When through Jesus Christ you have been forgiven of every sin you ever committed, made right with God, given a new heart and life, and indwelled by His Spirit, your natural response is to praise. Out of gratitude and joy, you look for every opportunity to worship Him both privately and corporately with other believers. See Matthew 4:10b.

When you trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit gives you spiritual gifts to go with your natural talents. He desires that you discover, dedicate, deploy and develop those gifts and talents to serve others in His name. This is called ministry. Every believer is a minister called to imitate Jesus, who came to serve rather than to be served. See 1 Peter 4:10.

When God has found you through Jesus Christ and showered you with His love, mercy and grace, you naturally want to go and tell others what He has done for you. You want them to experience what you have experienced in Christ. This is called evangelism… Every believer is commanded to share the gospel with the people He puts in his/her sphere of influence. See 2 Corinthians 5:20.

When you enter the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you are adopted into God’s family. Families gather regularly to do life together. Because we need each other and we know that we are better together, we meet regularly. We disciple one another through worship, prayer, teaching, equipping, serving, and carrying out the “one another” passages of the New Testament. This is called fellowship. See Hebrews 10:24-25.

At salvation, your heart and mind are made new by Christ. By its nature, this involves life change. In fact, the Lord spends the rest of your life further transforming you. His work in you is called sanctification, and your part is called discipleship. The goal of this process is maturity and Christlikeness. See Ephesians 4:12b-13.

One of the most basic tenants of Christian discipleship is giving a portion of your income regularly to the work of the church in advancing the gospel. This is called stewardship. This is a heart issue. Jesus said, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also.” It is also a faith issue. God has promised in His Word that if we will trust and obey Him in the area of giving, He will see that we have all that we need! Moreover, it is a gratitude issue. When you are grateful to God for His blessings, you give a portion back cheerfully, freely and joyfully. It is a privilege to do so. See 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.

Around here we have a saying: “When we work, we work. When we pray, God works.”  That’s why prayer is in our DNA! We remain vigilant to guard against two of the greatest hindrances to prayer: pride and self-sufficiency. When we don’t pray, we say to God, “We’ve got this; we don’t need You.” We are then filled with anxiety and frustration. When we humble ourselves before Him, we seek every opportunity to pray both privately and corporately with other believers. See Colossians 4:2 and Philippians 4:6-7.

When you cross the line of faith, the Holy Spirit seals you, sanctifies you, and comes to live inside you. You get all the Holy Spirit there is to get, but it is crucial moving forward that you let Him have all of you. That requires that you yield daily to His authority, His guidance, His control, and His power. This is God’s will for every believer, every day. See Ephesians 5:18 and Galatians 5:16ff.

We are fallen people living in a fallen world that has been wrecked by sin. In such a world, life often inflicts wounds. As a result, we all have hurts, habits and hang ups that wound us and those around us. Thankfully, hope, help, and healing are available in Jesus Christ. As a hospital for the hurting, the church is to be a safe environment of grace, honesty, love, support, and truth. This is where we come alongside one another and help one another find the healing that we need. When we are doing this, we are engaging in a ministry that is called recovery. This is the very heart of God. See Psalm 34:18.

God’s supreme demonstration of love for you was sending His son to live, die, and be raised from the dead to make salvation possible for you. When you repent and believe on Him, His love is poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit who comes to live in you. You now have a capacity to love others with a supernatural love that you did not have before. As a follower of Jesus, love is now a defining characteristic of the new creation you are becoming in Christ. It is, in fact, one way you know that you are a true follower of Jesus. It is also what is to permeate the entire body of Christ. See John 13:34-35

In a society where cultural norms are constantly evolving and changing, the timeless and changeless truths of God’s Word shine through. Because we affirm the eternality and the sufficiency of the Scriptures to inform and guide every part of our lives, we do not capitulate to culture. We stand firm for God’s timeless truth. Yet we are careful to speak the truth in love. See Isaiah 40:8..

By God’s design, the family is the building block of our society. Sadly, it has been under vicious attack for many years, and the attacks are growing more severe by the year! Fortunately, God, the designer of family, has given us much instruction is His Word. We are dedicated to reaching and strengthening families with ministries aimed at children, youth, young adults, and couples, all of them built on the full counsel of God’s Word. See Colossians 3:18-21.