This message is given by Rev. Dr. Paul Patton. For those of you who missed his last visit, he is a minister who has also passionately taught theatre and communications at Hampton University and Spring Arbor University for over 20 years, and he is the proud father of our own Grace Lammers. Listen as he shares from 2 Peter 3 and explores the ways in which God is making the very substance of reality new in Christ Jesus!

Life is all around us - from the smallest bacteria to the mighty elephant, God's world is pulsing with rhythm and music of living things. Life is not just about a fixed amount of animation, reproduction, and energy spread over a certain number of years, though; it is also about the quality of one's existence and its meaning and impact. Vibrancy of life can disappear long before a heart starts beating, or last long after it stops - the difference is Jesus. In him, God has made newness of life possible by the cross; all who follow him die to sin and walk in newness of life!

We long for inclusion and comfort. But what if we’re on the outside? What if family or community leaves us alone and without God? Is there any hope for those who come from broken families and broken communities. There is! It is found in Jesus’ reconciling work. Paul points us to the reconciliation that happens between us and God and us and each other.

Our hearts are a mystery. They can't be seen or measured, and they can't be easily changed by any outside will or force. The heart is also the seat of our spiritual health and motivation; when it is infected or harmed, our whole lives can spin out of balance and our behavior can become erratic. We desperately need healthy hearts in order to live before the Lord in authentic fellowship, but only the Lord can do surgery on our divided, rebellious, and inconsistent hearts; when he does, he makes them entirely new. We need him so much! 

Pastor Ben Gandy, Pastor of Worship and Youth, answers some difficult and fun questions about Christianity, asked by our youth group.

Many people claim to be fine when it comes to spending time with Jesus, but indifferent or even frustrated when it comes to being around other Christians. This may be understandable - the church IS made up of sinners and weirdos like you and me - but it isn't a godly or sustainable attitude. We NEED one another, and are instructed to LOVE one another as part of our worship. In order to protect the sanctity of community, we must learn to put others before ourselves and show up for each other.

God has mad his Word holy for a reason. God's word has power... power to transform... power to change... power to heal. Sadly we often fear God's Word and seek to find ways to contain it, explain it away, or flat out disregard it altogether. When we do so, we are saying God's Word is not really that special or unique. In the end we need to decide if we can afford to ignore the power of God's holy Word or surrender wholehearted to it.

Our words matter - even our culture understands this, and in many cases is actually overly sensitized to any form of strong speech. Few discuss, however, just where this power comes from and why speech matters so much. As believers, we know that it is due to the image of God in each person and the spiritual authority and power he has given us in the order of creation. Most people have forgotten these truths, and are very careless in their talk. Believers must learn to restrain their tongues into strategic silences and moments of Spirit-led edification, in order to offer better example!

People don't like to hear about money in church; but did you know that Jesus actually talks about money a lot? In the Gospels, 1 out of 10 verses (10%) are devoted to the topic of money and how to handle it in a godly way! So we definitely need to talk about it in church, as well. The trouble is that we often talk about money in way that falls short of the sanctity God assigns to portions of it for example, he says the tithe is sacred and belongs to him! In order to protect the sanctity of God's Tithe, we must learn to steward our resources wisely and cheerfully.

In order to protect the sanctity of God's good gift of marriage, we must, as married couples and singles, define marriage Biblically and honor marriage as it points to Christ and his Church.

This means that it won't be popular with how our culture defines marriage and sexuality. But since culture is constantly sending messages about these topics, we should be ready to engage them as a Church.