This Sunday, we will continued our study of the Book of Acts in Acts 6:8-15. Our sermon is called “Full of Grace and Power.” The gospel of the kingdom of God is now about to advance into the Gentile (non-Jewish) world. Monumental advances in the mission of the kingdom of Christ are about to happen. What we will see here is that the mission of God rarely advances in the book of Acts without significant resistance. Or better said, God often uses resistance to direct the advancement of His Kingdom and reveal His glory not only to those who are witnesses to the events happening but those who are His witnesses.

Stephen, one of the first deacons of the early church, is going to experience God like never before. This is not the story of how Stephen changed the trajectory of the church. This is how God changed the trajectory of Stephen’s life and how in so doing, God advanced his mission in the world. God’s people experience His power, His wisdom, and His glory simply by faithfully serving on mission. Do you want more than a head knowledge of the Lord? Do you want to experience God in a way that is real and powerful and life-changing? Let’s study this text together and pray for God to show us and others the glory of Jesus.

In Christ, Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor

This Sunday’s message was from Acts 6:1-7, is called God’s Providence in Our Problems. One of the foundational convictions of the apostles in the early church is that Jesus is both Lord and Savior of the church. That means, Jesus is not just the subject of the mission. He is the Director of the mission. He isn’t just the Savior of His people. He is the Sovereign over all things. He is large and in charge.

In last Sunday’s passage, Acts 5:30-31, Peter speaks to the religious leaders in Jerusalem and he says “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” The book of Acts is not the book of Accidents. It is the story of the mission of Christ. King Jesus is building his church and even the problems aren’t problems for him. They are predestined for the salvation of souls and the expansion of His kingdom. This is super helpful to us as his people. Life is full of disappointments and failures and events that we would never choose. The church is so often palpably struggling. Yet, God chooses to work in a way that is so different than any of us would work. He does this so that we might see that salvation completely belongs to the Lord. It helps us to recognize that He is gloriously God and we are definitely not. Thank God for that!

The apostle Paul in Romans 11 puts it this way: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Come this Sunday and be reminded that Christ is a solid hope and his kingdom is a sure thing in a world of perplexities and problems. This is such a comfort. It is such a hope.

In Christ, Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor

This Sunday, we continued our study of the book of Acts. As it is the beginning of a New Year, there are several things from this passage that I think will be super helpful as we consider how to approach discipleship in 2025. It is clear that the mission of the early church happened in a less than friendly environment. The apostles were repeatedly threatened and often imprisoned and yet, they are not only able to persevere, they thrive! It’s clear that the twists and turns and the disappointments and failures of ministry as broken people in a broken world are not hindrances to the gospel or to their growth. God’s mission is to advance his kingdom further out into the world and further into the disciples’ hearts. Are you wanting to grow as a Christian? Is 2025 a year where you want to grow in your knowledge and love of Jesus? Acts 5 teaches us that discipleship is the deep and ongoing work of God in the lives his people that happens through the medium of His mission in the world. When God works through us, He also works in us. When God shows the world the glory of Jesus through His people, He also shows the glory of Jesus to His people. Our sermon is called “All for the Name of Jesus” and let’s pray that God will prepare us to pursue a deeper relationship with Christ this year as individuals and as a church family. In Christ, Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor

We enter the new year with the last of the messages from our study in Colossians. In this section, Paul closes out his letter to the church in Colossae and sends regards from the believers in prison with him in Rome. While we might be tempted to skip over a list of names like this, each one represents a unique story of salvation and faithfulness which helps us understand our own realities and relationships in light of the Gospel. The good news of Jesus and His love for us fuels a passion for relationships in a world of shallow or apathetic friendships and gives meaning to our labors; it's not just a meaningless grind, everything and everyone is a mission field (including us!)

A lot of times, especially as we head into a new year, we tend to not look back over the previous one. That’s usually because we don’t like to think about the struggles we’ve experienced or are still experiencing. Join us this Sunday as we look at Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, where he encourages the believers in Thessalonica to live with an attitude of thankfulness even in the midst of our struggles.

This sermon is called “A Christ-Centered Christmas.” It’s meant to be a very practical message on how to negotiate your way through the next few weeks as a disciple of Jesus.

The Christmas season offers many of us the opportunity to be together with people, family, and friends, with whom we often don’t usually have the time just to have an extended hang out. It really is a privilege to be with people we love. Yet, for many, this can be challenging for numerous reasons. Painful histories. Current conflicts. Differing beliefs. There are some who would suggest that it is best to avoid such potentially hazardous situations. However, Christmas is a time to take up your cross and follow Jesus. It is time to grow and to show that our lives are not our own but belong to Him.

My prayer for you is that each of us would find a way to really make Christmas about Christ - not just in the songs we sing and the words that we say but in the sacrifices and the selflessness that Christ showed when He came to earth and became one of us.

Let’s pray that this Christmas would be powerfully Christi-centered.

Join us on Christmas Eve as we celebrate Jesus' birth at 5:30PM

Christmas can be one of those profoundly lonely seasons for people. Grief, abandonment, job changes, personal moral failure, political and global turmoil can leave a person feeling deeply alone and acutely isolated even in the hustle and bustle of the season. In John’s gospel, we encounter several people who feel long forgotten. For example, in John 5, the apostle John describes a man who was paralyzed. He was lying beside a pool that was supposed to provide healing waters. John writes, “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?” Jesus saw him lying there. This is no accidental encounter. He knew that he had been there a long time. The man replied, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool…”. Do you hear that? I have no one. This man was deeply alone until Jesus showed up. Be sure of this, Jesus didn’t just show up. He came for this man … just like, He came for us. Friends, the story of Christmas, the story of the incarnation, is the remarkable truth that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God saw us. God came to us. God came for us!

As we celebrate Advent, we are going to rejoice in the glorious truth that “The Word Became Flesh.” I can assure you today that we are no longer alone, unseen, or forgotten. The message of the Incarnation declares to you that God sees you. God knows you. God, in Christ, has come for you. The theme for Advent this week is joy.

Let’s gather together in the Word becoming flesh for you and for me!

Blessings from Pastor Kevin!

Join us on Christmas Eve as we celebrate Jesus. 5:30PM

“In the beginning was the Word…”

Jesus is the One that gives everything its meaning, its purpose, its life. He is the Source, Center, the Goal, the Gift.

Jesus isn’t merely the “Reason for the season.”

Jesus is the Reason for everything.

“God knows how much we need the creation-to-destiny themes of the biblical narrative in order to make sense of our lives, so he lovingly gives those dominant themes right up front… Since God created us to be meaning-makers, he immediately presents us with the wonderful and awful realities that we need to understand in order to make proper sense of who we are and what life is really all about.” Paul David Tripp