In the stories Jesus tells, we find that God never gives up on us and that he celebrates when we are found! Yes: we have a God who parties (really good parties...with music and dancing!). Why? Because he delights in us. He's not angry with us, even when we're lost because of our own foolishness. He longs to rescue us and fully restore whatever has been lost. And when that happens, he celebrates!

All of us experience loss. Sometimes it’s self-inflicted and other times it’s just life taking a hard left turn. But God cares about it all! In Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories about loss and restoration — and in them we can all find hope for our stories, no matter how painful the loss.

Being Anchored in Community really means to be Anchored in Relationship. Pastor Mike shares with us how important community was in the bible and how important it is to be in relationship with others now. Fellowship allows us to share out of our abundance when there is need and being Anchored in Community is exactly this – it is being able to share what you and others have in common otherwise known as Salvation.

As we grow connected to God, it’s never meant to just be about us. God isn’t interested in our “project self!” But he consistently and passionately invites us to join him on a mission of redemption in the world. This week we’re taking a closer look at God’s mission, and discovering how serving others anchors us to Jesus like never before.

Prayer is an incredible way to commune with God — and every time we pray, we're dropping a faith-anchor. Today we're looking at a story Jesus told that's all about prayer, and why we should always pray and never give up!

The storms we've faced over the past years — they're not going away any time soon. But good news! Jesus promised we can build solid lives, even in storms, as we're anchored in him! Today we're discovering how we can be anchored to God through his word, the Bible. Plus, we're launching a new Bible reading initiative — SM4 260 — that will take us through the entire New Testament in one year. Cool fact: there are 260 chapters in the New Testament, AND 260 weekdays in a year. So, we're reading one chapter a day, Monday - Friday. More info and our reading plan here: https://sm4.org/260

Christmas is over — all that remains is to drag the dead Christmas tree out to the trash and pay the bills that stacked up in December. Was it worth it? Absolutely! In fact, the JOY of Christmas isn’t meant to be experienced just once a year. Christmas is over — but Christ remains! And the joy we have in him can stick with us through every season, even the hard ones.

The first Christmas came at a time of incredible upheaval in Israel. There had been 400 years of conflict and silence from God. Nearly all hope was gone when God broke his silence by speaking to Mary. And faith arose as she believed what God said about her life. This Christmas we can join with Mary and declare to God: we want EVERYTHING you have for us!

What if there had been no Christmas? What if Jesus had never come? We can barely imagine the catastrophic loss that would have been to humanity — whether people believe in him or not! His powerful influence has shaped all of our stories and has held back darkness from completely overtaking the earth. Much of that has to do with his unrelenting love. He came to the world because of love, and he embodied love, even to his death on the cross.

At the end of Hebrews 11, we find both stories of victory and of suffering. It's easy to have faith when we feel like we're conquering and victorious — but it's much more challenging when we're going through the pain of suffering. Today we gain insight into our faith as we learn to SEE what God is up to in our stories, especially when they are hard.