Week 2 of the "Church on Mission" sermon series, titled "Beginning the Mission: Loving God". Pastor Tim explains that the fundamental mission of the church is to help people continually grow in loving God, loving others, and making disciples. This week, we dig into the essential starting point: loving God. We wrestle with two key questions: Why is loving God the center of the mission, and how do we actually learn to love God more and more?. Discover why followers of Jesus must "be before we do", mirroring God who is before He does. Finally, we outline seven key areas—including reading the Bible, praying consistently, and attending worship services—where focused effort will lead to genuine spiritual growth and transformation, enabling us to carry out the full mission of the church.

Introducing a new series called "Church on Mission", shifting focus from relationships to the church's purpose. Pastor Tim asserts that the church's mission should be the central guiding principle for both the institution and individual Christians, connecting an individual's life purpose to the local church's mission, citing the Great Commandment (Mark 12:28-31) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) as biblical foundations for this directive.

Pastor Tim is focusing on relationships within the church community, marking the conclusion of a series and anticipating the Advent season. He emphasizes that "church" refers to the people of God, not merely the Sunday gathering, stressing that the foundation of Christian life and relationships is the gospel (the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus). He addresses the overwhelming nature of New Testament commands by focusing on the "one another's," which he summarizes into three practical applications for church life: love one another, be with one another, and be unified with one another, even when personal sacrifice is required. He strongly encourages believers to prioritize time together and maintain unity by focusing on the core, non-negotiable truths of the faith.

About the Christian responsibility to care for orphans, the fatherless, and the vulnerable. Guest speaker Nathan Mandsager uses biblical commands from James, the Psalms, and Isaiah to assert that serving the broken is a core aspect of pure and undefiled religion and a historical legacy of the Christian church. He stresses that this action must stem from faith rather than being an attempt to earn salvation, challenging the audience to choose to engage through fostering, adoption, supporting organizations like Child Voice, or simply serving within their local communities. Ultimately, the sermon asks listeners to consider why and how they should actively bring hope and care to those in need, using the Gospel as the necessary motivation for such outward efforts.

In this powerful message, Pastor Tim dives into the often-overlooked topic of widows as part of his series on relationships. He unpacks the deep emotional and spiritual weight carried by those who’ve lost a spouse, especially widows, and explores how economic and societal challenges have impacted them both historically and today.

Drawing from both Old and New Testament teachings, Pastor Tim reveals how God’s heart for widows is woven throughout Scripture—from laws protecting them in the Old Testament to the early church appointing deacons for their care. A key focus of the sermon is Paul’s guidance to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5, where the church is called to care for widows in a way that honors both family responsibility and wise stewardship.

Whether you're a widow, know someone who is, or simply want to understand God's heart for the vulnerable, this sermon offers deep insight, practical steps, and a powerful reminder: your identity is rooted in Christ, not your circumstances.

On the topic of marriage as part of a larger series on relationships. Guest speaker and Child Voice CEO, Nathan Mandsager, begins by framing marriage as a divine institution rooted in the biblical narrative of Genesis and affirmed by Jesus, contrasting the secular view of marriage as self-fulfillment with the Christian ideal of a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman dedicated to God's glory.

The provided text is an excerpt from a sermon transcript by Pastor Tim focusing on the topic of singleness within a larger series on relationships. The pastor challenges the assumption that single people lack relationships and outlines five truths about singleness, emphasizing that it does not mean being unlovable or unloved, referencing Isaiah 56 to highlight God's high regard for single individuals. The sermon also points out that many of God’s great servants, including Jesus and the Apostle Paul, were single, demonstrating that singleness does not equate to ineffectiveness. Furthermore, the text explores the reality that singleness can be viewed as both a gift and a cross to bear due to the mixed blessings and challenges it presents. Finally, the pastor addresses the pressures of a sex-obsessed culture and concludes by asserting that all believers are guaranteed marriage one day to Christ, positioning both earthly singleness and marriage as temporary states pointing to the ultimate wedding of the Lamb.

God's overarching purpose for families remains – to point people toward Him.

Focusing on the multifaceted nature of relationships, beginning with the foundational connection between humanity and God. Pastor Tim emphasizes that while many associate "relationships" solely with marriage, the series will explore various forms, including divine, familial, communal, and individual connections. A central theme is God's unwavering pursuit of relationship with humanity, even in the face of human sin and rejection, demonstrated through biblical accounts and culminating in Jesus' sacrifice.