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One of the most memorable and lovable aspects of the life story of Jesus is that He showed us that God is not aloof and unattainable. Jesus came to show us who God is, and that He is down to earth, warm, engaging, and loving. Jesus was God in the flesh, and He sat down at people’s tables for meals with great regularity. He was the God who came to save us and the God who came to eat with us.

As we introduce this study through the book of Luke, we’ll start out in this season of Christmas looking at the major and minor players of the birth of Christ, and we’ll see the beauty and depth of God’s plan. Come join us beginning December 5th as we see the joy and sweetness of God’s love for us in the first course of Meals with the Master —come and enjoy some nice warm “Christmas Cookies and Other Sweet Stories.”

In this introduction to the series, we’ll learn about God the Son, Jesus, and His mission to save the world by sharing in sweet fellowship with those he interacted with.

Meet Zechariah & Elizabeth, the first parts of the plan of God to save the world through Jesus. The recipe from disaster was purposeful and thoughtful, and it had many ingredients.

From the world’s perspective, Mary and Joseph were unlikely to ever be included in God’s plan for the ages. Yet what we see is that God uses nobodies to accomplish His greatest purposes time and time again.

There are no small parts in God’s plan, and even when the moment seemed to have passed, God still had more in store for us to learn as we encounter the stories of Simeon and Anna.

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Not too long ago, the ability of a church our size to make an impact on the world would have a major challenge. These days, because of technology and affordable opportunities, Journey Church has many different opportunities to reach into our world with the Gospel and impact lives. 

You’re invited to join our church community starting November 14th as we look at how we can create long-lasting change in our local community and in communities around the world as we look through the lens of This is How We Change the World. Along with learning how to make an impact individually, you will learn the value of when a large group of people determine to let God work through them. Don’t miss even a week of this series! 

Journey’s mission is simple to remember: Build God’s Church; Show God’s Compassion; Reach God’s World. But living it out as a group of people is an entirely different thing altogether. In this introductory message, Pastor Rob will challenge everyone who is part of Journey to both live out the mission and embody the biblical values that shape us as a church. 

According to recent studies, one of the greatest ways to impact the world with the Gospel is to sponsor children, and this Sunday will be all about how our church can make an even greater impact in the world by doing this very thing. On this day, we will receive some updates from Journey’s Hope Center in Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic, and look at how we can increase our impact there. 

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Let’s face it—our world is a messy place. People get hurt, cause hurt, live with hurt, and often ask God why they hurt. And it’s not just random people—people that you know, who you do life with—those are often the ones who have to deal with so much pain and pressure. Actually, chances are you are living with some hurt, pain, disillusionment, disappointment (just to name a few) and you wonder, does God even care? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? 

In this sermon series that launches Journey Church into the fall calendar, you are invited to join us as we talk about how God Himself responds to our pain, our problems, and our issues. Pastor Rob and the teaching team at Journey will deal with some major painful topics from a biblical perspective, and look at how Jesus interacted with people who struggled, and how our friends (and we) can find hope, healing, and practical help in the middle of the challenges. Join us for I Have a Friend Who… beginning October 3rd! 

“If God is so good, then how come the situation I cared about went so bad, even when I prayed?” The question rings loudly in the minds of people who wanted so badly for God to help, to heal, to move—and yet God said “no.” Join us this week as we meet two women from John 11 who were angry and upset with God, but then met Jesus in the middle of their anger. They learned that God is trustworthy through the anger and the pain—and you can learn how to find joy even when circumstances are not what you’d hoped. 

Some people are running with their present pain because they’re running from the past mistakes they’ve made. They’ve learned how to COPE in life, but they’ve never experienced HOPE in life. In John 5, we’ll interact with a man who dealt with these very same challenges: the challenge of the PAST and its failures, and disappointment with God that comes with these things—but then he met Jesus. Join us as take real, practical steps to get past our past. 

Some people think that their questions about faith make God distant. Others figure that if there is a God, He can’t be bothered by them because they’ve made too many mistakes that they simply can’t change: that they are too insignificant. In John 4, the sweet interaction between a woman who was trying to hide from everyone but yet comes face-to-face with Jesus the Messiah should change the opinion of anyone who thinks that God can’t be bothered. Join us as we learn how the search for significance is found in Christ. 

One of the hard parts of life is when someone you love and trusted betrays that trust, whether knowingly or unknowingly. The wounds caused by people who violated your trust can powerfully and negatively transform your view of life and make you hardened, bitter, and unwilling to open up to others. But as we’ll learn this week, this doesn’t have to be the final outcome. Join us as we look at Matthew 18 and talk about a section of the Bible that people wish they could cut out, and how it can transform the life of every person who walks in its truths.

Horoscopes, Ouija boards, auras, ghosts, numerology, etc.—all of these topics are very much on the rise, especially this time of year. Our culture is fascinated with the occult, but the dangers of engaging with the occult are marked by demon engagement, oppression, and possession. This is nothing new—Jesus Himself (as we’ll see in Mark 9) combated the forces of darkness and helped those who were preoccupied or dabbling in the occult get free from its bondage. Join us as we talk about breaking the chains of demonic oppression and discover freedom in Christ. 

Anxiety, depression, dark thoughts, and dark places—so many experience these things without ever getting help. Yes, they get medication, but they don’t ever deal with potential thoughts and feelings that make them feel so isolated, alone, and ready to throw in the towel. On this weekend as we pray for the persecuted church around the world, we will look at two of the Bible’s most famous men—John the Baptist and Elijah—and see how they handled dark places, and even more so, how God led them into places of truth and victory over the darkness. 

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Nobody wants to be that guy (or girl) who ruins the surprise, trips and knocks over the display, or makes a joke when everyone else is serious. Being that guy (or girl) can be so embarrassing in bad moments!

But what about being that guy (or girl) who does the right thing at the right moment and it produces something great? Did you know that God Himself is looking for that guy (or girl) who will step up to the plate at the right moment and boldly be a Christ-follower who points others to Jesus? And He wants that guy (or girl) to be you.

Followers of Christ are those who are greatly impacted by Jesus and His mission, and who partner with God in His mission to save the world. Come and learn how to follow Jesus in greater ways!

The world around us is filled with guys and girls who are one invitation away from finding Christ. Will you be that guy (or girl) who invites them to discover what Jesus is all about?

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Cooperation accomplishes more than Isolation! Together is better than Alone! History has shown us that, time and again, many people working together can accomplish something greater than individuals working alone. And there is no place where this happens more than at church!

Join us for this month-long series called The Power of Everybody as we look at the Old Testament story of Nehemiah who led a small group of people to accomplish something great together. We’ll learn how God’s best work happens when we work together, and we’ll see some powerful lessons about God’s favor, the enemy’s resistance, our celebration, and more as we explore this fascinating moment in Israel’s history. Make plans to join us for The Power of Everybody!

(Thank you to Willow Creek Community Church for permission to use and rework this series.)

Great movements of God begin with great responses to God. The story of Nehemiah begins with him being moved by God to rebuild the walls of his hometown, Jerusalem, which had been torn down during the Babylonian invasion. Nehemiah leans into the favor he has with the king, leads a group back to Jerusalem, and gets to the enormous task that would define his life. In similar ways, God invites us to get involved in the work that He has begun at Journey Church (it’s everybody time!), and we’ll see that God’s work is best when we work together.

No sooner does everyone get to work, that opposition comes in several ways, trying to hinder the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. Nehemiah gives a master class in leadership by showing how we can handle problems that will come when we try to follow God’s plan, and he leads the people to be focused and determined in the work. Opposition is nothing new, and it can actually be something that develops us to do more than we ever realized we could.

Nehemiah led the people to rebuild the walls, which they accomplish in record time. However, the second part of the task was rebuilding their hearts around God and His Word, something that God still calls His people to do today. We who are God’s people have to be people of God’s book.

Once the wall is completed (in record time!), Nehemiah leads the people to celebrate as they recommit themselves to God. For some reason with God’s people, celebration is one of the most neglected parts of our spiritual expression, but Nehemiah points the people he led to take time and celebrate, remembering the great things that God had done through them. This was the best thing that he could do, because as author Dallas Willard wrote, “A healthy faith cannot be built and maintained without heart-felt celebration!” And despite opposition, we can celebrate God’s goodness because it brings great spiritual benefits into our lives.

In the final week of this series, we’ll reexamine the incredible vision that Nehemiah had to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The Bible says that if we lack vision for the future, people lose steam; they lose focus; they get distracted; and they get involved with lesser dreams – stuff that really doesn’t matter that much. But God-honoring vision propels us to live for greater things and to accomplish more. And as the Spirit of God pulls the best out of you, you live up to the purposes that God intended for your life.

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In this third installment of our yearly Simplexity series, we’re taking a deep dive into why our faith in Jesus Christ is so important and how it is a defensible approach to life and belief. We’re talking about apologetics, a word that means reasoned defense, and it’s based on the instruction from 1 Peter 3:15, “…But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (CSB) So during this series, we’re learning 5 different methods for defending faith, examining the reasons why the Bible and the Christian faith are reasonable and understandable. While this series is designed to help you go deeper in your faith, it is also meant to be engaging with those who don’t believe and with those who are new to faith.

You’re invited to join Pastor Rob Willis and deacon Loren Bickford as they teach through this series, using tools based in the Bible, history, philosophy, modern-day, and (as always) lots of humor, to drive home great truths that will deepen and strengthen your faith!

Classical apologetics is typically a two-stage process. First, the apologist uses natural theology—cosmological, design, and moral arguments—to establish the existence of theism: a personal, moral, creator exists. Secondly, the apologist employs Christian evidences for the reliability of the Bible and the uniqueness and finality of Christ, which crucially involves his resurrection.

Evidentialism emphasizes historical arguments (or Christian evidences) without necessarily employing natural theology. This has the advantage of directly referring to Christianity, instead of first establishing a more generic theism. This method favors a “minimal fact” approach to Christian evidences which argues for the historical reality of key aspects of the life of Jesus—such as his resurrection—instead of appealing to a general reliability of the New Testament as a whole.

Using all arguments at their disposal, this method says that Christianity makes the most sense of any other viewpoint. The cumulative case apologetic invokes a broad variety of various kinds of evidence to establish Christianity as the best explanation for a broad range of significant phenomena. This approach is similar to a lawyer making a brief, as opposed to a series of sequential arguments of the inductive or deductive sort.

Because of the impact of sin on the mind, the natural man doesn’t understand the things of God. The best approach is the approach that presupposes the truth of Christianity and the Bible. God is transcendent, and all meaning and thought and fact logically presupposes the God of the Bible. One must presuppose Christian theism in order to make any sense of the universe. In that way, the apologist should argue from God instead of to God. Special note: Everyone, regardless of their faith claims, makes presuppositions.

Because of an innate sense of the divine, evidence is unnecessary for a belief in God. Therefore, the best offense is a good defense when it comes to apologetics. Defend against arguments and try to awaken within people their innate sense of the divine. This approach favors the use of natural theology, and is less certain that historical evidences give strong enough arguments to establish belief. Belief in the Christian God may be “properly basic”—that is, it need not depend on evidence or argument in order to be rational. One may simply find oneself believing in God and be within one's rational rights to do so, just we believe in the reality of the past without being able to prove it intellectually.

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It is no secret that the last year of COVID-19 has brought isolation, frustration, and stress to families, leaving many with much pain and on the brink of ruin. And as we begin moving past all of the challenges of the novel coronavirus, what many families will discover is that even with a return to some sense of normalcy, their families are still…messy.

The good news is that messy families are nothing new, and God uses beautiful, messy people and families to demonstrate His goodness and blessing! You’re invited to join us during this Beautiful Mess sermon series as Pastor Rob Willis talks about many of the challenges of every family that God faces, and we’ll look at what the Bible has to say to bring healing where there has been hurt and to point families to hope. After all, being broken and being blessed are the reality of godly families.  

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Can you be unbalanced financially and still be a devoted follower of Christ? What does it even mean to be financially balanced? Join us as we break the books open and learn how to operate our finances according to God's best plan.  

In this 5-part series, you’ll be challenged to examine what you really believe about finances and faith:

• What does the Bible say about money?

• Can you survive without debt?

• Are you content with what you have?

• Are you giving God your leftovers?

This series is filled with insightful perspectives and practical exercises to build a biblical foundation for your finances.

(Used with permission from North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA)