What does your life weigh?

In this message from Daniel 5, Pastor Ben Mueller walks through the story of Belshazzar’s feast and the writing on the wall. On the very night Babylon was about to fall, Belshazzar gathered his nobles, wives, wine, and sacred temple vessels for one final act of defiant pride.

Rather than humbling himself before God, Belshazzar clung to created things for significance. He praised gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, while dishonoring the God who held his life and all his ways in His hand.

Daniel’s interpretation of the writing on the wall reminds us that our days are numbered, our lives will be weighed, and every kingdom apart from God will eventually fall.

This sermon invites us to resist empty pride, pleasure, achievement, and self-made significance, and instead build our lives on Jesus. He alone gives our lives true weight, substance, and glory.

What happens when pride distorts our view of ourselves, others, and God?

In this message from Daniel 4, Pastor Ben Mueller walks through the humbling of King Nebuchadnezzar. At the height of his power, Nebuchadnezzar looked over Babylon and credited its greatness to his own strength, glory, and majesty. But God confronted his pride, brought him low, and eventually restored his sanity when he lifted his eyes toward heaven.

This sermon explores how pride is often a break from reality. It convinces us that we are greater, stronger, wiser, or more self-sufficient than we really are. But humility brings us back into the truth: we are not gods in a human world. We are humans in God’s world.

Daniel 4 invites us to acknowledge God in all things, receive correction from truth-tellers, repent where pride has taken root, and trust that even seasons of being brought low can become places of restoration.

God is able to humble those who walk in pride, and He is also able to restore those who look to Him.

How do we remain faithful to God in an unfaithful time?

In this message from Daniel 3, Pastor Ben Mueller walks through the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they are pressured to bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. Surrounded by the power, music, politics, religion, and fear of Babylon, they face a defining question of allegiance: bow or burn.

Their response is one of the clearest pictures of courageous faith in Scripture: God is able to deliver us. But even if He does not, we will not bow.

This sermon explores the idols that still compete for our loyalty today, the pressure to compromise, and the courage that comes from remembering the God who has delivered His people before. In a world full of lesser gods and competing allegiances, we are invited to reject idols, remember God’s story, and fix our eyes on Jesus, the true image of God.

How can followers of Jesus influence the culture around them without becoming captive to it?

In week two of our Daniel series, Pastor Patrick teaches from Daniel 2 and the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s troubling dream. When Babylon’s wise men could not give the king an answer, Daniel did not panic, posture, or grasp for control. He gathered his friends, sought the God of heaven, and received wisdom from the Lord.

Daniel shows us that faithful influence in exile does not come through hostility, isolation, platform-building, or blending in. It comes through a life deeply formed in the presence of God.

This message invites us to become prayerful people who seek God’s wisdom for our workplaces, families, neighborhoods, and city. The question is not first, “How can I become more influential?” The better question is, “How can I be present to God?”

How do we live faithfully to Jesus in a culture that is often indifferent, and sometimes hostile, toward God?

In the opening message of our Daniel series, Pastor Ben Mueller walks through Daniel 1 and the story of four young men carried into exile in Babylon. Taken from home, taught a new language, trained in a foreign culture, and even given new names, Daniel and his friends faced the pressure to be reshaped by the powers around them.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself.

This message explores what it means to remain faithful in a world constantly trying to form our identity, values, desires, and allegiances. Daniel shows us a way of resistance that is not panic, retreat, or outrage, but quiet courage rooted in belonging to God.

Because God is present even in exile, we can remain faithful to our identity in Christ, refuse compromise, seek the good of the places where God has sent us, and flourish wherever He has placed us.

What if prayer was never meant to feel dry, boring, or burdensome?

In this special message, guest pastor Mark McGovern of EXP.church in San Francisco invites us to rediscover prayer as joyful communion with Jesus, the one who is always praying for us.

Mark shares how encountering the radiant joy of Jesus, the Shining One, transformed his understanding of prayer. Instead of simply talking at God, prayer becomes a life of listening, receiving, and joining Jesus in what He is already praying.

This message is a call to move from being people who occasionally pray to becoming men and women of prayer, marked by intimacy with God, bold expectation, and the joy of His presence.

True Christian community cannot exist without the Holy Spirit.

In the final week of our Community series, Jared Nassiff teaches from Acts 4 and the radical generosity of the early church. The first Christian community was marked by one heart and mind, bold witness to the resurrection, and a willingness to give so that there were no needy persons among them.

But this kind of community was not created by human effort, better programs, or stronger systems. It was formed by the Holy Spirit.

This message challenges us to move beyond consuming church and into contributing to the mission of Jesus. A Spirit-filled community is not known by how much it accumulates, but by how much it releases, gives away, and offers for the sake of others.

If we want the kind of community we see in Acts, we must be ready for the cost, and we must depend fully on the Spirit to form it among us.

Christian community is not built on convenience. It is built on covenant love.

In week three of our Community series, Pastor Ben explores Jesus’ command in John 13: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This kind of love is not sentimental, shallow, or easy to discard when relationships get difficult. It is the loyal, faithful, stubbornly committed love of God.

Through the biblical theme of khesed, God’s steadfast covenant love, this message shows how Jesus modeled a love that stays, serves, forgives, sacrifices, and remains faithful even when it costs something.

In a culture quick to cancel, ghost, block, and walk away, the church is called to become a covenantal community marked by reconciliation, loyalty, sacrifice, and love that points the world to Jesus.

Hospitality Is Not Entertaining. It Is Making Room.

In a lonely and divided world, Jesus practiced a surprisingly ordinary form of ministry: He ate with people.

In week two of our Community series, Pastor Patrick walks through Luke 5 and Luke 19 to show how Jesus used the table to welcome outsiders, sinners, strangers, and even enemies. The Pharisees were not mainly offended by Jesus’ theology. They were offended by His table.

This message explores why Christian hospitality is more than a clean house, a good meal, or a polished evening. It is intentionally creating safe space for friends, strangers, and enemies to experience the love and presence of Christ.

If you have ever felt lonely, overlooked, hesitant to invite people in, or unsure how to build deeper relationships, this sermon offers a simple but challenging invitation:

Open the door.
Make room.
Let people encounter Jesus at the table.

Scripture: Luke 5:27-32, Luke 19:1-10

Community Is Hard. So Why Do We Need It?

Most of us long for deep relationships, but the reality of community is often messier than the version we imagine. We want the friendship, belonging, and support. We just do not always want the inconvenience, vulnerability, and sacrifice that come with it.

In this opening message of our new Community series, Pastor Ben explores why Christian community is not merely a nice addition to the Christian life, but one of God's primary ways of forming His people. Beginning in Genesis, fulfilled at Pentecost, and embodied in the early church, Scripture tells the story of a God who rescues the world through a family.

Through Acts 2, we discover that healthy Christian community is:

• Gathered around the presence of God
• Formed in the way of Jesus
• Empowered by the Holy Spirit
• Committed to one another in love
• Sent outward on mission

If you have ever struggled to find your people, been disappointed by community, or wondered whether deep relationships are still possible in our modern world, this message offers a biblical vision worth pursuing.