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Pastor Ken Werlein opens 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, where Paul confronts a church that had turned communion into a class system—the wealthy eating well while the poor arrived late to find nothing left. The ground was supposed to be level at the foot of the cross, but Corinth had quietly started building the old hierarchies back up. From there Ken draws out three things: make room at the table for everyone, because when you get here by grace you don’t get to act like you deserve a better seat; remember how this all began, because communion isn’t just a ritual—it’s a marker that carries us back to the cross and forward to the day everything Jesus accomplished there is fully realized; and take an honest look at yourself, asking whether the way you treat people is consistent with the grace you’re about to celebrate. Nobody earned a place here. We’re all at the same table, by the same amazing grace.

Director of Discipleship Michael McDowell continues our series on 1 Corinthians, “Healthy Church,” with a sermon about temptation. God promises us in 1 Corinthians 10:12–13 that He “will not let you be tempted beyond your ability”—but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. Here, Michael shows us that temptation pulls us into a cycle of sin and shame, and breaking free takes intentionality. First, we have to wake up to the reality that temptation is real and all around us. Then, we have to get up and escape, not only when temptation shows up, but before it does. And finally, we have to stay up and endure, but never alone. We endure with the promise that God is faithful. He will win, which means you will win!

Bible Teacher Jared Darby opens 1 Corinthians 8:1–13, where Paul uses a debate about food sacrificed to idols to make a much bigger point: the problem in Corinth wasn't ignorance—it was independence. They loved learning about Jesus but lived like the gospel only affected them personally. Jared draws out three challenges for a healthy church: be careful with your freedom (your rights don't trump your responsibility to the people around you), be aware of the strongholds in your city (the idols of Houston may not be Greek temples, but comfort and consumerism are just as real), and be ready to surrender everything—your preferences, your schedule, your opinions—so the church can stay united. Consumer Christianity is over. Jesus isn't coming back for an audience. He's coming back for a united bride.

Pastor Ken Werlein takes up 1 Corinthians 7:25–40, speaking directly to single people—from someone who was single for 35 years before marrying. Paul's message isn't romanticized in either direction: marriage brings real complexity and was never meant to complete anyone, and singleness isn't a waiting room until life finally starts. Ken draws out three things: don't idolize marriage (no spouse will ever do what only Jesus can do), wake up to the upsides of singleness (the undivided focus and freedom it can bring for God's purposes), and don't confuse singleness with aloneness (Jesus himself was single, and he was never without community). Whether you're single or married, the soul's deepest longing is the same—rich, meaningful, Jesus-centered community. And there's room for all of it at the same table.

Bible Teacher Dan Slagle steps into 1 Corinthians 7:17–24, where Paul addresses something more fundamental than marriage: the restless discontentment that drives us to wish we were someone else, somewhere else, in different circumstances. Dan names two dangers that come from living in that restlessness—the treadmill of the next thing, where whatever we chase never quite satisfies, and the slow poison of envy, which the tenth commandment made the top ten for good reason. Paul's answer isn't a self-improvement plan. It's simpler and deeper than that: God is right there, at your side. You weren't made for any of the things you've been chasing. You were made by God, for God—and it's only there that the restlessness finally stops.

Executive Pastor Wayne Risher opens 1 Corinthians 7:1–13 with a simple image—a level—and a simple truth: something can look straight and still be crooked, and if you live with crooked long enough, it starts feeling normal. From there he walks through three things Paul shows us about marriage: it's a ministry of self-giving (your spouse isn't just meant to minister to you—they're someone God gave you to minister to), a ministry of mutual care not control (your spouse shouldn't have to live on the leftovers of your life), and a ministry of covenant faithfulness (faithfulness isn't protected in the moment of temptation—it's protected upstream, before the crisis arrives). A healthy marriage isn't one that never gets out of level. It's one where two people keep letting Jesus tell them the truth—and make the adjustments.

Pastor Ken Werlein opens 1 Corinthians 6:9–20 with a question the Corinthians had already answered wrong: what does Jesus have to do with your body? Paul's answer—everything. You were bought at a price, which means your body belongs to Jesus, not you. From there Ken walks through why sex matters so much (it joins whole persons, not just bodies), and what to do about it: flee what needs to be fled, confess what's been hidden, and glorify God in your body. The message isn't anti-sex—God invented it. But Jesus gets the final word: such were some of you. But you were washed, sanctified, and justified.

Michael McDowell takes us into 1 Corinthians 6, where Paul confronts one of the messiest realities of church life: conflict. Paul gives us three movements for handling it well. First, keep it in the circle—the moment conflict escapes to people who aren't part of it, it becomes gossip, and gossip corrodes trust faster than almost anything else. Second, actually deal with it—ignoring conflict isn't a solution, it's just a delayed explosion. Go to the person, bring in a wise voice if needed, and be willing to accept that you might be the problem. Third, be willing to surrender so Jesus can win—which isn't fair, but neither was the cross. Never underestimate the power of a cross-shaped life to change what nothing else can.

Michael McDowell takes us into 1 Corinthians 1, where Paul goes after the underlying habits making the church sick before he ever addresses the conflict. The first is assuming life is always supposed to go up and to the right—but Paul holds up a cross and says this is the source of health. The second is "my way or the highway"—the self-centeredness that poisons marriages, workplaces, and churches alike. A healthy church isn't one that avoids the downward path of the cross. It's one that walks toward it—and finds resurrection power on the other side.

Pastor Ken Werlein kicks off the new Healthy Church sermon series in 1 Corinthians 12, addressing the question head-on that many people carry but rarely say out loud: I love God, but I'm done with the church. Ken reminds us that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to one of the messiest, most dysfunctional churches in history—and still called them the Body of Christ. From that image, Ken builds three convictions: you need the Body, the Body needs you, and it's time to get into circulation. Nobody was ever hurt more by the church than Jesus—and nobody loves it more. His challenge to close: don't spend your life protecting your point. Get some crayon on the wall.

Pastor Ken Werlein opens up Hebrews 10:24–25 with a simple but convicting observation: there's no such thing as Christian Solitaire. You can have the Bible app, the podcast, the worship playlist, and a genuine faith—and still be missing the one thing Jesus never offered anyone: a syllabus to follow alone. His method was always relational. Ken gives us three things the text calls us to do: lock in on the people around you, stir up one another the way hot coals stoke a dying ember, and show up—because a crowd sees an empty chair, but a community sees a missing person. You don't need perfect people. You just need some people who love the same perfect Lord and want to follow Him more faithfully every day.

Pastor Ken Werlein takes us to 2 Chronicles 20, where King Jehoshaphat faces a coalition of three armies with no time to prepare and no plan to execute—and reaches for something no one expected: a fast and a prayer. From that ancient moment, Ken draws three convictions for how we face the hard things: run to God before you run to the details, show up to the gathering because there are things that happen in a room full of God's people that a screen simply cannot replicate, and sing before you see—because Jehoshaphat sent the choir out front, Paul and Silas worshipped at midnight, and heaven moved as they began to sing. The valley where God worked was renamed Berakah—blessing—not for the battle fought there, but for the worship that happened there. Ken's challenge is simple: what are you reaching for first?

Bible Teacher Steve Carter opens up Ephesians 6:10–18, reminding us that the devil's playbook hasn't changed—he's still running the same three schemes he's used since Genesis 3: getting us to hide, drowning us in shame, and keeping us paralyzed by fear. The good news? God hasn't left us unequipped. Steve walks us through the armor of God—not as a list of abstract spiritual concepts, but as real, practical tools for standing firm in everyday life. And then he lands on the piece most people miss: after all the belt and helmet and sword, Paul ends with pray. Prayer isn't the warmup to the fight—it's how we go on the offensive. When the church stops hiding, stops letting shame win, and stops living afraid—and instead prays on all occasions—the enemy doesn't stand a chance.

Bible Teacher Clay Scroggins closes out the Not Today, Satan series by showing us the end of the tape. After weeks unpacking how the enemy works — his lies, his shame, his temptations, his strongholds — Clay takes us to Colossians 2:13–15, where Paul describes what actually happened at the cross: every sin forgiven, every debt canceled, every weapon stripped from the enemy's hands. The problem isn't that we don't believe Jesus won. It's that we're still living like the war is undecided. Clay's challenge is simple and gutting: stop fighting for victory, and start fighting from it — because "Not Today, Satan" isn't wishful thinking. It's a statement of what's already permanently, cosmically true.

Bible Teacher Jared Darby takes us into 2 Corinthians 10:3–5, making the case that the enemy's greatest weapon isn't possession — it's formation. If he can shape what you believe, what you love, and what you dwell on, he doesn't need to possess you. Jared unpacks how the enemy builds "strongholds" in our minds — lies we've believed so long they start to sound like our own voice — and gives us three ways to fight back: destroy every stronghold by naming it, tear down the high places by exposing the lies underneath them, and anchor your thoughts in the truth of God's Word. Because we don't defeat the enemy's lies with willpower or self-hatred — we defeat them by declaring what our Father has already said.