Jonah was a mess. The Biblical character Jonah was deeply flawed… he ran from God, he followed God. Jonah had great tragedy in his life and experienced God incredible blessing. Jonah was a mess… kind of like us.

As we take a look at the life of Jonah in our 10am Sunday Worship Services in February, we’ll see that God works miracles through those who obey, though often times our nature rebels against Him. Regardless of which path we choose, God is the God of second chances. Join us as we delve into the whale of a story of one man and his journey with God.

Adios, 2011! I’m not sad to see you go – it’s time for the new year, a better year. Yet none of us know what the year 2012 will bring. We are hopeful that some of the pain and hardship of 2011 will be long gone and in this new year we will be prosperous and successful. “Prosperous and successful”, sounds good doesn’t it? Maybe almost too good to be true? Interestingly, “prosperous and successful” is precisely what God promised a group of people as they were entering into a brand new phase in their lives (the Israelites in Joshua 1). Fortunately for us the Bible even reports the fine print, the details, the conditions of that promise.

What if the promise (and the conditions) of prosperity and success were not just for the Israelites in 600BC… what if the promise was still good for us today, as long as the conditions were met. That’s probably worth checking out – and that’s exactly what we will be doing in our 10am Worship Services at Cherry Creek Wesleyan Church during the month of January. Maybe your plan for your life is working out perfectly and you can you afford to miss out on a clear understanding of God’s plan for your prosperity and success… or maybe not.

Over the years we have worked so hard to create Christmas magic… sometimes in ridiculous ways (come on, really… Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?). There is just something about Christmas and magic that go together. But then, it’s not really that hard to connect the dots – the Biblical account of the first Christmas tells the amazing story of supernatural births, miraculous messages from God and heavenly help to foil a villain.

Christmas seems to be the one time a year when we really do need some magic in our otherwise routine and earth-bound lives. Maybe you do need some magic this year… that’s OK, just don’t settle for the fantasy of a flying reindeer. Join us in our 10am Worship Service each Sunday leading up to and including Christmas day as together we embrace the real supernatural power of God that is especially close and promises to provide us with the magical hope and peace that comes only from understanding and fully engaging the real Magic of Christmas.

Normal isn’t working. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to fit in… trying to be normal. But normal people are stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted. Many of their relationships are strained, hopelessly flawed or broken. Even though we live in one of the most prosperous places on earth, normal is just existing paycheck to paycheck and never getting ahead. In our oversexed world, guilt and shame are far more common than having a healthy married sex life. And when it comes to faith, it’s normal to believe in God, but the teachings of Scripture rarely make it into their everyday lives. Simply put, being normal isn’t working.

Journey with us and author Craig Groeschel (author of Weird) as we examine a Christ-centered philosophy on everything from money to scheduling to purity, that will help you break out of the normal rut and live according to God’s grace and truth. Our four week series begins on October 16, 2011.

September 11, 2001 was one of the worst days in United States history. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives, millions of Americans watched in shock and fear as the unthinkable took place… our lives and our country was forever changed. Even as we observed cowards and murderers, we saw heroes. Heroes emerged, risking their own lives to save others. In dramatic ways average men and women stepped up and became what they never imagined they would be… heroes.

In order to make sometime good come from something so bad, there are at least three things that we must do:

1. It’s important for us to remember the tragedy and heroism of that day. We cannot forget the pain, the sacrifice, the honor that was exhibited by the heroes of that day.
2. It’s also important to honor the neighborhood heroes that live among us today – men and women who in seldom recognized moments save lives and serve others.
3. We must be challenged to live more heroic lives ourselves. We need to let the heroes of the past and the present neighborhood heroes inspire us to allow us to live lives of honor, sacrifice, integrity.

Beginning on September 11, 2011, Cherry Creek Wesleyan Church will be remembering the events and the heroic people of 9/11; we will be honoring some of our neighborhood heroes in person in our 10am Sunday Worship Services; and we will be choosing to live the more heroic lives of honor, sacrifice and selflessness that God desires. Please come and be a part of this important time for our community.

Here is our schedule:

September 11th – Fire Fighters

September 18th – Military

September 25th – Teachers

October 2 – Police, with special guest Dan Oates, Aurora’s Police Chief

October 9 – Public Servants, with special guest US Congressman, Mike Coffman

What we believe matters. Some have said that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you truly believe. That’s silly… our true beliefs drive our thoughts, words and actions. Believing is good… but believing the the right things, the truth, makes all the difference in the world.

The Apostles Creed is the most recognized and accepted statement of beliefs for Christianity. This ancient creed has unified Christians down through the centuries and has been the centerpiece for those believers who have transformed the world. What these great saints believed, mattered… it was their beliefs that molded them into who they were, what they did and all they accomplished.

Modern day Christians often do not focus enough on what we believe. We sometimes rely on preachers and teachers or even pop culture to form our beliefs. Understanding and applying the ancient, unifying, transforming  beliefs of Christianity is the foundational piece to becoming the people we should be and in being the change agents that our world needs.

In the coming weeks in our 10am Worship Services at Cherry Creek Wesleyan Church we will be studying the Apostles Creed and it’s implications for our lives and our world. Join us for the important work of knowing what we believe, why we believe it and how those beliefs can and will transform our lives.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day stresses – work, relationships, chores – that it’s easy to get discouraged and lose sight of the bigger picture. This Easter season come renew the spiritual side of your life, at Cherry Creek Wesleyan Church. We think that a little faith can infuse you with hope and bring all the other aspects of life into focus. No matter what your previous spiritual experience, you’re welcome to restart your faith journey here. Come and join us as we knock a little rust off our spiritual lives in our 10am Worship Services.

We all want to better understand the great mysteries of the universe: how we got here, what’s life all about, what happens when we die? Way deep inside, all of us long to understand and connect with the God who has the answers.

One son kept the rules religiously. One son broke them all. One father loved them beyond anything they could ever imagine. “The Prodigal God” is our theme for our 10am Sunday Worship Services during the month of March – it’s a study of Jesus’ best known and least understood parable: the parable of the Prodigal Son. The parable communicates that we do not connect with God through religion nor irreligion, morality nor immorality. Both those who identify with the young brother and those who tend to be more like the older brother will realize that the only way to really connect with God is to recognize and simply accept the lavish, reckless and abundant love of a prodigal God.

By the way, the word “prodigal” is properly defined as: recklessly spendthrift.

Most really important goals aren’t accomplished by accident, they demand intentional planning. For the most part to achieve something significant, you need both a goal and a plan to reach that goal. Sometimes we have a blueprint for key areas of our lives… health & fitness, education & career, but give little or no attention to our spiritual life and/or our objective of following Jesus. In our 10am Worship Services beginning January 9th we are going to spend some time evaluating our personal spiritual lives, setting some goals and devising plan to reach those goals.

Here’s some of the details:

10am Sunday, January 9 – Keeping Score

10am Sunday, January 16 – Investing Your Resources 9am

Saturday, January 22 – $$ Workshop

10am Sunday, January 23 – Communication With God

6pm Sunday, January 23 – Church Prayer Time

10am Sunday, January 30 – Pursuing the Truth

6pm Sunday, January 30 – Bible Study Workshop

10am Sunday, February 6 – Recommending Your Faith

9am Saturday, February 12 – Recommending Your Faith Workshop

10am Sunday, February 13 – The Power of Us

9am Saturday, February 19 – Church Membership Workshop

10am Sunday, February 20 – Lifestyles of the Rich & Faithful

10am Sunday, February 27 – Living Beyond Myself

11:30am Sunday, February 27 – Volunteer Tour

There are consequences for everything. Sometimes the consequences are good sometimes they are bad, but there are always consequences. Every action prompts a reaction. For every input, there is an outcome. Bible reminds us to “consider the outcome” as we plan and evaluate our lives. “Consider the outcome” is great advice for us as we start a new year… what will be the outcomes of our decisions, our habits, our actions.

The thought in Hebrews 13:7 takes it one step further. We are instructed to not just consider the outcome, but to imitate those people and those actions that tend to produce the outcomes that we desire. Seems simple enough… but its often really hard to do. In the next couple of 10am Worship Services (December 26 & January 2) we will be spending some time considering the outcomes and designing our thoughts, attitudes and actions that tend to produce the things we really want to produce in 2011.

You will want to be a part of this!