Elijah was afraid, so he got up and fled for his life to Beer Sheba in Judah. He left his servant there, while he went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He went and sat down under a shrub and asked the Lord to take his life. – 1 Kings 19:3-4 Ryan continues our series on the spiritual discipline of solitude with a framework based on Elijah’s time in the wilderness after a threat on his life.

Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer. – Mark 1:35 Following our series on fasting, this week we embark upon a new series on the spiritual discipline of solitude. Ryan defines solitude and silence and their role in the Christian life.

From Mark 9:2-13, Alison shares a fresh perspective on Moses and Elijah’s appearance at the Transfiguration, and how, in our deepest valleys, it can build our faith.

From 1 Corinthians 15 and the Easter story, a special message about a Resurrected King who can resurrect us… if we surrender to His lead.

Today, Jesus fails to meet … everyone’s expectations. He rides on a colt instead of a horse. Then he gets really emotional about Jerusalem. And finally, he gets really mad. Teaching elder Scott Hetherington shows us, through the story of Palm Sunday, how our expectations of Jesus cause Him to weep over our blindness to Him as our Savior.

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and because of the gospel will save it." – Mark 8:34

We opened the Life and Way of Jesus series with a message about Jesus’s tendency to defy everyone’s expectations. Today, Jesus is back at it… healing a blind man with some spit (and only … halfway healing him at first?!), saying Get behind me, Satan! to the man who had just made the most famous confession of faith in history, and telling everyone not to tell anyone who he really is.

Today’s message, from Mark 8:1-21, is about how the disciples repeatedly failed to see reality as it really was, and why … sometimes … we do too.

In today’s message from Mark 7:31-37, obstacles are encountered, obstacles are surmounted, Ryan makes the mistake of flying on Spirit Airlines, and Jesus heals a deaf man.

Today, Bryan challenges those of us who can be controlling, tells the story of how Jesus confronted some gatekeepers, and answers a very difficult question: did Jesus really call someone a dog?

Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? […] What comes out of a person defiles him." – Mark 7:17-20 From Mark 7, Alison speaks about Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees, the Law, legalism, our hearts, our insides, our outsides, and (of course) Taylor Swift.

From Mark 6:45-52: the story of Jesus walking on water. If you’ve been going to church for a while, you’ve probably heard this story a thousand times. But … why did Jesus walk on water? And how did the disciples keep missing the point? And why do we? Ryan explains.

As we close our 3 week mini-series on fasting, Ryan continues to explain the why of fasting. Why do the words “fasting” and “prayer” so often appear together in Scripture? What is fasting good for?

Ryan continues our 3 week mini-series on fasting.

This week, we begin a new series on the topic of fasting. Ryan opens with a message on the theology of fasting, beginning in Genesis with souls and bodies and ending with the ministry of Jesus and His example.

These days, many of us are turning to apps to help us keep our New Years’ Resolutions … and achieving less success than ever. Today, Scott brings us a story from 1 Samuel about a stone called Ebenezer and a God whose help is there for us in the past, present, and future.

Ryan closes our series The Ever-Present God with a message about why the Christmas story matters, and how our God is present with us – always.

God is present in the valleys, the wilderness … and the storms. Ryan continues our series The Ever-Present God, based on Matthew 1:23.

From 1 Kings 19, Ryan shares the story of Elijah’s flight from Ahab and Jezebel and into the wilderness, where he asked God to take his life: he had just Had Enough. Have you ever felt this way?

“Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us." – Matthew 1:23 (NET) This Advent season, join us as we explore the meaning of Jesus’ name, God with us, and celebrate a God who is ever-present – even in our darkest valleys.