Are you interested in spiritual vitality for your life? Do you have a desire for spiritual growth but aren’t sure how to get there? In this changing and fast paced world, do you need help keeping a close relationship with God? Beginning this Sunday, Pastors Bob and Aaron are starting a new series designed to help you get spiritually fit. Just as we can fall out of physical shape, we can fall out of spiritual shape too. But God hasn’t left us hopeless. His grace is always available and free all the time. And He has designed classic spiritual practices to help you appropriate His grace and use it to grow in new and powerful ways. This week, we will explore the spiritual practice of prayer as a means of growing closer to God and transforming us. Taking cues from Jesus and other biblical examples as well as from Christ followers through the ages, you will learn practical steps to make your prayer life more spiritually catalytic and a deeper source of God’s amazing grace too.

Are you interested in spiritual vitality for your life? Do you have a desire for spiritual growth but aren’t sure how to get there? In this changing and fast paced world, do you need help keeping a close relationship with God? Beginning this Sunday, Pastors Bob and Aaron are starting a new series designed to help you get spiritually fit. Just as we can fall out of physical shape, we can fall out of spiritual shape too. But God hasn’t left us hopeless. His grace is always available and free all the time. And He has designed classic spiritual practices to help you appropriate His grace and use it to grow in new and powerful ways. This week, we will explore the spiritual practice of prayer as a means of growing closer to God and transforming us. Taking cues from Jesus and other biblical examples as well as from Christ followers through the ages, you will learn practical steps to make your prayer life more spiritually catalytic and a deeper source of God’s amazing grace too.

So, when Pastor Bob and I were talking about who was going to preach which sermons of this series, I felt
compelled to preach on something I struggle with: Solitude and Silence. Over this past month, I’ve been thinking,
praying, and trying to understand why we avoid Solitude, and how Solitude can fill us like noise cannot.

Are you interested in spiritual vitality for your life? Do you have a desire for spiritual growth but aren’t sure how to get there? In this changing and fast paced world, do you need help keeping a close relationship with God? Beginning this Sunday, Pastors Bob and Aaron are starting a new series designed to help you get spiritually fit. Just as we can fall out of physical shape, we can fall out of spiritual shape too. But God hasn’t left us hopeless. His grace is always available and free all the time. And He has designed classic spiritual practices to help you appropriate His grace and use it to grow in new and powerful ways. This week, we will explore the spiritual practice of prayer as a means of growing closer to God and transforming us. Taking cues from Jesus and other biblical examples as well as from Christ followers through the ages, you will learn practical steps to make your prayer life more spiritually catalytic and a deeper source of God’s amazing grace too.

Are you interested in spiritual vitality for your life? Do you have a desire for spiritual growth but aren’t sure how to get there? In this changing and fast paced world, do you need help keeping a close relationship with God? Beginning this Sunday, Pastors Bob and Aaron are starting a new series designed to help you get spiritually fit. Just as we can fall out of physical shape, we can fall out of spiritual shape too. But God hasn’t left us hopeless. His grace is always available and free all the time. And He has designed classic spiritual practices to help you appropriate His grace and use it to grow in new and powerful ways. This week, we will explore the spiritual practice of prayer as a means of growing closer to God and transforming us. Taking cues from Jesus and other biblical examples as well as from Christ followers through the ages, you will learn practical steps to make your prayer life more spiritually catalytic and a deeper source of God’s amazing grace too.

There is quite a story to tell when we consider the ministry of Christ Church all these years. This new series will help us remember our past, celebrate God’s work among us now, and look forward with great hope and anticipation to our future. This congregation has enjoyed a rich heritage of impactful ministry, and it’s important to remember and praise God for all He has done. Psalm 145:4 reads, “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.” (NIV)

There is quite a story to tell when we consider the ministry of Christ Church all these years. This new series will help us remember our past, celebrate God’s work among us now, and look forward with great hope and anticipation to our future. This congregation has enjoyed a rich heritage of impactful ministry, and it’s important to remember and praise God for all He has done. Psalm 145:4 reads, “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.” (NIV)

There is quite a story to tell when we consider the ministry of Christ Church all these years. This new series will help us remember our past, celebrate God’s work among us now, and look forward with great hope and anticipation to our future. This congregation has enjoyed a rich heritage of impactful ministry, and it’s important to remember and praise God for all He has done. Psalm 145:4 reads, “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.” (NIV)

Imagine you are Simon Peter. You've left everything to follow Jesus. You've had incredible moments with Jesus. He told you that he would build his church upon you. You walked on water with him. You saw him feed 5000 people, and you were one of the few to climb the mountain and see him transfigured with Elijah and Moses. Imagine telling Jesus that if everyone else passed away, you would never leave him or forsake him. But you did. In the moment of truth, you denied him. Not once, not twice, but three times before you left in shame and fear. Certainly, you would not be ok. The truth is that sometimes we are not ok because we have messed up, we have sinned. We have done things that have hurt ourselves, our loved ones, and others. The story of Peter doesn't end with his failure.

Someone once said, “Don’t tell me that worrying doesn’t work. Everything I worry about never happens.” Life is not just what happens to us (see my sermon from last week), but it is also what happens inside of us. We worry. We stress. We fret. We assume. We dread. And our internal thoughts and feelings provide the framework for how we engage in the world. And some of us say things to ourselves that we would never say about another person.

All of us have experienced something in our lives that we did not seek, ask for, or desire. Life happens to all of us, and sometimes in painful ways. Maybe it was abuse, betrayal, disease, or dysfunction, but something has happened to each of us that has left us wounded, scarred, and scared. And maybe desperate. There was a gentleman who encountered Jesus, whose life was unfair. He had leprosy. He was scarred, exiled, humiliated, and simply put “Not OK,” but he was desperate, and he dared to approach Jesus and beg for healing.

New years eve service preached by Pastor Aaron Tiger

”In the midst of this tension and strife, Isaiah lifted up his prophecy about a coming ruler (9:6). In the unfolding of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we see him as God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. This Sunday morning, we will consider what it means that Jesus is the "Prince of Peace."

God was so excited about Jesus’ birth that He had the prophet Isaiah and others speak about it hundreds of years in advance! Isaiah used very descriptive terms to describe a coming ruler (9:6). In the unfolding of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, we see Him as God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. We have explored what it means that Jesus is a “Wonderful Counselor” and “Mighty God.” This week, we will consider the phrase “Everlasting Father.”

Though Isaiah the prophet lived some 700 years before Jesus’ birth, in his foretelling of a future leader (9:6), Isaiah wrote in majestic language about various descriptive names that would be used for this coming leader. Last week, I spoke about Jesus, the “Wonderful Counselor.” He is available to all who welcome him. This week, we will consider the meaning of the phrase “Mighty God.” Come join us this Advent season as we prepare our hearts for Christmas!

As we head toward our annual Thanksgiving holiday, it seems fitting to consider what our faith means to us during this time of year. People tell me they are praying and concerned about many things in their lives: families, community, country, and the world. Yet, I also hear many stories about the goodness and faithfulness of God. Someone has said, “The most intense moments of thankfulness are often not found in times of bounty. Instead, thankfulness is often most meaningful during periods of difficulty.” Does that ring true for you?