thisistheROCK

Have you ever looked up at the sky on a dark night and seen the stars light up your whole vision? The glow from the burning spheres pops out starkly among the surrounding darkness.

This is the picture Paul paints to illustrate how Christians ought to stand out among unbelievers and the world. Our character, our actions, and our lifestyle should preach the message that Jesus truly is our Lord and our Leader.

Hear in this week's lesson how we shine brightest when we resist being fake and resist grumbling and complaining.

When you play a game with a kid, you have 2 options: 1. You help them along in the game and guide them how to play 2. You completely dominate them, beat them, and win. The first option is kind, and the other option is just flat out mean. Instead of using your power for meekness and gentleness, you use your power for selfishness.

This is not how God treats us. The One who has all power and authority to send us away forever chose to make a way for us to come back to him--through the cross.

Listen in to this week's lesson and hear how Jesus' selflessness means that we really have no right to be selfish.

Are you someone who strives for perfection, and when something is not exactly as you want it to be, you crash out?

Are you someone who your parents have to constantly remind to do your homeowork and chores because you love to procrastinate?

Living worthy of the Gospel is a tall order. We are commanded to give our entire lives to Jesus. However, we are not supposed to do so expecting ourselves to be perfect nor are we supposed to be lazy and not try at all.

Listen in to this week's lesson and hear what living a life that honors the sacrifice of Jesus is all about.

When we watch movies, we can often relate to the main character in the plot. We naturally put ourselves in the position of the main character and feel like we can relate to them.

Maybe this is innocent, but maybe it shows how we naturally see ourselves as the main character in the story.

God often reminds us how life is not about us--it's about HIM.

Listen in to this lesson and hear how despite being in prison, Paul has one goal in life: to live is Christ to die is gain.

Have you ever looked out of a plane window and seen a lake or an ocean? The beautiful sight can leave you in awe. However, have you ever been able to swim under the water with goggles and see the vast swimming creatures, plant life, and underwater terrain? Both of these scenes are epic.

In this series on Philippians, we want to take a deep dive into the book, and we need to take our time. Often, we can read too fast failing to comprehend what we are reading. We need to read slowly and curiously to draw out the true meaning of the passage.

Listen in to this week's lesson as we look at how we need to live as servants of Jesus and pray for others.

In this new series, we are going to be talking about the book the Philippians!

The book of Philippians sounds kind of like a coach's half-time locker room speech to his team. He wants to rally them around the cause of the Gospel. He wants them to get fired up. He wants them to live their lives totally sold out for the one goal in life: to live is Christ to die is Gain.

Listen in to hear how we will go about studying the book of Philippians!

Love can be a hot topic in today's culture. While the Christian faith is grounded on the Love of God, many different voices in culture claim that God is not loving at all. After all, if He is truly loving, then why doesn't he let me live my life how I want to? Why does He have such a narrow mind on what's right and wrong?

The community that often voices these questions is the LGBTQ+ community.

In this lesson, we will explore what God's design for marriage and romantic relationships is, how this appllies to sexual sins and the LGBTQ+ community, and how we should respond as Christians who struggle with sins ourselves.

Have you ever been ridiculed or made fun of for something you did wrong? Have you ever felt like someone was just waiting for you to mess up--and wanted you to?

Sometimes, we can feel like God is hovering over us eager to condemn us as soon as we make one wrong move. We can feel like God is ready to cast us away as soon as we don't uhold our end of the deal.

In this week's lesson, we are going to answer this question: Does God still love me when I mess up?

Through the story of the prodigal son, we will see that God is a forgiving God, but his grace and mercy are not a free pass to sin-- it calls us to love God and others more.

Joni Eareckson Tada was someone who knew what it's like to suffer. After diving into shallow water when she was in her teens, she hit her head on the bottom of the lake, and the impact has left her a quadrapalegic for the rest of her life--without the use of her arms and legs.

How do we respond to suffering in this life? Why does it happen, and is there any purpose behind it?

In this lesson, we will look at what the Bible says about hard times in life and how we need to draw closer to God in hard times and not be driven away by them.

If you were to ask the average church goers this question: "Are humans basically good?" What do you think they would say?

What would you say?

Although the answer might seem clear, 7 out of 10 church goers said they agreed with the above question.

Listen in to this week's lesson about what Romans 3 has to say about this topic.