As Advent begins, Dr. Scott McKee invites us to look beyond our Christmas wish lists and consider what God might want this season. Drawing from Isaiah 9:2—“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light”—Pastor Scott traces the story of light through Scripture, from creation to Christ, revealing that God’s answer to a dark world is His own radiant presence. Jesus not only declared, “I am the light of the world,” but also, “You are the light of the world.” This transforming truth means we are called to reflect—not generate—the light of Christ in every shadowed place around us. With humor, warmth, and practical examples from Ward’s own ministry impact, Pastor Scott reminds us that light always drives out darkness: through compassion, forgiveness, service, and everyday acts of grace. When the world grows dim with fear or cynicism, the people of God are meant to shine brighter still. This Advent, may we be bearers of divine light—reflecting the character of Jesus in word and deed—so that others might see His glory and find hope in Him. Let’s be part of what Jesus is still building.

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Over forty days we’ve asked what it means to love like Jesus. In this closing message, Dr. Scott McKee turns to 1 Corinthians 13:7—“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”—and shows how enduring love is forged in real life, not theory. Through a tender moment from a recent wedding and the hard-won perspective of his own ongoing health journey, Pastor Scott names the cost and beauty of lifelong commitment: love creates safety (protects), gives the benefit of the doubt and second chances (trusts), speaks a better future over people (hopes), and simply refuses to quit (perseveres). He contrasts cynicism with a gospel-shaped trust that restores, calls us to be the kind of people who don’t nag but lift expectations, and invites us to practice stubborn, faithful love in marriages, friendships, and our church family. With an eye on eternity, he reframes our struggles: even when battles remain, Christ’s love has the last word. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and the ripple effects of Spirit-powered love outlast everything else. If you’re tired, wounded, or tempted to give up, this message offers both courage and a path forward: love like Jesus—protect, trust, hope, and persevere. Let’s be part of what Jesus is still building.

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In our final session, Dr. Scott McKee gathers the threads of 1 Corinthians 13 and shows how love lasts for the long haul: “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” When our own energy runs thin or our affection feels ordinary, Pastor Scott offers three simple, sustaining practices: remember your mission (you were created to love God and people—trophies and reputations fade, but love endures), recharge your batteries (tend your body with rest, your emotions with wise rhythms of solitude and community, and your soul with Scripture, worship, and a faithful small group), and relinquish your will (daily lay down ego and preference to serve others). Lasting love isn’t about trying harder; it’s about receiving God—who is love—so His life can flow through us to spouses, children, friends, and neighbors. As this 40-day journey concludes, let this conversation become a lifelong pattern: keep your purpose in view, keep refueling, and keep surrendering. The God whose love is everlasting can renew your strength, restore what’s broken, and teach you to love like Jesus—steadfast, hopeful, and unafraid to persevere.

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This week, Rev. Terence Gray invites us into the hard, holy work of forgiveness as we linger over Paul’s line: “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” With disarming honesty and vivid stories, Pastor Terence shows why forgiveness always feels controversial and complicated—especially when the wound is close to home—and why Jesus’ call to forgive “seventy times seven” isn’t a formula but a doorway into grace. Walking through Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant, we’re reminded that forgiven people learn to forgive people, not by force of will but by formation: sitting with the sheer magnitude of God’s mercy until it reshapes our reflexes. We learn four movements of real forgiveness—name the wrong truthfully, identify with the offender, absorb the debt, and aim for reconciliation—while also clarifying a crucial difference: forgiveness is a one-way release; reconciliation is a two-way street. Along the way, Pastor Terence offers a hopeful picture of how the Spirit can transform bitterness into blessing, replacing score-keeping with grace that overcomes evil with good. If you’re carrying a grievance, a memory, or a name you can’t shake, this message offers both courage and a path: before we can offer forgiveness, we must be transformed by it. Let’s be part of what Jesus is still building.

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In this lesson, Rev. Terence Gray tackles the quiet poison of bitterness and shows why gospel-shaped forgiveness is the only path to lasting relationships. With Esau and Jacob’s reunion as a vivid picture and Ephesians 4:32 as our anchor, Pastor Terence invites us to drop the cup of resentment so our hands are free to receive and give love. Forgiveness isn’t denial or weakness—it names the wrong truthfully, sets wise boundaries when needed, and, as Dr. Tim Keller framed it, identifies with a fellow sinner, releases the debt, and aims (as far as it depends on us) for reconciliation. The cross reminds us forgiveness always costs something—and Jesus paid it all so we can live free. This week’s practice is simple but courageous: stop rehearsing the offense and start releasing it to God; choose compassion over payback; pursue safety and wisdom without hardening your heart. Whether you need to forgive up close or from a healthy distance, the Spirit can loosen your grip on the ledger you’ve been keeping. Love that forgives looks like Jesus—and that kind of love changes everything.

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This week, Rev. Nicole Unice helps us look honestly at where we really are on the journey of love as she unpacks one short but searching line from 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient… it is not easily angered.” Nicole shows that this passage isn’t just wedding poetry—it’s a picture of deep spiritual transformation. Together, we explore a simple framework for locating our own hearts (asleep, resistant, open, or surrendered), then dive into what patience actually requires: calm endurance, perseverance, emotional self-control, and a long-term focus. With humor and real-life stories—from traffic jams to coffee drive-thrus—she reframes anger as a “check engine light” for the soul, not a feeling to deny or a license to explode. You’ll learn five root causes of anger (hurt, pride, frustration and control, fear and insecurity, and holy indignation), and how each irritation or provocation can become training ground with the Holy Spirit as your guide. More than a call to “try harder,” this message invites you to let Jesus’ own unprovoked, patient love reshape how you respond to the people and pressures in front of you today. May we become people whose patience and holy restraint make the love of Jesus believable in an easily provoked world.

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In this week’s lesson, Small Groups Director Sarah de Jong invites us to practice the long-fused, mercy-soaked patience of 1 Corinthians 13. Drawing on Moses’ story in Exodus and Jesus with the woman caught in adultery (John 8), Sarah shows that God’s patience isn’t passivity—it’s holy restraint: “merciful and gracious, slow to anger,” yet committed to justice in His time. Patience, she explains, is the endurance to love through suffering, the marathon mindset that keeps us steady when emotions boil. To grow here, Sarah offers four simple guards: guard your response (pause, pray, give it time), guard your relationships (don’t apprentice yourself to anger), guard your thoughts (take rumination captive and think on what is true and lovely), and guard your rest (remember the H.A.T. check—hungry, angry, tired). As we run this race with endurance, we’re not called to point out every flaw or win every argument, but to trust that God will bring perfect justice while we extend the same patience He has lavished on us. Let this session help your group slow down, breathe, and love with a longer fuse—so that in conflicts big and small, Christ’s composure and compassion become your reflex.

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In this week’s message, Dr. Scott McKee continues our journey through 1 Corinthians 13 with a stirring reflection on the simple yet searching phrase, “Love does not envy.” With wisdom both pastoral and deeply personal, Pastor Scott invites us to confront how comparison steals joy, gratitude, and connection—and how love, rightly rooted, restores them. Through Jesus’ parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20, he offers five antidotes to envy: stop comparing, celebrate God’s grace to others, practice gratitude, trust God when life feels unfair, and stay focused on the unique path He has set before you. Yet the power of this message transcends principles—it’s carried by the weight of lived experience. Speaking from his own journey through physical suffering, Pastor Scott bears witness to a faith that still finds joy, perspective, and peace in God’s goodness. His words remind us that love without envy isn’t naïve optimism but hard-won trust in a faithful God. This is a message that stills the soul and reorders the heart toward gratitude and grace. May we be a people who carry the torch forward with courage, humility, and generational faithfulness.

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