The way the Christmas story unfolded isn't how we would have planned it out. The family situation would have been better, the timing would have been 'perfect', the accommodations would have been immaculate and the visitors would have been the world's leaders coming to worship Jesus. We see that God's plan was a little different - He invited the lowest of the low to be some of the first to celebrate His Son. He continues to choose us to this day!

Joseph was put in a position where he had to trust in the face of a scandal. He had to trust what the angel told and what God was promising him with regards to Mary and the birth of Jesus. Socially, he had every right to terminate their marriage but he held fast to the promises of God in the midst of such a turbulent time - we can learn so much from the obedient of Joseph!

The Christmas story is a scandalous one as we will see throughout the month. This morning we look at the scandalous pregnancy of Mary's and the implications it had.

Forgiveness is an often overlooked portion of our prayer life - it's not fun or easy to look at our shortcomings. That being said, we need to work through our own areas of sin and to walk through forgiveness with our Heavenly Father if we ever hope to walk through the same situation with our relationships here on earth. This morning we are challenged in the area of forgiveness!

As we continue our way through the Lord's Prayer, we start with looking at the daily bread we see in Matthew. While our minds go to an element of physical nourishment, it's so much more than that. We will be challenged through Scripture to look at what our Heavenly Father sees as our needs and how He feels on our behalf as we ask for Him to meet those very needs.

Sometimes prayer can feel a little overwhelming to develop in our lives. The beauty of prayer is that it's simply a conversation with God. Throughout the month of October we will be looking at the The Lord's Prayer as blueprint for our prayer lives!

Love is the greatest because through love we experience victory! The nature of love is victorious at all times and the example of Jesus' love for us is the perfect picture of that victory!

Forgiveness is perhaps one of the most difficult actions of love that we can walk through as Christ followers. It can be painful, unfair and challenging but when we follow in the footsteps of forgiveness that Christ modeled for us we will experience an incredible freedom from situations that once held us hostage.

Humility is one of the greatest attributes of love. When put into practice, humility allows us to love others all while taking our pride out of the picture. Throughout His life, Jesus modeled loving everyone through humility, even as the Son of God!

Love can often be thought of as a sensitive or weak feeling and emotion, but really love is the greatest motivator, most fought for thing ever and something we all crave as people! Throughout the month we will look at why the commandment we have to love is the greatest!