What does it mean to live under the authority of the Prince of Peace? First, we have to recognize that authority and then we need to listen to the authority. God does not take authority over us. He IS the author of all things. He IS the authority. Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and he invites us to recognize and live under and by that authority.

In this first week of the Advent Season we are looking at hope. Scripture says Jesus is our hope, and through his birth that we celebrate at Christmas, we are invited to anticipate, with great expectation, the coming of the one who leads us to salvation, the one who heals, restores and sets us free. We have a great hope in Jesus Christ!

In this week of thanksgiving, and also much grief in our church family, we are taking a moment to remind ourselves of the hope we have in Christ. Hope for our immediate situations, and hope for our eternal salvation. Because our hope of salvation in Jesus Christ gives us hope for today!

As we wrap up our series on Thanksgiving, we look at a Psalm of David that reminds us to give thanks. Psalm 23 speaks of the goodness of God, and our response to it. He is our shepherd - do we allow him to lead us? Even in our darkest times, we have a good shepherd that wants to lead us and set a table before us!

No, practicing our thanksgiving isn't testing the pie early before you give it to your guests. We all know that giving thanks isn't always the easiest thing to do. But having a life and a heart of gratitude is key to following the way of Jesus. That means we need to remind ourselves to be thankful, to practice our thanksgiving at all times!

In our new series Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart we are looking at what it means to be grateful, not just in word, or even action, but truly from our heart. God wants to transform us to be more like Christ, and in so doing, our lives become an outward expression of the inward work of transformation!

In our last week of our Ancient Faith for Modern Times series, we are looking at two last heroes of the faith. Just one of them is listed in Hebrews 11, and neither of them are actually from the nation of Israel. But their stories show that God includes us all in His great story!

Guest Speaker Jim Curtis from Connect Church / Harvest Alliance in Foley, AL is with us today.

Some think it's easier to be faithful when things are going well. And other tend to lean toward going to God in the difficult times. But Joseph understood that it was in all times we are meant to be faithful. Good and bad. Difficulty and when everything is "going our way". Don't let the things you go through in life determine your faithfulness to God. Decide now that you will be faithful, regardless of what you encounter.

Jumping back roughly 400 years from where we were last week, we are looking at the life of Joseph. Hebrews 11 doesn't say much about Joseph, except that he was confident the people of Israel wouldn't be in Egypt forever. What marks Joseph's life as unique is not that he stepped out in faith, like his forefathers before him, but that he remained faithful in the midst of a lot of really difficult situations. He was betrayed by his family, wrongfully accused and thrown into prison for a crime he didn't commit. Yet, he held his faith through it all.

It's easy to get comfortable with our surroundings. And that can lead to not needing faith. When everything is going well, or we have all we need, we lose sight of the God who provides. Moses got uncomfortable with the palace of Egypt and felt God leading him to his people who were in a bad situation. But following God in faith led Moses to the freedom of an entire nation!

After roughly 30 years of his faith journey and finally living in the promise that God had given him, Genesis 22:1 says that God tested Abraham's faith... Why? And does God test our faith? And more importantly, if our faith is going to be tested, how do we pass that test?

Hebrews is very generous toward Abraham and Sarah when it says, "They believed" and had a son. The story tells a different journey. They wrestled with with their faith. They laughed in disbelief. We probably all have, in our hearts, laughed at the great things God promises. Could He really do it in us? Could we really experience the love and grace of God to the extent scripture tells us?

We always want to receive the gift of the promise. But what happens when we don't? What happens when God asks us to be faithful, but we don't ever see the fulfillment of the promise, or at least, in this life? Abraham left the comfortable place to follow a God he could not see, but believed to be true, and walked for as long as it took until God said, "This is the place for your ancestors!" And yet, it was not his land, but the land that his future generations would inherit.

As we continue our journey of faith we are looking at Hebrews 11:7, that talks about the faith of Noah. Noah's faith wasn't just that he believed, but he built! God calls us to more than just believing in our hearts and minds, but that our faith should produce faithfulness through action.

*NEW SERIES* Ancient Faith for Modern Times! What does that mean? The same faith that the patriarchs of the bible exhibited thousands of years ago is the same faith we need today!

In this first week of the series we go through the first 6 verses of Hebrews 11, which lays a foundation for the journey of faith.

Do you wish things happened faster? I think most people do. When we are waiting for something the waiting can be so difficult. Especially when we are in a place in our lives we don't understand. Esther's story is one of waiting. For years she lived in Persia as the queen of King Xerxes. I'm sure the questions as to why she was in that position confused her, until the day where it all made sense. God had placed her there for the salvation of Israel!

When we look around in our lives it might not always feel like it's easy going. In fact, it might feel like the world is against us sometimes. How do we face adversity? How do we face pushback? How do we prepare ourselves and make ourselves available for God to work in and through us? Nehemiah had the same problem. He was upset that the city of Jerusalem was in ruins, he wanted to do something about it, but he was a prisoner in a distant country. Yet, God made a way!

We thought we had wrapped it up, but we're taking one more look at some important things in regards to using the gifts of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives gifts, but does not take control of us to use them. We need to learn to use the gifts. And more importantly, we need to learn to use them the right way, out of God's great love for us, expressed to each other as the body of Christ. The point isn't the gifts, the point is to be an encouragement to others and point us to God.

As we wrap up this series on the spiritual gifts talked about in scripture, we are asking a few questions about what we do now. How do we live in this? What do we do in regards to these gifts? How do we ensure they are used and not just talked about? And maybe we don't know just yet how it's all going to look, but that's ok, because like the gifts are meant to work together, the body of Christ must come together to learn and grow!