Pastor Rocky continues the series of Building a Gospel Community. He breaks down Ephesians 4.1-16 and encourages the body and members of WCC to commit to the work of ministry through speaking the truth in love to one another.  He then poses three questions: What is our ministry? Why does our ministry matter? and how is the ministry fufiled?

In John 13.1-35, we see that the local church is meant to be a community characterized by self-denying, Christ-exalting, gospel-shaped love — a love that proves itself through sacrificial - service for those whom Christ loves. Three ideas that help us see this in the text: 1) love’s symbol, 2) love’s example, and 3) love’s promise.

In Acts 2.37-47, we consider how the resurrection creates the local church to be a devoted community. There are two ways we see this: 1) a devotion to the risen Lord and 2) a devotion to the radically ordinary.

This Sunday we begin a series on biblical community by looking at Ephesians 2.14-22. There are all kinds of communities we can and should participate in. But there is no community more important than the local church. Christians must love and spend themselves for their local church. If we’re going to do that, we must understand the beauty and glory of what God has made us in Christ. In this text Paul gives three pictures that illustrate our new identity as the Church: 1) God’s New Humanity, 2) God’s New Kingdom-Family, and 3) God’s New Temple.

Pastor Jones Ndzi (Grace Reformed Baptist Church, North Carolina) preaches from Romans 8.5-11. He shows us how the resurrection changes everything about our thinking, our living, and our eternal destination. Christ’s resurrection grants us life in the Spirit delivering us from the dominion of the flesh.

In Genesis 50, we come to the conclusion of the book, which focuses on Joseph. All of Genesis focused on God’s promise to send a savior and His faithfulness to keep that promise by preserving his people. And there isn’t a person in all of Genesis that prefigured that savior more than Jospeh. So as Genesis concludes we highlight two theme in Joseph’s last days: 1) sorrow and 2) hope. Two themes that really faithfully summarize the entire story of Genesis.

In Genesis 49, we find Jacob continuing to bless his sons on his death bed. The most important thing Jacob does before he passes is to pass on God’s covenant blessings, promises, and obligations to his sons.

Jeff Fisher (pastoral ministry assistant at Kihei Baptist Chapel) preaches from Numbers 32.1-32 emphasizing the importance of God's people being united. We can't say we're not needed, nor can we say other members aren't needed. We are all needed in the body of Christ.

In Genesis 48, Jacob is on his deathbed and for the next two chapters, he will be passing down the covenant blessings and obligations to his sons But here, he begins by blessing Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

In Genesis 47, God demonstrates his covenant faithfulness and providential care for Israel by providing for them and prospering them as they sojourn in Egypt.

In John 20.29-34, Pastor Kenny helps us to see our great and desperate need for Jesus and the blessing of spiritual sight that he freely offers to us in the gospel.

In Genesis 46, Jacob and his family begin their pilgrimage into Egypt. There they’ll remain strangers and aliens outside the land of promise for over 400 years. As they begin this journey, we find God strengthening Jacob in three main ways: 1) God revives Jacob’s worship, 2) God reassures Jacob of covenant promises, and 3) God restores Jacob’s relationship with Joseph.

In Genesis 45, Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers. By God’s grace peace is restored to them and Joseph sends them back to retrieve their father. There are two big ideas this story: 1) God reconciles the sons of Jacob and 2) God revives the soul of Jacob.

Real change is hard to come by. But in Genesis 43-44, that’s what we find in the sons of Jacob. Genuine repentance over sin that is willing to humbly embrace the providential discipline of God. True change is one of the clearest indicators that someone belongs to Christ. We walk through this story in four scenes: 1) Jacob sends his sons to Egypt, 2) Jospeh welcomes his brothers, 3) Joseph tests his brothers, and 4) Judah offers himself in place of Benjamin.

In Philippians 2.5-8, Paul shows us that in his advent, Christ willingly subjected himself to humiliation. There are two ways the church has historically understood Christ’s advent as humiliation: 1) his incarnation and 2) his death.

We continue our Advent series by looking at Isaiah 11.1-1. Here we find that through Isaiah God promised Christ to reign on David’s throne and establish everlasting peace and righteousness on the earth for all the peoples. The best thing for us this advent is to know more of Christ and to make him known. Isaiah shows us that God’s promised Christ will be: 1) Davidic King, 2) Anointed King, 3) Righteous King, 4) Edenic King, and 5) Universal King.

We’ll be taking a break from Genesis for the month of December to focus on Advent. This Sunday, in John 1.1-5, we focused on how God prepared advent before the creation of the world in eternity past. We considered two main truths that helped to prepare the way for the coming of Christ: 1) the Pre-advent Christ and 2) The Pre-advent Covenant.

This Sunday, we take a break from Genesis as Pastor Noah (Kahului Baptist) preaches on the life-giving soul-delighting power of God’s word from Psalm 119.25-40.

In Genesis 42, through his providential hand, God exposes the guilt of Joseph’s brothers and father. The reason God does this is because he loves his people too much to leave us in our sins. In love, he will always come for us and restore us to himself. We walk through this story in 3 parts: 1) Confronted by the LORD, 2) Convicted by the LORD, and 3) Afflicted by the LORD.

In Genesis 41, Joseph is finally exalted out of his affliction. God sovereignly providentially works on Joseph’s behalf to raise him up out of the pit and seat him at the right hand of power in Egypt, thereby saving the nations from global calamity. This text reminds believers that we too will be exalted and reign with Christ. We walk through this story in three parts: 1) The impotence of Pharaoh, 2) the exaltation of Joseph, and 3) the realization of divine-promises.