In the next 5-10 years, the current model of "doing church" in America will be dead. At the same time, God is wanting to breathe life into His people so that our lives become more about Him and less about consuming religious goods and services. To be part of what God has in store, we have to be ready to learn, ready to change, and ready to break free of what's been keeping us from Jesus. We have to be ready to share hope together.

Anytime you're going somewhere new or doing something you haven't done before, it's good to have a guide. Guides help you see things you wouldn't have seen otherwise and avoid obstacles that you never saw coming. But when it comes to life, too many people are living without the clear guide that God gives us in his word. The reasons are many but the outcome is the same: confusion and regret where God intended for clarity and peace.

We are most like Jesus when we are serving others. That's what makes serving others such a privilege: it's a life full of opportunities to bless others in ways we never asked for. In order to take (and make!) those opportunities, we must always be in a posture of listening to what God is saying to us, laying down our agenda in favor of God's.

The theme of giving is woven into the fabric of God's story. That's because generosity is just part of who God is. He creates a world and shares it with humanity. He begins a story and invites us to be a part of us. He saw us living in a world of death and destruction and gave his son to save us. If all this is true, then one thing is certain: generosity will be the natural outcome of people who are growing in their relationship with God.

Everyone has to build a life on something. Many people, though, are so busy building their life that they haven't taken the time to think about what they're trusting to be their foundation. The invitation of Jesus is to build our life on the only unshakeable foundation that exists: his character and promises.

There are things we know are good for us but we still choose not to do. Being in community can feel that way. Even though God intended us to live life together, our tendency is to avoid the discomfort, transparency, and sacrifice that real community requires. But Jesus taught us that real community is good for us ... and it's actually possible.

There are times in our lives when we come across something so amazing that we can't help but respond in some way. Whether it's by celebrating what we've found or telling someone else about it, we make a big deal of the things that are a big deal to us. That's what worship is: celebrating and sharing what's most valuable in our lives. 

Check out Part Four of Alpine Chapel's series, "Living Values", and hear Lead Pastor Dave Mudd talk about how everyone worships something. For followers of Jesus, we live as a response to transferring all the value of our life to the only one who deserves it.

Passion is more than "strong emotion". It's something you'd give up everything for, even your own life. There's not much that we could say we're passionate enough to die for, but the one thing that Jesus was clearly passionate about was people. When it comes to being as passionate about people as Jesus was, we start by realizing how much He loves us.

Everyone wants a better tomorrow. Some people want it but don't think it will ever arrive. Some people wish for it but have no assurance it will happen. Other people are looking to something to give them that better tomorrow. There's only one kind of person, though, who can have the confident expectation of a better tomorrow: the person who has Jesus as their hope.

For followers of Jesus, becoming more like him involves a radical reorientation of our values. Things that we thought were important are challenged and our hearts change as we learn to value what God values. This doesn't happen by accident, though. It happens as we spend time with Jesus and allow him to help us unlearn our old way of life so that we can learn to live in God's Kingdom.