Owners and Stewards
Owners and Stewards

There are moments as parents we feel like we're doing a great job with our kids, and then there are moments where it feels like we're complete failures. In the worst cases that feeling of failure doesn't just happen every now and then, but it can take over our thoughts and emotions and make it impossible to parent well.

But what if that feeling of failure is just a lie? What if, even when things aren't going great, we aren't actually failures at all? What if that feeling of failure actually comes from a misunderstanding of our role and responsibility as parents?

And most importantly, what if there's a way for us to reorient our thinking to help fight off feelings of failure and have confidence as parents? As we kick off the message series "Great Kids" we'll explore those questions and look at what the Bible teaches us about our role as parents, and we'll gain a healthier understanding of how we should view that responsibility. And hopefully we'll gain some tools to help us not only raise great kids, but have more confidence as we do.

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Part 1Andrew ScholzGreat KidsComment
Forgiveness
Forgiveness

Forgiveness seems like it should be an easy concept to explain, but we have a lot of phrases to try to help us understand it: an eye for an eye, turn the other cheek, heap burning coals, forgive and forget. Why do we even need to care about forgiveness in our relationships? Does forgiveness just mean that my pain wasn’t real? That I just need to pretend it didn’t happen?

Actually the Bible says that our hurt, wounds, pain, and trauma are very real, and the reason we experience them is because of a little thing called sin. We live in a broken world where things can quickly spiral out of control. Thankfully, all throughout history, God has given us this tool of forgiveness to stop the spiral.

This week, we’ll look at what the Bible says sin really is, how we can stop things from spiraling out of control, and how forgiveness can help our relationships be a force of good in the world.

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Part 4Rachel SomerfeldtFoundationsComment
Boundaries
Boundaries

It's easy to get exhausted with people, but when we do all our relationships suffer. What if there was a solution to that problem? What if there was a way to minimize the effect others have on us so the relationships that matter can thrive? What if there was a way to prevent the exhaustion and burnout that can so easily happen because of the expectations others put on us?

You may or may not believe it, but the Bible talks quite a lot about setting healthy boundaries in our relationships. In fact, Jesus himself set boundaries in his relationships because He understood an important principle about relationships that we sometimes forget. It's that principle that holds the key to us keeping all our relationships healthy and preventing any relationships from taking more time and energy than they should.

This week we'll explore the case the Bible makes for setting healthy boundaries and look at the boundaries Jesus set to get a good perspective on why healthy boundaries are so important. Then, we'll establish a target to evaluate our boundaries so we can begin learning to set the kind of boundaries that will help all our relationships thrive.

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Part 3Andrew ScholzFoundationsComment
Conflict And Trust
Conflict And Trust

Conflict. It's a word most of us really hate, and would do anything to avoid. It's the cause of all our broken relationships, and, on a first glance, seems like a very, very bad thing.

But what if we have conflict all wrong? What if our avoidance of conflict doesn't make things better, but can actually create the problems we're trying to avoid? What if conflict could be a good thing?

This week we'll look to the Bible and learn why healthy conflict isn't just a good thing, but why it's actually a necessary thing for our relationships to grow and thrive.

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Part 2Andrew ScholzFoundationsComment
Communication
Communication

Communication is one of the most critical foundational elements of any relationship, but for so many of us it's a real challenge. Whether we never saw it modeled well growing up, or we have so much baggage from the past, or any number of other issues, communication is a real challenge.

This week we'll look to the Bible and learn why healthy communication matters so much and what each of us can do to establish more healthy communication habits and strengthen our relationships today.

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Part 1Andrew ScholzFoundationsComment
Good News - Easter 2023
Good News - Easter 2023

The Bible talks about Jesus bringing "good news", but do we really know what that means? Do we really know who it was for?

On this Easter Sunday we're going to look at why Jesus' "good news" was such good news. We're going to look at who the good news was for and how that matters for us 2,000 years later. And we're going to celebrate how the resurrection of Jesus means we can count on the good news every moment of every day of our lives.

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Andrew ScholzStandalone 2023Comment
Is There Hope?
Is There Hope?

If this war we're in is real, and if our enemy is truly an unseen spiritual force, is it possible to have hope? For so many people we've given up on truly believing things can be better in this life, but the Bible shows us how hope is not only possible, but is inevitable.

As we finish up the message series "This Is War" we'll look at how a simple, common-sense truth as old as the universe holds the key to understanding and having hope in the battles we face.

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Part 5Andrew ScholzThis Is WarComment
How Do We Fight?
How Do We Fight?

Spiritual battle is tough for so many reasons, and one of the biggest is that, while it's easy to know how to fight in a physical battle, fighting an unseen enemy can feel impossible.

But what if the way we fight is more simple than we could possibly imagine? This week we'll explore how to fight in the spiritual as we continue "This Is War".

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Part 4Kyle SomerfeldtThis Is WarComment
What Are Our Weapons?
What Are Our Weapons?

In a physical battle we need physical armor and physical weapons. And we have them it's easy to know we're protected. But what if the battle isn't physical at all? What if the battle, and the enemy, are spiritual? How can we know we're protected when we can't see what we're fighting with?

This week we continue "This Is War" by looking at the armor and weapons available to us. It's only by understanding how all these things work together that we can be certain we're fully protected and have confidence that the enemy won't win.

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Part 3Andrew ScholzThis Is WarComment
Who Is The Enemy?
Who Is The Enemy?

In any battle it's critical to know who the enemy is. Unfortunately for a lot of us, we're aiming at the wrong enemy day in and day out, and we're left wondering why we can't ever seem to win.

In part two of "This Is War" we'll look to the Bible to identify who our real enemy is in spiritual battle we're fighting. And perhaps more importantly, we'll learn who our enemy is not.

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Part 2Andrew ScholzThis Is WarComment
Why Is There War?
Why Is There War?

From the beginning of time humans have been trying to make sense of the chaos of the world. We’ve been trying to understand the age-old war between good and evil so obviously present all around us. And at the same time we’ve been trying to make sense of the war and conflict in our own lives.

It seems that no matter how hard we try, and no matter how closely we follow God the war never ends. It’s frustrating. It’s overwhelming. It’s hard to understand. It can be so, so defeating. But there is an answer. There is a reason the war exists. And that answer can bring us a lot of hope. 

This week we’ll explore those questions, look to the Bible for the answer to the question, “why is there war?”, and begin a journey to fight like God intended.

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Part 1Andrew ScholzThis Is WarComment
God Is Faithful
God Is Faithful

What do you do when life is uncertain? How do you hold to your faith when you don’t know what’s coming next? Fortunately the Bible is full of examples of how to not only maintain, but how to let your faith grow in uncertainty.

This week we’ll lay a foundation for what’s to come as we look at a man named Abram and how he responded to a huge amount of uncertainty in his life.

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Part 1Andrew ScholzUncertainComment