Celebration Center

Christmas can be a time when we know there should be peace but our own circumstances make peace a difficult personal reality. Join us this week as we explore how to get away from the "normalcy" of life to make room for peace.

Imagine being Mary, a normal young woman, engaged to be married to an upstanding carpenter. Then one day she received a message that changes her world. An angel visits her and tells her that she, a virgin, was going to give birth to the Son of God. How could this happen? Who would believe her? In a moment, her whole world is changed. And the coming of this child can also change your world.

No one aims to live an average life. When we were younger, we all aspired to live extraordinary lives. But somewhere along the way, we settle into an average job, average debt, average marriage, average family, and average dreams. If we were to really follow Jesus, we would not be average. Jesus calls us to give more than expected. He calls us to live for tomorrow. He calls us to action because only by acting can we become anything but average.

One of the things that can keep us from living beyond average is the tension between now and later. We're tempted to live for the moment, to satisfy our desires instantly. But when we pursue instant gratification, there are problems in our lives. Our finances blow up because we buy things before we can afford them. Our relationships are damaged because we don't put in the time to build solid foundations of trust and respect. Our careers suffer because we climb faster than our competence can sustain. Jesus wants anything but average for you. But to be anything but average, you have to learn to stop living for now and begin living for later.

No one wants to be average. You don't want to be an average spouse or parent. You don't want to be an average boss or employee. You may not want to be extraordinary, but you probably want to stand apart from the crowd. You probably want to avoid the pitfalls you see in the lives of some of the people around you. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about three behaviors that have the power to make you anything but average.

In this series we have been looking at the incredible importance of great relationships. Today we focus on having great friendships. The Bible says 'Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!' Great friends can pick us up when we are down, carry us when we are stuck, encourage us when we want to give up. David had a great friend in Jonathan. How did that work?

When the Lord sought a man after His own heart, he chose David. David had a relationship with God that was unique in history. Psalm 23 explores the nature of this relationship. Join us as we finish exploring how an intimate relationship with God can direct us through the difficult seasons of life.

When the Lord sought a man after His own heart, he chose David. Something about David and his relationship with God was unique in history. While David excelled at many things, perhaps the most profound of those is his relational intimacy with God. Many of us have a large volume of "social" relationships, but how do we move beyond a "social" relationship with God?

Our words are powerful! James warns us that we have the tendency to use our lips to praise God and then curse one another. That should not be the case! However, the reality is that our conversations average 6 criticisms to every one encouragement. Is reversing this ratio the key to improving our relationships at home, at work, and in our everyday lives?

Proverbs 27:4-6: When someone lets you down, can you choose to believe the best, or are you forced to believe the worst? Trust is a key component in every healthy relationship. So does the Bible expect us to lead our relationships with trust? In this message, we’re reminded that we have the power to choose our reactions—and the response we choose may make all the difference in our relationships.

Can rest and vacations actually be spiritual disciplines? Communicating the importance of rest was one of the first things God did in the Bible. So why have we neglected - or worse, denied - the importance of this principle? In this message, we examine the pattern God gives us for the pace of our lives. God designed us to need rest, to have margin, and to enjoy his creation. He actually modeled this for us! Feel like your life is too hurried? There's an app for that.

James 5:13-20: At some point in time, confession became a private practice used to relieve your conscience. But that's not the way confession is presented in the Bible. What is biblical confession? How do we do it? When should we do it? In this message, we look at the biblical view of confession and why we should confess to one another, along with God, as a critical life application.

Forgiveness can be difficult. Does forgiving someone mean that the person we forgive gets away with it? Besides, sometimes it feels really good to hold a grudge. During this message, we discover how the Bible teaches us to release the grip of our grudges. Forgiveness...there's an app for that.

Application is Everything- James 1:22 'Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says!' For more than 2000 years, people have been confused about this simple truth. James, the brother of Jesus, heard the truth his whole life, and wants us to know that hearing the truth doesn't change our lives, living it does. Followers of Jesus have to move beyond being listeners of the word and actually apply it. Application is Everything.

Does God want us to be happy? We hear this phrase all the time, but is it really true? Is our happiness God's highest priority? Join us we drop this in and see if it really does float.

How often do we hear that the biggest problem with the church is the people? Gandhi famously stated: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Is that a true criticism? Does the Bible offer us any answers?

We hear this expression all the time. Often it is applied to people going through the most difficult of life's circumstances. However, life often seems full of things that are more than we can handle. So how do we know if this is true--will God give us more than we can bear, or not? Furthermore, if I can't handle what I experience, am I flawed or is God being too harsh? Where did we get this expression and what does the Bible actually have to say about it?

Christians say the strangest things sometimes. For instance: "All things work together for good." Does everything really work together for good? When we face tragedy and hardship, where is the good in that? Does God give us things that are seemingly terrible for good? Does the Bible really want us to believe that? Just because it sounds nice, does that mean it is true? Do the Scriptures declare it or have we just heard it so many times we think it must be in the Bible somewhere?

What do you do when God asks you to do something crazy - when the odds are stacked against you, and you don't feel like you have the resume or the resources to do what needs to be done? Gideon faced this situation and he discovered that victory was not determined by the size of his army, the strength of his ability, or even the certainty of his faith - it was found when his weakness was turned to dependence on God. Then this hero discovered that with God, he was enough!

Devotion: In the midst of tragedy, Ruth had every excuse to throw in the towel. She could have changed the course of her life, returned home, and just given up. But she was devoted. She had made a decision to live differently, and even insurmountable odds were not going to dissuade her. Her love and self-sacrificing nature won her what she had no right to. All great qualities of a hero.