Someone once said: “A good marriage is not something you find, it’s something you work for.” Marriage was God’s original idea. It was intended for a man and a woman to spend their life committed to each other, but something went horribly wrong when sin entered the world. In Ephesians 5, Paul instructs wives to respect their husbands and husbands to love love their wives. But before he said that he encouraged married couples to submit to each other. It was a radical idea in that time period (and still seems radical today). Listen in as Pastor Neal teaches on how a thriving marriage involves love and mutual submission. 

We live in a time where the value of marriage seems to be watered down. There are thousands of people thinking this one question: What’s the key to a lasting marriage? We have to look to God’s word to find the key to success. For those who’ve found love and for those who long to be married there is another question: How do you experience love for a lifetime? You invite God into the center of your relationship, and then do you best to love each other with his kind of love. Listen in as Pastor Doug Meye teaches about finding love for a lifetime. 

Today we’re in part two of a four-week sermon series called: Pursue. We’re looking at how the Bible teaches us a better way to love. Studies show us that more couples are cohabitating before marriage. Depending on what study you read, you will find that divorce rates are on the rise or holding steady. Today we’re looking at Romans 13 and talking about living a holy life. God told us to be holy because He is holy. We want to look at what Scripture teaches us about holiness. It doesn’t matter if you’re: single, married, divorced, want to be married, have lost a spouse, or are trying to figure out living a celebrate life we need to learn from Scripture. 

Thanks to Valentine's Day, the month of February is all about love. Chocolate, flowers, diamonds, fancy dinners, and cards are all common expressions of love associated with this day. In Matthew 22, we read that the religious leaders tried to trap Jesus with a question. In his response, Jesus does a great job summarizing the 600+ Jewish Laws into one statement. Jesus knew the answer was all about love. He encouraged us to focus on loving God, loving others, and loving ourselves. Due to our past hang-ups, negative interactions, and poor ability to exercise boundaries in our lives, Jesus’ words can be hard to implement in our lives. Listen in as Pastor Neal teaches about loving God and loving others. 

In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit came on the believers in a powerful way. The early church started to spread, lives were changed, and discipleship took place like it had before. As we talk about leaning in to the Holy Spirit, we acknowledge that the Holy Spirit can feel nebulous to many believers. Most people know stories about God or have at least heard of Jesus; however,  we tend to know little about the Holy Spirit. Listen in as Pastor Neal Benson teaches from John 14 on how the Holy Spirit helps us lean in to discipleship. 

What comes to mind when you think of worship? Is it singing songs? Is it burning incense to a small statue? Is it kneeling down and bowing low? We all have a different thought on what worship is, but the Bible gives us a clear direction on worship. The Bible teaches us that worship is active; it’s something we participate in. The Bible teaches us that worship belongs to the Lord God; He is the one we are to worship. The Bible teaches us that the entire world is invited to participate in worshipping the Lord. Some of us have gotten off-course, and we need to realign ourselves with the Lord today. Worship does just that. When we worship the Lord it puts what is wrong back to what is right; it redefines the priorities of our lives. Grab your Bible and open to Psalm 96 as Pastor Neal Benson talks about leaning in to worship. 

At the base of our brain stem there is a cluster of nerve cells called the reticular activating system (RAS for short). In short, the RAS determines what gets noticed and what goes unnoticed. Think of it like a mental security system telling you what is a priority and what you can overlook today. Last year I focused on the word: generosity. All year long I noticed acts of generosity, generous people, and books to focus on being generous. In 2 Corinthians 9, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about being a generous group of people. Listen in as we talk about what it means to steward our money and not possess it. 

In today's message, guest speaker, Mike Encoe, teaches on prayer from the perspective of how the Lord prays for us. God gives good gifts to His children, and His good gifts are better than our best prayers. We'll learn that the best way to lean in to prayer is to just do it!

Have you seen the Bible transform a person’s life? Have you seen its pages become alive to the reader and guide the life of a person? I remember giving my life to Jesus but having no clue where or what to read in Scripture. One day someone gave me some guidance on where to read in the Bible; it was life changing! I began to consume God’s word. I began reading parts of the Bible that I have never understood, I didn’t completely understand them but I was not afraid of them anymore. The Bible gives us life! Listen in as Pastor Neal Benson teaches from Psalm 19 and encourages us to lean in to Scripture. For five weeks we are going to lean in to different aspects of the Christian faith. We’re going to start off by leaning in to Scripture. If today is your first time with Coastline we want to personally welcome you. Our church is all about helping people find and follow Jesus. Coastline is a safe place to learn about the truth of God.

Today our elders taught on Coastline's seven core values! No matter if you've been attending Coastline for two weeks, two months, two years, or two decades, this is a great message for everyone!