The Advent and Christmas seasons are always a special time of the year... filled with fun and festivity, cheer and light.  But are you missing the reason for the season?  Are you ready?  Ready for a Savior to come into your life?  Ready to spread the light in a dark world?  Check out these great messages and get ready!

♦  Time to Get Ready! - Isaiah 2:1-5
♦  Lessons from the Wild Man - Matthew 3:1-12
♦  God With Us - Matthew 1:18-25
♦  A Light in the Darkness - Matthew 2:13-23
♦  Following the Light - Matthew 2:1-12

Walk with us as we examine some of the tough questions/decisions Jesus set before us!

♦  Be A Good Samaritan: Luke 10: 25-37
♦  Tough Questions - Priorities: Luke 10: 38-42
♦  Tough Questions - How to Pray: Luke 11:5-13
♦  Tough Questions - Eternal Inheritance: Luke 12:13-21
♦  Be Ready! Luke 12:32-40
♦  Division and Peace - Luke 12:49-56
♦  Work or Compassion: Luke 13:10-17

"Can you pray for me?"  We've all heard it at some point in our lives.  But what does prayer actually do for us and the people we pray for?  And how should we pray?  Is there a right or wrong way to do it?  Come along with us as we explore the power of prayer in our lives today and discover ways to improve your own prayer life!

♦  Getting Close to God: Jeremiah 29:11-12
♦  Reaching the Unreached - Romans 10:6-10
♦  Pray Then Like This - Matthew 6:9-15
♦  I Can't Hear You! Hebrews 11:39-40
♦  Growing In God - Philippians 4:4-7

Come along with us as we follow Jesus and take his teachings to heart during a few of his encounters with people during his time here in our world.

♦  This Was Not the Plan! - Luke 5:1-11
♦  How Can We Choose? - Luke 6:17-26
♦  Depth of Field: Luke 9:28-36

Paul calls the church the Body of Christ, but what does that mean?  How are we to collectively live our lives so that we are seen as reflections of Christ?  Come along with us as we examine what it means to live life as the church - the Body of Christ!

♦  Showing Up: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
♦  Neediness: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
♦  Love Again: 1 Corinthians 13

Each year we hear the familiar story of the Messiah's birth, often through the eyes of the main characters.  But what about those in the background?  How did they view the events that took place on that first Christmas?  Walk with us to Bethlehem as we dig deeper into the Christmas story through the eyes of some of these background characters!

♦  The Prophets: Jeremiah 33:14-16
♦  Family Relations: Luke 1:5-25
♦  New Hope & Retreat UMC Sunday School Christmas Program
♦  Westby UMC Sunday School Christmas Program
♦  Mary: Micah 5:2-5, Luke 1:26-56

When we accept Christ into our lives and become baptized in the Holy Spirit, part of God's Holy Spirit comes and resides within us.  It empowers us for the journey ahead and aids us in our times of trouble.  Yet there are times when we may doubt that He is there.  How can we be sure the Holy Spirit is actually in us?  What are the signs/symptoms?  Journey with us and discover several attributes of God's Holy Spirit and how we show these in our lives.

♦  Spirit of Gratitude: Colossians 3:15-17
♦  Spirit of Faithfulness: Hebrews 11:1-3,39-40
♦  Spirit of Generosity: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
♦  Spirit of Discipline: Matthew 7:13-14, James 1:1-4, 12-15
♦  Spirit of Humility: Revelation 1:4b-8, John 18:33-37

Christians believe in the love of Jesus Christ that reaches out to all creation. Christians are called to serve wherever Christ would have us work to heal and free others through the power of the Holy Spirit. In this, United Methodists are like most other Christian denominations. But there are also a few ways we express our faith that is distinctive from others.

 Through this series, we will explore what we believe not just as Christians, but more specifically, what we believe as United Methodists. We have a wonderful heritage in Methodism. Explore with us.

♦  Dressed for Success: Ephesians 6:10-20
♦  Means of Grace: Ephesians 2:1-10
♦  Three Simple Rules: 3 John & Galatians 5:13-14
♦  Social Holiness: Micah 6:6-9 NIV
♦  Two Promises: Matthew 26:26-30, Matthew 28:15-20
♦  Moving Toward Perfection: Philippians 3:12-16

♦  Waiting... - Isaiah 64:1-9
♦  Make the path to our hearts easy: Isaiah 40:1-11 & Mark 1:1-8
♦  Jesus, the Father’s plan to give us hope: Luke 2:1-14 & Jeremiah 29:11-14
♦  Who is the real blind person? John 9:1-41
♦  Our call to serve God: Jeremiah 1:4-10, 17-19
♦  We can't move forward while looking backwards: Isaiah 43:18-25
♦  A promise with a purpose equals a covenant: Joshua 24:1,14-25
♦  Wrestling with God: Genesis 32:22-32
♦  Love is _____________________: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
♦  Revived, Restored, & Redeemed: Psalm 85:1-13
♦  Freedom from all, for all!: Acts 16:16-40
♦  Grace–when God knows what we've done & heals us anyway: Isaiah 57:11-21
♦  Faith Journey: John 3:1-21
♦  Disciples: John 12:1-11
♦  Even the stones will cry out! Luke 19:28-40
♦  Witnesses: Mark 16
♦  Jesus’ peace strengthens us for mission: John 20: 19-31
♦  But we’ve never done it that way before: John 21:1-14
♦  Gideon's International Message by Don Zietlow
♦  Confirm & Commit - John 15:1-8
♦  Choices - Psalm 1
♦  Church Growth: Acts 2:1-21 & 41
♦  The Good Shepherd: John 10: 11-18
♦  What is the most valuable free thing that you have ever received?: Isaiah 55:1-5
♦  Family Life: Colossians 3:1-17
♦  Leadership Change is Biblical: Joshua 1:1-9 & 1 Chronicles 22:1-13

♦ Blessed to be a blessing - Genesis 12:1-9
♦ If God is your co-pilot, switch seats! - Exodus 3:1-15
♦ As God’s advanced scouts, do we offer faith or fear? - Numbers 1-3, 26-33
♦ If Not us, then who? If not now, then when? - Jeremiah 1:4-10
♦ God can use anyone, and anything.  Even tragedy. - Ruth 1:1-21
♦ It's never too early to share the Good News. - Luke 1:39-55
♦ Following God's Guidance. - Matthew 2:12-23
♦ We are Never Lost when we are in our Father's House - Luke 2:41-52
♦ Jesus Heals Anyone, Anytime & Anywhere - Matthew 9:9-12 & Mark 5:22-43
♦ Be a lamb among wolves. Worst job description ever. - Luke 10:1-12, 16
♦ God's Church, the same, yet different - Revelation 2 & 3

Life is full of questions.  Many, many questions.  But questions are good… they make you think.  As we walk through the Bible, we’re often presented with many deep questions… and very seldom does the Bible give us easy answers.  God wants us to realize that nothing in life is black and white, so He gives us a lot of gray in the Bible.

Take the story of Jonah… the cute little story about the little guy who gets swallowed up by the whale. As kids we think about Jonah wandering around in the belly. What would he find? Did he see the ribs of the whale? Was there water in the belly of the whale? Did Jonah find undigested fish in the belly? Ewwh!!

As we get older though our questions change.

Was being swallowed by the whale a punishment?  Did the whale want to eat Jonah, or save him?  What was Jonah running from?  What does the story of Jonah have in common with Jesus and the events of Holy Week?  Why did the whale finally spit Jonah out?  Why did Jonah get mad at God?  Who are the Ninevehites of today?  Who is Jonah today?  What was Jonah’s real job that God wanted him to do?  What is God really telling us in the Book of Jonah? What is he asking us?

In this series, we’re studying the book of Jonah.  We encourage you to read along with us and coming up with your own questions.  Once you have a question, write it down and search for an answer!