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In this lesson, we talk about a somewhat taboo subject: suicide. One of the goals is to demystify suicide and we’re going to do that by seeking to understand what’s happening with suicide (root cause is normally prolonged hopelessness); How the Bible speaks about suicide (bluntly, people committed suicide in the Bible. We’ll be looking at 1 Kings 19 at someone who wanted to commit suicide but God intervened); And practically speaking, what’s our response to suicide (we “front love” by listening and not freaking out).

In this lesson, we are looking at Lamentations chapter 5. In this closing lament, the writer shows us how to handle our hardships, which is actually to lament. Lamenting is bringing our pain, suffering, anger over hardships, etc to God. In this lesson we’ll explore why we’d do this as well as how we can lament.

In this lesson, we are looking at Lamentations chapter 4 and examine how the survivors of the fall of Jerusalem processed their loss and what the reveals about our own processing.

In this lesson, we are looking at Lamentations chapter 3. This poem is all about God’s steadfast love or his Hesed (a word that combines love, loyalty and generosity into one word). We’ll look more in depth on what this word means, how God’s loyal love should impact the way we conduct ourselves in hardships and how it can impact us.

In this lesson, we are looking at Lamentations chapter 2. This poem is all about God’s nose (anger is literally translated as hot nose in Hebrew). We’re going to explore what at first seems like an unwelcome character trait, anger but actually serves as a testament to God’s nature. Specifically, we’ll see that God’s anger displays his patience, his justness and his compassion.

In this lesson, we are looking at Lamentations chapter 1. This poem grapples with the gracious presence of God in the midst of hardship. The writer personifies the city of Jerusalem as a grieving widow, desperate for someone to notice her suffering and comfort her. But whether she looks to allies or enemies, no one is available for her. And so she turns to God (v. 9,11,20) to hear her cries. But because of sin, God shouldn’t listen to our cries (Psalm 66:18). It’s only because Jesus was forsaken and his cries went unanswered that we can take comfort in God’s presence and attention in our hardships.

In this lesson, Senior Pastor Austin Shaw looks at Acts 17:16-34. We look at 4 big questions How do we satisfy our spiritual longings? What is our answer for life's origins? Why should we care about distant people? and Who is in a position to honestly judge? We want to show people that Christ offers not only “good answers” to life’s big questions, but He also leads to a more meaningful existence.

In this lesson, Aftershock leader Kyle Birch covers the question, what does it mean to fear the Lord? We expand on three ways we relate wrongfully relate to God when fear him and what it really means when we are commanded to fear God.

In this lesson, we look at what Galatians 5 tells us Christ died for: our freedom! However, the Bible’s understanding of freedom is different than ours. Freedom is normally taken to mean, “I can do whatever I want with no restrictions” but freedom in the Bible is finding the correct, liberating restrictions. Our text (Galatians 5:16-23) proposes that these liberating restrictions are found in submitting to the Spirit. The key to doing this is not trying harder but grasping God’s love and sacrifice in Jesus. Then and only then will we believe that his way is best and that in him we are truly free.