Mount Hope | Burlington Campus

We all have relationships in life. Whether it's with your spouse, children, family, friends, or coworkers, these relationships are often nuanced and have tensions that need to be managed. This week we talk about the challenges we face as parents. While we strive to be the best parents we can be, we often fall short. In our latest sermon in our series, we ask the question "How can we be Christ-like Parents?" If you missed Sunday's sermon, you may listen here.

On our own and single, it is pretty simple to make our everyday decisions. We have more freedom and only our own agenda to live out. However, when we enter into a marriage relationship, it certainly becomes a bit more difficult. It seems tension and conflict are introduced once there is an "us" in marriage and not only a "me" anymore. We now have another person to consider. We have other opinions and thoughts being spoken into our lives. So how do we handle the tension and conflict? And more importantly, what does God say about how to live out this precious relationship in our lives? Thankfully, God's Word has much to say about marriage. His Word teaches us how to walk out our marriage, how to handle tension and what steps we can take to make the changes needed in our relationship with our spouse.

Listen in to our Guest Speaker Rob Malcolm, Chi-Alpha Director at Yale University

We often enjoy restoring what is broken. We see a old car or an appliance that's in disrepair and we work to restore it to its original condition. We may also see circumstances that need fixing and we do what we can to repair it. However, when we don't understand the depth of the encountered problem, we can't truly restore it. Paul reminds us that in our brokenness we can't simply be restored, but instead we need to be reconciled. And as much as we may try to do this under our own power, we are unable to do so. So, how are we as Christians truly reconciled?

How do you define success? What makes you feel successful? For some of us, it is the completion of a project at work or at school. It might be hitting a financial goal like landing a great job or paying off debt. The more we pursue success, we find that it is often an elusive goal. There will always be someone more successful than us or there is always more we can do. We're often pushing ourselves towards success and never really getting there. So, how do you define success? What does success look like for us as Christ-followers and for us as the Church? Scripture has plenty to say about success and it rarely looks like how the world defines it. Join us as we look at the words of Paul as he considers who Jesus is and defines for us what success really means.

Listen in to our Guest Speaker Pastor Don Butera, a Global Outreach Partner in Asia

We can learn a lot about who we are and our priorities simply by looking at our calendar. It reveals to us who or what is important in our lives. We are protective of the time we spend with people that are important to us and for or the activities and hobbies that we enjoy. So, how do we determine what takes priority in our lives? Even in our lives as Christ followers, we are called to examine who or what comes first. How do we determine what's most important in our Christian walk?

Too often we feel that God is invisible in our lives. If we can't see him, how can we know him? This question has been asked by many over time. And many more have attempted to answer it with their own opinions of who God is. If we're honest, we too have created our own opinions of who God is. But of course, it is just that -- an opinion. So how do we truly understand who God is? Who is Jesus? What role does Jesus play and can we truly know who He is? We believe that the Word of God answers these questions, moving beyond opinions, and presenting truth. When we have a better understanding of who Jesus is in our lives, we have a better understanding of serving Him with our lives. Join us as we begin our new series "Who is Jesus?," as we look closely at the word of the Apostle Paul to the Colossian Church. Here he unpacks who Jesus truly is and how these truths impact our lives.

There are times where we want or desire something from God. We pray continually for it. We are ready for it and believe it is the right time for the request to be answered. However, despite our desire and best efforts in prayer, God simply says "no". Or maybe he says "not yet" or even "you're not ready". But why? Why does God allow us to stay in this place where we feel stuck? The Bible lets us know about a group of people who were in the same place and endured a similar experience. They wanted to move forward and yet God did not answer their prayers in the way they expected.

"Why are you here?" When asked this, our responses vary, with us looking to the philosophical, the logical, or even the the physical for answers. We may know how we have physically gotten to where we are but we may not always understand why. However you may define the "why," Scripture reminds us that it is connected deeply with God's purpose for us. While we may not realize that our story matters in the bigger picture of God's incredible work, He is accomplishing something grander than is apparent. This week in our series, we look at an important character in whose life, this was a reality. Join us in our series "How God Prepares People," as we look closely at the lives of some people we admire in Scripture and explore God's work that got them there.

In most of our lives, we come to moments where it feels like a phase of our life is done. You may remember when you graduated High School or College and it felt like that part of our life was over. But we know that it was not the end of our story. It was merely a transition and the start of a completely new journey. God often takes moments that seem like the end of our story to begin something new. In our message this week, we look at the life of Paul the way God began a new story in His life. Join us in our latest series "How God Prepares People," as we look closely at the lives of some people we admire in Scripture and explore God's work that got them there.

In life we often find ourselves in situations that seem unfair. You're unfairly assigned blame on a missed deadline, or a loved one finds out they have cancer, or a child rebels against the family and God. In such moments it's hard to see beyond the pain and frustration. But Scripture reminds us that God is at work doing something bigger in us and through us even in such moments. In this message, we look at the life of Joseph, whose life seemed to the perfect storm of unfairness. However, that was only a part of his story! Listen in as we continue on our Sermon Series "How God Prepares People.

Most of us admire the Underdog! We do so because we love the success story of a person who overcome all sorts or adversity to finally become successful in what they set out to do. In this Sermon, we'll look at the life one such person in Scripture: David. Join us in our latest series "How God Prepares People," as we examine closely, some people we admire in Scripture and explore God's work that got them there.

You may have heard the saying, "Show me your friends and I will show you your future." Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said, "We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with." This resonates with us because we know that friendship is important and that the people who we're closest to shape who we become. The friends we keep can be the source of our greatest joys and even pain. They can build us up or tear us down. And so, it is important to be in relationships with the right people. What type of friends do we keep? What qualities do these people need to have?

Maybe you've heard the expression, "The hustle is real." Most of us can relate. We are BUSY, we have too much on our calendars. There are e-mails to send, people to meet with, laundry to get done, and it seems like the list never ends. But what does all this busyness accomplish? Is there a purpose to our work? The Bible is not silent on this topic of work and laziness and even uses the smallest of small to teach us about how we spend our time. When we face the crossroads of work on our journey, we often have to choose how to invest our time, energy, and resource that God has given us.

In our society, there is an emphasis on the importance of material things. Possessions can be made a priority all too easily if we listen to the voices and world around us. In our hearts we, as Christians, know that people are more important than possessions, right? We understand that relationships matter more than things. However, at times it is hard to live out this truth. How do we react when we come to the crossroad of relationships vs. resources? The book of Proverbs certainly has something to say about this crossroad in our lives and how we are to live it out on a daily basis.

There are warnings all around us daily. They may be in the form of traffic signs, or warning labels on the household items or tools we use every day. We may not understand these warnings but they are there for our safety and for our protection. When we look to the Word of God, we encounters some warnings as well. These are words of caution given to us by the Lord. We may not always understand them or see what they have to do with our lives, but God knows the warnings we need to keep us close to Him and on His path. Some warnings have to do with our actions, our decisions, our relationships and even how we view sex in our world and in our marriages. Though it may be a more difficult subject, God has something to say about it and we need to adhere to His warnings.

There are times in all of our lives that we wish we could protect ourselves from the pain in and around us. However, in the reality we live in, pain is an indispensable part of life that no one is immune to, no matter one's wealth, connections, or station in life. As long as we live in the this world, pain will come! The pain we endure may come as the result of our own poor choices or the actions someone else takes. But what if the pain comes because God is teaching us something? How do we respond when God uses trials and pain to reveal more of himself?

You may have heard the phrase, "Hindsight is 20/20." This refers to our ability to look back on situations we've been in or decisions we've made and make judgements on whether we handled it the right way or not. We often learn lessons from such moments, after we have already encountered them. At times these are painful lessons learned due the consequences of decisions made in such moments. But how do we spare ourselves the heartache and pain of these consequences? How do we approach decisions and actions in our lives where we don't have to live with regret? Instead, how do we live life with satisfaction and gladness over our choices?

In today's world when we have a question, where do we go? There are many avenues to get the answers we need quickly in this digital age. Gone are the days of heading to the library to find the answer or waiting for the weekly newspaper to keep you updated. Nowadays, it's a lot easier to get the information we need. But what about when we have deeper questions about the world around us or about how we are walk in our day to day tasks? Many Christians, thankfully, open God's Word. However, sometimes God's Word is perfectly clear on an issue or topic. Sometimes it isn't so black and white. What then? As we come to the close of this passage in Colossians, Paul teaches us how to handle questions that aren't perfectly clear in God's Word. He lets us know what is important and how to address these times of not knowing or seeing the clear answers.