Memphis Christian Church Podcast: Recent Episodes
Memphis Christian Church
Genesis Chapter 3 records the rebellion that began and went on to impact everything. One of the impacts of sin is that circumstances, values that are out of alignment, and emotions can often drive our lives.
God will whisper. He will shout. He will send others. He will give us all we need through His Holy Word for life and flourishing. He sent His Son, Jesus, so that we could know Him and connect with Him. If there are 100 steps between us and Him, He will take all but one. But he will leave one for us because the choice is ours.
No matter who we are or where we come from, we each have an idea about God. Some believe He doesn’t exist. Others believe he created the world, and that is where his interest ends. Some see God as the ultimate 911 service, only to be called upon in an emergency. Is God a grey-haired judge waiting to condemn our every wrong action, or is He grandpa in whose eyes we can do nothing wrong? The problem is that none of our images or words can adequately capture His majesty, glory, and infiniteness. He is holy, awesome, vast, and eternal. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways are higher than our ways.
While the book of Revelation has amazing imagery, a description of the battle between good and evil, and an amazing inside look at what heaven will be, the point made by God through this revelation is that Jesus Christ is our way through death and the grave and we need to be ready for his return. God’s grace realized through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ secures our way home. Whether he returns before we die, or we die and go to Him, every human being needs a departure plan and must look beyond the temporal and recognize there is only one path home and that path is Jesus Christ.
Today’s passage comes from a section that, frankly, most people skip when they are reading. At first glance, it looks like nothing but a list of names at the end of one of Paul’s letters, but upon inspection, we find that what Paul says about these people reveals the types of people populating our churches, our Life Groups, and our families. As we see how these people will be remembered, let’s examine our own lives so that we can decide how we want to finish therace we’ve started.
To call the beginning of John 1 a “prologue” would be to do it a disservice. It’s less prologue and more a historical and theological summary of the entire book that follows it. John wrote this gospel that we may know Jesus is the Messiah—the Messiah who showed up as a baby after four hundred years of silence from God.
In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul had three main objectives: 1) Thank them for sending him Epaphroditus with a gift to support him, 2) Explain the significance of his imprisonment (possibly because Paul had heard that they were disheartened by it), and 3) Address the issue of disunity within the church. In today’s passage, Paul explains that the only way to do this is to make our attitudes like that of Christ: full of humility.
While visiting the temple in Jerusalem with some of the disciples, Paul was noticed by a crowd intent on having him arrested. They charged him with being a Jewish apostate and began beating him in public. After defending himself before the Romans, Paul desired to step back out and address the crowd that had beaten him—not with a message of condemnation, but of his radical life change at the hand of Jesus Christ.
Many have attributed this quote to St. Francis of Assisi (though erroneously): “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” In this famous section of Romans 10, Paul says essentially the opposite: “Preach the Gospel at all times, and it is crucial that you use words.”
The art of rhetoric—or persuasion—is an ancient one which was, in many ways, formally begun by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C. Many Christian and Secular scholars, alike, consider Paul’s letter to the Romans to be one of the great masterworks of rhetorical writing. In Romans, Paul expertly crafts argument after argument to prove that Jesus is the only means to salvation. In today’s passage, Paul talks to believers, exhorting them to consider themselves dead to sin so that they can experience the freedom Christ offers.
In his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:1-4), Paul urged the church to begin systematically storing up money to give to churches in Jerusalem. They were evidently excited about the opportunity to use what they had to enrich believers in need, because Paul commended their eagerness in 2 Corinthians 9:2. In this passage, Paul explains that since they have been blessed richly in Christ, they should give generously with a cheerful heart.
Greeks had two world-famous athletic festivals: the Olympic Games and the Isthmian Games. The second of these two festivals, the Isthmian Games, were held in Corinth—the city to which Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. The athletes in these games would stick to extremely strict training regimens so that they would be in the best possible shape to win the prize at the end of them. Everybody in Corinth would have been familiar with these games and the lengths to which the athletes devoted themselves to them, so Paul uses them to draw out a bigger picture for the believers there: Athletes train day and night to win a prize made of leaves; what are you doing to receive a prize that lasts forever?
The church that Paul wrote to in 1 Corinthians was, for lack of a better term, dysfunctional. They were set up in the middle of a culture that was full of hedonism, narcissism, and an obsession with every kind of philosophy that rode in on the wind, and these things began creeping into the church. Because they had made it into the church’s teaching, the message of the Gospel started getting replaced with worldly wisdom and philosophy. So Paul wrote to remind them of something powerful: human wisdom cannot compare to the wisdom that God displayed through the cross of Christ.
In the middle of Galatians, Paul took a few chapters to discuss the law and its place in a believer’s life, even tracing it back to Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. Beginning in Chapter 5, however, he is going to demonstrate what a believer’s life, under a new covenant of Grace, should look like in practice. Even more importantly than that, he will command believers to walk in the Spirit—doing so is the only way that they will be able to display the character of Christ.
James, the pastor of the church at Jerusalem and the brother of Jesus, wrote his letter to Jewish Christians living in or around Palestine in the middle of the first century AD. Because of the political and social climate of the day, the people of this church were experiencing difficulties. James wrote to remind them that God is faithful even in our darkest days, that intimacy with Christ is more valuable than worldly comfort, and to encourage them to keep strong in their faith.
James, the pastor of the church at Jerusalem and the brother of Jesus, wrote his letter to Jewish Christians living in or around Palestine in the middle of the first century AD. Because of the political and social climate of the day, the people of this church were experiencing difficulties. James wrote to remind them that God is faithful even in our darkest days, that intimacy with Christ is more valuable than worldly comfort, and to encourage them to keep strong in their faith.
No matter what failure you’re facing or the storm you’re in the middle of, Jesus is more significant than it. He stands ready to forgive and restore us, and He asks only one thing, the same thing He asked Peter:Follow Me.
Leading up to the final journey Jesus would take before His crucifixion, He is handed over to the whim of the crowd. In keeping with a custom of the day, they could let Him go free, or they could let Barabbas, a known murderer, do the same. Their choice is revealing and leads us to a poignant understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice and our place in it.
From Chapters 13 through 19 in his gospel, John recounts one single 24-hour period in the life of Jesus and His disciples: the night before and day leading up to His crucifixion. He takes this time to impart some of His most personal teaching to His closest followers. In today’s passage, Jesus teaches them that persecution is coming their way and that He is leaving them, but that they will be better off because of what He’s sending when He’s gone.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of Jesus’ most famous. As we study it, let’s notice that it is not necessarily about a son who ran away, but about the Father who rejoices when His children return to Him. God showers His forgiveness upon all who would repent and return to Him.
Through the gospel of Luke up to this point, the author has been developing an answer to the crucial question: Who is this Nazarene? Just before the verses we will study today, we get an astounding answer from Peter: Jesus is “God’s Messiah” (9:20). This confession is followed by an exploration of what it takes to follow this Messiah: unashamed dedication and absolute surrender.
Through the gospel of Luke, up to this point, the author has been developing an answer to the crucial question: Who is this Nazarene? Just before the verses, we will study today, we get an astounding response from Peter: Jesus is “God’s Messiah” (9:20). This confession is followed by an exploration of what it takes to follow this Messiah: unashamed dedication and absolute surrender.
The last words that Israel heard from God before a period of deafening silence were scathing, to say the least. The Priesthood had blasphemed the altar of the Lord for the final time, securing the period of silence that followed. But before God gave them the silence they deserved, He made a promise: the Messiah was coming, and there was going to be a man before Him, clearing a path for Him to walk through. In today’s passage, at long last, we get to see both of those men: John the Baptizer, and Jesus, who is the Messiah.
Even though we don’t know much about the author of Malachi, we do know whose message it is, for God is the speaker in 47 of the 55 verses it contains. After the Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C., proper worship of Yahweh had resumed. But by the time that the Word God delivered through Malachi came, worship had also stagnated and become corrupt. In today’s passage we are going to see how the Lord views corrupt worship and discover how we can avoid letting our worship of the King of Kings stagnate.
After Nehemiah came to Jerusalem and aided in the completion of the wall, he knew that the next order of business was to ensure the Word of God was being preached. He called on Ezra, who had come from Babylon with a passion for learning and teaching the Word of God, to come and teach it to the recently returned Jewish captives. In this passage, we see how crucial breaking the Word of God down in a smaller group of people is to helping them discover and respond to it.
Walls are important both physically and symbolically: they physically provide security from incoming attacks and symbolically unite all of the people living inside of them together. Nehemiah, who was the cupbearer to Artaxerxes, learned of the destruction of Jerusalem and of its walls and expressed his concern to the king. He was given a leave of absence and a generous amount of support, as guided by God, and commenced building the walls back up. As with any work of the Lord, however, Nehemiah and the builders did not stop facing daunting opposition— which we will see them face and overcome today.
Esther is one of the most intriguing books in the Old Testament. In many ways, it reads like a spy thiller filled with romance, drama, and murder. It and Ruth are the only two books whose central characters are women, and, perhaps most surprisingly, God’s name is not mentioned even once. However, as we will see today, He is all over it. Leading up to today’s passage, Esther, a young Jewish woman, has been selected to become a Persian queen. But throughout her stay at the king’s palace, she uncovers a plot by a man named Haman to exterminate the Jewish people of the region. So Esther must make a decision: should she preserve her own safety and stay silent or should she use her position for God’s glory?
Daniel and his friends had already experienced some adversity in Babylon, but the most famous one in the book was still to come. Today’s passage sets the scene for what led Daniel to be thrown into the lion’s den, and it shows us something important about him: his faithfulness didn’t start when the challenge came. It was a lifelong pattern that he practiced regularly.
Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man in Babylon, and he has taken some of the Jewish nobility, including Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, into captivity. They are assigned to Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. While they were in his captivity, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a colossal statue that represents a worldwide unity. He sees this as a sign to build a physical statue and force everyone to bow to it, which inspires a famous act of defiance about which we will read about today.
Jeremiah, the “Weeping Prophet,” prophesied in Israel for forty years without seeing a single convert. From the time he was about seventeen, when he was called to be a prophet, he devoted his life to speaking the Word of the Lord, even if it was hard or brought him trouble. Regardless of how they responded, Israel needed to hear it, especially when the message was as heavy as it is in today’s passage: Israel had turned her back on the Lord and would never find fulfillment until she turned back to Him.
Isaiah was one of the longest-working prophets in the Old Testament, with a ministry that spanned about sixty years. The things that He said usually succeeded only in making people mad, but that’s the call of a prophet: speak God’s Word no matter how it’s received. The chapter we will explore today recounts how he came to respond to the call that would carry him the rest of his life.
Jonah is a short book, but a packed one. It concerns a prophet of the Lord who was given a Word to deliver to a particularly evil people, so that they might have the opportunity to repent of their sins and be saved from oncoming destruction. Jonah eventually gets to them, after taking a dramatic detour, and sees the Lord’s message accepted...and this fills him with anger. Today we will see how Jonah represents each of us who seek something other than God’s heart so that we may redirect our focus to Him.
Just as Solomon grew up receiving instruction from his father, he is turning around and instructing his son in the ways of the Lord. In this passage, Solomon shows the importance of obeying the Lord rather than the desires of the heart, and what kind of a fulfilled, abundant life walking with the Lord produces.
In the first Psalm, the ungodly and the Godly are contrasted with competing imagesset against each other. The ungodly man is shown slowly stoppinghis forwardmotion and becoming like chaff in the wind, but the Godly man is compared to a tree planted by never-ending streams of nourishment. As we unpack the first Psalm, remember that this dilemma—the decision to follow the pattern of the world or to follow the paths of righteousness—is presented to us every day, and that we must wake up each morning, intentionally pursue righteousness, and submit ourselves to Christ.
When Saul died, David, who had been anointed by God through Samuel to be the next king, had the rights to the throne--ahead of any remaining family that Saul had. But according to the pattern of the day, the throne technically could have gone to Jonathan’s firstborn, who was named Mephibosheth. As David took the throne, Mephibosheth’s nurse thought that his life was in danger and fled with him, injuring his feet in the process. There he lived, crippled and afraid for his life, until today’s passage, when he heard a knock at the door and learned that it was King David--the one who he assumed was most likely there to kill him.
1 Samuel 14:52 tells us about how fierce the conflict between the Philistines and Israelites had become, and that King Saul’s response was to enlist any strongor brave man he encountered into the army to fight them. But King Saul had repeatedly proven himself unfit for leading God’s people, so God removed His Spirit from Saul and put it into David. The first time that we saw David was when Samuel was anointing him over the rest of his brothers; today we will see him as he takes his first steps toward being the powerful, godly king that he eventually became by standing up to Goliath when nobody else would.
As the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, they were met with the high, thick walls of the fortress city of Jericho. Joshua sent spies in to scout it out, made contact with Rahab, and was about to see God sovereignly grant them victory over a seemingly unconquerable enemy.
The Israelites have been encamped at Shittim since the events of Numbers 22, at the brink of the end of their generation-long trek across the Palestinian wilderness. Now, all that stands in their way is the spring-swollen, fast-moving Jordan River. God is about to prove once again that He is capable of sustaining and carrying them, and then He will instruct them in the ways of never forgetting it again
For the ancient Jewish people, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 was the apex of all Scripture. It was the first thing that Jewish boy or girl would learn as soon as they could speak. It was the first thing on their lips every morning. As we look at this important passage of Scripture, we can use the Shema to understand how we can set ourown homes up for godliness and leave a lasting legacy for years to come.
In this passage, the Israelites are at the mouth of the land that God promised them as they were exiting Egypt. God has moses send men to scout out the land and bring back an honest report so that they may best know how to enter it. Instead, the majority bring back an exaggerated and negative report, meaning they allowed their circumstances to overshadow the promises of God.
Even though Scripture is a collection of 66 books written by dozens of authors over hundreds of centuries, it tells just one story of one God. Today we will be exploring pairs of passages written thousands of years apart, but for one purpose: seeing Jesus as the promised Messiah who came to fulfill what Moses couldn’t.
After the Israelites’ thrilling escape from Egypt into the desert, they must begin organizing into the religoius community and nation that they are. In this passage, we see the famous Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, given to Moses as the groundwork upon whih other rules and regulations for ancient Israel could be laid. We will see how God’s standard for our lives helps us maintain fellowship with Him and with those around us.
At this point in the Israelites’ story, the Jews are captives in Israel. Moses, the Egyptian prince-turned-shepherd, has approached Pharaoh nine times with the same plea straight from the mouth of the Lord: “Let my people go.” Each time, Pharaoh has refused and a plague has come upon the Egyptians. Now the Lord is giving directions to Moses for how to prepare His people for the final plague which will eventually convince Pharaoh to, at long last, let God’s people go.
Many years after Joseph died, after he and his family and the faithfulness of his God were forgotten, the Israelites became enslaved by the Egyptians. After the king called for the death of all Israelite newborns, Moses’ parents hid him in some reeds, where he was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter. He lived for forty years in Pharaoh’s house before being exiled to the desert to live with his people, where he lived for forty more years. Now, he is being sent back as an emissary from God to the people who raised him.
From the time God promised a son to Abraham to the time that son was born, fifteen years had gone by. Abraham, at this time, was 100 and Sarah, his wife,was 90. This child was an absolute miracle. In today’s passage, we’ll see that God wanted to prove something to both of them: His promises are good, but their faith needed to grow still.
A covenant is a promise, but on an even grander scale. The covenant that wewill see today was on such a scale that it formed the foundation of an entire people group: the nation of Israel. As we look at this account, we will see how the promises God makes, He keeps.
The creation and fall of humanity is one of the most famous passages in Genesis. Here, we see God’s perfect design for mankind--two parts of the same flesh working together to carry God’s image across the Earth. But, as we know, something goes terribly wrong and sets a plan in motion that plays out over the course of human history.
Certain hope, is not wishing, not just feeling, not simply my expectations of what is to come, but rather knowing for certain. The results of the scan we received, the struggle of trying to fit in, the pain of missing out on things we thought would happen, they all hit differently when we have a real, trustworthy, certain, future Hope. It’s this hope that keeps us moving forward one step at a time...
Living in the overflow is an idea I shared several years ago through a series of sermons. The idea came from a mentor as he taught us how to prepare to preach. He said “You want to preach out of the overflow”. It’s the idea that we are so filled with God’s love, So filled by His grace, So filled with His truth, So filled with is patience, kindness, mercy, that it flows freely. We don’t have to stop and think about it, it becomes natural.
“When the time had fully come”. It’s an expression that we hear this time of year as the account of Jesus’s birth is read aloud, shared with family under the Christmas tree or in the candlelight of a Christmas Eve service. It’s a reminder that big things happen, life altering events take place, sometimes in an instant. But in this case it was a very calculated and deliberate event planed in eternity past waiting for just the right time to be revealed to the world.
This weekend we look at how Paul makes a contrast between Timothy (a man of God) and the false teachers he has spent much of his letter warning Timothy about. It’s a contrast that speaks to the character of Timothy and all who are set-apart. From this, we learn five characteristics of those identified by their relationship with God, rather than people characterized by this world.
"I have learned the secret of being content in every situation, whether well fed or hungry, living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:12-13) What is the secret to this kind of contentment? It’s realizing that even if we have nothing, we have already gained everything in Christ. That’s why Paul says that godliness with contentment is great gain.
This Sunday morning we will dig into Paul’s words to Timothy found 1 Timothy 2: 1-8 as he leads his Disciple and us to move past the fears of prayer and step into a life of prayer with humility, honesty, thanksgiving and boldness. Make plans to be present for the gathering on Sunday at 10:30a to celebrate what will be an awesome night of Fall Festival (Saturday 7:00p) and give thanks to the Lord!
Believe it or not, Mosaic law plays a vital role in our life as believers, and understanding what the law was created for, who it is created for, and how it should be viewed today is very important. It is one of the primary messages of Paul’s letter to Timothy. Some in the church had an erroneous understanding of these things. This weekend's message is to give us a good understanding of the purpose of the law, who the law is directed to, and how it is to be applied by Christ followers today.
The world, a person, without Jesus cannot know the depths of what Grace and Mercy are. As believers, we can far too often forget or live like we haven't been forgiven and in doing so we can quickly pull back from the purpose God has for our lives. We, like Adam & Eve after they had sinned, can find ourselves running into the bush to hide from a loving God who is calling out for us...
Having been saved by Christ, set apart by God, we’ve been given a command, a responsibility, a charge. We represent Christ! We are to set the example, which means at times we will be called to address some challenging issues in our life or the life of others. Issues that require perseverance, faithfulness on our part...
God sent his one and only son Jesus Christ to pay the ransom, the price for our sins, so that we could be reconciled, have relationship again with God And now, having been “saved”, rescued, transformed, we have been SET APART, made holy, made new, AND purposed. We are Christ’s Ambassador. We now represent Him and what He has done for us and in us. That which He wants to accomplish in others...
God will use anything, any circumstance, any mistake, any good thing as an opportunity to give us more. Jesus says, Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. And then he concludes the promise with “Knock and the Door will be opened to you.” And this is where the promise of “More” becomes so powerful. When we knock on the door of God’s promise of more, He grants us access to what is on the other side...
No matter how much we’ve seen God do in the past, we often forget that He’s with us today. One moment we are thanking Him for what He’s done, especially when things go the way we want, and then the next wondering why He’s so long in coming down from the mountain and seeking out other things, our own kinds of idols, to go before us...
God wants you home, He wants you to know His love. God’s promise: “My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) He’s saying ‘Right now, at this very moment, whatever you are facing, God’s grace is enough!” The Father has been waiting, longing to show you the full extent of His Grace. Today is the perfect time to turn toward home...
What is it that has separated you? What is it that has you convinced that God’s love isn’t big enough, gracious enough, generous enough for you? 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ came for you to change that, to end the separation between us and God’s love. He paid the highest price that can be paid for a life…. He gave His life for us....
Will you allow God to unite your circumstances with His purpose? God doesn’t force himself on you. He doesn’t press you to make an emotional decision. He is simply there in the middle of the mess we make with a promise. That He can take any situation and bring good out of it. Good for His purpose and plan, but also good for our life...
There is a lasting kind of peace that the world can’t offer. A peace that is not based on external circumstances. Jesus says: Do not let your hearts be troubled… Before he promised that we would have trouble in this world, he first said: I have told you these things that you may have peace…take heart! Jesus not only desires for us to have, but is offering, peace of heart, which is far greater than peace of mind.
“My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19) It is in this promise that we see a need and meet it, and God sees all our needs and meets those. Don’t be consumed by what you don’t have, instead bring what you do have to Jesus and let Him do what only He can do....
Right now in our lives, most of us have both hands full of stuff. “Why do we have both hands too tightly clasped, both hands so full?” Because we are afraid we won’t have enough..or life will be different if we can’t keep up with where we’ve been. Listen though to what the wisest, richest man who ever lived wrote: “Better is one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”
Parenting is tough. Raising children is complicated, but it is much simpler when we do it together with God’s blessing by following His plan...
God had placed Adam in the garden to tend to it. In other words, we were created to have purpose through our work. At the beginning, however, the work was not difficult or laborious. For Adam, tending the garden would have been fulfilling, joy-filled, and abundantly fruitful. So what happened? Why can’t we say the same about our work today?
This week we turn to the subject of the marriage relationship and the complications that come when we step outside of God’s plan and wisdom. When a man loves a woman he simplifies the complicated with humility, faithfulness to God, and a forgiving spirit. Don’t let pride, a life filled with the temporal instead of eternal, keep you from moving forward together when complications come....
Ladies, young and old, you are divinely designed, carefully calculated, and eternally significant for reasons you may not fully understand or even agree with. But you need to know that God’s design wasn’t a half-hearted or quick decision. Ladies, you are an image-bearer of God. Your focus is to be on the image that you have been chosen to represent in the very unique and specific ways that God describes.
Too often, in our lives as Christ-followers, we attempt to work backward by cleaning up what’s happening downstream in our lives. If I can only change this behavior, stop looking at these things, and work on my anger and my patience, then I’ll move on to the next thing until I’ve cleaned up everything that I don’t like about myself. But God makes it much simpler, in fact, His desire is for us to do the opposite...
How many remember as a child, or perhaps you’ve experienced this as an adult. Walking down a steep hill, you pick up the pace. At some point, you realize you can’t slow down. At the bottom of the hill is a tree, a thorn bush, an obstacle that you want to avoid. But it all happens so quickly...
We are a people who like to simplify things. Call ahead seating; text to order groceries brought straight to your car; Amazon… We even simplify fractions, or at least we try. Yet, while attempting to simplify things we often complicate life all the more. Yet God designed life for the Christ Follower to be anything but complicated. In fact, aligning with God’s commands and precepts simplifies life.
Over the last 8 weeks we’ve taken a look at the breaking points we most often come to in our life. We’ve looked at the reasons why we rarely persevere through these points and we’ve also considered how to make these moments breakthroughs in our trust of God’s plan! In Matthew 5:11, Jesus comes to this final point, it’s His closing point in this teaching on eight life healing choices of growth.
God wants to use our present and past breaking points to strengthen our relationship with Him. And then He wants to take that experience and help us to come along side others...
God has already purified and qualified us. In other words, as you progress in your life as a Christian, living in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, there should be a progression of holiness and purity. In fact, this is one mark of a true believer – an earnest desire to be pure today so that you can not only see God face-to-face later, but also see Him moving and working around you today. So what does this look like?
What's keeping you from celebrating this week? What circumstances have brought about conflict in a relationship you value? Is it a co-worker that seems to make life at work miserable? Is it bitterness over a “friend’s” Social Media post that left you feeling like you were the target. Is it frustration over the way your spouse handled a situation? Is it a broken promise, an unpaid debt, an invitation not extended?....
Beyond simply desiring food and water, all of us hunger and thirst after something. We desire things that we believe the world can offer us in the hopes that we will walk away satisfied, content, comfortable, happy, and filled. Wealth, possessions, power, fame, health, security, relationships, sex, career, athletics, knowledge, reputation…the list can go on and on as we seek to fill some void...
When that moment comes in your life. When your mortality comes face to face with the inevitable – the valley of the Shadow of death, how will you face it? How do you process the grief, the mourning of what could have been and what was allowed to happen...
Since the beginning of time, men and women have searched for what God promises, but we've searched in all the wrong places, trying all the wrong things. There is only one place where we can find tested and proven principles that will lead to healing and fulfillment. These principles come straight from God's word, spoken by Jesus Christ himself...
The bible tells us that God doesn’t tempt us, but we ourselves are tempted by our own evil desires. Our own fear. Our anxiety. But when temptation comes, when anxious moments come “…..He will provide a way out so that we can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13b) That way out? It’s Jesus Christ...
The very idea of intimacy with God, closeness to Him, can be challenging or even scary. There’s a hesitation to get too close to something or someone who is enormously larger than I am, which, of course, God is. He’s larger than us not in His physical appearance, but rather in His holiness, righteousness, and goodness. He is infinitely not us, and that can give us pause when it comes to getting too close....
Saul who became the Apostle Paul was “blinded” to the reality that who Saul was at his core was but a reflection of his education, his bias, his inexperience, the people around him, and his own rejection of the truth. Are you blinded today, not by the light but, by the opinion of others, what you see in the mirror that you don’t like, and the things that you do? Have you overlooked the reality that the truth?
Two weeks ago, in Matthew Chapter 14, we looked at the boat Peter was in that stormy night on the lake when Jesus came toward the boat walking on the water. Out of the 12, it was Peter who called out to Jesus “If it is you, command that I come to you on the water.” This weekend we look at Peter’s first steps and what our first steps look like when we step out of the “boat” we are in...
How far you would be willing to walk to meet your goal. What would you be willing to do, to give up because you know that the end goal is better than the sacrifices needed to get there? When you have a little bit of ambition and drive to do something that’s important to you, although the walk may be difficult, you know that what’s on the other side of the room is worth it. In Luke 19, we’re introduced to a man who had a goal – a goal that seemed simple, and yet we find him hindered by several things. A goal that at first may not have seemed significant, and yet his walk, or rather his climb, was more important than ever.
Your boat and mine is whatever we are tempted to put our trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy. Our boat can be something that keeps us so comfortable that we don’t want to give it up, even if it’s keeping us from joining Jesus on the waves. Our boat is whatever pulls us away from going all in and joining God on the walk of a lifetime.
Of all the walks you’ve taken in life, what is the most important, the most memorable, the walk that had the greatest impact on you or someone you care for? What walk would you say is the most life changing? In Luke Chapter 7, Luke sets scene for a life changing walk, by taking us into a living room filled with guests. But he focuses in on only three individuals....
We wish, we pray for promises that we can count on. We live in a world that promises results, cures, relationships. We are saturated with promises that are sure to disappoint. Sadly, more people than ever find themselves in a state of deep despair, dying for lack of hope. Yet for every problem in life God has given us a promise. His promises are real, not imagined...
Paul said that the Church is being made holy and pure so that she can be presented to Christ as a radiant, spotless bride. We know all to well the work that goes into making sure that wedding celebrations are perfect – how much more is the Father going to prepare so that everything is just as it should be before our groom returns...
Satan kneels in defeat. The battle has already been won and the last day of evil is to come when we least expect it. All because of what Jesus has done. Jesus has made the promise to return to this world as the one who will restore all things to new. God hasn’t kept the ending a secret. He wants us to see the big picture. God wants us to know that He is victorious!
What we do today, while in the body, while here on this earth, is of utmost importance. The bible tells us that we are without excuse for not believing in the existence of God. All of creation points to Him. Not only does the bible tell us this, but we recognize it at times like this. There is that little tug, that voice inside of us that calls us back to Him. But the decision is left to us.
When you and I repent, turn to Christ, surrender our lives to him in baptism, having our sins wiped out, times of refreshing come. Renewal comes. Day by day, choice by choice, God’s presence with us through his Holy Spirit, sanctifies us, purifies us, returns us to the relationship he began with us in the Garden of Eden when there was no sin. When man walked with God in the peace of complete unity with Him. So that when the day of Judgement comes, we stand before him ready, whole, blameless, ready for a New Day for all eternity.
One of the major themes of the Bible, the story of redemptive history, is God’s presence among His people. The Bible teaches us that not only is God all-powerful, transcendent, set apart, He is also all-present, insanely personal. He didn’t create the heavens and the earth and then step back and let things happen as they may; rather, from the beginning, He has been sovereignly involved in the history of the world and humankind.
Do you ever wonder why Jesus says He will come back? Why would He want to come back? Am I really worth the effort? Why would He go to such an effort to reclaim us? But God has his reasons, because 2000 years ago God entered the murky waters of this world in search of his children, and on all who will allow Him to do so, He lays His claim “I will come back”...
How will you be found when the Master returns? When Jesus comes for us all, or when he chooses to come just for you in the late hour of the night, or while you are young in years? Will you be waiting forwardly? Will you be at peace? The signals, the signs are all around us. The Bible is clear when it says that Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to decide...
If you find yourself today “Strong in the Lord”, celebrate that! But if you aren’t strong in the Lord, stand before Him now and ask Him – “O God remember me, strengthen me once more. Only this time, I’ll use my strength to serve You.”
There are plenty of examples we can think back on to see why trusting in someone or something might be difficult for us. It’s through these moments and experiences of broken trust, which is a result of a broken world, that leaves us timid to place our full trust into something. Oftentimes this is the snare we fall into when looking at our relationship with God and His plans for our lives...
If you trust in Him, even in the midst of the groaning, the suffering, the felt disconnect of where you are today verses where you will be in the future, then He will take everything and work it together to bring you to that place. It’s a hard, painful, long process, but it’s necessary to lead us to a place of faith and trust in our God who is not only willing to give us all things, but more than capable...
How confident are you? Where does that confidence come from? If Christ isn’t the foundation of your confidence, your next step is to receive Him through Christian Baptism, have your heart transformed, your body washed, to Be found in Him. It certainly secures our eternal destiny and it makes all the difference in how we address every other aspect of our life while we are here.
Psalm 139 makes it clear that God formed us, His eyes were the first to see us, long before we were born. We are not an accident. He knows every detail of our life and those details are written in His book waiting for us to live them out with His help, His presence, all for His glory. It’s the “Why”. God created us for His glory....
We can look at the walls that have been built around us to keep us from moving forward with God’s plan for our lives, for our relationships, for our families, and they may seem impenetrable and impossible. But when we listen to God, do what He says, and in that give praise to Him, the walls will come down and they will come down completely....
There are influences in our life – our genetics, experiences, relationship with others, self-image, comparisons made. But at some point we come to grips with the reality that one or more of these influencers has got it wrong and that God has it right. It’s a moment of Full Disclosure when the complete truth regarding our very life, existence, and identity is revealed by the One who created us. Now it’s up to us to accept it...
When we are told to guard something, it says what about that something we are to guard? It says that it is valuable, it is worth guarding, it will be attacked, threatened. It can be taken from you. So how do we guard our heart? David said it best to his son Solomon in 1 Kings 2: 3 “observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements..”
We are relational beings made in the image of a relational God. We have all chosen people to share life with – some who have stuck with us through the good and the bad. Others who have come in and out of our life adding to just a few pages of our story in a positive or seemingly negative way. It's important that we choose wisely who you will allow to speak into your life. Choose wisely those you consider companions...
When was the last time you really had to trust God and did things His way? When was the last time you granted forgiveness, real forgiveness, and didn’t pick up your bitterness again? When was the last time you humbled yourself?
The more you trust Him, the more trust He returns. The more you give Him, the more He gives you to give again. The more humility you show, the more he lifts you up....
Jesus said "narrow is the path that leads to life and only a few find it." Truth is, the majority of people, the crowd, has chosen the wrong path. But there are a few people, the wise ones, who take the road less traveled, the narrow path. A small and brave group willing to separate from the crowd and embark on a different kind of journey. This is what it is to follow Jesus – to take the path less traveled and find life...
The Word of God (the Bible), however, makes some claims about itself that are very important for us to understand today, especially in a world that thinks it knows better than the Bible. Proverbs 30:5-6 will be our main focus this weekend. There are several lessons that we can glean from these two verses – lessons that are important for us as we seek to trust in the Word of God when it seems like more and more are not.
The title of this week’s message, “Lessons Learned – Value Money”, may throw you off at first glance. Isn’t money described as the “root of all evil”? Doesn’t wealth get in the way of our relationship with God? What about the Rich young Ruler? Yet throughout the Bible God choses to use the value of commodities such as grain, fruit, wine, even money, as a measure of our trust in Him.
Paul concludes in Eph 5:15 “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” In other words, take your knowledge of Christ and apply it to your everyday lives and be especially aware of your conduct. There is evil all around us, and we are to engage every opportunity to draw people from darkness into the light...
What is God’s will and plan for sexuality? And how does the answer to this weekend’s question address every aspect of our sexual being? This is where we are headed this weekend in Ephesians Chapter 5. This weekend we seek to answer the questions regarding sexuality directly from the Word of God. The Word of God that we hold as without error, complete, all truth, and God-breathed.
It’s not OK to give up, but it is absolutely necessary to let go of some things. What is it you need to let go of? God’s invitation is for you to lay it at his feet, leave it in the water of baptism, and lean into Him. Bring a friend with you this weekend. God very well may change their life and yours...
This is the question we are answering this weekend. When faced with a tough set of circumstances, when the future looks grim, is it OK to step outside of God’s commands and promises? And here is the principle we want us to hold onto this weekend... Exigent circumstances call for exigent faith and trust in God’s promises.
God has forgiven us of infinitely more sin against Him than any person could ever inflict on us, and yet He still chose to forgive. Therefore, A person who withholds forgiveness from another is someone who has not truly grasped how much God has forgiven them. Even still, sometimes the hurt seems bigger than what we can handle, and forgiveness seems elusive.
According to a study published in the journal of applied psychology, the average American lies up to 3 times in a ten-minute conversation. Yet God’s command in Ephesians Chapter 4, verse 25 “Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor for we are all members of one body.” But why? What’s the big deal about lying? Don’t we lie sometimes to protect the other person?....
What makes you angry? If you hear someone spreading gossip or saying something petty about your church, do you get angry? What about a child who is being neglected or mistreated? Is it injustice? The fact that a portion of the taxes we pay goes to fund millions of abortions each year that have nothing to do with rape or incest? What are we to do with righteous anger?
God’s word gives us clear insight into the invitation that He has paved for all with Grace. It's through the surrender to God’s desire that a boy steps into manhood and discovers what it truly means to be a man...
This weekend, we start a new series that is all about the questions that come to our minds once this new life begins, questions that often start with the words Is it ok to… Ephesians 5:15 gives us the heart behind the question: Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil....
The evidence is clear. Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen. This Easter weekend you’re invited to come and see for yourself what God has done! Our prayer is that the death of Jesus, His burial, His resurrection, and His plan for you today will become real.
This weekend we celebrate Palm Sunday! The moment when the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God’s one and only Son, rode into town on the colt of a donkey, but stepped down off of that donkey and walked among us, and then spoke to us in a language we all understand. He showed the full extent of His love and who He is when he gave his life as a ransom for us all...
We often feel like God’s love increases or decreases based on our circumstances, what we’ve done, or how we feel in the moment. Indeed, these feelings can shift just as quickly as they did for the little boy – one moment it seems like God loves us more than He ever has, and in the next, we’re left wondering where His love has gone....
There are those moments when we have felt separated from love. There are seasons when friendships grow and take on a sense of inseparability and then there are those times when life situations, distance, seem to separate us for a season or two. Even in the best of situations, death will eventually come and separate us from those who love us. But what about the love of God? Can these same realities separate us from His love?
This weekend we launch a new series entitled “Evidence that turns the heart of man.” When it comes to man acknowledging the existence of God, the bible tells us that the world, we, all of us, are without excuse – the evidence of clear. Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen...
God will always exceed the rumors, and will always be more than we can understand about Him. He is a bottomless treasure chest, a mine that continues to yield treasure no matter how deep you dig. Indeed, even after pursuing God our entire lives, we will one day be in his presence and exclaim, “Not even a millionth of the greatness of his wisdom was told to us.”
God is the provider! He gives rain when the earth needs refreshment. He calls the sun from its hiding when the earth needs warmth. He gives to the animals their food, the flowers their beauty, the birds their shelter, and you and me everything we need. But we must be willing to trust him...
Out of all the qualities we’ve discovered about God and reasons to trust Him, this is perhaps the most personal of all - That God loves us with an everlasting love and He has and will do anything to grant us the opportunity to live in that love. Now if you have a skewed view, a worldly view of Love, you might be hesitant. But what we will be reminded of this weekend is that His love can be trusted. God is tenacious...
ore than anything, the Gospel of our salvation reminds us of God’s merciful, compassionate, and loving nature in spite of how often or how long we chose to do things our own way. The Bible’s call is for us to see God as He is – slow to anger, and abounding in love.
When things change rapidly, when life is getting more complicated, and when all the values that have held families and society together are now pushed to the side, what do we do? Where do we go? To who do we turn? We turn to God who defines Himself as UNCHANGING. We anchor our lives to the unchanging God whose love, word, and purpose for our lives never changes.
This weekend we continue with our God Defined series as we look at the keyword of Holy. The term holy seems to be used as another word for moral purity or righteousness. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it may be a little bit misleading. In the Scriptures, there is one primary meaning to the word holy when it comes to how God is defined. When referring to the holiness of God, the holiness definition takes on a much richer meaning.
Perhaps the most difficult command to bring our life into alignment with “do not let your heart be troubled…” follows Jesus promise of peace. Peace, a state of untroubled, undisturbed well-being. Is such a peace possible in this world?
Jesus, doesn’t make any assumptions. In fact, what he does in Matthew 15 leads us to this next principle in facing the giants of life. Here Jesus makes it clear that bringing my life into alignment with His grace and the truth of His word defeats the giant of unworthiness...
As we continue our series “Real Life – facing off with the giants”, this weekend we face off with a giant that impacts millions of people of all ages each year. In 1 Kings Chapter 19. Here we are introduced to a man by the name of Elijah. Elijah faced many of the same emotional and physical giants we face in our life today. One of those giants is the Giant of Depression when he asks God to take his life...
This weekend, we are going to be dealing with the giant of guilt, and its close counterpart, shame. Both of these are realities for us today – we cannot escape them. Ever since sin entered, they have been here, but neither guilt nor shame are necessarily evil. In fact, both guilt and shame can be helpful or harmful, depending on how we use them...
This week we go back to the beginning, well almost the beginning, in Genesis Chapter 24 when a man named Abraham decides it is time for his son Isaac to know love. Through this account God shows us that while Romance is a loving feeling we all desire, it is an elusive giant unless we realize Love is an act of will, not just an emotion of the heart.
When grief comes or has come in your life, what do you? Do you face the giant alone? Do you try to just get through it, survive it? Do you allow yourself a time to grieve and then simply move on? As someone who has faced this giant for over 40 years, I want to give you everything I know to help you, when your times comes, to face off with the Giant of grief. -Dave Colbert
This week we face off with the giant of Friendship! How to build a friendship from the ground up. What should it look like. What is reasonable to expect. And how we can navigate the ups and downs.
The reality is that faith and trust in God are often increased through waiting appropriately, and waiting appropriately means not becoming impatient with God, but seeking to understand what He is doing in the midst of our waiting and joining Him in that....
Trying to hold onto hope can sometimes feel like battling a giant. We need something solid to hold on to! What can you hold on to when life's storms crash over you? The better question is, Whom can you hold on to? The writer to the Hebrews highlights the answer for us: Hebrews 6: 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure....
Most of our giants don't carry a sword or shield, but something more threatening.... He doesn't parade up and down the hills of Judah, he prances through your office, bedroom, classroom, the darkness of night. How long has your giant stalked you? What power has he been given over your day, your sense of peace, your ability to move forward? How do you face Him? And with what do you come against Him once and for all?
How do I stay the course? How do I continue to live in this New Normal without turning back, without falling short, without bringing along with me some of the choices and hang-ups that were part of my old way of living. Moses’ message – “Stay true to the end”.
The God that we worship and pray to today is the same unchanging God who commanded that nations be destroyed. So, if this is true, then what was God’s purpose in issuing this command to His people? To help with our understanding, we must first understand the assumptions with which we come to these difficult passages, and the assumptions we make in our own lives...
David wrote “Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies... Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:98-101,105)(NIV) You see the battle doesn’t begin when we are standing outside the wall, the battle is on right now for your soul. Who will you listen to? Who will you trust? On what or who will you build your life and ultimately your courage?
This weekend we come to the subject of “fear”. Not momentary fear or even the “fear of God” that the bible says is the beginning of wisdom. But fear that grips you and won’t let go. Unhealthy fear that keeps you and me from embracing the life that God has placed before us.
When we allow unhealthy fear to trump the promises of God it will not only separate us from His promises, but destroy us.
This weekend, we are going to be unpacking Exodus, Chapter 18 and the implications it has for our lives as Christians who are journeying through this new normal. In this chapter, we get an important picture of how God works to send help when the journey becomes too much to bear....
Think about it. While there are so many voices clamoring for our attention, He is the one who is ever present and leading us in the way we should go. He is before me, behind me, beside me, opening the red seas that have seemingly trapped me, fighting the battles when I feel outnumbered, lighting the path I need to take when I’m not sure, exposing the dangers that lurk in the dark...
You are saved by God’s grace. The life you live, this new normal journey between now and heaven, is filled with choices. Throughout Exodus, God addresses the root of every choice we will ever make in life. And if we don’t get this choice right, all the other choices will cause us to stall out, miss out, and very possibly walk out on what God is doing right now....
This week we continue on this journey to the new baseline of living that God is leading the nation of the Israelites to. And idealistically, the new normal that God desires for our lives today, there are going to be those moments when the past looks good against the unknown of the future. This weekend we will discover three truths to go to when you find yourself in the middle of significant change...
Last week, we left off with the story of Joseph taken out of Genesis, Chapters 37-50. At the end of the book, having saved Egypt and the surrounding nations from a seven-year famine, Joseph moves his family into Egypt. Things start small at first...but unfortunately for the Israelites, however, things don’t remain this way forever, as we will see by beginning our teaching this weekend in Exodus, Chapter 1...
This week we look at the Journey of Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham whose story we looked at last week. Joseph has this dream but then experiences a lot of disappointment in life. We all have a dream don't we, a vision, a picture of how we want life to go. For most, that dream is our picture of normal. But what happens when normal gets shaken up?
Every once-in-a-while our lives get shaken up. A new job, new life (a baby), an unexpected move or illness, even death. One day everything is normal, the next we are in new territory. One day the path is obvious, the direction seems right, the next we are in uncharted territory and unsure....
One of the most remarkable assessments of Christ’s Character is this summary statement from Isaiah 53:9 “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:9)(NIV) His every word was accurate, every sentence true. God's desire for us is the same...
This week, we continue our series “More like Jesus” with an event that had a high “wow” factor. It’s recorded for us in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 17. Here in Chapter 17, it has been 6 days since Jesus had a discussion with the disciples about the reality of what was ahead. He is about to go into Jerusalem where a series of events would unfold leading to his death on the cross...
Most of us are familiar with the role of a translator. The translator is to convey the speaker’s message to listeners. They are not at liberty to add to or subtract from speaker. As the speaker gestures, they gesture. As the volume increases so does the emphasis. When the speaker gets quiet, they do too. In some ways, it is as if the translator and the speaker become one. If we look closely, this is what we see with Jesus and God...
In Colossians 3:13, and the parallel passage in Ephesians 4:32, Paul gives one of the most difficult commands in the Bible for Christians to follow. He says in Colossians 3:13, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you,” and again in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” The command is to forgive, but often we equate forgiveness with how we feel about another person....
The goal of this weekly talk is to help you and me dig into some of the things going on around us through the lens of Christ. This includes culture, family, friends and so much more… Today my hope is to talk about the important opportunity that College Campus Ministry provides. College is certainly on many seniors' minds, as they prepare to graduate in a little over a month and launch into the world.
There is a variety of content of TikTok - funny videos, dancing videos, rant videos, and lip-sync videos. But there is a growing amount of Christian content. This content can range from someone sharing an encouraging word or scripture to creative Christ-centered rewrites of the popular secular songs.
What is your rescue story? Maybe you were stranded on the side of the interstate with a flat tire when a stranger stopped and changed the spare. Perhaps it was more serious - a car accident or house fire and a first responder came to your rescue. Maybe it was as simple as standing in line at Walmart only to discover you didn’t have your wallet and the person behind you covered the bill. What about your Spiritual Rescue story....?
Don’t live in the Past. When Paul says “Forgetting what is behind”, he isn’t telling us to literally not remember anything. Certainly, we should remember who we were before Christ found us – Paul did, he called himself the sinner of all sinners. We should remember the times we have seen God’s faithfulness demonstrated – Paul would always remember the day he met Christ, the day the chains fell off in prison, the love he received...
This weekend we will play this subject of “Staying Power” out just a little further because it is a significant issue in our lives when living in the zone. In fact, more than ever, when you set out to live in the zone you are going to be tempted to give up, go back, check out, or simply settle. And none of these choices produce fruit...