Jackie Robinson broke an unwritten but very real racial barrier. He courageously faced terrible opposition and didn't allow it to destroy him. In our quest for happiness, it's easy to let our circumstances to influence how we approach God. Serving Jesus enables us to overcome our circumstances and find happiness and joy while serving.

Partnerships are an interesting phenomena. Some of the biggest corporations began with a small partnership. They can be a great success or fail miserably. The greatest partnership opportunity is how God, the Creator and Redeemer, wants to partner with us in Ministry. The Book of Philippians teaches us several lessons in this area.

Jesus calls the Church to go and make disciples and baptize others in His name. Many people not in a relationship with Christ have some level of experience in the Church but take the spiritual elements casually. Wallula's mission is to transform those with that casual relationship. Every single one of us is on desperate need of a Savior and the Book of Philemon shows us the realizations that we need to make in order to transform.

We often see how God executed his amazing plan in the lives of others. From international missionaries across the world to local Ministries on our neighborhood, God is always on the move. In order to achieve God's plan we need to equip ourselves and others for God's purpose. The book of 1 Timothy gives us instructions on how to do this.

It is easy to crack open a plastic wiffle ball with nothing inside. A regular baseball has a cork center covered in yarn and leather. There is something in the middle that makes a difference. That is true for many things in it lives. What goes on in the inside really matters. In a letter from Paul to Titus we learn how to build a healthy center for our church.

This is that time of the year where we make and break New Year resolutions. Statistically, 75% of these resolutions fail by March. Maybe it's because we don't make a firm commitment or maybe the resolutions don't make a big enough impact to matter. A resolution to follow Jesus will change both ourselves and those around us. However there are added responsibilities to following Jesus.

Sometimes we receive more than we expected for Christmas. All month we've been talking about the gifts that we really need. In the Gospel of Luke, we learn that Jesus is everything and more than we expect this Christmas.

We look forward to our familiar Christmas traditions. Even though we may not realize it, many changes were made before these activities became a tradition. In the same way, we need to make changes to our lives to have a lasting impact. The Book of Luke guides us with these changes.