Jesus ends the Lord’s Prayer where some of us forget to begin: with the reality of evil and our need for rescue. From “Our Father” to “the evil one,” the prayer acknowledges a world shaped by tension. One that sits between provision and scarcity, forgiveness and resentment, temptation and deliverance. Jesus teaches us to pray as he does, not because God would tempt us, but so that He would lead us wisely through a landscape filled with alluring sin. We choose proximity to our Shepherd, as we delight in him. And because we cannot save ourselves, we cry out for deliverance, trusting the God who rescues us from evil and, together, draws us back into His kingdom.

Jesus’ prayer, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” indicates a daily rhythm at the heart of the kingdom: receiving forgiveness and extending it. Forgiveness is not a feeling but a loving readiness. God will meet us with the merciful forgiveness we need every time we fail. And He asks us to extend it to others every time they fail us. Through Jesus’ teaching, stories, and actions, even as He hung on the Cross. Forgiveness is a defining mark of the cruciform life, a life deeply shaped by the love of Christ.

These rhythmic exchanges shape not only personal relationships but our response to suffering, injustice, and indifference in the world, calling us to a costly mercy that is interruptable and sets us free.

In this message, Pastor Steve explores Jesus’ prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” as a formative invitation into trust, not control. Rooted in Israel’s wilderness story (Exodus 16) and echoed in Paul’s teaching on contentment (Philippians 4), daily bread reminds us that God is the provider, not merely one option among many. Prayer is less about persuading God and more about reshaping us. It forms humility, dependence, and rest. God invites us to trust Him for today, resist self-sufficiency, and allow His provision to reveal His loving goodness in our lives.

Jesus begins the Lord’s Prayer by inviting us into a profound relationship with God as “Our Father in heaven.” These opening words reveal both intimacy and awe: God is our loving, accessible Father, yet also the holy, sovereign Creator whose reign defines heaven. Jesus teaches us not only to recite this prayer, but to let it shape our hearts, especially in moments of deep need. As we pray, we are drawn into Christ’s own relationship with the Father, healed from distorted images of God, and invited to live in reverence, unity, and hope as heaven’s goodness is carried into our world.

Pastor Bo invites us to take the posture of true disciples by listening deeply to the words of Jesus, and then living them out. Rooted in Matthew 6, Jesus’ teaching on prayer reveals that formation, not performance, is God’s goal. Prayer is not about impressing others or anxiously persuading God. It is about an intimate, authentic relationship with a loving Father who already knows our needs. Jesus contrasts cheap, human rewards with the rich response of God. Beginning with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,” the Lord’s Prayer grounds us in God’s nearness, holiness, and kingdom mission, calling us to be truly formed by what we believe.

As Pastor Russell reminds us, Christmas reveals the heart of a good Father who gives Himself to His children. Against the backdrop of broken families, absent fathers, and human pain, God does not stay distant. Instead, He enters our broken world through the stunningly vulnerable gift of His Son, Jesus. He shows us a Father who is compassionate, sacrificial, and full of grace, willing to be weak for the sake of love. All of this reassures us that our worth is not based on our goodness but on His gracious love for us. So, this we know: hope is found in trusting and receiving this loving Father’s heart.

This week's all-church family service features our Generations Team and kids choir.

Jesus’s birth story begins in the most ordinary of places, an obscure village with a young teenage girl. In Nazareth, nothing remarkable ever seemed to happen. Yet into this small, quiet life, God sent an angel with an announcement that shattered the quiet normalcy she knew. And despite her questions, she submits herself to God's plans.

What follows is a portrait of a young woman deeply formed by the Scriptures she had heard all her life. Her song, The Magnificat, is a tapestry of Israel’s prayers and promises, revealing a heart attentive to God long before she understood His plan. Her story invites us to consider how God still works in the quiet places, among the overlooked, and in the lives of those willing to pay attention.

James concludes his letter by calling the church to become a community of people shaped by prayer, whether in trouble or joy, in sickness or sin, in wandering or returning to God. However, prayer is less a task and more a way of being, where God’s nearness shapes our hearts to resemble that of Jesus.

Through honest, consistent, and confessional prayer, we learn to see as God sees, love as He loves, and be strengthened in our communion with Him. Prayer unclogs the soul and deepens relationships. It brings restoration and healing. A hope-filled life, and a church characterized by hope, rests on a continual, shared life of prayer in God’s presence.

Pastor Bo explores James’s challenge to love without favoritism, especially when the money, power, and status of others promise us worldly benefits. James 2 exposes how easily we honor the influential while overlooking the poor, revealing a contradiction within our hearts. Jesus' “Royal Law,” that is, loving one’s neighbor — expressed through generosity, hospitality, and mercy — is the “good soil” of God’s house. Favoritism of the “shiny people” is not a minor violation of the law but a fracture of covenant love. The church is called to be a community of new creation where worth is measured by grace, not appearance, and where that oft-invisible value becomes apparent through godly, mutual love.