Ephesians is a letter about identity and it's a letter about purpose. It answers questions that we all need to ask, like, "Who is God?" and "What is his plan?" But it doesn't stop there. It tells us who we are and why we exist too. 

As we walk through this letter, we'll see all that the Creator has done to give people like us a new identity and new purpose by forging us into a beautiful, though messy, community with a shared mission that's bigger than all of us.

There are no shortage of theories as to what the modern church should look like. But perhaps the best way to figure out the path forward for the modern church is by looking backwards and examining the early New Testament church. What was the early church committed to? What did they value? How did they attempt to live for Christ in everyday life? How did they live on mission? As we look back to the book of Acts, these are the types of questions we can expect to find answers to, and hopefully in finding out those answers we can figure out what the church should look like today.

A diverse collection of 150 different poems that express a wide variety of emotions, the Psalms occupy a unique place in Scripture. Filled with raw emotions and feelings, the Psalms help us to process our own emotions and feelings. In addition, the Psalms serve as a guide for how we might bring our feelings to God. As such, the Psalms have proven to be an invaluable resource over the years for Christians experiencing a wide variety of emotions: whether those emotions be joy or sadness, anger or happiness, despair or delight, or anything else on the spectrum of human emotion.

What are Christians to do in the face of being marginalized by the culture? How are Christians to respond to suffering? According to 1st Peter, the response is clear: Christians are to live holy lives and entrust themselves to a faithful God.

What are parables? As the old Sunday School saying goes, parables are an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. So while at first it may appear that Jesus is simply telling us earthly stories about farming, or vineyards, or hidden treasures or other similar things; the deeper we dig the more we realize that there is much more than meets the eye in these stories. Because the earthly stories are meant to communicate to us profound spiritual truths about God and his kingdom.

One thing usually comes to mind when people think about the book of Jonah: the big fish. But as it turns out, the book of Jonah is not really about the big fish at all. And it's not really about Jonah either. The book of Jonah is about God and his grace. A grace that he displays towards Jonah and the Ninevites and ultimately about the grace that he would display through His Son Jesus Christ.

One theme rings loud and clear throughout the book of Colossians: the supremacy of Christ. Whether it is the superiority of Christ over human tradition and teaching, or the sovereignty of Christ over creation, or the necessity of Christ in our salvation it seems obvious that Paul is driving home this one point again and again: Christ is supreme over all things.  

In Revelation 2 and 3, we find seven letters to seven ancient churches. At first glance, it may seem that these letters are nothing more than fascinating documents of church history. But the further we dive into the seven letters, the more we realize that many of the issues the church was dealing with 2,000 years ago, it is still dealing with today. As it turns out, these letters are more than just historical documents, they are also a challenge to the church of the 21st century.

While the book of 1 Thessalonians focuses on many different themes, there is one theme that stands out above all else: the second coming of Christ. It is this future hope that serves as an anchor for our souls and enables us as Christians to persevere in our faith even when times are difficult.

Do you practice religion? Or do you have a relationship with your Lord and Saviour? This is the pressing question that guest speaker Jim Om challenges the congregation with. Pastor Jim Om is the pastor of The River Church of New Jersey. He served on the pastoral staff of Redeemer Presbyterian Church for seven years, before planting The River Church. He also serves as a chaplain on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck/Hackensack, NJ.

As the Jesus Storybook Bible (a popular children's book) says: "Every story whispers his name". Of course the name that is being whispered in every story is Jesus Christ. This sermon series explores several popular Old Testament stories with the goal of showing how Christ fits in the overall story arc of Scripture. 

The story of Ruth is a beautiful story of the hidden hand of God at work in all situations. While the Old Testament book is filled with twist after twist, perhaps it's most surprising twist (or maybe least surprising the more we read the Bible) is that the book of Ruth is ultimately meant to point us to the hope found in Jesus Christ.