John the Baptist had a unique calling. He came not to give people what they’d always wanted—the good news of Jesus—but to help people wait well for it. Which, if we’re honest, is kind of weird. Why wait? What good would that be? That’s probably what we think when we hear that. But if we can understand God’s intention, we can begin to understand how necessary waiting actually is. John’s ministry shows us two values in waiting: In waiting we hear God’s voice, and in waiting God prepares us for what we’re waiting for. In this message, Pastor Joel explains how we can learn from John how to celebrate advent this Christmas season, and how we can learn to wait well for Jesus to return one day, too.

Waiting is something nobody enjoys, but it’s the essence of advent, and God works through it when we’re intentional. In this message, Pastor Julie shares from the story of Abraham and Sarah. She talks about their long wait for a child and presents some takeaways for us to consider in our own seasons of waitings, both in this advent, and in any other time of waiting we might encounter.

When we go through trials and uncertainty, it can be easy to just focus on ourselves and the problems we face. But there can be and is more going on in these situations than we realize, and in 1 Peter 5, Peter, the apostle and friend of Jesus, wants to help us understand the bigger picture.

The reality is, in the middle of our uncertainty and troubles there are two other important factors to consider. One of them is a hindrance and one of them is from God as a help. First, Peter talks about the hindrance, which is the devil himself, prowling around like a predator in search of a lunch to snap up, trying to capitalize on our uncertainties and trials by leading us into sin. Second he shares about the shepherd-leaders Jesus has called to care for and protect his people, humbly loving us to help us become more like Jesus. Both are important to understand in our uncertainty and troubles. In this message, Pastor Joel breaks both of them down.

Throughout this series we’ve been discussing what is reliable and can give us hope in an uncertain world. When we dig into the reasons Peter wrote this beautiful letter to the different churches who initially received it, what’s clear is that pressure and persecution were the main source of the uncertainty they faced and why Peter wrote them. We may or may not experience pressure such as they did, but at some point all Christians are going to feel like a stranger in the world we live in.

So what do we do when we experience this tension? How do we live in peace with our stranger identity? In this message, Pastor Joel walks through Peter’s teaching.

We all are seeking “the good life,” whatever we mean by it. It might come as a surprise to us, but the Bible actually has quite a bit to say about the good life, and in this message we’ll explore how Jesus defines “the good life” and how Peter expands on it in this passage.

In this message, Res City Leadership team member Krista Schroeder shares what God has been teaching her about how we can live as disciples in an uncertain world, especially in the middle of tragedy.

In this message from guest preacher Pastor Adaobi Nduka, we consider how God partners with or “uses” us, and asks us if God might want to do so right now in ways we might not expect!

In this message from guest preacher Pastor Adaobi Nduka, we discuss the importance of the names of God given in Scripture. Pastor Adaobi walks through the name El Roi, “the God who sees” and explains how this name gives us comfort when we need know God sees us.

In this message from guest preacher Joel Nelson, we study the little known but timeless story of Leah, someone who was not thought of very highly by the people around her—including her husband—for reasons that are all too common today, but who God saw and who was important to him. Joel explains how this passage comforts us by letting us know what God values even if we feel unimportant and unseen to the world around us.

In this message, Res City Leadership Team member Miles Trump talks about how, surprisingly, in uncertain times obedience can actually lead to us to find hope.