Celebration Center

Our families are the most important people in our lives. We live with them. We love them. But if we are honest, sometimes our family can seem like a Hot Mess. This week, we unpack what the Bible says about family and how to respond when it seems chaotic and we are at our wits end on how to handle them.

The soldiers could not stop him. The crowds could not stop him. The nails could not stop him. Even the grave could not hold him. Jesus overcame it all and was resurrected from the dead. As followers of Christ, we identify with his death, as we give up our old lives and identify with his resurrection as we embrace his Spirit living in us.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep our eyes focused on Jesus. But, we must never grow tired of following Christ because He is the one who perfects our faith. It was this joy that caused Him to endure the cross without giving up. He knew his death would give us new life.

God so loves the entire world and does not want to condemn it, so he sends Jesus as an atoning sacrifice. God’s motivation to send Jesus was fueled by love. And Jesus’ ministry here on earth, all the way up to His death on the cross, was fueled by the same unconditional and all-powerful love.

Join us as our special guest, Pastor Chris Hansler, shares with us a key to walking with Jesus and sharing His love with those right in front of us.

Live Passionately, Love Completely, Learn Humbly, and Leave Boldly. These are the four principles that we learned about in our “one month to live” study. However, none of these matter if we don’t have God and His word as the center for our motivations. Life is short, too short to wait. We are called to live differently than others, and when we infuse God’s word into our spiritual and physical core, we can live every day with no regrets and show His love to all.

God has placed within every one of our hearts this desire to live a life that outlasts us. The problem is we get so distracted by life, we forget that our time on earth is limited. Today we look at how Jesus lived a life that left a bold legacy, but leaving nothing out and putting everything on the line!

Life is a lot like a roller coaster. There are up’s and downs. There are sharp curves where the wheels start to come off the track. There are dark tunnels that you are not sure you are going to make it through, but we insist on taking the wheel from God and try to steer our own lives. Today we unpack how to learn humbly, and let God have the ultimate control over our lives.

Jesus showed us in just 3 years of his “active” ministry what it means to love completely. The way he interacted with people showed that He was all in 100% of the time, and he was fully committed to his mission. If you had 30 days to live, what would change in your life with how you loved people? Would you hold anything back? What would you risk if you loved completely and were “All in?” Its risky, but is it worth it?

Our lives are full of activities, full of busyness, full of stress, full of anxiety, but are they fulfilling? Jesus said, “I've come that you might have life, life to the full.” He didn't say, “I've come that you might have a full schedule.” He said, “I've come that you might have a life to the full. I want you to experience true fulfillment.” because passion is often the difference between fulfillment and frustration. That train is not going to get through to get the medicine in. No other train is going to get through because that train is blocking the track. It would've been better if that train would've gone completely off the track and exploded so the track could be open for other trains to get through.

What would you do if you found out you only had 30 left to live? Would you go on a spending binge? Skydive? What would suddenly mean EVERYTHING to you, and what would suddenly mean NOTHING to you? If we look at Jesus, he KNEW when he had 30 days left to live, and we see that he did 4 things that we can put into practice today and live a life with no regrets! And the kicker, you don’t only need 30 days to do it!

With God’s help, David was able to experience victory over the giant in his path. His enemy was defeated. But what does it look like to respond well to victory? Who gets the glory for it? Through the conclusion of this story, we once again see David’s posture on display.

We know David was chosen by God, even though he was an unlikely choice. And with God’s help, he defeats Goliath in battle with only five smooth stones and a sling. There were certain things David did to make his effort successful. And, if we can understand what David did, we will be better equipped to defeat the giants in our life as well.

When David fought Goliath, no one thought he had a chance. It was a miracle in itself that the King allowed David to represent the entire army in one fight! What made David so special, so poised, so confident? Here’s a hint…it wasn’t his size, age, or physical traits. It was something that only God could see, and that’s why after the fight only God could get the glory for the victory!

When Israel and the Philistines were at war, the Philistines sent out their giant, Goliath, to fight. But before he fought, he questioned, insulted, and instilled fear amongst the people. Today we have many Goliaths and they all do the same thing. Question, demean, and cause fear. David shows us how faith in God allows us to conquer ANY challenger that stands before us today, just like he conquered Goliath.

This Christmas, lets take time to remember that God came to be WITH us! Emmanuel, God with us means that he came to comfort, bring peace, redemption, AND get us out of our comfort zone. This Christmas, lets remember all the reasons that Jesus came, and lets celebrate the birth of the King!

The last name that Isaiah says Jesus will be called is the “Prince of Peace.” And this didn’t just mean to the government, it is a peace that rules over our entire lives. But how do we reconcile with that peace amongst the turbulent world…one that is constantly changing with mandates, government, politics, and just plain and simple life? Jesus brings peace in a number of ways, and the Gospels give us great examples of how His peace can be brought into our everyday lives.

People view God in many different ways. Punitive, judgmental, angry, or even view Him like Santa Clause, and often that relates to how our earthly father raised us individually. Scripture calls God the GOOD father, and the EVERLASTING Father. God was, is, and will always be, and His love is that of a perfect father.

Isaiah says that Jesus will be called “Mighty God.” That’s a huge thing to call a newborn babe, especially in times of captivity and problems. We may not be in captivity today, but we do have some mighty big problems! Jesus showed how mighty He was in just 3 years of ministry on Earth, but His might carries through to today. How can we rely on His might to get us through our Mighty BIG problems?

The book of Isaiah gives many names to Jesus, one of those being “Wonderful Counselor.” In biblical times however, a counselor was extremely different than what we refer to as a counselor today. Jesus broke the mold of what a counselor is by consistently going above and beyond what any counselor would say or do in those times, and this reigns true for us today as He is STILL our “Wonderful Counselor.”