In this week's sermon, we look at the curse of the law. Paul tells us here in Galatians that obeying the law is not what will make us find God's favor, because we can never obey the law completely. Christ, however, has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse himself, and those who accept his sacrifice through faith will be freed from the law and the condemnation it brings. 

Very few stories in the Bible encapsulate what true Christian friendship looks like as well as the example given to us in David and Jonathan. In these chapters of 1 Samuel we see the devoted friendship they have for one another, and in this sermon, Pastor Jeremy illustrates how this kind of deep, covenantal devotion is not only something we should seek from our close Christian friends, but also is what Jesus offers to each one of us. 

In Psalm 18, David teaches us that we can trust the Lord in the midst of the battle and in 1 Samuel 17, David shows us what it looks like to trust the Lord in the midst of the battle. In this week's message, Pastor Jeremy shows us how this famous story of David and Goliath reveals our tendency to fight our battles on our own, or run away from the battles in fear. Instead, we should see David as an example of standing firm with faith in the Lord and in his deliverance through the battle. But lest we think the point of the story is to be more like David, we see how David points us to a champion of our own, Jesus, who has conquered our greatest enemies (sin, the law, and death), and therefore we can face any battle today. 1 Samuel 17

We begin our study in the life of David by following Samuel in search of a new King for Israel, but soon learn that what God sees in a King is not what man sees. Whereas man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. Although we can't look upon the heart, we do see in David a man after God's own heart, and can learn from him as a model Israelite what it means to be faithful to the Lord. But at the end of the day, what made David so great was that he understood that he was not the hero of the story, but God was - and so, we see in David a portrait of our greater King Jesus. The closer we look at the life of David, the deeper we see the heart of Jesus. 1 Samuel 16:1-13

We finish this series with our Glorification, where we will be raised to a new life like Christ and sin will be defeated in us. We have hope that God's work in our lives will remove our sins and give us freedom. We also have hope that even as we seek to help those in need here on Earth that ultimately God will bring justice in the world. Lastly, we have hope for those that we love, that they might come to know Christ and be glorified with Him also. 

This week we continue in our series "From Death to Life" by looking at Romans 5. Here we see three reasons why as Christians we can rejoice in our suffering: we have peace with God, it helps us grow in maturity, and it produces a hope that does not put us to shame. Paul reassures us that even as we encounter suffering in our lives, we can approach it with joy, knowing that it is part of God's process of preserving us for His purposes. 

In this week's message, we learn about the doctrine of sanctification. After we are adopted into God's family, He begins the process of making us more like His Son, Jesus Christ. This process of sanctification, however, does not happen overnight, but rather is a lifelong journey that God guides us through. 

Pastor Jeremy continues our sermon series looking at God's grace in our redemption by showing us what we receive upon being adopted as children of God. First, we experience a new family, belonging to one another as brothers and sisters. Second, we have access to the Father as one of His sons. And finally, we are given freedom from our captivity to the law through our brother Jesus who fulfilled the law on our behalf, so that through him, the Father looks at us and says - you are my beloved child, with you I am well pleased. (Galatians 3:23-4:7)

This week, we look at justification, which Paul tells us is the gift that God gives as a result of our faith. When God looks at us, He no longer sees all of our sin, and He doesn't give us the judgment we deserve, but instead He sees Christ in our place. We are not justified in God's sight because of the good that we have done, but rather we are justified because Jesus, knowing that we could never earn God's favor on our own, shed His own blood to pay for the penalty and make us justified in God's sight.

So far in this series, we have learned about God's calling, election, and regeneration - and this week we learn about saving faith, which is the result of those three key aspects and the beginning of God's justification, adoption, sanctification, preservation, and glorification of His people. In order to better understand this important aspect of redemption, we turn Hebrews 11 and see that saving faith is substantial, rational, and personal.