- In this message, Pastor Doug continues with The Anatomy of a Temptation, examining more closely how Christ’s temptation - and his victory over it - broke the power of temptation for all of us. Instead of falling prey to temptation, we can actually benefit spiritually from it. God allows us to be tempted to help us see the areas of trouble and make the necessary adjustments. Temptation: helps us see what’s wrong and where; forces us to choose one way or the other; and temptation forces us to fight to be free.

This week's memory verse:

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

Psalms 37:5 (NKJV)

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- In Part 5, Pastor Doug continues with his message regarding the importance of breaking the power of sin in our lives and getting past the daily struggle to change. Satan’s pattern is to try to get us to doubt our new nature through Christ, distrust God’s promises, and see ourselves as the means for getting what we want, when we want it. The original temptation of Eve and the temptation of Christ both followed this same pattern. In order to live in freedom, we need to follow Christ’s example and deal with temptation as He did, using the Word of God as our defense.

This week's memory verse:

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)

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- When we are saved, we are set free from the penalty of sin; however, we continue to struggle against the power of sin in our lives. While the natural tendency might be to try to use our own resolve to overcome sin’s power and to break patterns of sinful behavior, the only real solution is to once again rely on God to help us walk in freedom. Pastor Doug encourages us in this message to not only starve the old man (our old, sinful nature), but also actively feed our new nature with the Word of God. We need to guard against rogue thoughts - Satan’s lies - and renew our minds with what God says about who we are in Him.

This week's memory verse:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 (KJV)

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- What do you say about yourself? When John the Baptist was asked this question, instead of giving some personal facts or anecdotes, he chose to use scripture to describe who he was: the most meaningful aspects being his relationship and standing with God. Often, when we think or talk about ourselves, we get caught up in negativity and reflecting what others think or say, rather than the real truth about our value and our importance in God’s eyes. In this message, Pastor Duane Klas encourages us to consider all of the blessings we have in Christ (see Ephesians 1:3-8; 11-14) and live free from self-doubt and fears. This is the key that enables us to live a life of service.

This week's memory verse:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

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In the 2nd installment of the series, Pastor Doug points out that there are two different natures warring within us as believers: our old sinful nature, and the new nature that we have been given through Christ. Often, we battle too long and too hard with our old nature, because we fail to feed our new nature and starve the old one. We can win this battle and gain spiritual freedom if we feed our new nature with The Word of God and the food of doing God’s work.

This week's memory verse:

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:4 (KJV)

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In the opening message of the series, Pastor Doug challenges us with the idea that the end of this age is drawing very near. With time running short, it is imperative that we get intentional about godly living and working hard for the Kingdom. If we can set aside all of the things that distract us, our relationship with God can go to a whole new level, and we can indeed find and travel the road to freedom.

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In the conclusion of the series, Pastor Doug encourages us to live with a constant expectation of Christ’s return. While no one knows the exact day or time of Christ’s return, Bible prophecy regarding the restoration of the nation of Israel indicates that we are approaching the last days of human history. We need to develop the fruits of the spirit and be rich in good works so that we’re not ashamed at His coming, and He will know us, because we have had an active relationship with Him.

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Pastor Doug continues his series on Dealing With Deception with the explanation of eternal judgement. There are actually two judgements: a judgement for believers and nonbelievers. We learned that through faith we have eternal salvation but not all of our rewards will be the same. Standing before the Bema seat, God will want to know what did we do with what we’ve been given? There are three criteria our reward will be based on- What did we do? What were our motives? What did we do with the light we received?

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In Part 6, Pastor Doug continues with his explication of the six foundational principles of the Christian faith, focusing on what the Bible says about death and resurrection. Just as with many other aspects of our faith, there are many myths about death and resurrection from popular culture, but the Bible is very clear about what we can expect regarding this most important aspect of our faith in God.

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In each of our lives, there is temptation to worship - or give our time and attention to - something besides God. Guest Pastor Randy DonGiovanni shares the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were actually commanded to bow down to a golden image that represented an earthly king, but they refused to worship anyone other than the true God. God rewarded their faithfulness by sparing their lives when they were cast into a furnace as punishment for failing to bow down. While we may not be commanded to worship other things, we allow all sorts of idols into our lives, often failing to give God his rightful place at the center. Pastor Randy encourages us to focus on God - in prayer, worship, and obedience - and set earthly distractions aside.