Sex is everywhere. Our world treats it like it's everything. Sadly, sexual brokenness abounds. Paul writes to the Thessalonians about their ongoing spiritual formation. Sexual integrity is one aspect. Though sexual immorality seems to affect a minority of the church, Paul addresses it, knowing the promiscuous port city may tempt them. Sexual integrity is about avoiding self-indulgence, respecting others, and embracing God's design. Finally, sex outside of marriage is not the unpardonable sin. God's grace runs deep.

Change is challenging. We like our routines. We get stuck in our ways. Predictable is comfortable. However, God invites us to change. The living and true God wants our full allegiance, which means rooting out idols and serving his purposes. This opening sermon in the new series will provide background to Thessalonians, Paul's gratitude for good work, good news, and good examples. And it will inspire a call to change that could turn the world upside down!

All who are in Christ are incorporated in the church. To illustrate this, Paul loved using the body as an organic metaphor. The human body is fearfully and wonderfully made. It is comprised of many parts, working together to help us labor, play, grow, and live with others. The church should be a picture of unity in diversity. Different gifted people share a goal and an ethic in helping others know Jesus better and give Jesus their best.

Jesus left the earthly stage, but his show goes on. We serve in his absence. We serve by his Spirit. Everyone in Christ is a participant in his great redemption story. As great as this news sounds, we must constantly resist the contamination story we inherited from Adam. In this message, learn about the Tale of Two Adams, contamination scripts, and how spiritual disciplines help you overcome sin.

Zechariah saw into the future. In his final two oracles (9-11; 12-14), he envisions God's victory over the nations, judgment of bad leaders, elimination of idols, and restoration of Jerusalem where God's people and the nations would worship. Central to these visions were glimpses of a messianic figure: priestly, humble, pastoral, and pierced. This figure came later, not sooner, in the first coming of Jesus Christ. Zechariah's words provided a script for his life. As his followers, we wait for his second coming. Indeed, we live for later.