Advent 2021

SERMONS | THE BOOK

Since the early church, God’s people have celebrated the Christmas season every year through celebrating, giving, and singing about the birth of Jesus. But how often do we actually notice the words we’re singing? This year for Advent, we’re taking a look at some of the most popular songs during the holiday season and how they point to the ultimate hope this world’s needs: the good news of Jesus.

SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Silent Night

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Joy to the World

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

GRAB THE BOOK

To help us grow in our understanding of God’s goodness, we decided to write a book for this series. You can download the digital version here and donate to our book fund if you want to support the cost of this book.

Stand-Alone | Psalm 42 & 43

Sermon by Ryan Rike on November 21, 2021.

This week we’re doing what some of what you might call house-keeping. We are handling some family business together. On our annual member check-up reports, we noticed that 1/3 of our church family struggles with anxiety depression. So this morning we’re going to look at how the Psalmist deals with depression in Psalms 42-43.

For Our Good Always

SERMONS | THE BOOK | PRACTICES | READING PLAN | INTERLUDE 2 VIDEO |
RESOURCES | QUESTIONS?

Throughout history many people have rejected God because they wanted to act immorally...why does it seem like those walking away from God today believe God is the immoral one?

For Our Good Always argues that our thinking about morality can be profoundly reductionistic, lacking necessary categories that different cultures and times might help us see more clearly. It offers a truly important claim to consider:
God's boundaries and rules for us are—clearly and unmistakably—for our good.

SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: For Our Good Always

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: God’s Morals are Different than Yours

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Do Not Harden Your Heart

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: You Shall Not Make Idols

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: You Shall Not Take the Name of the Lord Your God in Vain

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Observe the Sabbath and Keep it Holy

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Honor Your Father & Mother

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: You Shall Not Murder

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: You Shall Not Commit Adultery

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: You Shall Not Steal

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 13: You Shall Not Covet

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

GRAB THE BOOK

To help us grow in our understanding of God’s goodness, we decided to write a book for this series. You can buy the book at one of our Gatherings for a suggested donation of $7, or you can purchase through Amazon, Kindle, or Audible.

PRACTICES

For this series, we want to focus on a particular tool to help us learn to follow Jesus more closely. And given that we’re studying the Ten Commandments, our corporate practice is focusing on the fourth commandment - observing the Sabbath.

READING PLAN

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

Interlude 2 Video

Related Resources

To accompany our book and further expand on the topics covered in this series we’d recommend the following books and podcast to you.

Questions?

Have questions about our series, the Ten Commandments, or morality in general? We’d love for you to send them to us so we can talk through them on our Midweek Podcast.

You can send in your questions by texting DOWNTOWN followed by your question to 91011.

Following Jesus Together: Gathering

We have a few catchphrases to narrate who we are, what we do, and what we’re about as a church. One of those is that we’re a people who are “Following Jesus Together.”

One of the primary tools we use to help us follow Jesus is our Covenant Practices - seven practices we believe are crucial for your spiritual health - one of which is gathering weekly on Sundays.

So for three weeks we’ll be answering questions like, “Why do we gather every week?” “Why does it matter?” “What happens to me when I show up?” “Who am I becoming when I commit myself to this practice?”

It’s our hope that as we work through these teachings we’ll see all the beauty and goodness of what God can do in us when we gather together.

To help facilitate time with your LifeGroup, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Embodying a Better Way

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: People of the Word

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: People of the Table

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Philippians

SERMONS | READING PLAN | PRACTICES | RESOURCES

In 62AD, we find the apostle Paul bound in prison and disconnected from his friends and church family. Yet during his imprisonment, he’s able to pen what is considered to be the most joyful book of the Bible - the letter to the Philippians.

In this 12-week series, we'll take a look at how our church family can become people of joy as we slowly transition back into “normal” life, and how our joy can be a witness to our city that Jesus is alive.

SERMONS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Unstoppable God

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Unstoppable Kingdom

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Joy in Life or Death

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Live as Citizens of the Gospel

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: The Way of Jesus vs. The Way of Caesar

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Joy in Our Perseverance

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Gospel Friendships and Gospel Goodbyes

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Delighting In The Surpassing Worth Of Christ

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: You Got to Hold On

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: An Unsinkable Joy

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: The Skillful Management of Attention

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: How To Be Content

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

READING PLAN

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

PRACTICES

As we launch new teaching series, we want to introduce new tools and practices that help you learn to be with Jesus and look more like Him.

For this series, we want to focus on a particular tool to help us learn to follow Jesus more closely. Given that the book of Philippians is one of the most joy-filled books in the Scriptures, our spiritual practice for this series is gratitude.

RESOURCES

For those wanting to dive further into Philippians, we’d recommend the following videos, books, and commentaries:

Philippians: The NIV Application Commentary

Paul’s Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee

Paul's Letter to the Philippians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary

The Other Half of Church by Jim Wilder and Michel Hendricks

The World, the Flesh, & the Devil

Because of the resurrected Jesus, we now have a resurrection hope. Through Jesus, we are called to live in light of His victory - but that means knowing what we are victorious over. In this series, we’ll take a look at the three enemies that wage war on our soul that Jesus has defeated on our behalf - the world, the flesh, and the devil. 

Our hope is that this series will drive us to a deeper love for Jesus as we learn to fight together as a church family and to see the victory that Jesus has made available for us.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Three Enemies

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Not Today Satan

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: The Flesh

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: The World

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. This reading plan is designed to ground you in God’s Word to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

Stand-Alone | Easter 2021

Greater Than

How we view ourselves, others, and the world around us is so closely connected to how large (or small) our view of God really is. So for this series, we want to spend some time focusing on how God changes everything and what that means for us on a day-to-day basis.

To help you worship at home, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: God Is Not Small

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: God Is Greater Than Your View of Him

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: God is Greater Than Your Shortcomings

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

For those wanting to dive further, we’d recommend the following books:

None Like Him by Jen Wilkin

God Has a Name by John Mark Comer

Not God Enough by J.D. Greear

The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer

The Family of God

Jesus says the two greatest commandments in our formation are to love God and to love our neighbor. How we love our neighbor reflects our love for God, and how we love God manifests itself in how we love our neighbor. And the reality is, while our “neighbor” encompasses everyone, it most immediately applies to who we share a home with and see every day. So for this series, we want to train ourselves to look more like Jesus by learning to grow in our love for our closest neighbors - whether that means our spouse, kids, roommates, or friends.

To help you worship at home, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Trinity Love

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Family You Were Made For

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Dealing With Your Past

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Dating in the Family of God

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Marriage in the Family of God

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Passive Men & the Women Who Resent Them

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Kids Have Imaginary Friends, Adults Have Imaginary Enemies

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: The Power to Heal the World

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: Parenting Part 1: Proactive Discipline

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: Parenting Part 2: Reactive Discipline

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)