Sunday talks as well as conversations about what Jesus is up to in our hearts, the community, and the world.

In a world overflowing with noise, distraction, and competing stories, Jesus calls His followers to become people who know His voice. Spiritual maturity is less about acquiring information and more about cultivating intimacy, trust, and attentiveness to the Good Shepherd.

Jesus often meets us in our disappointment long before we recognize His presence.

Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos reveal a church built through shared leadership, discipleship, humility, and multiplication. This final week prepares Axiom for the next season by emphasizing formation over platform and movement over personality.

Acts 18:12–17 The church cannot control public opinion. This text explores misunderstanding, resistance, and what it means to remain grounded when faithfulness becomes uncomfortable or costly.

God meets Paul in discouragement and reminds him to stay. This week focuses on endurance, courage, and remaining faithful when ministry, relationships, or culture feel difficult.

Acts 18:1-4 Paul's ministry in Corinth reminds us that kingdom work happens in ordinary rhythms of life and labor. This week affirms vocation, presence, and faithfulness in everyday spaces.

Acts 17:22–34 “The Unknown God” Paul speaks the language of the people around him while still faithfully proclaiming Jesus. This message explores evangelism, public witness, and how the church can communicate the gospel meaningfully in a spiritually fragmented world.

Paul walks through Athens and feels the tension between grief and compassion. This week explores how Christians engage culture without fear, superiority, or withdrawal. Mission begins with seeing clearly.

Acts 17:10-15, the Bereans model a deep hunger for truth without cynicism or passivity. In an age of outrage, reaction, and shallow formation, disciples of Jesus become people who search the Scriptures with humility, discernment, and expectancy.

The early church disrupted cities because they carried a different way of life.

Our witness and "good news" is only as strong as our love for one another.

God gives us the gift of his Spirit to be experienced in community.

The story ends not with escape but with God dwelling with humanity in a renewed creation.

The thousand years is not a countdown clock but a vision that Christ already reigns and evil's power is limited.

Babylon represents the seductive system of wealth, power, and exploitation that shapes culture.

The church conquers the world the same way Jesus did—by faithful love.

The beast is any system that demands allegiance that belongs to God alone.

Revelation is not about decoding the future. It is about seeing the present clearly through the resurrection of Jesus.

Each post-resurrection story shares at least one thing, whoever Jesus appears to does not recognize him...

A Good Friday liturgy of the cross.

Week 5 – Mercy in the Shadows Apprentice: The Thief Text: Luke 23:39–43 Not every apprentice has years of formation. Some begin at the edge. Even here, love can awaken. Even here, mercy speaks. Apprenticeship sometimes begins at the end. Practice: Pray for someone who feels far from faith.

Apprentice: Mary of Bethany Text: John 12:1–8 She wastes perfume. She ignores calculation. She loves without restraint. Apprenticeship grows bold. Love becomes embodied. It becomes generous. Practice: Give something costly this week without announcing it.

Apprentice: Peter at the Fire Text: Luke 22:54–62 Peter loves Jesus. Peter swore loyalty. Peter denies Him three times. Love is practiced. The pilgrimage gives room to get it wrong. Failure is not the end of apprenticeship. Under pressure, we discover what shapes us. But Jesus' gaze meets Peter not with rejection, but with invitation. Practice: Reflect on a moment you failed someone you love. Bring it to Jesus without defending yourself.

Week 2 – The Weight We Cannot Carry Apprentice: The Rich Young Ruler Text: Mark 10:17–31 He runs to Jesus. He kneels. He wants eternal life. But he cannot release what anchors him. Apprenticeship exposes attachments. You can follow closely and still cling tightly. Love matures through surrender. Practice: Name what feels hardest to release. Pray honestly about it all week.

Week 1 – Conceived in the Dark Apprentice: Nicodemus Text: John 3:1–8 Nicodemus comes at night. Curious. Confused. Reputable but searching. Apprenticeship begins in questions, not certainty. New birth cannot be mastered. Following Jesus means entering mystery. Practice: Ten minutes of silence each night. Let questions surface.

For Jesus, the center of everything was His relationship with the Father.

Youth Pastor Wyatt teaches on Matthew 3:13-17. Before Jesus acts publicly, he is named beloved. Belonging becomes the foundation from which faithfulness grows.

Jesus reveals a different vision of power — one that restores rather than dominates, and leads through proximity rather than control.

Epiphany Revelation: God is no longer encountered in one location, but among people. Key Shift: Worship becomes relational and portable (here is why that matters) God's presence moves into everyday life (access means) Anchor Idea: After Jesus, the sacred is no longer confined to places—it is carried by people.

Life with God is no longer organized primarily around adherence, but relationship.

When Jesus names the moment as today, he declares that reality itself has changed. After Jesus, God's work is no longer only anticipated—it is unfolding now.

The love of God doesn't hover above the cold; it moves in. The Incarnation is divine warmth taking human form.

Our brother James Colaw brings our week 3 sermon of advent, Joy.

The world's false peace is control. The peace of Christ is restoration. The Prince of Peace comes not to silence the oppressed but to melt hardened hearts.

Advent begins in a land under a spell — where the world is frozen in fear, and hope feels like a rumor. Yet through the frost comes a whisper: “Aslan is on the move.” This series draws from the heart of C.S. Lewis's Narnia and the ancient rhythm of Advent to name the ache of our world while awakening us to the warmth of Christ's coming.

Pastor Bethann talks about the value of children in community.

The church is a table, not a tower. We give and serve because we want others to experience belonging and grace. God builds through radical hospitality.

God's house isn't made of stone—it's made of people who make space for Him.

God calls His people not only to resolve their own conflicts but to embody reconciliation in the world.

Conflict is inevitable. We face it in our families, friendships, workplaces, and even in the church. The question isn't if we'll fight, but how. Scripture doesn't call us to avoid conflict or to win at all costs — it calls us to engage it with honesty, humility, and hope.

Ross reads James 4:1-4. Honest conflict resolution begins with self-examination and surrendering our motives to God.

Conflict is inevitable. We face it in our families, friendships, workplaces, and even in the church. The question isn't if we'll fight, but how. Scripture doesn't call us to avoid conflict or to win at all costs — it calls us to engage it with honesty, humility, and hope.

Asaph was not a king, prophet, or warrior—he was a songwriter. A poet. A worship leader in the temple who gave voice to both the beauty and the brokenness of life with God. His psalms are full of honesty: he wrestles with doubt, protests injustice, remembers God's faithfulness, and longs for the world to be set right. Through Asaph's songs, we discover that faith is not about having it all together. Faith is learning to bring our whole selves before God—the joy and the grief, the gratitude and the lament, the certainty and the questions. In this four-week journey, we will learn from Asaph how to pray honestly, to see worship as more than ritual, to remember God's faithfulness when life feels dark, and to find our ultimate hope in Christ, who fulfills the longing cries of the psalms. At Axiom, we believe worship is not just singing songs—it's learning to live in God's presence with honesty, hope, and courage. Come and journey with us as we enter Asaph's psalms, songs born in the shadows, that still lead us into the light of Christ.

Psalm 50 reading. In despair, Asaph remembers the mighty acts of God—deliverance at the Red Sea, faithfulness through generations. Memory becomes medicine. He teaches us to look back in order to hope forward.

Text: Psalm 73 Asaph looks at the world and is undone—why do the wicked prosper while the faithful suffer? He brings his confusion and envy into prayer rather than hiding it. In the sanctuary, he discovers that God's presence reframes reality. Focus: Learning to pray with honesty before God; doubt and disillusionment as a doorway into deeper trust. Practice: Journaling prayers of raw honesty. Bring to God what you normally keep hidden. Tone: “Faith is not pretending everything is fine; faith is bringing everything—especially what isn't fine—into the presence of God.”

Francis abandoned wealth, pride, and comfort to embrace poverty and joy. He shows us that simplicity is not just minimalism—it's liberation. Through creation, care, and humility, he embodied Christ's freedom.

After a profound spiritual awakening during recovery from war wounds, Ignatius devoted his life to helping others listen deeply for God's voice. He teaches that discipleship is not about frantic doing, but about rooted discernment—choosing what leads us deeper into love.

Menno Simons gave his life not to build a movement, but to follow Jesus faithfully. In a world bent on violence and power, he modeled peace, community, and cross-bearing love—even at great cost. Focus: Choosing peace and humility over control Key Texts: Matthew 5:38–45; Romans 12:1–2; Hebrews 10:32–36 Virtue: Convictional Peace Spiritual Practice: Acts of nonviolent resistance (name and fast from a power-grabbing tendency this week)