According to a recent study, more than half of Americans can be classified as “lonely.” The church should be a place for God’s people to experience authentic community, and Acts 2 shows us a glimpse of this in action. The “one another” passages of the New Testament help calibrate our behaviors to experience that kind of community.

In the beginning, God created and it was good. It was so good that everything was in harmony and perfect. Then man did what God told him not to, and everything fell apart. God had no need to shift, but He did. We benefit from his sacrifice to restore us.

Jesus has risen!!

Reflections on Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem the week before he was crucified.

Phil Beavers, from GLCC, is with us today to share out of Ephesians.

When you’re in a pit, it can seem like nothing good will ever come of it. When you’re enslaved or when you’re wrongly accused, the idea that something good will come of your struggles can seem impossible. If you’ve wondered why you’ve experienced loss, injustice and betrayal, know this: God wins. Evil loses.

Reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers was a process. Joseph had changed. No longer the prideful father-favorite, Joseph needed to know if his brothers had changed, too. Were they the same jealous, uncivil siblings who cruelly and callously sold their brother into slavery? Or had life humbled them to a point of usefulness, too?

Four times in Genesis 39 we’re told “The Lord was with Joseph.” When you are in the midst of some injustice or betrayal being perpetrated upon you it can be difficult to believe that God is with you. Each time Joseph experienced a glimmer of hope his optimism was snuffed out by some further wrongful act. Was God at work?

The dream came from God. The dream turned out to be accurate. Joseph’s humiliation at the hands of his brothers was a direct result of the dream God gave him. God humbled Joseph. Why? When God wants to empower someone he first humbles him. In the Kingdom of God, humility always precedes empowerment.

A follower of Jesus thinks like Jesus and loves like Jesus. She also serves like Jesus. Service and selfishness are linked. They’re exclusive to each other, so much so that service is the antidote to selfishness. While our world accepts a certain level of selfishness, and even celebrates it in some instances, among Christians it ought to be different. Like Jesus, we do not exist to be served, but to serve.