In this first message of our new series, Pastor Danny helps us understand why Jesus is qualified to be our best friend. Listen in and discover why he is called Immanuel, "God with us."

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (MSSG) - 1 You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. 2 I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified.

Matthew 1:21 (NLT) - “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:23 (NLT) - “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

John 1:14 (ESV) - And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Hebrews 2:17-18 (MSSG) - 17 That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, 18 he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed.

Mark 6:3a (NLT) - “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.”

Mark 3:21 (NLT) - When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

Hebrews 4:15 (NLT) - This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

Isaiah 53:5 (NLT) - But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

John 15:15 (NLT) - I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV) - For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 4:15-16 (MSSG) - 15 We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. 16 So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

We have been designed for relationships. In this message, Pastor Danny casts vision for why we need to make room for relationships and the importance they play in our lives.

Ecclesiastes 4:8 (NLT) - This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, “Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?” It is all so meaningless and depressing.

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” - CS Lewis

1 Peter 4:7-8 (NLT) - 7 The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Colossians 2:19b (NLT) - For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

Romans 12:17-18 (NLT) - 17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Proverbs 13:20 (NLT) - Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.

Hebrews 10:25 (NLT) - And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Jesus always seemed to make time for people. This week, Pastor Jamie talks about what it looks like to follow in His footsteps and make room for people in our lives.

Luke 9:51-56 (ESV) - 51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.

Matthew 14:15-16 (ESV) - 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

John 4:39-42 (ESV) - 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

John 4:31-38 (ESV) - 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

2 Peter 1:16 (ESV) - For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 (ESV) - We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

God wants something FOR us, not something FROM us. That's the premise of this message by Pastor Danny on why we should make room for serving in our lives. Have a listen and be inspired!

1 Cor 12:27 (NLT) - All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

Matthew 16:18 (ESV) - And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Hebrews 12:2 (NLT) - We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Philippians 3:10-11 (NLT) - 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

Listen in as Pastor Danny talks about making room in our finances. Learn how to leave the crowded life behind and make room for significance.

Acts 20:35b (NLT) - “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Psalm 24:1a (NLT) - The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.

Deuteronomy 8:18 (NKJV) - And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

Matthew 6:19-21 (NLT) - 19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

Make Room in your financial life and pray about investing in Sun City Church.  Ask what God would have you give.

• Pray - God, what do you want me to do?  And do whatever he says.

• If you haven’t began the journey of being a giver - don’t let this be a day where you feel guilty.  Just start!  It’s not about how wealthy you are or how much you can give.  It’s about relationship with God and doing whatever He says.

• Maybe you need to make this the month where you begin to take God up on His promises and begin to tithe 10% of your income.  He owns it all!

• But I’m asking all of us to prepare something to give this week.  It’s a special offering to make room for the people that God wants to reach in the fall.

The danger of living a "crowded life" is that the urgent often robs us from the important. Listen in as Pastor Danny talks about making room for what matter most in life.

Psalm 18:19 (NIV) - He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Psalm 31:8 (ESV) - and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.

Job 36:16 (NIV) - He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

Matthew 18:19-20 (MSG) - 19 “When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. 20 And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

“Praying saints are God’s agents for carrying on His saving and providential work on earth. If His agents fail Him, neglecting to pray, then His work fails. Praying agents of the Most High are always forerunners of spiritual prosperity.” - EM Bounds

Acts 1:14a (NLT) - They all met together and were constantly united in prayer…

Acts 3:1 (NLT) - Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.

Acts 6:4 (NLT) - Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.

Acts 10:9 (ESV) - The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.

Acts 10:31 (NLT) - He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God!

Acts 12:5 (NKJV) - Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

“Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God.” - Mark Batterson

Have you ever done something that you didn't realize was dangerous until afterward? That is exactly what we are talking about in this final message of the Soul Detox series. Listen in as Pastor Jamie talks about the Seduced Soul.

Exodus 20:3-4 (NLT) - 3 “You must not have any other god but me. 4 You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.”

Deuteronomy 4:16-19 (NLT) - 16 So do not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any form—whether of a man or a woman, 17 an animal on the ground, a bird in the sky, 18 a small animal that scurries along the ground, or a fish in the deepest sea. 19 And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don’t be seduced into worshiping them. The Lord your God gave them to all the peoples of the earth.

Mark 8:36 (NLT) - And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Psalm 24:3-4a (NLT) - 3 Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols…

Judges 6:25 (NLT) - That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it.

Mark 10:21 (NLT) - Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Psalm 84:2 (NLT) - I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.

Psalm 107:9 (NLT) - For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Psalm 42:1-2 (NLT) - 1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?

In this message, Pastor Danny invites us to unburden our souls of sin. Instead of letting it fester and torture your soul, learn how to bring your sin into the light and move past shame and guilt into freedom.

Romans 7:15 (NLT) - I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

1 Peter 2:11 (NIV) - Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

Psalm 38:3-4 (NLT) - 3 Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins. 4 My guilt overwhelms me - it is a burden too heavy to bear.

John 8:44b (NLT) - He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Proverbs 28:13 (NLT) - People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

1 John 1:9 (ESV) - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:16a (ESV) - Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) - No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

1 Peter 2:24-25 (ESV) - 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Life can be heavy. Listen in this week as Pastor Danny talks about how we can detox our souls from the heaviness that drags us down.

Psalm 42:5 (ESV) - Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?

Lamentations 3:19-20 (NIV) - 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Job 4:5 (NIV) - But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

Mark 14:33-34a (NLT) - 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 34 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death”…

Psalm 42:5-6a (ESV) - 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God…

Lamentations 3:19-23 - (NIV) 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Psalm 142:2-3a (NLT) - 2 I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles. 3 When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.

1 Peter 5:7 (NLT) - Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

2 Chronicles 32:7-8a (ESV) - 7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.”

Romans 8:28 (NLT) - And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Have you ever felt like something is getting in the way of becoming the person God intended you to be?  In Soul Detox, we'll be exploring how we can neutralize these damaging influences and embrace clean living.  Join us this Sunday for this impacting series.

Genesis 2:7 (KJV) - And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 4:11-12 (NIV) - 11 “Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 (NIV) - 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

Psalm 62:1 (NIV) - Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.

Matthew 11:28-29 (NIV) - 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Psalm 46:10a (ESV) - “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalm 131:2 (ESV) - But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Psalm 37:7a (NIV) - Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

Psalm 130:5-6 (ESV) - 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

Psalm 116:7-8 (ESV) - 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;