One of the keys to having extravagant joy is maintaining a proper perspective on life and our circumstances. When persecution or hardship comes, we can easily be discouraged, but this message reminds us that God can use persecution and hardship to further the gospel, help us grow stronger, and challenge us to live a life worthy of the gospel for Christ’s sake.

We all have a physical address but we may not be aware we also have a spiritual address: we are citizens of heaven. This means that we are found “in Christ” and bound in love with those around us in the church. This also means that we can have extravagant joy that is found in Christ rather than in our circumstances and we can partner in gospel ministry with our church community.

We are all a witness to something or someone. John the baptist shows us that being a witness to Jesus means understanding who we are not (we are not God or the messiah), who we really are (we are witnesses and have a testimony), and who Jesus is (“the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’). Understanding who we are in relation to Jesus helps us have a proper witness.

What are the most meaningful celebrations you have been a part of? Jesus commanded us to observe two celebrations that we call ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both look back to events in biblical history and specifically to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and both look forward to the new life found in Christ.

God has given authority to leaders in the church so that they can shepherd the body well. Our faith statement says the church is “ruled by its’ head, Jesus Christ, through a plurality of elders who are devoted to serving the congregation.” In this message we see what the Bible has to say about the structure, roles, qualifications, and responsibilities of leadership in the local church.

How do we know what God is really like? In this message, we see how the incarnation (“the Word made flesh”) is the clearest communication of who God is. If we want to know God, we must look to Jesus - He is the one who makes God known. Jesus coming close shows us how far God will go so that we might know Him deeply, because trusting and knowing Him is life.

While our society is becoming more and more individualistic, the church reminds us that we cannot live the Christian life alone - we were made to live in community. The local church is designed to encourage and spur on believers to up-reach (worshipping God), in-reach (building each other up) and out-reach (sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others).

Few issues strike more controversy in Christianity than salvation and exactly how it is accomplished. In this message, we see how to humbly approach our understanding of salvation and focus on what is essential. Our statement of faith says, “We believe that salvation is the gift of God offered to man by His grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ…”

People often view the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force or mystical source of power - but the Bible speaks about the Holy Spirit as a person. Our statement of faith says, “We believe… that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer to enlighten, enable, guide and control him in life and service.” Jesus said that it was better for Him to leave so that He could send the Holy Spirit.