Advent

Revelation | The Advent of Jesus

SERMONS | ADVENT PROJECTS | RESOURCES | TEXT-IN QUESTIONS

The word Advent means “arrival,” and this time of year, the global church celebrates the arrival of the birth of Jesus. But this celebration is not an end in itself. It’s a reason to hope as we look ahead to the second Advent - the return of Jesus. 

For the next four weeks, we’re looking at the book of Revelation and what Jesus’ second Advent will look like. Far from being a book filled with hidden codes and secrets, Revelation teaches us how to live between the first and second Advent. Because Jesus was born, we can live with the hope that Jesus will return. All our hope for the future is tied to a baby that gives us a “no matter what” hope for the future.

This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Lion & The Lamb That Is Worthy

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Signs Of Victory

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: The Coming Praise

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4:

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS | COURSES | ARTICLES

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "TWO NOTCH" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

Advent 2023

SERMONS | ADVENT GUIDE | ADVENT PROJECTS

"Advent" means "arrival." And since the early church, God's people have celebrated the arrival of Jesus' birth during this time of year. As we remember his first arrival, we also look ahead to Jesus' promised second arrival - when He will return and make all things new. So, each week, we'll look at different aspects of Christ's coming and how that should shape how we think, feel, and react to the Christmas season.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Hope

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Peace

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Joy

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Love

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

To help us prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, we wrote an Advent devotional guide for you and your LifeGroup to work through during this season. The suggested donation is $8 per copy.

One of our goals as a church family is to be generous people. So every year around the holidays, we press into generosity to think about God’s generosity to us and to talk about how we can grow in walking in the kind of generous love He’s shown to us. 

This year, we are focusing on three practical ways to grow in generosity:

#1. Start tithing

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We are encouraging members of our church to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us not just to be generous around the holidays but throughout the entire year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all we do as a church in our city.

#2. Personal Finance Seminar

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources God has entrusted us. On January 27 from 9am-12pm at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a practical training class to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

#3. Give to Serve the City 

Serve the City is our initiative as a church family to partner with local organizations serving the most vulnerable people in our city. This year, we want to fund the various Serve the City events we do throughout the year to serve these organizations and the people they work with. These funds will also go towards our Serve the City Weekend on March 16, 2024. We partner with the following local organizations:

  • Transitions

  • Home Works for America

  • The Ezekiel Center

  • Epworth Children's Home

  • Daybreak

  • Salvation Army

Advent 2022 | The Songs of Christmas

SERMONS | ADVENT GUIDE | ADVENT PROJECTS

Since the early church, God’s people have celebrated the Christmas season every year through giving and singing about the birth of Jesus. This year for Advent, we’re looking at the four “songs” about Jesus’ birth found in Luke 1-2, and how those songs point to the good news Jesus offers us.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Song of Mary

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Song of Zechariah

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: The Song of Angels

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: The Song of Simeon

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

To help us prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, we wrote a brand new five-week-long Advent devotional guide for you and your LifeGroup to work through during this season. The suggested donation is $5 per copy.

One of our goals as a church family is to be generous people. So every year around the holidays, we press into generosity; to think about God’s generosity to us and to talk about how we can grow in walking in the kind of generous love He’s shown to us. 

This year we are focusing on three practical ways to grow in generosity:

#1. Start tithing

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We are encouraging members of our church to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us not just to be generous around the holidays but throughout the entire year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all we do as a church in our city.

#2. Personal Finance Seminar

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources that God has entrusted us. On January 28 from 9 am-12 pm at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a class that consists of practical training to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

#3. Give to Serve the City 

Serve the City is our initiative as a church family to partner with local organizations serving the most vulnerable people in our city. This year we want to fund the various Serve the City events we do throughout the year to ongoingly serve these organizations and the people they work with. These funds will also go towards our Serve the City Weekend on March 3-5, 2023. We partner with the following local organizations:

  • Children’s Hospital

  • Transitions

  • Home Works for America

  • The Ezekiel Center

  • DSS

  • Epworth Children's Home

  • Daybreak

Advent 2021

SERMONS | THE BOOK

Since the early church, God’s people have celebrated the Christmas season every year through celebrating, giving, and singing about the birth of Jesus. But how often do we actually notice the words we’re singing? This year for Advent, we’re taking a look at some of the most popular songs during the holiday season and how they point to the ultimate hope this world’s needs: the good news of Jesus.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: O Come, O Come Immanuel

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Silent Night

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Joy to the World

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

To help us grow in our understanding of God’s goodness, we decided to write a book for this series. You can download the digital version here and donate to our book fund if you want to support the cost of this book.

3545 Raven Hill Road

Columbia, SC