Were you a band geek in high school, or didn’t make the final cut for the team? Are you haunted by the pain of rejections? Secretly, down deep in your heart, are you afraid to love and that you don’t measure up and deserve God’s love?

Hear many examples, many of them personal, of how each of us have “something big” that overshadows our daily lives and influences our actions and relationships. These big somethings can include illness, divorce, afflictions, addictions, etc. Hear an analogy between our overshadowing “big something” to the “mat” with which Jesus exhorted the blind man in John, Chapter 5 to “pick up and walk”. We all have a mat, that we carry but the good news is that God will always provide an escape and He has already provided us a Savior to help us carry the burden. It’s important to share our stories because God will use us to comfort and heal others.

In this Communion message, we look at the Why’s of taking Communion; why God established this new practice and why it’s necessary for the faithful to participate. We participate to remember God’s promises to us, to reconnect us with God through Christ the Redeemer, and to reunite us with our Christian family, the Church.

It’s the most published and purchased book in the world. It sells more than 1 billion copies yearly. 91% of the American population owns one. The average home has three of them. 80% of people living in the Untied States say it is the most important book ever written. 58% of Americans say that everything in this book is true.

When we give our lives to Christ, we often fall into the belief that we can keep adding one thing, then another to our list of good deeds to win God’s favor. But by adding things in, the gospel that we are being faithful to has changed. We need to focus on the message of the cross, which tells us that it is the hand of God reaching down to bridge the gap created by our sin and delivering all of us from having to earn God’s favor.

Is There Something Missing in your life? In your job? In your marriage? In your relationships? In this five week series, we will look at what it means to be fulfilled in each area of our lives. We will look at what matters most and learn how to prioritize it.

God cares about the people who come into this place. He sent his son so that we can have a fresh start. We all have done sinful things and have disconnected at times from God, and sometimes we don’t think we can navigate back to him, or we believe we will be judged and condemned. But all who wish to do so can have a fresh start. “God took all of our sin and placed it on his son Jesus Christ, who bore the full brunt of condemnation and sin that you and I should have borne.” He paid the price and felt the full force when He died on the cross. He provided us the opportunity to have a completely fresh start.