After Jesus was raised He had an encounter with a man who had failed Him, Simon Peter. But instead of berating him, Jesus restored Peter, provoking in him the love of God and reminding him he had a mission to fulfill. As we come into a new year, may this message provoke in us a desire to follow Christ more closely in 2017.

God made known the people from whom Messiah would come, the place from which Messiah would come, and the general time when Messiah would come. On this Sunday morning Pastor Matt starts in an unlikely Christmas text and ends with the glorious truth that sinners can be made sons of God.

There are only three verses in all of Scripture devoted to an obscure woman named Anna. She isn't mentioned before, she isn't mentioned after. But what we see of her shows a woman looking for the Messiah, zealous for the Messiah, and telling others of the Messiah. There is a boat-load of glorious truth and application in what the Spirit tells us about a woman named Anna.

Who wouldn't like to know when the kingdom of God is coming-- The problem for the Pharisees is that they were seeing it before their eyes and missing it. The disciples, meanwhile, would need to know more about it. So here Jesus unravels a little bit of the future for them. Listen as Pastor Matt explains how those in Christ should long for His return, and live confidently in obedient faith in light of God's promises.

There was little earthly reason to expect an Amorite harlot would help the people of God overthrow her own city, and yet Rahab the harlot placed her faith in YHWH, the one true God, the God of heaven and earth. Listen to this snapshot of what the Bible says about this unlikely woman of faith, and she is an example to all who are in Christ.

In this account unique to Luke, Jesus encountered ten leprous men as He came to a village. They cried out for mercy and He delivered. Listen as Pastor Matt explains the need we all have to be cleansed, and how we can only be made well -i.e., saved- through the God-man, Jesus Christ.

As the book of Genesis shifts focus from Jacob to his sons, this section of the text is often overlooked, or at the very least read in -fast-forward.- However, all Scripture is inspired and there are valuable lessons to learn about God, His word, and His plan from this passage.

Understanding who Jesus is, why He came, and how we should respond to Him are essential to the faith, and if we don't bring these things to bear on Christmas, then we lose what Christmas is all about.

Following traumatic events in Shechem, Genesis 35 captures Jacob making some important decisions about the direction of his life and that of his family. In the midst of a newfound resolve to follow YHWH as God, Jacob also experiences loss. Out of death comes life, though, and in the birth and naming of Benjamin we see a picture of how God saves sinners.

In verses 1-4 Jesus gave His disciples an explicit command to forgive. As the reality and gravity of Jesus' intention for them began to sink in, the apostles realized they weren't up to it so they asked Jesus, -Increase our faith-- Listen as Pastor Matt explains the implications of the life-altering command to forgive, and how it's the most God-like thing we can do.