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September 8, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
2026-9-8 Weekly Update
Welcome to the weekly roundup 👋 This is your one-stop spot for everything happening in our church family. From kids to adults, small groups to special events, here's how you can get connected over the next seven days. This Week: Labor Day: Monday, 9/7 | church offices CLOSED Life Group Signups: Sunday, 9/13 | It’s not too late to sign up! Budget and Leadership Packets available: Sunday, 9/13 Prayer Requests: Our Mission: Small groups starting and continuing this week! Our World: Overseas partnerships & victims of flooding at Nepal/China border Upcoming Events Q&A Night for Budget and Leadership Recommendations: Sunday, September 20 Church Conference (member voting on Budget and Leadership): Sunday, September 27 Prayer and Worship Night: Thursday, October 1New here? We'd love to connect. Watch last week’s sermon 👇Watch Online Generosity Your generosity makes our work in this community possible. We’re so grateful for you. One way you support our community is through the food pantry. We’ve given out over 100 bags this year. You can see our weekly food and household needs here, or click the link below to see our Amazon wishlist!Food Pantry Amazon Wishlist Stay Connected 📩 Subscribe to this Collection to get these updates delivered directly to your inbox. 📸 Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 💬 Pastoral care or questions? Connect with us here. Services: Sundays at 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM & 11:30 AM
15434 Lucia Riverbend Hwy, Stanley, NC 28164
See you soon ☀️
September 6, 2026 • 9 Minute Read
What to Do When God Doesn't Give You the Miracle
When God doesn't give you the miracle you asked Him for, faith does not disappear. It changes shape. It stops saying only that God is big enough to fix this, and it starts saying that God is better than the fix. That second kind of faith is what Hebrews 11 puts on display, and it is the faith that carries people through the prayers that never get the answer they wanted. All of us go through difficulty and pain at certain points in our lives. The question is not whether the hard season arrives. The question is what our faith says when it does. What Hebrews 11:35-38 Says About Faith That Never Got Rescued Hebrews 11 is the chapter that lists the heroes of the faith. But halfway through verse 35, the tone shifts, and the writer introduces a second group of people whose faith looked nothing like a rescue. Hebrews 11:35-38 says that "other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned."That last one happened to both Jeremiah and Zechariah, two of the prophets. The passage continues, "They were sawn in two." Jewish history records this as a reference to the prophet Isaiah, who was captured by King Manasseh, placed inside a hollow tree, and killed when the king ordered the tree sawn in half. Others "died by the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated." Of that group, the writer says, "The world was not worthy of them." They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and in holes in the ground. That is the half of the chapter we rarely quote. But it sits in the same chapter, counted as the very same faith. God Is Bigger, and God Is Better Faith speaks two languages. The first one says God is bigger. Faith says God can overcome this, God can heal this, God can restore this. The second one says God is better. Faith says that even if He doesn't, God is still better than the miracle would have been. Those first heroes of the chapter proved that God is bigger. The ones in verses 35 through 38 proved that God is better. Is There a Difference Between Joy and Happiness? Yes, and the difference matters enormously when the pain arrives. Happiness depends on whether your circumstances are going your way, which you already know doesn't always happen. Joy is an abiding peace that comes from God no matter what you are facing. When the pain comes, God gave us something sturdier than happiness to hold on to. Joy does not mean putting a smile on your face and pretending there is no pain. That is not what it means. It means that in the middle of your pain, in the middle of your heartache, you choose to trust God's plan over your feelings. Nobody should stand up and pretend that is easy, because it isn't. But with God's help, it is possible. What That Kind of Faith Looks Like in Real Life A young woman in our church was recently baptized. When she first reached out about it, she said she wanted to explain why, and she told her story in her own words. "A year ago this September, I walked into what I thought was just another pregnancy appointment. I was five months pregnant with a sweet baby girl we had already named. I never imagined I would leave the doctor that day hearing the words that changed my life forever. There's no heartbeat. In that moment, it felt like my world stopped. I was heartbroken in a way I didn't know was possible. I felt empty, lost, angry, and confused. I didn't know how I was supposed to wake up the next day, let alone keep living. But I had my son, who still needed his mom, so somehow I kept putting one foot in front of the other, even when every step hurt. I realized pretty quickly that I had a choice. I could let this pain swallow me whole, or I could run to the only One who could carry me through it. I won't pretend it was easy. There were days I questioned everything. Days I cried until I had nothing left. Days I didn't understand why this had to be my story. It would have been so easy to turn away from God. Instead, I chose to chase Him. John 1:5 became my lifeline. It says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." That verse reminded me that even when all I could see was darkness, God was still there. Even when I couldn't feel Him, He never left me. As strange as it sounds, my daughter brought me to Jesus. I would give anything to have her here, but I can also see how God has used her little life to completely change mine. Because of her, I found a faith that isn't just something I say. It's something I live. She brought me closer to the Lord than I ever thought possible. This past year has been messy. I've wrestled with grief, fear, and questions I'll probably never have answers to. I have cried more tears than I knew I could, but I've also experienced God's peace in ways I never had before. He has carried me when I couldn't carry myself. I'm still healing. I still miss my little girl every single day, and I always will. But today I know who has been holding me through it all. Getting baptized isn't the end of my story. It's my way of telling the world that even in the darkest season of my life, Jesus found me there. He met me in my brokenness, loved me through it, and never let go. My daughter changed my life forever. She also led me to the One who saved it." Why Peace in Pain Convinces People More Than an Answered Prayer What Hebrews 11 shows us is that sometimes God does not give the miracle, and in the middle of our pain He demonstrates that knowing Him is more valuable and more joy-giving than anything else we might experience here on earth. A miraculous answer to prayer is a wonderful thing. All of us want that, and it can be a powerful testimony to someone who is not yet a believer. But what tends to be even more convincing to an unbeliever is a believer who has peace in the middle of pain, because that does not make sense in our world. When a believer holds an abiding and unshakable hope in the middle of tragedy, it shows the people watching something greater than this temporary and decaying world has to offer. In a culture where everyone is chasing happiness and never quite catching it, that kind of steadiness reaches something deep in a person's heart and makes them say, I want that kind of hope. I want that kind of joy. Sometimes God is glorified when sick people get well. Sometimes He is glorified when sick people suffer well, or even die well. The Prayer That Says "I Don't Understand, but I Trust You" We want God to give us the miracle, and it is right to have faith for it. The harder question is whether you are ready to show the faith that glorifies God if the miracle never comes, the faith that says, God, You are better than anything else life can give me, and better than anything death could take away. Here is the statement of faith you are declaring when the answer doesn't come. God, I don't understand, but I trust You. I don't understand why the healing hasn't come. I don't understand why the miracle didn't happen. I don't understand why the marriage fell apart. But I know that You are good, and I trust You to see me through. That is faith that God is better. Two Steps to Take When the Answer Is No So when you find yourself in a situation and it does not look like God is going to deliver the way you asked Him to, what do you actually do? Redefine Success Do not read your trials and difficulties as a sign of God's displeasure, or as evidence that you lack faith. If you are walking through a difficulty that is not the result of your own choices, you are in good company. Look at the list of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Trials are not necessarily an attack against you. Sometimes they are tools to build you. In God's eyes, success is faithfulness to Him no matter what. Choose Eternal Gain Over Temporary Relief When you feel the pull to abandon your faith because life just got hard, and when you feel the temptation to compromise your integrity for some temporary relief, don't do it. Prioritize God's eternal reward over immediate comfort. Where to Go From Here Sometimes we show faith by believing what God can do. Other times we show faith by resting in who God is. At times our faith declares that God is bigger as we overcome whatever obstacle is in front of us. At other times our faith declares that God is better as we face a hardship that is not going away. If you are in that second season right now, praying for something that has not come, you are not outside the story of faith. You are standing squarely inside it, in the company of people the world was not worthy of. The invitation is not to pretend the pain away. It is to say honestly, God, I don't understand, but I trust You.
August 31, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
2026-8-31 Weekly Update
Welcome to the weekly roundup 👋 This is your one-stop spot for everything happening in our church family. From kids to adults, small groups to special events, here's how you can get connected over the next seven days. This Week: Family Ministry Team Check-In: Tuesday, 9/1 | Discovery Island after staff meeting Men’s Alliance Class: Friday, September 4th | 6:30-8:00 PM | location TBD (meeting in the Student Center previously) Small Group Promo: Sunday, 9/6 Labor Day: Monday, 9/7 | church offices CLOSED Prayer Requests: Our Mission: small-group promotion and sign-ups – 50+ people attended the small-group leader training last night!! Our World: Overseas partnerships & victims of flooding at Nepal/China border Upcoming Events Church Conference (member voting on Budget and Leadership): Sunday, September 27New here? We'd love to connect. Watch last week’s sermon 👇Watch Online Generosity Your generosity makes our work in this community possible. We’re so grateful for you. One way you support our community is through the food pantry. We’ve given out over 100 bags this year. You can see our weekly food and household needs here, or click the link below to see our Amazon wishlist!Food Pantry Amazon Wishlist Stay Connected 📩 Subscribe to this Collection to get these updates delivered directly to your inbox. 📸 Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 💬 Pastoral care or questions? Connect with us here. Services: Sundays at 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM & 11:30 AM
15434 Lucia Riverbend Hwy, Stanley, NC 28164
See you soon ☀️
August 31, 2026 • 7 Minute Read
Why You Need Friends Who Will Tell You the Truth
Christians need community because faith was never designed to be carried alone, and because you need at least one person who will tell you the truth about yourself. There are seasons when your faith is strong, and you carry somebody else. There are also seasons when your faith is weak, and someone else has to carry you. Both are normal. Both are grace. If you have ever assumed that a personal relationship with God is enough on its own, one of the strangest scenes in the Gospels pushes back. A group of friends heard that Jesus was teaching in a crowded house, and they could not get their paralyzed friend anywhere near Him. So they climbed up, tore open the roof, and lowered him down on a mat right in front of Jesus. It was reckless. It was a little crazy. And when Jesus looked up, the thing He responded to was their faith. Not just the faith of the man on the mat. Their faith. Their Faith Had Hands and Feet Sometimes we picture that man's helpers as reluctant participants, but he was clearly on board. Who else would let you lower them through a roof? I remember back in my days as a youth pastor, we used to do something called sermon in the box. I would write Bible verses on slips of paper, put them in a box, and a small group would draw one and act it out. It was a way for students to put themselves inside the text. This passage came up one day, and the students found a rope and a blanket and decided to lower one of the guys from the balcony. Just before they did it, I said we should probably put a mattress underneath, because this might not go well. It did not go well. I will stop the story there. It is funny now. It was not funny then. That is the point. These men did something costly and disruptive to bring their friend to Jesus. They were not just talking about faith. They put their faith into action. Their faith had hands. Their faith had feet. Their faith picked up the mat and carried the man. Their faith ripped off a roof and lowered him down. Their faith carried. Does Your Faith Carry Anybody? Maybe that is the question God wants to ask some of us. Does your faith carry anybody? It is entirely possible to build a faith that is only about you. We can become so focused on ourselves that we forget how clearly Jesus said your faith is never just about Jesus in you. He calls us into a family. He calls us into a community. He calls us into a body. He calls us into a tribe. A tribe means you are walking together. You are journeying together. You are protecting one another and picking one another up. Those men on the roof knew something simple and urgent: their friend needed to get in front of Jesus, and he was not going to get there on his own. Why Christians Need Community in Both Seasons Here is what makes this more than a nice idea. There are seasons in our faith when we are strong, and we carry someone else, and there are seasons when our faith is weak, and someone else needs to carry us. That is life group theology. Think about your own life. Who are the people who carried you? Maybe it was a parent or a grandparent. Maybe a pastor, a friend, or your spouse. Maybe it was someone who showed up at the right moment with the right word. Maybe it was simply someone who said, "I am not leaving. I am here." That is a gift. You Do Not Have to Pretend You Are Okay Some of us need to hear this plainly. You do not have to pretend you are okay. You do not have to pretend you are strong. You do not have to pretend you have all the answers. There are going to be times when we are the one on the mat, and that is okay. Many of us have quietly decided we will just carry ourselves. If there is a rope to hold, we will hold it for ourselves. We imagine we can rig a pulley system and hoist ourselves up whenever things get hard. But when you are genuinely weak, you cannot hoist yourself up. You need somebody. The Christian life was never designed to run on "I've got this." It was designed to run on "We've got you." There will be seasons when you are holding the rope, and seasons when you are hanging onto it. Who Is Holding Your Rope? So let me ask you directly. Who is holding your rope? Who knows you well enough to know when you are not okay? Who can tell when you are struggling? Who will pray for you? Who will look honestly at your life and say, "You're drifting"? Friends are great, but I want someone holding my rope who loves God more than they love me. Here is why. If they love me more than they love God, they will be afraid of hurting the friendship, and they will not tell me the truth. I need the truth. The Friend Who Loved God Enough to Offend Me This started to click for me early in ministry. My wife and I were part of a small group with a wonderful godly couple. We all went out to dinner one night and had a great time. The next morning the husband called me and asked if we could talk for a second. He said, "Hey, I love you enough to tell you this." What he meant was that he loved God enough to offend me. Then he said, "You were a jerk last night." My first reaction was to push back. Hang on, buddy. You do not get to tell me that. He explained that I had been making jokes at my wife's expense. I told him I did not believe him. We talked for a minute, and I hung up the phone, but it started to bother me. When I got home, I never mentioned the phone call. I just went to my wife and said, "Hey sweetie, last night I made some jokes that were a little out of pocket. I should not have said them. I am sorry." She said, "You did." Then she said, "I forgive you. Thank you so much for telling me that." That was the moment it hit me. This is what biblical community looks like. This is what it means to have someone who says, "I love you, and I love God more, and I will tell you the truth even if it hurts." What a Life Group Is Actually For That is why I believe so strongly in life groups. A life group is not just getting together for a study and a meal. It is taking the study and applying it. A life group is a group of people who decide together to follow Jesus, to pray for one another, to love one another, to encourage one another, and to challenge one another. We will know one another's stories. We will do this together. If one person is weak, we will carry them. If I am weak, you will carry me. That is why Christians need community. Not as a program to attend, but as a rope held by people who will not let go. So find your people, and be the kind of friend who tears open a roof to get someone in front of Jesus.
August 24, 2026 • 8 Minute Read
Can God Use Someone With a Past Like Mine?
The short answer is yes, and the Bible makes the case through a woman most of her neighbors would have written off entirely. Rahab in the Bible is remembered as the Canaanite woman who hid two Israelite spies in Jericho and was spared when the city fell. What usually gets skipped is why she did it. She had never met an Israelite, never read Scripture, and never heard it read aloud. She acted because of a story she had been hearing her entire life, and she decided the story was true. If you have ever wondered whether your past puts you outside the reach of God, or whether faith is even possible when you have had no religious upbringing at all, Rahab's story is worth slowing down for. She had every reason to be written off. She ends up in the family line of Jesus. Who Was Rahab in the Bible? Joshua sends two spies to Jericho ahead of Israel's advance, and they are rescued from capture by a Canaanite prostitute named Rahab. Joshua had been one of the original twelve spies himself, so he knew what that assignment cost. This time he does not send ten or twelve. He sends two, in secret, because he already knows Jericho is where Israel is supposed to go first. God had ordered it, and Joshua had been instructed. These two may not have been especially good at spying. Word gets out that they are in town. We do not know how. We only know that word spreads, and that it spreads specifically that they have gone to the house of Rahab. Some scholars think that if you were a spy looking for information, Rahab would have been an intelligent person to approach. In her particular trade, a lot of secrets were shared, and in that era, prostitutes may have been some of the best informed people in a city about what was happening around them. Rahab Had to Choose Between Her Life and Theirs Once word reaches the king of Jericho, he sends his men to Rahab's door, and she is forced into a decision. She can turn the spies over, or she can commit treason. One of those options can get her killed. She chooses treason. She tells the men at the door that they have just missed the spies, that if they hurry down the road they will overtake them, and that if they do not leave that instant they will never find them. The men take her at her word and go. She had already taken the spies up to the roof of her house and hidden them there. We do not know exactly what her home looked like, though we understand it was built into the city wall and she had some access to a rooftop. She goes up to them and tells them they will need to leave that night, before the search party returns, and that they should travel the opposite direction from the one she sent their pursuers. Wait three days, she says, then return to your people. And remember me. What Made Rahab Believe in a God She Had Never Met? When the spies ask her what this kindness is and why she would do it, she answers with one of the more remarkable confessions in the Old Testament. She tells them she knows the Lord has given them the land, that the terror of them has fallen on Jericho, and that everyone living there has despaired. She recounts how the Lord dried up the Red Sea when Israel came out of Egypt, and what Israel did to the kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan. When those reports reached the city, she says, their hearts melted, and no courage remained in anyone. Then comes the line that explains everything: the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below (Joshua 2:11). Rahab possessed faith in the awesome power of God. Had she ever met an Israelite before? Probably not. Had she read Scripture? No. Had she heard it? No. And she still chose a crime punishable by death over self-preservation, because she believed. Notice what she believed specifically. Most of the gods of her time were regional and specialized: gods of agriculture, of the sun, of hunting, of sustenance. She is saying that the God of Israel holds heaven and earth together. He has everything. That would make Him a larger God than any she had ever heard of. And she was living in the most fortified city in her country. She knew Jericho did not stand a chance against Him. That is absolutely incredible. Faith Can Grow From a Testimony You Only Heard About Do the math on the timeline. The Red Sea had been parted roughly forty years before these spies walked into Jericho. For four decades, that word had been going out across the region. God was working through the testimony of Israel long before Israel ever arrived. That is what shifted Rahab's heart. Not a sermon, not a scroll, and not a personal encounter. A testimony that had been traveling for forty years finally landed on someone who decided to put her life on the line for it. I have to be honest here. Outside of what you read in the book of Acts, I have not run into many people like that. I have never had the experience of meeting someone who said, I have heard about Jesus my whole life, and I have just been waiting for someone to tell me how to receive Him. I would love to have that experience. I never have. But when the spies ask Rahab why she is helping them, she essentially says, I have been hearing about your God my whole life, and I believe He is who the stories say He is. Your Life Is Someone Else's Evidence Here is where this lands in ordinary life. People are watching how you live. They notice your acts of faith, your ability to suffer well, and your willingness to trust God with uncertainty. Whether you intend it or not, that becomes a testimony in someone else's life. It certainly works that way among believers. I have had conversations with friends where I watched them walk through something hard, and then God walked me into the same thing, and I was able to tell them, I believe God is going to bring me through this because of the way I saw Him do it for you. And I have been in the other seat. People have called me and said, " Your courage gave me courage.” There is a testimony at work, and it is usually older and wider than you realize. What Does the Scarlet Cord in Rahab's Story Mean? Before the spies escape, they give her terms. They promise to take care of her and everyone inside her household, but she has to tie a scarlet cord in her window. No cord, no protection. Keep the cord in the window, and they will remember her kindness. Fast-forward to the assault on the city, and Joshua tells the entire army to remember Rahab, look for the scarlet cord, and leave her and her family untouched. God is about to do a miracle at Jericho, but first, take care of Rahab. That cord is not coincidental by any means. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He told them to take the blood of a lamb and paint their doorposts (Exodus 12). A scarlet cord hanging above a window in a doomed city is the same picture. And further down the line, we see the blood of Jesus on a cross. He is tying it all together. There are threads running throughout Old Testament Scripture into New Testament Scripture that say this is one story and that a redemption story is taking place. Why Rahab Appears in the Genealogy of Jesus Read the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1, and Rahab shows up in it. Four women are named there, and one of them is a woman who was not an Israelite and who worked in a profession her culture considered shameful. Because of her faith in God, she was not only rescued from the fall of Jericho. She was restored to a position of value and dignity; she was married, and she ended up in the lineage of Jesus Christ our Savior. Who can do that? Only God can do that. Where This Leaves You Rahab in the Bible is more than a story about a resourceful woman who picked the winning side. She is evidence that God moves toward people who have no religious background, no heritage, and no clean record, and that He does not merely tolerate them once they arrive. He gives them a place in the story. Whatever you have heard about God secondhand, from a friend, a family member, or a stranger whose steadiness you could not quite explain, that testimony is doing more work than you think. Rahab acted on far less. And whatever you assume disqualifies you, hers was worse by every standard her culture had, and it did not hold.
August 17, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
2026-8-17 Weekly Update
Welcome to the weekly roundup 👋 This is your one-stop spot for everything happening in our church family. From kids to adults, small groups to special events, here's how you can get connected over the next seven days. This Week: Baptisms: Sunday, 8/30 Small Group Promo: this Sunday and next (8/30 & 9/6) Small Group Leader Training: Sunday, 8/30 | 6 PM | Student Center Prayer Requests: Our Mission: Small Group promotion and signups over the next few weeks. Email Leslie to be added to our prayer team. Our Community: Families, teachers, and school staff as schools get into full swing. World: Overseas partnerships. Upcoming Events Baptism Sunday:Sunday, August 30 Small Group Leader Training: Sunday, August 30 Church Conference (member voting on Budget and Leadership): Sunday, September 27New here? We'd love to connect. Watch last week’s sermon 👇Watch Online Generosity Your generosity makes our work in this community possible. We’re so grateful for you. One way you support our community is through the food pantry. We’ve given out over 100 bags this year. You can see our weekly food and household needs here, or click the link below to see our Amazon wishlist!Food Pantry Amazon Wishlist Stay Connected 📩 Subscribe to this Collection to get these updates delivered directly to your inbox. 📸 Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 💬 Pastoral care or questions? Connect with us here. Services: Sundays at 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM & 11:30 AM
15434 Lucia Riverbend Hwy, Stanley, NC 28164
See you soon ☀️