven us. Forgiveness is never easy, but the cross reminds us that Jesus died for all of us while we were still sinners so we could sit together at his table.

A big part of spiritual maturity is found by putting off the old, sinful self and clothing ourselves in Jesus. Colossians 3 teaches us what our new wardrobe looks like and how to put it on.

Even after we receive forgiveness for sin, we can be robbed of our freedom by the false expectations of others and of the law. A huge part of spiritual maturity is avoiding the traps of legalism.

As we continue our study on maturity, we need a blueprint to show us what a fully mature Christian looks like. Paul gives us those plans in this passage, as well as warning us about how deceptive ideas will stunt our growth.

Growing up in Jesus means sharing in his suffering and in his glory. This is the foundation on which you build a mature faith life. Sharing in his suffering and in his glory helps us to build our identity on Jesus in the best and worst times of life.

Just as Jesus' followers were not expecting him to be alive on Easter morning, many times we don't expect his resurrection life to be at work in us. Living in light of the resurrection means believing that Jesus brings us to life right now!

When Jesus enters our lives, everything changes in an instance. We go from being alienated from God to reconciled with him. Today we talk about what reconciliation means and how we can continue in our faith.