Jarrett Stephens begins the "Pray Like Jesus" series with a message titled "Before Anything Else." Using passages from Luke and Mark, he shows that Jesus prayed before starting his public ministry, before choosing the twelve apostles, and as a daily habit before the day began. Prayer was not an obligation for Jesus but the source from which everything else flowed.

Jarrett identifies three enemies that keep us from prayer: busyness, complacency, and self-sufficiency. He encourages believers to respond by getting a routine and getting alone with God, limiting distractions so we can hear from him. The goal is not to check a box but to share life with the Father, just as Jesus did.

Jarrett Stephens teaches from Psalm 62 in a message called "When the Ground Beneath You Shakes." Life brings moments that unsettle us: a difficult diagnosis, a broken relationship, a job loss, or prayers that seem to go unanswered. David wrote this Psalm out of his own experience with enemies, distress, and God's apparent silence.

Jarrett shows how the Psalms of Jeduthun reveal three common sources of shaky ground and how our typical escapes, numbing, busyness, entertainment, even wealth, cannot hold us steady. Instead, David gives three faithful responses: wait on God in silence, trust Him at all times, and pour out your heart in prayer. Through the moving story of a friend who loved his wife faithfully through dementia and death, we see what it looks like to stand on the Rock when everything else gives way.

Dr. Brent Taylor teaches from Exodus 20:7 in a message called "Don't Lose Weight." The third commandment warns against taking the Lord's name in vain, and Dr. Taylor explains that this means far more than avoiding certain words. God's name has weight and worth, and treating it lightly empties it of its meaning.

This message asks us to examine how we speak about God, pray in His name, and represent Him in daily life. Do our words and actions add to the weight of God's name, or do they treat it as something common? The call for God's people is reverence, care, and a life that honors the holiness of who God is.

Join Emory Cothen at Champion Forest as he continues the Life Lessons series with a powerful message from Romans 4:19-21. Drawing from Abraham's unwavering faith, the courage of early martyr Perpetua, and his own journey of a broken leg that redirected his calling, Cothen asks: Are you fully convinced that God is able to do what He has promised? This message challenges believers to move beyond circumstance-driven living and embrace a faith that is filled to the brim with confidence in God's character and promises.

Message from Emory Cothen on July 26, 2026

Kal Kilgo teaches from Psalm 90 in a message called "True Satisfaction." Moses wrote this psalm in a season of deep personal loss, yet he turned to the everlasting God in prayer. Kal walks through how Moses faced the reality of human frailty, our lives are like grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening, without losing hope.

The message exposes the enemies that steal our satisfaction: pride, greed, comfort, control, comparison, and bitterness. These temporary pursuits cannot carry the weight of our deepest longings. Only God's steadfast love can. Kal invites us to pause before we pray, to consider who we are speaking to, and to ask God to teach us to number our days so that we might live in His fullness. True satisfaction is not found in easier circumstances but in a love that remains steady through every trial.

Connor Bales teaches from Romans 8:16-18 in a message called "Suffering is not Singular." Every believer will face hardship in a world fractured by sin, but the Bible is not silent on how to navigate it well. Paul tells the church in Rome that the Holy Spirit helps believers in seasons of suffering and that present difficulties cannot compare with the glory to come.

Pastor Connor shares honestly from his own family's journey with two daughters who have a rare genetic diagnosis, explaining how God has used suffering to shape his faith and unlock purpose he could not have known otherwise. He encourages believers to stop comparing their pain, stop expecting a one-and-done resolution, and instead steward suffering with eyes fixed on God's promises and the hope of eternity.

Retired Major General Doug Carver teaches from Joshua 1 in a message called "Life Lessons." On this July 4th weekend, he brings firsthand experience from deploying to Iraq, surviving missile attacks in a bunker, and walking alongside wounded warriors like Greg Gadson and Travis Mills. Through these stories, he shows how God's promise to Joshua is for every believer facing an impossible task.

God sees us in our darkest moments and promises never to leave or forsake us. Doug reminds us that courage is not the absence of fear but confidence that God is at work. Whether our challenge is visible like combat wounds or hidden like strained relationships or health struggles, we can trust that God who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. Jesus endured the cross so we would never be ultimately abandoned, and He intercedes for us still.

Jarrett Stephens teaches from 2 Timothy 4:6-8 in a message called "Fight to the Finish." Paul's final inspired words were written from a Roman prison as he faced imminent death, yet they overflow with confidence and hope. He had fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith, and he wanted Timothy to do the same.

Jarrett explores what motivated Paul to persevere through suffering and what enables believers to finish strong today. He warns against six common barriers that derail Christians and offers three practical commitments: live with the end in mind, expect life's challenges rather than being surprised by them, and remember the people watching your life. The message points us to Jesus as both the reason and the reward for finishing faithful.

Daniel Ritchie teaches from Romans 15:1-7 in a message called "Believers are Builders." Daniel shares his own story of being born without arms, the father who fought for his life in the delivery room, and the student pastor who shared the gospel with him as a broken teenager. He reminds us that Jesus is the hero of our stories, not ourselves.

From Romans 15, Daniel unpacks three truths: believers are builders who step into others' weakness, believers are built up by the Word of God for daily endurance, and believers live with Jesus as the hero of their lives. He challenges us to move beyond a once-a-week spiritual meal and to let Scripture shape how we respond to a discouraging world. When we are built up by God's Word, we have something to give to others.