What does Jesus mean when He says, "follow me?" Are we bystanders along for the ride? Do we simply get to watch the cool things Jesus does? Or are there demands made upon us? In the first message in a series on The Sermon on the Mount, Cisco Cotto shows us how following Jesus is meant to be a challenge.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness He accomplished two things: He proved that He and only He could completely avoid sin and He also gave us some insights into how we can resist sin.

We all struggle at times wondering if we can really trust God to meet our needs. In today's message, Pastor Steve Miller of Village Church of Dyer, Indiana uses the virgin birth of Jesus as a proof that we can trust God to do the miraculous to meet every need in our lives.

Even really good people need the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many strive to live by a noble moral standard, whether it be the Ten Commandments, the Rule of Fair Play, or even taking all things in moderation. But if a person fails to keep his moral code, whatever it might be, that constitutes them as a sinner who will be judged by God. St. Paul says everyone has a sense of right and wrong, and when they don’t do what they know is right, they will be judged for it. Even really good people need Jesus Christ.

Many think that if a person responded correctly to what God has shown of Himself in creation, God would let that person into heaven when he or she died even if they never heard about Jesus. But Paul writes that no one responds correctly to what can be known about God, and in fact they reject that knowledge. This makes them sinners – they reject what they do know about God – and He responds by judging them. Everyone needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to be right with God.

As The new year is upon us Hebrews 12:1,2 offers God's guidance on how to "run the race" of life. Shedding anything that slows us down, including our sin, in our attempt to live for Christ is an essential first step. We do not run in our own strength but must depend on Christ for the grace to persevere. There are many distractions in life and we must focus constantly on the correct finish line. Our finish line is Christ!

This message encourages us to continue to serve the Lord with everything that we have even in the face of discouragement, fear or adversity. One of the great promises of Scripture is that when we do so we can know that our labor is not in vain. Clinging to Christ, real community where burdens are shared and perseverance in ministry help to produce peace, joy and eternal reward.

Though training and experience are helpful for making disciples of Christ - they are not the essentials. What we need more than anything is the belief that each Christian is called to make disciples; eternal perspective; and a growing love and gratitude for Christ.

There are portion of Scripture that are confusing and boring. Because of this we can simply skip over these parts even though God put them in the Bible to teach us something. In the final message in the series The Relentless Love of God, Cisco Cotto shows us how beautiful one of these "boring" passages really is.

Can someone who indulges in lust, adultery, and even murder be someone who is a man or woman "after God's own heart?" In this installment of the message series entitled The Relentless Love of God, Pastor Cisco Cotto shows us how God can work out his perfect plans through seriously imperfect people.