Christmas brings us mixed emotions. But, for the most part, it fills us with hope and joy because we received the best gift ever in Jesus. And with that gift, we cannot help but share it with others. That's the essence of the Christmas story, that God is with us and we ought to share it!

If you were asked "Are you a good person?" how would you respond? Most of us would (at the very least) think "I am not too bad, there are some real bad people out there." The struggle we face is that the standard for heaven is perfection. So the question is, if we aren't good, what does that mean for us?

There are misconceptions of heaven. People often think that our experience of heaven will be singing in the clouds for the rest of eternity. But, when we look at Scripture, we see that we find true peace, joy, and fulfillment in Him. The focus of heaven will be on worshipping Him and serving Him with the talents He's given us.

Time is our most precious commodity. Yet, if we are honest, we live as if time is on going for us on this side of eternity. Because of that, we can forget to utilize the time we have which plays a role in how we spend our eternity!

We often value what doesn’t matter and miss what does. What if heaven’s beauty is only a small part of its true importance?

Isn’t it strange that at various points in our lives, we’ve stopped to think about what happens after we die? In some ways it feels morbid. In others, it feels hopeful. But the deeper truth is that ALL of us have a longing to experience God in His fullness. The thing is, Jesus has a lot to say about Heaven that we believe will challenge and encourage you!

You’ll never find fulfillment, you’ll never find fruitfulness in ministry until you find ministry that matches your God-given shape; what experiences has God brought you through, that not only is He working for good, but He wants to use them to minister to the people around you. And once you discover how God has made you, once you discover the hand you’ve been dealt, the final step is to push all the chips into the middle of the table and say, God I’m All in. I’m going to use what you’ve given to me to serve others for your glory.

God has a unique plan for your life, and He’s given you a unique shape to fulfill that plan. He’s given you a unique personality. There’s nobody in the world just like you. But please understand, you’ll never find fulfillment, you’ll never find fruitfulness in ministry until you find ministry that matches your God-given shape; that matches your personality. Are you a talker, a feeler, a thinker or a doer? And once you discover how God has made you, that’s when you’ve got to push all the chips into the middle of the table and say, God I’m All in. I’m going to get off the bench and get into the game and use what you’ve given to me to serve others for your glory.

You're the only person on earth who can use your specific, God-given Abilities as part of God’s purpose for you, and those impacted through you for such a time as this. Will you say, God I’m ALL IN!

Decide this week that you’re going to look for opportunities to serve God in a way that matches your heart. What do you love to do? What are you passionate about? If you could do anything for God and not fail, what would you do? Decide today to push all the chips into the middle of the table and say, I’m all in.

Every Christian has at least one gift. We’ll never fully understand serving God and serving others until we understand how God has gifted us spiritually. This series is called, “All In” So the challenge is, decide today that you’re going to push all the chips into the middle of the table and say, God, I’m all in. I’m going to take the spiritual gifts that you have given to me and I’m going to look for ways throughout the week to put it into practice. I’m going to look for ways to serve God by serving others.

When we look at how Jesus lived His life, you will notice that he spent a lot of time in prayer. Jesus prayed with focus, fervor, and very frequently. He modeled that for you and I, but the question is, do we pray as often as we should?

Our mission is to joyfully join God in ministry and serve the needs of others expecting nothing in return. Our mission is to follow the example of Jesus, and get out our seat and get into the game. And the question is, have you left the sidelines and jumped into the game yet?

An important step for us to be “All In” our relationship with Christ is to recognize the things we place above Him. In other words, we struggle with how to prioritize what it means to give up our own way and “carry our cross” and follow Him daily.

When was the last time you were totally “All In” on something? Meaning 100% sold out with nothing getting in your way. Not with just your words, but your time, attention, and focus? It’s often difficult for us to be “All In” because we have so many things distracting us from what’s often the most important.