Pastor Connor encourages our students by preaching intentionally through his life verse: 2 Corinthians 5:21. This Gospel-centered message emphasizes that God is for you, God trades with you: your sin for his righteousness, and that God creates a new you. Through the Gospel, God saw Jesus as a sinner, accepted him as a sacrifice, and now sees us as sinless. Our lives will never be the same because of the goodness, kindness, amazing grace, and mercy of our God. He loves you with the greatest sacrificial love so that you can have a relationship with him. Go therefore and tell others of the Good News that has transformed your life!

Jesus is the only way to salvation! He is the truth, the way, and the light. Dylan preaches that salvation is found is personally responding to Jesus as Savior and Lord. The Gospel is exclusive and inclusive because it is only through Jesus and for all people who repent and believe. You may have grown up in the church with Jesus-loving parents or are a really good and kind person, but this does not transfer for our salvation. It is a response that you personally must make to turn away from your sin and turn toward Jesus! Praise the Lord that salvation is a gift for us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross because of His great love for us.

Our Next Gen Pastor, Nate Crawford, teaches us that Jesus is not distant in your pain and suffering, rather he is a God that is near, close, and at work. Walking through the passage of Mary and Martha with the death of Lazarus, Nate teaches us three key truths of the person of Jesus amidst suffering and hurt: when life gets hard, Jesus gets close; when your heart is heavy, take it to Jesus; and when your problem is big, Jesus is bigger. Praise God for Jesus who gets up and comes near to us in our brokenness!

Continuing on with our "Not my Jesus" sermon series, Dylan emphasizes that the Biblical Jesus is not the accepting and agreeable Jesus some may want him to be. Rather, Jesus is the perfect judge. Throughout these passages, Dylan teaches that Jesus is a judge that rules with compassion, standards, and authority. Jesus does not affirm our sin, but he holds us to a standard and calls us up and out of our sin, which is truly loving. He is a holy God that will judge righteously according to our sin, and yet, he steps into our brokenness to take the punishment for our sin so that we can experience his great mercy and grace.

Our student mission trips have returned back from serving in Denver Colorado, Santa Cruz California, and Northallerton England and on this episode, leaders and students shared about how they saw God move in each of those places while they served. The students shared testimonies of encouraging gospel conversations, growth, evangelism, and their own boldness in sharing the good news with those that need to hear it. We are so thankful for our church partnerships, the faithfulness and service of these students, and the sovereign and gracious work of God. Please continue praying for the Living Stone Church, Santa Cruz Baptist Church, and New Life Baptist Church!

Kicking off our new series, "Not My Jesus," Dylan preaches on how Jesus' authority is our biggest blessing. Jesus is not a God that we can mold into whoever we want and need him to be; rather, Jesus is the authoritative God who molds and transforms us into looking more like Him for His glory and goodness. Jesus has authority as Creator, Savior, and Lord following the passages of Colossians 1:15-20, Ephesians 2:1-10, and Matthew 28:18-20, respectfully. We have to understand and know who the true Jesus is, not who we want him to be!

Our final Q&A with Dylan and Brittany over dating relationships brought some really good discussion! Some of the questions and topics addressed included why should we date if dating isn't originally in the Bible, does reading your Bible with your significant other cross spiritual boundaries, and how should you respectfully break up with someone. Other great questions asked included how to keep Christ at the center of your relationship, can you have a best friend of the opposite sex and not date them, and how to discern whether your relationship is leading you toward Christ or away. We are all so thankful for Dylan and Brittany's wisdom!

In the final week through our Boundaries and Blessings series, Dylan emphasizes how waiting is the path to flourishing. We specifically see how waiting honors God's Design for marriage, waiting protects you spiritually, emotionally, and physically, as well as how waiting respects one another! Therefore, that begs the question, how do we wait well? Dylan emphasizes that we run hard after Jesus, individually! Our relationships are ultimately about Jesus, so are you honoring Jesus in your relationship? The blessing is found in the boundary of waiting!

In this weeks Gravity Recap and Celebration, Dylan leads us through more application tools when it comes to following Jesus. We must Behold Jesus by beholding his Word, his availability, and his people. Followers of Jesus must also die to themselves and their daily desires and schedules. Lastly, we must go tell people because we are the church now! How are you growing as a follower of Jesus?

On this week's Q&A episode, Brittany and Dylan jump into some deeper and more honest conversations around dating. They discuss dating with the purpose of marriage, not just for fun, as well as how to be faithful in singleness when there is so much social pressure to date. Brittany and Dylan share wisdom on the topics of helping a friend in a toxic relationship, moving on from an ex in a God-honoring way, and ways to be respectful and consider to the significant other in a relationship. Lastly, they also touch on the hot-button question of physical boundaries and how far is too far or where the line starts and is crossed. It's a great conversation, come listen!