If I had been in charge of announcing to the world about God's Son being born, I wouldn't have selected shepherds: unclean, uneducated, unknown. But who best to tell about the Lamb of God being born, than shepherds?

One of the hardest things to wrestle with is unmet expectations. You have a plan, an idea of what life is supposed to be like and then life throws you a curve ball. Someone leaves. Sickness hits. The job dries up. There are a lot of curveballs in life. What do you do when your plans don’t pan out? What can God do with those unmet expectations?

You’ve probably heard the cliché – ‘Big things come in small packages’ before. It’s such a great truth that is easy to lose sight of in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and amidst the cultural pressures to go bigger with everything. Often times, it’s not the big, powerful, or flashy things that make the difference. It’s the small acts of obedience or kindness that change the course of history.

God has given us an amazing vision for 2026. It flows from our definition of what it means to be a “devoted disciple of Jesus.” In 2026 we are going to focus on a phrase we are calling “Fellowship around the Word.” We believe that God is going to do some amazing things in this next year as we get serious about Him and His people.

It’s beginning to look a lot like…Thanksgiving! In just a few days most of us will gather around a table somewhere, eat too much, spend time with friends or family and give thanks. It’s a great thing to do on 4th Thursday in November but what if we did it every day, not just Thanksgiving?? Not the giant meal with all the cousins but what if we gave thanks every day? How might we all be changed?

If you were going to make a beautiful cake, what ingredients would you need? Eggs. Flour. Sugar. Maybe milk? What else? What would you leave out? It’s amazing how such different ingredients, when mixed together in the right proportions, can become something amazing like cake. At the end of 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul gives us a “cake recipe” for what it takes to make our church communities beautiful “cakes.”

The end is coming! Have you ever seen someone with one of those signs standing in a crowd or on a street corner? When most of us see that or hear people talking about “The End” we close off and try to ignore it. Some, however, are hyper-focused on the end times and that’s all they want to talk about. The Bible lands right in the middle and in 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul gives some of the clearest instructions about the end of the world so we can be ready!

What should a Christian do when someone dies? Is it okay to cry? Do they go straight to heaven or hell, or do they stay in the ground for a while? We have lots of questions about death and dying but most people are unwilling to have that chat. Paul goes right after it and gives direct instructions on how to handle death and the hope we can have in Jesus!

In today’s message Pastor Stacey continues the "Living for Eternity" series in Pastor Jay's absence. Delving into 1 Thessalonians 4, he explores striking parallels between modern life today and the challenges faced in ancient Thessalonica. As Solomon wisely noted, there's nothing new under the sun—our nation remains divided by "tribes" much like in biblical times. Discover the timeless similarities and key differences in this insightful message.

Everyone wants to know God’s will for their life: what school to choose, what job to take, who to marry. But in 1 Thessalonians, Paul reminds us that God’s will is first about who we become. God’s will is our holiness, learning to live set apart from the world around us. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, we’ll see that sexual purity isn’t a side issue for the Christian life; it’s the starting point for living in a way that pleases God.

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, he emphasized that those who know God must live to please Him. Pleasing God is supposed to be the guiding principle of balanced Christian behavior. While our standing with God is not based on keeping His commands, if we love Him we will seek to delight Him through our attitudes and actions.

There are two fundamental ways to change a person. You can exert power and change their behavior on the outside or you can exert influence and change them on the inside. The only REAL change, though, comes from the inside. Just because someone changes their behavior on the outside doesn’t mean they have actually changed. The Apostle Paul effected more change in people than just about anyone else in history. Today we talk about HOW he did it!

We all know what it’s like to be falsely accused and then need to defend ourselves. It can be a tough experience and was a situation the Apostle Paul had to confront often in his ministry. In 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul really ramps up the self-defense, but why? What is he trying to do and, honestly, why should we care? Does it make any sort of difference to us today?

Today's guest speaker is Danny Gilroy from Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Gilroy is a motivational speaker with a Master of Arts in Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary.

If you’re a big fan of UGA football, how do people know? You probably have some UGA swag somewhere. You’ve got a T-shirt or a hat, or maybe you’ve even painted your house in red, black, and gray. People can likely tell, just by looking, what team you root for. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul talks about three things that identify those early believers that allowed people to know who they followed, just by looking at them!

Have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation and didn’t fully understand what was being said because you only heard part of the discussion? Many of the “books” of the New Testament are letters that are part of a conversation between church leaders and churches. To understand what is going on and what is said we need to know the whole conversation. As we launch a brand new series on 1 Thessalonians, we begin by looking at 4 key conversations between Paul and this brand new church.

Most every Christian knows they should love God more. We know we’re supposed to pray more and read our bibles more and all those things. We know what we are SUPPOSED to do but sometimes we just don’t feel like it. How can we want to love and pray and read and worship more? Psalm 143 gives us a plan to follow!

"Therefore, go..." Famous last words, to be sure. Perhaps some of the most famous last words of all. Jesus spoke these fateful words just as He was leaving this earth and now we are tasked with fulfilling them while we await His return. So, how do we do it? What does it mean in 21st Century America? How and where do we go? This week, Sergio Alvarado shares a powerful message of hope and courage, telling us to "Go!"

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? The French painter Paul Gauguin famously scrawled these words in the corner of his painting by the same name. They’re powerful questions asked by people everywhere. If only Gauguin and others had looked in Psalm 139, they would have found the answers to those powerful questions.

Northwest Elder Kevin Heid brings the message as we continue our series in Psalms.