By Pastor Stephen Hess – You’ve probably heard the story before. It’s a story that has been retold in books, television shows, and countless articles. The story is that Christmas wasn’t originally a Christian holiday but has its origins in paganism. The Romans celebrated a seven-day winter festival called “Saturnalia” during which they would worship […]
advent, christmas, HolidaysBy Pastor Stephen Hess – This fall we have been exploring what the Bible says about our bodies. We have been seeing how all the major turning points in the storyline of Scripture—creation, fall, redemption, and the new creation—have major implications for understanding how God created our bodies and how he designed us to use […]
advent, christmas, gender, sexualityBy Pastor Stephen Hess – The top selling book on the topic of pregnancy for the last few decades has been a book called What to Expect When You’re Expecting. As of last year, it was estimated that 93% of expectant mothers who read a pregnancy guide consulted this book and over 22 million copies […]
advent, christmas, sermon seriesBy Pastor Stephen Hess – For Christians, Christmas is a time when we celebrate the birth of Christ. It is also traditionally a time when we engage in the practice of giving gifts to one another. When you stop to think about it, there’s something a bit strange about this. Christmas is the one time […]
advent, christmas, Holidays
By Pastor Stephen Hess – Over the past several weeks we have been working through the book of Ruth on Sunday mornings in our current sermon series. When most people think of the book of Ruth, they probably don’t think of the season of Advent or the birth of Christ. However, this Old Testament story […]
advent, Book of Ruth, christmas, Holidays, Ruth, sermon seriesBy Pastor Stephen Hess – It seems like every few years there is a news story about a religious leader who is predicting the end of the world. You may remember it was just a few years ago when American Christian radio host Harold Camping stated that Judgment Day would take place on May 21, […]
advent, christmas, prophecy, sermon series