Series Resources

It’s one thing to verbalize the centrality of Christ in all we do. It’s quite another to experience it. We talk about the Lord’s priority, but often fail to live in light of it. Thankfully, in the four chapters of Colossians, God gives us a picture of the church and life that revolves around the all-encompassing preeminence of Christ. From our individual habits to our mutual relationships, Christ’s exclusive position as the true center of “all things” changes everything. Dig in with First Family Church this year as we mine the Apostle Paul’s Spirit-inspired letter to the Christians in Colossae in our 20-week series “Christ Alone: Experiencing the Preeminence of God’s Eternal Son.”

That’s precisely why we’re complementing GO Week, our annual focus on the nations, with CO Week — eight days of intentional attention to the fields right around us. Over the course of two Sundays, as well as the days in between, we will open up Acts 1–2 and see how both the Ascension and Pentecost were the theological and geographical triggers that sparked the New Covenant mission of God through His church. Our aim is to provide tools for awareness and avenues for impact so that every FFCer will live a John 4:35 life, lifting up our eyes to “look at the fields because they are ready for harvest.”

Make these days a priority when it comes to your participation in and prayer for evangelism in our community, and join us in continuing to ask God to increase our fervency for the people closest to us who are far from Him.

In the two most climactic events of human history, God had the final word. Both on the cross and at the grave, God spoke definitively and assuringly. Promisingly and invitingly. Lean in and listen during Passion Week 2024 as Todd unleashes the lion of God’s Word for every sinner and saint—all of us—who stand in need of a Savior.

What are the external traits that prove internal transformation? Does inside change show up on the outside? Journey through this series from Galatians 5 centered on nine significant ways the Spirit manifests himself in our lives.

What’s at the core of the call from Christ? Are there central expectations when it comes to Christian discipleship? In a two-week look-back at Jesus’ summons to his first four followers, Todd and Travis aim to highlight and connect the inseparable and essential components of life as a disciple of Jesus. Through a clarifying look into five verses rooted in Matthew 4, this short, startling series could rightfully shape, not simply what you do, but why you do it.

Journeys reveal all kinds of interesting and intriguing gems of both information and experience.

Christ’s condescension to earth as the incarnate Son of God was no different. His ancestry is rich with stories of grace and grit, powerful moments of divine providence poetically and succinctly relayed to us through the names of the most unlikely people.

The same is true for Joseph and Mary’s travel log. Rumors, dreams, angels, and a long trip to a crowded city with no room give us clues to the heart and plan of our Trinitarian God.

Let’s not leave out the magi. Gifts for a king is what they brought, but little did they know this king was wearing the flesh and bone of a little boy who was a threat to Herod but a joy to the wise men. What an ironic way to teach us about the risk and cost of true worship.

Climb aboard and take a trip with us through the Christmas chronology of Matthew 1:1-2:12. I’m confident it’ll be a worthwhile journey as we explore scriptural nuggets all along the way, stopping at key places to enjoy the treasures we discover from the timeline of Christ’s birth.

No one seems exempt from wondering why. Whether in the small details or the large crises, our hearts and minds often question, not only what’s happening, but why it’s happening. It’s life deepest and often darkest dilemma.

Job was no exception. In the midst of near unfathomable anguish, Job probed the caverns of the why canyon. How did his friends reply? What did God say? Was there ever even an answer to his ultimate question of why? Join Pastor Todd and FFC in a short but poignant series through the Old Testament book of Job in which we will daringly delve into the dilemma of the universal question — “Why?” — and humbly emerge with a more bold and beautful faith in the God who not only knows the what and the why, but the who in the middle of it all.

GO (Global Outreach) Week is our annual time of focus on the worldwide mission of the church to reach every nation, language, and tribe with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This year’s mini-series is called “God’s Great [co]Mission.” Download the journal for GO Week 2023 below!

The book of Philippians, inspired by God and penned by Paul, is simply a missionary update from one of history’s foremost evangelists and church planters. It’s a sincere thank you letter, as well as a heartfelt plea for continued partnership. What a timely epistle for us to discover in-depth as God continues to forge within this flock a multiplying mindset, which will undoubtedly require a partnership perspective. After all, that’s how gospel progress occurs—through partnerships. Won’t you join us as we open up the pages of Philippians and rejoice in all that God can and will do as his people band together for the progress and joy of his gospel.

It’s not natural to enjoy suffering. We all, as humans, want to be exempt from it. Yet, ironically, no one is.

That’s why endurance is such a key word for the Christian. All of us, at some point, will be called upon to embrace difficulties and trials. Some longer than others, and to a greater degree than others. But endurance will be necessary for every believer, endurance that is vulnerably transparent, humbly honest, and longingly hopeful.

It is to this end that we turn to the Psalms, specifically the Psalms of Lament. These songs of the Hebrews, written in times of deep despair and distress, are human cries to God in the middle of suffering and struggle. Without a doubt each “complainer” is seeking God’s deliverance, whether individually or collectively; but the apparent delay of divine action puts each lamenter into a vice grip of sorts, squeezing them to verbalize their frustration with what they are going through mixed with their faith in who they are mourning to.

In the end, confidence emerges, but it’s not a shallow, blind confidence. It’s a tested confidence; a refined-by-fire faith that knows what it means to truly hope with deep and often sorrowful longings, not simply wish with wide-eyed, fix-it-in-the-moment, Jeanie-in-a-bottle fancies.

Whether it’s the universal church globally or our individual church locally, there are specific things that matter. A lot! Join us the rest of January as we explore four of those important elements from 1 Timothy, seeing how they matter to the BIG C church, as well as to the little c church we know as First Family. Through corporate teaching on the weekend, digital content in your Small Groups, and journals for individual weekly use, this series will utilize multiple avenues and resources to help you truly maximize the matter of church.

We are a people of promise. For centuries, God prepared people for the coming of his Son, our only hope for life. At Christmas, we celebrate the fulfillment of the promises God made—that he would give a way to draw near to him. Advent is what we call the season leading up to Christmas. It begins four Sundays before December 25, sometimes in the last weekend of November, sometimes on the first Sunday in December. This year it is November 27.

For four weeks, it’s as if we’re re-enacting, remembering the thousands of years God’s people were anticipating and longing for the coming of God’s salvation. That’s what advent means—coming. Even God’s men who foretold the grace that was to come didn’t know “what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating.” They were waiting, but they didn’t know what God’s salvation would look like.

In fact, God revealed to them that they were not the ones who would see the sufferings and glory of God’s Christ:

“They were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.”

They were serving us. We Christians on this side of Jesus’ birth are a God-blessed, happy people because we know God’s plan. The ancient waiting is over. We have the greatest reason to celebrate.

God’s call to endure joyfully is based on the truth that we are saved securely. And the sanctification we are promised and pursue will not only occur in spite of persecution, but actually because of it. What a foundation for perseverance—that God is making us holy in the very middle of hostility. This is the message Peter proclaims in his first letter, a message of confidence and hope for God’s chosen people in times of uncertainty and doubt. In this series we explore 1 Peter in various ways, growing deeper into the reality of God’s certain work even in our current suffering. You can download the study guides for each section and listen to each sermon below:

GO (Global Outreach) Month is our annual time of focus on the worldwide mission of the church to reach every nation, language, and tribe with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Throughout the month, we’ll look within North America and beyond North America, helping you to correctly see the globe in light of where we are, the message we share, and role we play in the ultimate plan of God.

With the indicatives firmly under our feet—what God has done in Christ as laid out in Ephesians 1-3—discover the imperatives that flow from our life in this series of messages from Ephesians 4-6. “Walking with Christ” is a study aimed at helping us flesh out practically what we know is true doctrinally, namely, our union with Christ.