The new year is the start of a fresh page, a chance to be made new. Normally we take this chance to make resolutions about our waistlines, budgets, and habits, but what if we let this new year be about a fresh change on the inside instead? The Holy Spirit is the great transformer, and he wants to enable and empower us to not just look different on the outside but actually be different on the inside. How can we be made fresh by the Holy Spirit this new year?Week 2 of Fresh Fruit

Teacher: Ryan MillerIt’s easy to fall into the trap of orthodoxy without orthopraxy - holding tightly to correct beliefs or moral standards, yet lacking the compassion that truly reflects God’s heart. Today, the pharisaical spirit is alive and well—it just wears different clothes. In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees elevated their appearances, guarded their moral superiority, and used religious language to control and criticize. In our culture, that same spirit often shows up as our own harsh criticisms, ideological purity, virtue signaling, and cancel culture. These behaviors may look different on the outside, but they flow from the same root: a desire to appear right rather than to live rightly, and to protect our image rather than reflect God’s heart. When we use our to elevate ourselves by tearing others down, or perform morality for applause, we’re not walking in the Spirit; we're playing out the same pride and self-righteousness Jesus constantly confronted. This week, we’ll confront the danger of a faith that is only about thinking or saying the right things, but failing to do the good God calls us to through His kindness. True kindness and goodness are active, tangible expressions of God’s love. This moves us from judgment to mercy, from theory to practice, and from words to compassionate acts.

The new year is the start of a fresh page, a chance to be made new. Normally we take this chance to make resolutions about our waistlines, budgets, and habits, but what if we let this new year be about a fresh change on the inside instead? The Holy Spirit is the great transformer, and he wants to enable and empower us to not just look different on the outside but actually be different on the inside. How can we be made fresh by the Holy Spirit this new year?Week 1 of Fresh Fruit

Teacher: Tyler StibrichWe live in a society built on now. In our consumer-driven world, nearly everything - information, entertainment, food, even relationships - is available at the click of a button. We’ve grown so accustomed to now that algorithms anticipate and fulfill our desires before we can even articulate them. At first glance, this convenience feels like magic. But over time, it trains us to expect life to move at the pace of our preferences. Our addiction to immediacy slowly erodes our capacity for patience. We become reactive rather than reflective, drawn to quick fixes over slow formation. When we find ourselves in seasons that require deep waiting - uncertainty, unanswered prayers, or prolonged suffering - we often discover that we are unprepared. Our inner lives, shaped by urgency, struggle to trust a God who moves at the pace of eternity rather than the speed of our preferences. This week, we will explore how Spirit-filled patience transforms our waiting, and teaches us to trust that even in silence or slowness, God is at work.

The season of advent is not the same as cultural Christmastime. The hope of the advent season and the anticipation of the Christ child’s arrival gives us wonderful gifts of love, joy, and peace. But instead of a world full of love we often encounter relational conflict and strife. There’s “us” and “them”, and even “us” is far from unified. Wouldn’t it be great to have a Christmas that is marked by love instead of division? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year are what we wish for others but what if we could have real, enduring joy? And amidst the chaos at the end of the school year, the rush to get gifts, and preparing for travel, our holiday can easily become filled with anxiety instead of peace. Join Damascus Road for the Core of Christmas and learn to live hopeful lives overflowing with love, joy, and peace.Week 3 of The Core of Christmas

Teacher: Megan MillerWe sing “Silent Night” at Christmastime, but our world feels increasingly loud, fast, and disoriented. The constant noise - news cycles, digital distractions, relational tensions - pulls at our attention. These nights before Christmas are anything but silent, and instead we are bombarded by anxiety and conflict, both globally and personally. In the chaos and noise, peace feels out of reach. But chaos doesn’t just surround us, it seeps into us. It disrupts our sleep, erodes our relationships, shortens our tempers, and feeds our fears. Over time, we begin to carry the pace and pressure of the world within our souls. The night of Jesus’ birth wasn’t much more peaceful either. Not only were there groans of labor and a crying infant, but the world was full of the chaos of an oppressive empire, jealous kings, and a people looking for the promised savior who would free them. Hard to imagine a silent night - hard to picture peace - in such a world. This week we’ll explore just how a fussy baby brings peace into a chaotic world, and how the Spirit cultivates this peace within us, not just for our own well-being, but as a gift to the world around us. In a culture full of noise, the Spirit’s peace is a healing witness to the God who offers peaceful silence into every chaotic night.