Primary Scripture: Matthew 14:1-12

What We Hope This Message Accomplishes: This passage reveals a sobering truth: power gained apart from God never brings peace. Human authority cannot quiet a guilty conscience, cover sin, or satisfy a restless soul. True satisfaction is not found in control, but in surrender to the truth, something John the Baptist embodied and Herod rejected.

Primary Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20What this message hopes to accomplish: to remind the church that making disciples is not a suggestion but a direct command from the risen King. The sermon explains that biblical discipleship begins with Jesus’ authority and is more than simply gaining knowledge—it is a costly, life-surrendering commitment to follow Christ, deny oneself daily, and help others do the same. It emphasizes that without discipleship believers remain shallow, but through intentional disciple-making the church grows deep roots of maturity and faithfulness. The call is practical: first be a disciple, abide with Jesus, imitate Him, obey His Word, and live fueled by the gospel. This hopes to be a clear reminder that discipleship starts not with what we do for Jesus, but with what He has done for us through His cross and resurrection, inviting all people to come to Christ and follow Him fully.

Primary Scripture: Luke 9:23-27What we Hope this Message Accomplishes: Jesus calls us to make disciples, but what is a disciple, and how do I become one? In Luke 9, Jesus clearly teaches to be a disciple was a costly venture. True disciples deny themselves, take up their cross (daily), and follow Him. In this message we look at what it means to do these three things and most importantly why it's worth the cost! Thank you for joining us online today, stay safe, stay warm!

Primary Scripture: Romans 12:1-2What we hope this message accomplishes: We are called to surrender to God and resist Satan and his schemes. Paul reminds us that we can choose to present our bodies as a living sacrifice rather than conforming to the patterns of this world. In this message we are encouraged to "take inventory" of God's faithfulness to help us choose surrender!

Primary Scripture: Acts 4:23-31What We Hope This Message Accomplishes: Bluffton Community has always valued praying BOLD prayers. This message hopes to shed light on what praying BOLD prayers looks like. From the passage in Acts we see that bold means plain, honest, blunt prayers. God does not require deep, impressive, theologically rich prayers he simply wants us to talk to him praying bold prayers trusting His will to give us what we need even when it's not always what we want.

Primary Scripture: Joshua 1:1-9What We Hope This Message Accomplishes: God reminds Joshua in chapter 1 verse 8 that remaining obedient to God's word leads to enjoyment. The goal of this message is to help people see that spending time in the word of God leads to a deeper relationship with their creator and is one of the best things they can engage in every single day. This message also aims to help people practically develop the practice of spending time in God's word every day!

Primary Scripture: Luke 3:23-38

What We Hope This Message Accomplishes: People would understand that God’s timing and our timing are often very different. God was willing to wait hundreds and thousands of years to accomplish His plan through Christ. He is still patient today. This understanding would lead people to allow the Holy Spirit to grow His patience in them as they trust God daily in their lives.

Primary Scripture: Luke 2:1-20What We Hope This Message Accomplishes: People would have a fresh perspective on what happened at Christmas: God gave us his word! Jesus is the Word of God and by coming He proved that God always keeps his word. When the shepherds encountered the angels and heard the angel chorus they didn't celebrate the angels, they went to experience the word of God that had been spoken to them. This Christmas we are reminded to celebrate God's word, to treasure God's word, and to share God's word with all people!