Most of us have heard someone say, “Don’t get your hopes up.” Usually, they’re trying to protect us from disappointment. But biblical hope was never meant to be built on circumstances working out the way we want. Real hope is built on what God has said. That changes everything. In this teaching, we look at the relationship between love, hope, and faith. Hope is the joyful anticipation of good. It allows us to see beyond what is happening right now and anchor our expectation in the promises of God. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith then gives substance to what we hope for. So instead of lowering your expectations because of what you see, spend some time after THIS TEACHING finding a promise from God’s Word that speaks directly to something you’re believing for. Write it somewhere you’ll see it this week or drop it in the comments. Every time your circumstances try to tell you a different story, go back to what God said. Get your hopes up, but make sure they’re anchored in the right place.

Every miracle in the Bible has something in common: It started with a problem someone couldn’t solve. That sounds obvious, but it changes the way we look at the impossible situations in our own lives. In this devotional video, Esther takes us back to Jesus and what His life actually reveals about the heart of the Father. Hebrews 1:3 calls Jesus “the exact imprint of His nature.” So when we see Jesus healing the sick, setting people free, loving the broken, and bringing light into darkness, we aren’t simply reading stories about what happened 2,000 years ago. We are learning what God is like. That gives us something very practical to work on. Before you watch THIS VIDEO, identify one situation in your life that currently feels impossible. Maybe you’ve tried everything you know to do. Maybe you’ve been praying about it for years. Maybe you’ve even started adjusting your expectations because nothing seems to be changing. Write it down. Then, as Esther teaches, pay attention to what you learn about the character of God through Jesus. Instead of studying the size of your problem, spend some time studying the One you’re trusting with it. When you’re finished, go back to what you wrote down and answer this question: What does Jesus reveal about the Father that changes the way I see this situation? That’s what we want to learn to do together. Not deny what we’re facing, but train ourselves to see it through what we know about Him.

We’re halfway through October, and we want to try something a little different for our mid-month check-in. Pick one area of your walk with God that you want to be stronger in by the end of this month. Keep it simple and specific. Maybe you want to become more consistent in prayer. Maybe you need to spend more time in the Word instead of only reaching for it when you need an answer. Maybe you want to become quicker to obey when God speaks. Maybe you need to work on controlling your thoughts or your words. Maybe you want to become more intentional about sharing Jesus with the people around you. Whatever it is, don’t choose five things. Choose one. Then decide what you are actually going to do about it for the rest of October. If you want to grow in the Word, decide when you’re going to read it. If it’s prayer, make room for it in your day. If it’s obedience, stop postponing the thing you already know to do. If it’s your thoughts, choose the Scriptures you’re going to use to renew your mind. This is what we want ITC to be about. Not simply learning more, but training ourselves to live what we’re learning. Share your one area with us below, along with the practical step you’re going to take. Then at the end of the month, we can come back and see what changed.

Sometimes something has been part of our lives for so long that we stop questioning whether it belongs there. We learn to live with the same physical struggles, the same emotional patterns, the same thoughts, or the same cycle of victory followed by defeat. Eventually, what should have been challenged starts to feel normal. In this service, we both approach this from a different direction. Julie shares from her own story of being disabled for four years and what began to change when God taught her to give His Word a different place in her life. Proverbs 4:20-22 became more than a Scripture she knew. She began learning to give attention to the Word, speak it, and allow it to change her thoughts, her words, and ultimately her life. Aaron deals with the cycles that can keep us moving back and forth between freedom and bondage, and what the cross actually accomplished for us. We don’t have to spend our lives continually returning to something Jesus came to set us free from. As you watch THIS SERVICE, we want you to identify one cycle in your life that needs to end. Don’t stop with identifying it. Find out what the Word of God says about it. Write that Scripture down and give it your attention this week. Watch what you’re allowing into your thoughts and what you’re speaking over that area of your life. Then come back and share the Scripture you’re standing on. Let’s fill this conversation with the Word and help each other put into practice what we’re learning.

Every kingdom operates according to something, and the Kingdom of God is no different. His Word establishes how His Kingdom works. But owning a Bible, reading it, and even knowing what it says are not the same as living according to it. In this teaching, we begin with an important foundation for this chapter of Are You A Christian? God’s commandments were never intended to produce blind obedience. They bring us into a life of faith where we know God, trust what He has said, and actually live according to His Word. That means there can be a difference between what we say we believe and what is actually governing our lives. Here’s your challenge with THIS TEACHING: Find one instruction in Scripture that you already know but have not been consistently putting into practice. Don’t go looking for something new. Take what you already know and put it into action. The Kingdom life isn’t experienced simply because we know what the King has said. We experience it when His Word becomes the standard we actually live by.