In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, Paul tells us that God reconciled us to Himself through Christ. That means He took all of our sins and shame and buried them in the grave because we couldn't bury them ourselves, and He restored us into a beautiful relationship with Him again, all through Jesus Christ. But then Paul goes on to say that God gave us this ministry of reconciliation! That means people in this world can be reconciled to Christ by hearing it from you because God has given that ministry to you. Your pastor is not going to reach everybody. Some people may only experience the ministry of reconciliation through their encounters with you. That's the good news of the gospel: That God saved us through Christ, and now we can spread this wonderful news!

But scripture also tells us that God is holy and righteous, and to remain in a relationship with our God Who perfectly loves us, we must submit to His will for our lives. This isn't a difficult concept to understand when we truly think it through. Parents tell their children what to do to care for them and help them live a truly healthy and fulfilled life. A parent who never challenges the selfish and nearsighted ways of their child is not showing their child love: That is its own form of abuse. When we share the good news of God's love and reconciliation through Jesus, we share both the reality of God's perfect love and the reality of obedience to God's perfect will for us.

Check out Pastor Bethany's word on the significance of God's ministry of reconciliation as she continues our series, "Share God."

There are two common mistakes we can make when trying to change and be obedient with our lives:

(1) We can depend too much on ourselves and forget to trust God for our transformation and growth in holistic health.

(2) We can depend so much on God to transform us that we sit back lazily and pray for God to fix everything while we continue to make horrible decisions regarding our health and spiritual wellbeing.

The truth is that a healthy WILL is the key to a healthy SOUL. That means we CHOOSE things that bring us into complete obedience to God and complete health for our body, soul, and spirit.

David modeled this for us well when he said, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God" (Psalm 42:5).

David exemplified what a healthy will looks like by turning to God with his grief and pain and ending his hope and solutions in the character of God, and we will live with a healthy soul when we can submit our will like David did!

Check out this timely message from Pastor Bethany as she continues our series "Flourish" and dives into what it means to have a healthy soul.

There are two common mistakes we can make when trying to change and be obedient with our lives:

(1) We can depend too much on ourselves and forget to trust God for our transformation and growth in holistic health.

(2) We can depend so much on God to transform us that we sit back lazily and pray for God to fix everything while we continue to make horrible decisions regarding our health and spiritual wellbeing.

The truth is that a healthy WILL is the key to a healthy SOUL. That means we CHOOSE things that bring us into complete obedience to God and complete health for our body, soul, and spirit.

David modeled this for us well when he said, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God" (Psalm 42:5).

David exemplified what a healthy will looks like by turning to God with his grief and pain and ending his hope and solutions in the character of God, and we will live with a healthy soul when we can submit our will like David did!

Check out this timely message from Pastor Bethany as she continues our series "Flourish" and dives into what it means to have a healthy soul.

What is the secret to being content?

Can we be okay if my life is not what we want it to be? The apostle Paul tells us he learned the secret to being content no matter what his circumstances are. While in prison, he writes to his church community in Philippi, " I rejoiced greatly for your gift... Not that I am in need... For I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need" (Phil 4:10-11).

Paul learned that we can be content because Jesus is enough.

We do not rely on our wealth, talents, status, or opportunities. Our contentedness is not contingent on our desires being met. If we expect to find contentment by reaching a certain level of accomplishment in society or buying the right things, we will never find it. But when Jesus is the center of our life, contentment comes naturally regardless of life's circumstances. There will always be "if only" moments, and the temptation to want "a little bit more," but nothing in this world is enough. Only Jesus brings contentment.

Check out this thanksgiving message from Pastor Bethany on Philippians chapter 4!

A moment of reflection can save us from a lifetime of regret.

There's a popular lie out in the world today that insists we will find happiness if we follow our own hearts. In the movies, that sounds great, but in reality, that leads us nowhere. The popular moniker, "live your truth" is actually a big lie. We think it will bring us fulfillment and make us happy, but we just end up anxious, exhausted, and self-obsessed with no satisfaction in sight.

In the bible, king David gives us a great example of what this looks like. He was spending time where he shouldn't have, looking at a woman he had no business looking at, and found himself pursuing exactly what he wanted by taking the woman for himself. David's decisions resulted in murder, pain, and devastation, not happiness or fulfillment.

Check out this thought-provoking message from Pastor Bethany as she continues our series "Thought Pollution."

God is smarter than we are.

Everyone seeks after the wisdom of celebrities, political leaders, influencers, authors, and pop stars. The assumption is, that if they have so much influence, power, and money, they must be smart, right?

But the Bible tells us that God's wisdom outshines human wisdom every time. In 1 Corinthians, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for us defies every assumption we have about wisdom, but, "God uses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." God used death to bring us life, and he used suffering to bring us healing. Everything seems upside down, but that's how God works. He understands things that this world finds foolish. But it's this world that's upside down.

Check out this inspiring message as Pastor Bethany explains the key differences between God's wisdom and human wisdom as we continue our series, "Upside Down Kingdom."

Identity is received, not achieved.

Your sense of identity will impact every other decision you make in life. We often make our desires, our "sovereign self" as Tim Keller calls it, the driving force of our identity. We focus on our deepest desires, and they can define our happiness and who we think we are. We make our identity all about "living our best life" or discovering our "authentic self" and shape our identity around these ideals. But what happens when our goals, our dreams, our aspirations get blocked? What happens when things change and shift, and we discover certain goals are not attainable? Does our identity crumble?

And in spite of what the culture around you wants you to think, achieving your loftiest goal does not fulfill you. It does not complete your identity-it lets you down. Your deepest desires could be blocked, or they could end up being unfulfilling. In truth, we need to discover a deeper, truer sense of who we are, and the answer is in the God Who created us. Our identity must be defined by Him and who He says we are.