Trey Van Camp Podcast: Recent Episodes
Trey Van Camp
Trey Van Camp is the pastor of Passion Creek Church. He planted Passion Creek in 2016 in the East Valley of Phoenix, AZ and is known for being a vlogger on YouTube. This podcast consists of his sermons, workshops, Q&As, and more. Jesus offers you a better way to life and a better way to lead. By God's grace, this podcast will remind you of exactly that.
THE WRITTEN RECAPThe age of the tricksterEvery civilization has a name for him. The Polynesians call him Maui. The Norse, and Marvel, call him Loki. The Greeks named him Odysseus. Paul describes him in Ephesians 4:14 as human cunning. The trickster is never direct. He is always disguised. What looks like a gift can carry an army. What looks like peace can hide a war. And once you've survived enough Trojan Horses, you stop trusting gifts altogether. Every apology might have an agenda.Which is where we find ourselves. We've learned the language of peacemaking without living the virtues of peacemaking. We know the words: forgiveness, boundaries, accountability. We can even have ChatGPT write our apology texts. The problem is that it can give us the script but never the soul. Techniques, devoid of transformation, are just a bag of tricks.But Paul isn't only preaching about the manipulators out there. He warns us about the manipulator in here. When you've been manipulated, it gets easy to justify retaliation. Which is why he gives us the posture before he ever gets to the process."Without the posture of Christ, peacemaking is no longer a practice that matures us, but a ploy to manipulate others."Ephesians splits right down the middle. Chapters 1 through 3 tell us what Christ has done. Chapter 4 opens with therefore. Peace has been received. Here is how peace gets practiced. Paul gives us the posture in four steps. But it isn't a staircase you climb up. It's steps you go down.Because ever since Genesis 3, humanity has been climbing. We climb for significance, for status, for control. And when someone hurts us, we don't want to move toward them. We'd rather tower over them. But reconciliation happens at eye level. Every virtue Paul names is another step down. The good news is not that we found a way up to God's level, but that God came down to ours."Peace was made when God took the first step down. So it shouldn't surprise us that Paul's first instruction to peacemakers is to start coming down too."
People of Peacemaking | Proverbs 1Conflict isn't just about what happened. It's about who you're dealing with.Before Solomon teaches us how to speak wisely, forgive wisely, or make peace wisely, he teaches us to recognize four different kinds of people: the simple, the young, the fool, and the wise. Each requires a different response.In this first message of our Formed by Peacemaking series, we'll discover why misdiagnosing a person's character often leads to making conflict worse—and why the first person a peacemaker must honestly identify is themselves. In this message you'll learn: Why Proverbs is about wisdom, not just knowledge. The four types of people Solomon introduces. The difference between the untrained, unproven, unteachable, and unoffendable. How the fear of God and life's tests reveal our character.* Why biblical peacemaking begins with confession before correction. Scripture: Proverbs 1If this message encouraged you, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who wants to become more like Jesus in the middle of difficult relationships.00:00 Practice of Peacemaking02:51 Proverbs Wisdom Framework06:42 Four Types of People12:08 Simple Young and Fool19:43 Fools Reject Correction21:30 Becoming Unoffendable25:28 Peacemaker Matrix Explained36:06 Mirror Not Microscope
In the early 2000s, Disney was on the brink of collapse. Shareholders were revolting. Morale was at an all-time low. The board finally forced out longtime CEO Michael Eisner.Here’s what makes that story fascinating. Eisner’s first decade was historic. His last was abysmal. Same man. Same company. So what changed?Disney grew. Eisner never grew with it. Every decision, every ride, every film had to run through his micromanaging leadership. That style worked when the company was smaller. It was destroying them two decades later.Enter Bob Iger. In his memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime, Iger describes building his entire vision around three clear priorities. That vision transformed the company. Iger understood something Eisner never did: what got Disney here wouldn’t get Disney there. They didn’t need an updated Mickey. They needed an updated method.Churches face the same tension.By God’s grace, our church is growing. But the win isn’t a bigger crowd. It’s deeper formation. People embracing the practices of Jesus. Generational patterns changing. Men and women stepping into their calling.And that kind of growth forces an honest question: can the methods that got us here faithfully take us there?Part of the fear around growth is legitimate. Growth can veer into vanity. A pastor gets an ego, a church chases numbers, the mission gets lost. That danger is real and worth guarding against.But there’s another challenge we don’t talk about nearly as often. Growth creates complexity. More people means more stories, more needs, more questions. It’s like moving from two kids to three. You go from man-on-man to zone defense.So how does a growing church organize itself around spiritual formation? Paul answers that exact question in Ephesians 4.Serving GraceEverything hangs on one sentence: “Grace was given to each one of us” (Ephesians 4:7).In the first half of Ephesians, Paul celebrates saving grace. That’s what most of us think of when we see the word. Without it, we’re separated from God. It comes by His mercy, not our merit.But here, Paul shifts to serving grace. Saving grace gives us a place in God’s family. Serving grace gives us a purpose in God’s family. We aren’t just recipients of grace. We become participants in it.And who receives this serving grace? Each one of us. Not the professionals. Not just the staff. Every follower of the Way.Paul even quotes Psalm 68 with a twist. The original says the King received gifts from people. Paul writes that Jesus gave gifts to people. This King isn’t just here to receive. He’s so generous, He distributes His ministry through His whole Body.Five Ways Of SeeingThen Paul does something surprising. Instead of listing abilities, he lists people: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.Notice this isn’t a list of the ministers. It’s a list of the equippers. The leaders equip. The saints minister. Without that understanding, churches make attenders, not disciples.Here’s one way to grasp these five gifts. They can all walk into the same church, look at the same people, and notice something different. The apostle says we need to build and multiply. The prophet says we need to hear from God and pursue holiness. The evangelist says we need to reach the lost. The pastor says we need to care for and protect people. The teacher says we need to understand and live God’s truth.None of them are wrong. Each sees a different part of what the Body needs. The problem comes when we assume what we see is all there is to see. The prophet needs the shepherd. The evangelist needs the teacher. We need each other because the Church needs all of Jesus.Your Next StepThis is why we’ve built a Discipleship Pathway around teaching, community, and practice. It’s not a shift away from anything. It’s a step further in. The goal is simple: deepen your discipleship and develop your gift for the Body.You can’t choose your gift. You discern it. Through prayer, practice, and community, you discover where God has empowered you to serve others.So here’s the question worth praying over: what’s your next step on the pathway? Formation doesn’t run through a handful of people at the top. Grace was given to each one of us. Including you.
Some passages of Scripture come with baggage. Ephesians 5:22–6:9 might carry more than any of them.Take a brief look at history and you’ll see why this may be one of the most dangerous passages in the Bible. Husbands have twisted “wives, submit” into permission to dominate and control. Verses about children have been used to silence honest questions and excuse abusive parenting. Slaveholders quoted “slaves, obey your earthly masters” to defend the indefensible.And it’s not just history. We all bring our own stories to this text. If you grew up in an unhealthy home, the word “submit” can put your nervous system on high alert. If “I love you” was followed by control or fear, it’s hard to imagine these words describing something beautiful. And if you’re not a Christian, this passage might be on your list of reasons why.Here’s the idea that reframed everything for me: the danger is not in what Paul wrote, but in how it’s read. Just as a hammer can build a home or demolish a window, God’s Word brings life when it’s rightly handled — and spreads great harm when it’s wrongly wielded. Passages become dangerous when they’re detached from the bigger gospel story.It starts with mutuality, not matrimonyIn many Bibles, Ephesians 5:22 begins a new paragraph under a heading like “Wives and Husbands.” But headings and verse numbers were added centuries later by editors. In the original Greek, verse 22 continues the sentence in verse 21: “Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ, wives to your husbands…”Paul doesn’t start with holy matrimony. He starts with holy mutuality. Submission here is mutual — not one-sided, not domineering, not hierarchical.Then Paul does something quietly subversive. Household codes were common in the ancient world, but they spoke only to the man of the house; everyone else was talked about, never talked to. Paul addresses the wife before the husband, the child before the father, the slave before the master. He treats wives as disciples, children as responsible, slaves as moral agents — every person made in the image of God, with dignity and purpose.What each of us lays downSubmission literally means “to arrange yourself under” — not forced obedience, but a willing posture chosen out of reverence for Christ. In a gospel community, everyone gives something up. The wife lays down self-rule. The husband lays down self-interest. The child lays down self-will. The father lays down self-assertion. The worker lays down self-pity. The boss lays down self-importance.This is easier said than done. Our default settings fight against it. The consumer mentality treats people as resources to use; the crusader mentality treats people as rivals to beat. Both view submission as net loss. What happens when you submit and they don’t submit back? What if they take advantage of your sacrifice? What if they never change?The principle and the powerThe gospel answers with both a principle and a power.The principle: our mutual submission flows from our reverence for Christ, not our reaction to people. There’s a drumbeat under every role in this passage — “as to the Lord,” “in the Lord,” “as you would Christ.” If our willingness to submit depends on the other person deserving it, we’ll always find an excuse not to.One thing must be said plainly: if you are being abused, this passage is not God telling you to stay and endure it. Abuse is the opposite of everything Paul describes.The power: the main command in this whole passage isn’t “submit” — it’s “be filled by the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18–6:9 is one long grammatical flow, and the Greek makes the main verb unmistakable. Speaking, singing, giving thanks, submitting — these are what a Spirit-filled life looks like. Mutual submission isn’t merely an ideal to aspire to. It’s the fruit of a Spirit-filled life.Which means the invitation isn’t to try harder. It’s to surrender deeper. This kind of life isn’t produced by stronger willpower; it’s produced by God’s presence. And it’s not a one-time decision — it’s a daily surrender.So here’s the reflection I’m carrying into this week: where am I white-knuckling a relationship God is asking me to surrender instead? Maybe start there, with five honest words: “Fill me, Holy Spirit… again.”
Stop Living Like You’re Going To Run OutOn June 25, 1967, the Beatles debuted a new song during the first live international satellite broadcast in human history. Roughly 350 million people across 25 countries tuned in at once. It was the first time technology had connected the world in real time, and the most influential band on the planet had the chance to say anything they wanted to all of it.They chose “All You Need Is Love.”Credit where it’s due: they weren’t wrong about the diagnosis. We do need love. Our families need it, our communities need it, you need it. But the Summer of Love built its vision on a definition of love untethered from commitment, more about self-expression than self-sacrifice, more about discovering yourself than denying yourself for someone else. We’re still living in the wake of that definition.There’s a sad irony here too. Less than three years after that broadcast, the band that sang “all you need is love” had broken up. We shouldn’t judge them too quickly, though. We’re all prone to the same thing. Marriages fall apart. Friendships dissolve. Churches split. Left in our own power, none of us are naturally quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.A Letter Without a Fire to Put OutPaul’s letter to the Ephesians stands apart from his other letters in an important way. Most of Paul’s writing is reactive. He writes to Corinth because they keep finding creative new ways to sin. He writes to the Thessalonians because they’ve quit their jobs, convinced the end is imminent. He writes to Timothy because fear has gotten the better of him.Ephesians isn’t putting out a fire. Paul is painting a picture: a church where enemies become family, where broken people are made whole, where love isn’t just defined but actually displayed.And right at the hinge point of the letter, before he tells anyone how to live or love, Paul drops to his knees and prays. Specifically, he prays that the church would be filled with the fullness of God’s love.Why start there? Because your vision of God’s love determines the shape of your entire life. If you believe God is distant, you’ll live anxious. If you believe his love must be earned, you’ll live like a performer. If you believe he’s withholding, you’ll live fearful and controlling. But if you believe he delights in you, you’ll live secure.There’s a real difference between knowing God loves you and actually believing it.Gradual, and Multi-SensoryPaul’s prayer reveals two things about how this comprehension actually happens.First, it doesn’t happen all at once. Paul prays in a kind of staircase: being strengthened in your inner being, then Christ taking up full residence in your heart (not just visiting, but holding keys to every door, including the ones you keep locked), then becoming rooted and grounded in love as your actual operating system, and finally being filled with the fullness of God. This is the slow work of spiritual formation, becoming a person with greater and greater capacity to both receive and give love.Second, it doesn’t happen in one way. We tend to assume love is something you learn in a classroom, like memorizing facts about the ocean. But Paul prays that we’d “know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge.” That’s not something you take care of in a single lecture. It’s something closer to diving into the water itself.You experience God’s love in community, when people pull their chairs closer instead of pulling away from your honesty. You experience it in practice, in things like Sabbath rest, which you can’t learn from a textbook, only from doing it. You experience it through the Holy Spirit, who ministers directly to your deepest wounds. And you experience it in both moments and marathons: the instant where you finally feel like you don’t have to hide anymore, and the long seasons of endurance that shape you over years.The Problem Was Never ScarcityA couple adopted a five-year-old girl from Haiti named Addie, whose parents had died in an accident. Her first night in her new home, she watched her two teenage brothers devour an entire dinner and clear the table. She went quiet, convinced she’d just witnessed the last meal she’d see for a while.Her new mother didn’t just tell her there was more food. She walked her to the fridge, the pantry, the freezer, and showed her everything. “Honey, you’ll never go hungry again.”That’s what Paul is doing in this prayer. He’s opening the fridge. He’s opening the pantry. He’s saying: stop living like an orphan. Stop living like God’s love is scarce. Look around. There is more than enough.The problem was never a shortage of God’s love. The problem is our capacity to receive it. Many of us are sitting at the Father’s table still living like we’re starving.
After leading the Israelites to rebuild their city’s walls, Nehemiah faces opposition. From his enemies, he’s distracted, falsely accused, and tempted to fight back against his opponents in his own strength. But instead, Nehemiah continues with the mission God has called him to. He relies on God’s strength, justice, and protection rather than giving in to panic or self-sufficiency. Today as we end our Peace by Piece series, we must expect to face spiritual opposition as well. From Nehemiah, we can learn that being mission-focused means committing to the goals God has laid before us and relying on His strength when we face suffering and attacks from the enemy.
What if the people God needs to build something remarkable are already in the room? In this message from Nehemiah 3, we explore one of the most overlooked chapters in Scripture — and discover that the list of names buried inside it is actually a portrait of how healthy culture gets made. Priests, merchants, goldsmiths, daughters, and everyday families all working side by side, each building the section of wall closest to their own home. We unpack what it means to be a Home-Grown church, why culture always outlives the people who created it, and what's at stake when ordinary people choose to show up — or don't. If you've ever wondered whether your contribution matters, this one's for you.TIMESTAMPS0:00 - Relaunching at Queen Creek Jr High05:08 - Culture Outlives Us09:57 - Priorities Shape Us22:29 - Serving Where Needed28:17 - Harder and Heavier Work32:42 - Hotel v Home36:42 - The Sheep Gate
In the book of Nehemiah, we pick up the story of God’s people continuing to rebuild their city. When Nehemiah, one of Israel’s leaders, hears about trouble in Jerusalem, he doesn’t react impulsively or cynically. Instead, he strives to honor God and others in how he prayers, responds to trouble, and helps build his city. Over time, God begins to shape Nehemiah’s heart before calling him to step into action. As we continue to look ahead at who we want to become through this building initiative, we want to be honor-filled like Nehemiah. To do that, we must examine how we respond to brokenness, how we pray, and where we fall short of honoring God and others.
As God’s people continue building the temple in Ezra 4-6, they face opposition from their enemies. In their panic, they stall their building project for 16 years. But God uses prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to remind them that God’s presence overcomes their fears. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 7 that like Israel in Ezra 4, we too will endure hardships and obstacles. But rather than giving into panic or abandoning God’s call altogether, putting the teachings of Jesus into practice allows us to continue relying on His presence over our performance.0:00 - Shutdown at the Movies3:19 - The Age of Panic7:55 - Ezra 4 & the 16-Year Hiatus20:33 - Stirred & Strengthened25:45 - Do Not Die in Haran31:47 - Practices Push Through the Panic
In Ezra 3, the people of God gather to rebuild the Temple. Despite their fears, they prioritize God’s presence and are able to finish the altar to consecrate themselves back to God. But some are disappointed. Rather than looking ahead to what God might do, they looked back to compare their current situation with their preferred past. As we continue to build our future, we want to prioritize Jesus and His presence, even when facing fear or disappointment. Being “Jesus-First” means we give, pray, serve, and worship for God’s presence alone, not our progress.
We're Not Just Building a BuildingTen years is a long time to wonder about something.For most of our church's life, the question of a permanent home has hovered in the background. And honestly, looking back, I think the timing matters. We needed all of this time, all of these years of being formed by Jesus together, before we were ready to take meaningful steps toward building something permanent. God has been building us peace by piece. Now we get to build with him.But before we talk about what we're building, we need to talk about why.We're Living the Same StoryThe books of Ezra and Nehemiah sit near the end of the Old Testament, and they tell a story that feels surprisingly familiar. Israel has spent years in exile, displaced from their homeland by the Babylonian empire. The temple, the place where God's presence dwelled among his people, has been destroyed. The city walls are rubble.But God makes a promise: they'll return. They'll rebuild. And God will come to dwell with his people again.That's not just their story. It's ours.Even here in our city, the simple and sacrificial way of Jesus runs directly against the grain of the self-centered, power-driven culture around us. We are, in a very real sense, a people planted in hostile soil. And like Israel, we have a choice: assimilate to the culture, retreat from it, or build.We're choosing to build.The New Testament makes clear that God's people are now his temple. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that the Spirit of God lives in us. Peter describes the church as "living stones" being built into a spiritual house. The presence of God that Moses encountered on the mountain, that the temple was meant to contain, that Ezra and Nehemiah longed to restore, is here when we gather together for worship, fellowship, and service.What we're building isn't just a building. It's a place of encounter.Two Prophets, Two ChallengesWhile Israel was rebuilding, God sent two prophets to keep them on track: Haggai and Zechariah. They had different styles, but the same mission.Haggai was blunt. He looked at God's people focused on their own comfortable houses while the temple sat unfinished, and he called it what it was: misplaced priorities. The question he puts to them is the same one worth sitting with today. What am I actually using my life to build? Is it purely for my own comfort and security, or am I leveraging it for something larger?Zechariah was a visionary. Where Haggai shook people up, Zechariah lifted their eyes. His message was simple: this is not a small thing. "Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit," says the Lord. Don't despise the day of small things. Keep pressing on.We need both voices. The challenge to get our priorities right, and the vision to remember why it matters.What a Building Makes PossibleA permanent home isn't the goal. But it opens doors that a portable church setup can't.It means space for teaching, not just on Sundays but through workshops on theology, marriage, and parenting, and potentially a K-6 Christian academy where kids are shaped by scripture every day. It means real hospitality, a space where the loneliness and disconnection so many people in our city carry can be met with genuine community. It means margin, the ability to actually practice Sabbath and linger in worship instead of watching the clock because we have to tear everything down. It means moments: salvations, weddings, breakthroughs. And it means marathons: the sacred weekly rhythms that form people over decades and get passed down to their grandchildren.The Next StepsOver the next several weeks, we're inviting our church into this initiative together. Our goal is 100% participation, because the whole body moving together matters more than the size of any individual contribution. We have a two-year financial goal of $2.5 million, which covers both our ongoing ministry operations and meaningful steps toward building at our future site. And we're doing it through a single unified fund, so no one has to choose between supporting what exists today and building what comes tomorrow.Commitment Day is May 17th.Between now and then, the invitation isn't to give. It's to pray and ask God what participation looks like for you.We aren't building a name for ourselves. We're trying to make space for God to dwell here, peace by piece.
The story we’ve been told about life isn’t working. Most of us have placed our hope in ourselves, believing that peace, happiness, and freedom come from looking inward. But this has left us more anxious, less hopeful, and still hungry for meaning. But on Easter, we orient ourselves around a better story. In John 20 we see Jesus meeting three groups of people who represent many of us today. To those grieving, Jesus comes to us as a Gardener making all things new. To the fearful, he is a Peacemaker coming to offer us peace. To the doubting, he is a Pursuer who comes to make himself known. Because of the resurrection, we’re given peace, purpose, and power through the Holy Spirit. Easter is a celebration of the truth that the empty tomb is good news, both for our real lives today, and into eternity.
In Ephesians 6, Paul describes the armor of God and tells believers to take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” When Jesus faces off with the devil in the wilderness, he uses Scripture as his main defense. Each temptation from the devil was met with a specific truth from God’s Word. In the same way, we too are called to apply Scripture specifically to our lives in order to combat the deceptions, accusations, resistance, and temptations from the enemy. The more we saturate our minds with Scripture, the more the Holy Spirit brings specific verses, promises, or truths to our minds in the moments we need them most.
In order to be formed by Scripture, we must learn to submit to its authority. In Psalm 119, the Psalmist describes God’s Word as a lamp, something that illuminates just enough for us to take one small step of obedience to Jesus at a time. This means that Scripture can’t simply be read, it must be obeyed. If our attitudes, actions, behaviors, and beliefs are never redirected by the Bible, then we aren’t treating it like a lamp unto our feet. But by ruthlessly assessing the darkness in the world and our own hearts, and by radically accepting the light of God’s Word, we can slowly practice submitting to Scripture and obeying it as truth.
The Christian life is not defined by a single powerful moment. Instead, Scripture shows us that formation happens through both moments and marathons. In Acts 19, the church in Ephesus experienced a defining moment where God moved powerfully to save its people and bring revival to the city. But years later, Paul wrote Ephesians to guide them through the long obedience of faithful discipleship. Eventually, Jesus Himself addressed this church in Revelation, warning that perseverance without love leads to drift. The invitation of the gospel is not to grit our teeth through the race, but to keep falling in love with Jesus. To do this we must learn to guard our hearts, walk in community, practice faithfulness, and rely on the Holy Spirit to form us peace by piece over the long haul.
All of us want peace, transformation, and a life that reflects Jesus. But becoming like God is not something we can accomplish on our own strength. Paul reminds us in Ephesians that transformation is only possible through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a force but a person who dwells within us. We can grieve Him through our words and relationships, even while remaining secure in our salvation, sealed by His presence. And while those who follow Jesus already have the Spirit within them, we are continually invited to be filled by Him through repentance and surrender. As we walk together in worship, gratitude, mutual submission, and love, the Spirit forms us, peace by piece, into the likeness of Christ.
It’s no secret that America is experiencing a loneliness epidemic. Though most of us are surrounded by people, digitally connected, and relationally busy, few of us have actually experienced the deep and life-giving reality of authentic community. In Ephesians 4, Paul paints a picture of what Christian community can look like. Rather than giving us model, brand, or method, Paul describes community as a body. Just like a body, each person within a community has a part to play in supporting those around them. But also like a body, if one person is unhealthy and unwilling to change, the rest of the community can get infected. Lying, anger, stealing, foul language, and bitterness can cause damage to the communities we find ourselves in. Because of this, true community is a risk. But it’s also the way in which we can grow more like Christ, accept his love, and share that love with those around us.
This week in the Peace by Piece series, we explore Ephesians 4:1, focusing on the crucial role of teaching in Christian formation. Many of us are shaped by ideas and images that subtly pull us away from God’s truth. True transformation doesn’t happen through quick fixes or isolated frameworks, but through a holistic, patient process of engaging with the essentials: Teaching, Community, Practice, Holy Spirit, and Moments & Marathons. This process requires confronting the lies we believe, renewing our minds with Scripture, and allowing God to form us piece by piece over time. As we grow in this grace, we begin to embody the peace of Christ in a chaotic world.
In a cultural moment marked by anxiety, reaction, and fragmentation, the church is tempted to respond as either a consumer or a crusader. Drawing from Ephesians 3–4, this message invites Passion Creek into a new imagination—one rooted not in speed, technique, or outrage, but in formation.Becoming Peace by Piece names the slow, patient work of God in forming a people who are not tossed to and fro, but who grow into maturity measured by Christ’s fullness. Peace is not something we manufacture by willpower, nor something we passively receive—it is something done for us in Christ and formed in us over time as we guard our hearts and walk together under His easy yoke.
In this message from 1 John 4, we look at Christmas through the eyes of the Apostle John near the end of his life. After decades of ministry, suffering, and loss, John doesn’t offer advice for fear—he offers good news: God is love.This teaching explores:Why fear doesn’t just live in our thoughts, but in our nervous systemHow God’s love takes the initiative long before we doWhat “perfect love” actually means—and how it casts out fearWhy the opposite of love isn’t hate, but fearHow the incarnation of Jesus is God’s answer to human anxietyRather than calling us to be braver, Christmas invites us to receive love more fully—a love that is sacrificial, unconditional, and strong enough to heal even our deepest fears.If fear has shaped your expectations, habits, or faith, this message is an invitation to step further into the love of God—and to discover the freedom that comes with it.“There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives out fear.” — 1 John 4:18
In Matthew 20 Jesus tells a parable about a master who rewards his workers based on grace, not their merit. In the parable, Jesus explains that God gives grace out of his goodness, not our productivity. Most of us struggle with this truth today. While we’re grateful for God’s mercy extended to us, we can grow bitter when God gives mercy, providence, and blessings to those we don’t think deserve it. But this comparison keeps us from experiencing joy from God’s grace towards us. To avoid becoming bitter with God’s generosity towards others, we practice contentment.
In Matthew 18:21–35, Jesus tells a parable that exposes the danger of harboring unforgiveness. In the story, a servant is forgiven for his great debt by a king, but then refuses to forgive others who owe him a great debt as well. Jesus uses this parable to show that unforgiveness is poison to our souls. It hardens our hearts against others, turns wounds into bitterness, and bitterness into bondage. But forgiveness is freedom.Jesus invites us to forgive not merely for our hearts, but from our hearts and ultimately to our hearts—receiving His forgiveness so deeply that it transforms the way we see and treat others.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is another popular parable of Jesus that often gets overlooked. In this story, Jesus describes a Jewish man in need on the side of the road. Religious experts and the “spiritually mature” pass him by, but a Samaritan, one of the most despised people to the Jews, stops to help him. In our lives today, we can be tempted to simply pass by those whom God is calling us to love and serve. We’re either too busy, we see them as too bad, or their situations are too broken for us to reach out in love. Like the man Jesus tells this story too, we can be caught asking “who exactly is my neighbor?” rather than “who will I be a neighbor to?” But by asking this question, we can begin to allow Jesus to transform us into people who are truly spiritually mature, people fully capable of loving and serving those around us.
In Luke 14, Jesus gives us a parable full of paradoxes. In the parable, many are invited to a banquet, but only the outcasts and marginalized show up. The paradoxes are that God’s greatest blessings can also become our greatest barriers, the gospel is both radically exclusive and radically inclusive, and to dine with Jesus is also to die with Jesus. To become good hearers of this parable and receptive to its gospel truth, we too must wrestle with these paradoxes that remind us God’s invitation to His Kingdom is urgent, costly, and worth everything.
The first parable recorded by the three gospel writers Matthew, Mark, and Luke is a parable about seeds. Jesus explains that like a seeds planted among different types of soil by a farmer, the words and teachings from Him are shared among different types of people. Some reject His words and teachings, some don’t allow it to take root, and others give up following the way of Jesus by giving into the worries of this age.But there are a few who hear God’s word, receive it by applying it to their lives, and bear good fruit. These are the people who allow God’s word to confront and convict them, and who reorient their lives in response. In order to be these types of people, we must receive the seeds God generously wants to share with us, and learn to apply them to our daily lives.
Paul had a sense of urgency when it came to sharing the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 5 and 6, he tells us that we will all appear before God one day and give an account of how we lived as witnesses. He also says that our job is to persuade people to believe in the gospel because “today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). But today, few of us live with this sense of urgency. Rather than fearing God and His judgement, we fear other people and their opinions. We also write people off as being unlikely to accept the gospel if we were to share, and most of the time, we simply forget to live our lives as witnesses. But witnessing is not an optional practice. Both Paul and Jesus teach us that to be a disciple is to be a witness. When we learn to examine our fears, our flesh, and our forgetfulness, and then bring them to God, we can become effective witnesses who lead others into the Kingdom through the practice of Invitation.
When Paul planted the church in Corinth, his method was simple — preach Christ and Him crucified. Paul was able to clearly and courageously call people to repent and align themselves with the true King, Jesus, and the church in Corinth was born. Our job as witnesses today is the same — preach Christ and Him crucified with courage and clarity.And while courage comes with time, clarity takes effort. Most of us have an incomplete gospel story. We tend to emphasize one part over another, and often miss out on the depth and complexity of what salvation really is. To become effective witnesses who clearly and courageously preach the gospel, we must learn the full gospel story: Jesus has come to rule and reign over the world through His death and resurrection, and anyone can live in the Kingdom here on earth and into eternity if they repent from their sins and align themselves with Him.
As we begin our last practice together, the practice of Witness, we look to Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians. Writing to a church in the middle of a diverse and pagan culture, Paul encourages the church there to live their lives in such a way that their alignment with King Jesus is evident. Much like a strong aroma will either draw others in or push them away, Christians should remain so close to God, each other, and the lost that their lives draw those who are willing closer to God.Like the church in Corinth, our Witness practice must start with our with-ness. We must remain so close to God that others find our lives appealing. We must remain so close to each other that we’re able to rely on each other for support. And we must remain so close to the lost that we actually have opportunities to draw them into communion with the God who created them.
n John 17, Jesus prays His final words before the cross—not just for His disciples, but for us. He asks the Father to keep us safe from the evil one, make us holy by His truth, and unify us in love. And in verse 23, we see the breathtaking truth of the gospel: the Father loves us with the same love He has for His perfect Son.
Jesus warned us: if we truly abide in Him, the world won’t celebrate us—it will resist us. In this message from John 15, we explore four ways the world hated Jesus—and still hates His followers today: misunderstanding, misrepresentation, marginalization, and even martyrdom. But we’re not left alone in the resistance—Jesus gives us His Spirit to walk beside us through every fiery trial. Learn how to suffer faithfully, live joyfully, and pray dependently in a culture that misunderstands the way of Jesus.
Instead of rushing past the familiar line “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” we’re invited to slow down and receive it not just as a doctrinal statement, but as a personal proposal from the Groom to His Bride. Don’t pass over the Passover, don’t pass over the proposal, and above all—don’t pass over the Person of Jesus.
Prayer is so important because it allows us to delight in God’s presence, discern His heart, and depend on His power. But prayer is so powerful because it actually directs God’s hand. When we pray, prayer moves our heart and will to align with God’s heart and will. But it also moves God’s hand to directly interfere into the affairs of humanity. And yet few of us actually believe this. Some of us fall into the trap of fatalism, falsely believing God has already set the future and our prayers won’t actually change anything. Others of us fall into the trap of naturalism, falsely believing that prayer is less important than action. But throughout the scriptures, God does change his mind in response to his peoples’ prayers. In Exodus 32, after receiving the 10 Commandments, Moses prays on behalf of the Israelites and God relents. In 2 Kings 6, Elisha prays for the eyes of his servant to be opened to the reality of God’s power through prayer. If you track the theme of prayer throughout the biblical story, one thing becomes abundantly clear: prayer moves the hand of God to action. It’s our prayers, usually on behalf of others, by which God advances His Kingdom to push back the darkness in the world around us. Put simply, God responds when we pray. By praying bold prayers that just might move God’s hand to action, we practice turning our inward-focused minds, hearts, and bodies into outward-acting agents of God’s kingdom.
In the middle of teaching on prayer, Jesus tells us to ask, “Give us today our daily bread,” “forgive our sins,” and “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:11–13). These requests span a spectrum: from the mundane, to the messy, to the monumental.Daily bread reflects ordinary needs we often overlook—food for the day, a safe commute, help with our to-do list. “Forgive our sins” gets messy, confronting our failures and the challenge of forgiving others. “Deliver us” points to overwhelming needs—healing from deep wounds, restored relationships, freedom from bondage. Yet Jesus makes no distinction. Bread, forgiveness, deliverance—all are gifts from a generous Father.If God truly is our Father, He wants us to ask—for small things and big things. Because asking reveals humility. It takes honesty and vulnerability to admit we need help, that we rely on His power. Prayer expresses this dependence. When we bring God the mundane, the messy, and the monumental, He responds. Not always how or when we expect. But Jesus reminds us: “Who among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:9–11).
If the goal of prayer is to delight in God’s presence and develop deeper communion with Him, few of us want to settle for a one-sided relationship. At some point in our prayer journey, we’ll want to actually hear from Him. This is what Scripture calls discernment. And while prayer is about delighting in our personal relationship with God by sharing our hearts with Him, it’s also about learning His heart for us and for those around us.When we pray to discern God’s heart, we’re asking to know God’s will. But we’re also asking that God would form and shape us into the kinds of people who are actually capable of accomplishing it. This means discerning God’s heart is less about finding the right path when faced with a decision and more about tuning our hearts and desires to God’s heart and desires. This is partly what Jesus means when He tells His disciples to pray, “Your Kingdom come Your will be done…” (Matt. 6:10). Discerning God’s heart is about surrendering our will to God’s. We want His will, not ours, to be done in our lives, in the lives of those around us, and in our world. Praying this way is about alignment. We want to bend our desires to God’s desires. And not just for ourselves.We want to develop the heart God has for those around us as well. We want to hear from God, we want to respond to His voice, and we want to become people who carry out His will.
It’s pretty significant that the one time we’re told the disciples ask Jesus to teach them something, they say, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). After everything they saw Jesus doing—preaching, performing miracles, healing, casting out demons—what caught their attention was the devotion and commitment Jesus seemed to have when it came to prayer.When Jesus answered his disciples’ request, the first thing He told them to do was address God as a Father. “Our Father in heaven…” as the prayer goes. Many of us know it by heart, but this was a radical move on Jesus’ part. In a culture full of both reverence and uncertainty about the divine, Jesus was demonstrating to His disciples a very simple, yet radical truth: God is knowable. He’s not simply “up there” in the clouds, nor is He passively waiting for us to approach Him with the right words, mantra, or sacrifice. God is near, and we can talk to Him the same way a child would talk to their father.The starting point of prayer is delight. We can’t develop the kind of prayer life Jesus had until we get our heads and hearts around the truth that God wants to be near us in prayer more than we want to be near Him. To truly delight in God requires a proper theology, a patient consistency, and a practicing community.
On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. By rising from the dead and walking out of the grave, Jesus defeated the three main enemies of humanity: sin, Satan, and death. It’s good news for all of us, but only if we’re willing to accept it. In Matthew 11, Jesus responds with judgement towards those who consistently reject Him and His miracles. But by the end of the chapter, Jesus extends an invitation for those willing to repent. By laying down our pride and putting our hope in Jesus, we find Him gentle, lowly, and willing to give us rest.
Fickleness might not be one of the seven historically recognized deadly sins, but it is prevalent in our community and it is deadly. All of us shy away from difficult conversations, give up at the first sign of discomfort, and loosen our commitments when we’re inconvenienced. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before his crucifixion, Jesus models what faithfulness looks like. By bringing our pain, fears, and discomfort to God in honest prayer, we allow him to hear us and align our hearts with his will. This is how we allow the Spirit to bear the fruit of faithfulness within us.
Of all the deadly sins, envy is one of the most damaging and undetectable. We casually look down on those who are more successful than us, we ignore the bitterness that takes root in our hearts towards others, and we slowly begin to see the people God has called us to live in community with as enemies rather than family members. But as dangerous and elusive as envy is, the gospel gives us a way out. In James 3, James gives practical instructions to those struggling with envy: “if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth… the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.” (Ja. 3:14, 18). We can make space for the Spirit to grow the fruit of Peace in our lives by practicing gratitude and honor. When we give thanks for what we have, we learn contentment. When we choose to honor instead of envy others, we experience peace.
Most of us probably wouldn’t consider ourselves “gluttons.” But when we look at how we spend our free time, how we respond to boredom or hardship, or what we do for “rest,” we likely find ourselves giving into excess and impulse. By definition, this is gluttony: consumption without contentment. To find happiness or satisfaction, we often chase cheap impulses, or what some call “pseudo-joys.”But this problem isn’t new. Jesus calls it out when the crowds followed him after they ate the five thousand loaves and fish that he gave them. “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” Instead Jesus reminds the crowds, and us, that He is the Bread of Life that satisfies our deepest desires. This is the fruit of joy.By practicing both fasting and feasting, we can slowly train ourselves to resist gluttony and instead embrace the true joy that Jesus offers us.
At the top of the list of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is love. But as simple and cliché as it sounds, love is one of the most difficult fruits to embody. And what most often prevents us from loving others well is greed. One of the seven deadly sins, and one of the most difficult sins to free ourselves from, greed prevents us from loving others and serving God sacrificially. We express our greed either by hoarding our resources, ignoring those in need, or controlling what we get in return for our generosity. To combat the greed that naturally grows inside of our hearts, we must learn to submit ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit. By acknowledging our weakness, and by pursuing self-sacrifice, we allow God to grow the fruit of love within us.
One of the sharpest and most consistent criticisms God gives against His people throughout the scriptures is the sin of neglect. As God’s people, the Israelites were chosen as a nation among nations to bring God’s light to a dark world. God’s people were always supposed to care for the poor and marginalized, and to bring the good news of God’s Kingdom to the lost around them. But rather than care for them, they often neglected them.In Isaiah 58, God’s people wonder why their prayers and fasts haven’t been acknowledged by God. God’s response is that they fast in vain; their focus is only on themselves while they neglect those in need around them. Instead, God describes a holy and honoring fast as one that leads to care for their neighbors.When we fast, we have an opportunity to direct our attention and our prayers away from ourselves and toward others. We use our bodies to cry out to God on behalf of those who have needs in our cities, communities, and neighborhoods. In our hunger, we identify with those who don’t have food in abundance like we do. We align ourselves with the poor and needy among us. From those with deep physical, relational, and emotional needs to those who have the ultimate spiritual need: reconciliation with God through the power of the gospel.
Fasting is hard because it’s a form of self-denial. We suddenly become aware of our weakness, frailty, and imminence. It’s a reminder that our bodies need sustenance to survive, and without food, we’ll eventually die. But just like our bodies need food for life, our souls need God. David knew this well when he fasted and pleaded with God in Psalm 69. As he denies his body food, he learns to confess his needs before God and redirect his trust back towards Him. Like David, we too are powerless to accomplish our deepest desires and weak when it comes to uprooting the deepest sins in our lives. We all have needs that only God can meet — prayers we need answers to, sins we can’t overcome, and decisions we need God’s will revealed for. To help us redirect our trust in God and to confess our needs, we fast.
In Psalm 63 David is a King on the run. His wealth, power, and possessions have all been stripped away and he finds himself in a desert, fleeing for his life while his own son tries to kill him. And yet, in this season of pain, David’s deepest longings are satisfied by God’s presence. Though most of us today won’t experience our lives endangered in a desert, we will find ourselves in seasons of desert pain at some point or another. But unlike David, our impulse to avoid pain prevents us from experiencing satisfaction in God as we often seek comfort in our “cheaper desires.” To help us refocus our attention to God, train ourselves to find true satisfaction, and experience more of our union with Him, we practice fasting.
To become the 4th soil, we need to become people with both courage and clarity in sharing the gospel. But most of us are too consumed by fear, shame, and confusion, and our attempts at becoming effective evangelists fall short. We fear losing friendships and facing rejection, we’re ashamed of the offensiveness of the way of Jesus, and we’re confused by what the gospel actually is. Timothy, Paul’s pastoral protégé, dealt with many of the same problems. In 2 Timothy 1, Paul gives an encouraging reminder to Timothy and to us: the power of the gospel comes from God who saves us from death and gives us new life. While it’s God who ultimately saves people, it’s our job to sow the seeds and trust in the power of the gospel.
We live in a pivotal moment of our culture. Societal upheaval, corruption, and fear create the potential for another major shift in our society, either toward ruin or renewal. And while the world around us gives in to panic and distraction, the call for the church remains the same: endure hardship. In 2 Timothy 4, this is the command Paul gives to Timothy and his church as they wrestle with the same issues we wrestle with today. Like soldiers, farmers, and athletes, the church’s job is to stay committed to our task, be aware of the season we’re in, and commit to finishing the race God has called us to. Here at Passion Creek, our aim is to become the 4th soil by enduring hardship through the practice of prayer.
We are living in the 4th quarter—a time of urgency and opportunity to consecrate our lives and become the fourth soil. Drawing from Mark 4, the call is to resist distractions, align ourselves with God’s Word, and bear lasting fruit. Today, we focus on the chokehold of deceitful desires and how self-control, powered by the Holy Spirit, frees us to live as God intended.Modern culture has shifted from a “should” society to a “could” society, glorifying self-indulgence while leaving us more broken and dissatisfied. Through the lens of scripture, we see the destructive power of unchecked desires—whether in Esau trading his birthright for stew, or Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 3 about people becoming lovers of self and pleasure over God. Desire, though not inherently evil, becomes destructive when disordered or directed away from God.Paul’s exhortation to exercise self-control teaches us that spiritual maturity requires both mastery and mystery. While we actively train ourselves to resist sin (mastery), we rely on the Spirit’s power to transform our hearts (mystery). Fasting emerges as a key practice to cultivate this balance, helping us reorient our desires toward God and find true fulfillment in Him.
We live in an urgent time. With the church in decline, deconstruction increasing, and people abandoning their faith in droves, followers of Jesus need to know how to navigate this cultural moment. And Jesus offers us an answer. In Mark 4, he tells a parable about a man who plants seeds in four different types of soil. Most of the seeds are fruitless, except in the 4th soil. Our goal at Passion Creek is to become this fourth soil. We want to be a church that hears God’s Word, receives it, and bears fruit. We do this by resisting the worries of this age, deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things, and instead reorient ourselves around God Himself.
Every Christmas, we embark on the journey of Advent, reflecting on the hope, peace, joy, and love brought by Christ’s first coming and ultimately brought to the full at His second coming.But love—especially God’s love—can be the hardest to understand and accept. This teaching explores God’s profound love through the four Gospels, using a poem, a prophecy, a purpose statement, and a parable.
In this Advent message from Luke 2, we explore how chronic anxiety has gripped our society, robbing us of playfulness and joy. Drawing on insights from Luke’s account of the shepherds, Pastor Trey VanCamp reveals that joy is not just an emotion but a motor—a driving force that sustains us in the tension of the “already, not yet” of God’s Kingdom. By embracing joy as both a miracle and a muscle, we can navigate life’s challenges with hope and resilience. This teaching encourages us to “rejoice always,” grounding our joy in Christ and looking forward to His ultimate return.
Life is hard, you're not that important, your life is not about you, you're not in control, and you're going to die. These five harsh truths have historically prepared young men for the challenges of life, yet our culture seems to deny them at every turn. In Acts 28, we see Paul’s life embodying these truths—trials, tragedy, and the appearance of failure—but the Gospel remains unhindered. Join us as we unpack how God works through weakness, tragedy, and loss to bring resurrection power, and how Paul’s unwavering faith in Jesus can inspire us to find hope in the hardest seasons of life.
Our church gathers every Sunday at 9:15a & 11a at Queen Creek Junior High.20435 South Old Ellsworth Road, Queen Creek, AZhttps://passioncreek.church/sundays/OVERVIEW:In Acts 20, Paul models what a church pastor should be by speaking directly to the elders in Ephesus. He tells them how he’s pastored, inviting them to follow his example in humility, service, vulnerability, and courage. He also warns them that, should they neglect their calling, the people they shepherd will be vulnerable to wolves. For us today, being a part of a church means submitting ourselves to the guiding and guarding of the spiritual authority placed over us. It also means we are on guard against Satan and his schemes as he threatens to sabotage the church with deceit and manipulation. By maintaining a posture of humility and by fixing our gaze on Jesus, we can become fruitful people who resist the schemes of the Enemy and bring the goodness of the gospel to the world around us.
In the second half of Acts 19, Paul starts a riot. After confronting the false idols and spiritual powers in Ephesus, some of the local businessmen revolt. While Paul escapes and the church in Ephesus grows, just a few years later Paul has to write to them reminding them to continue following the way of Jesus intentionally rather than being formed by the idols of Ephesus unintentionally.Today, our temptation is much the same.To avoid being formed and shaped by the idols of our city and culture, we must intentionally allow ourselves to be formed into the image of Jesus by examining the stories we hear, the habits we practice, and the relationships we surround ourselves with.
As a church planter, Paul was always on the lookout for “foxes” that can ruin the good soil of the Kingdom — things like cynicism, gossip, and bitterness. But when he meets the Thessalonians and the Bereans, he encounters something different. Rather than brushing him off or blindly accepting his message, the Bereans model healthy skepticism. They are students of God’s Word who orient their lives around His truth. Similarly, the church in Thessalonica is later commended by Paul because of their response to the gospel. Rather than simply believing the right things, they commit to living the right way. Today, we can learn from both the Bereans and the Thessalonians. Being students of God’s Word means we have the right theology and the right practice. By reorienting our daily lives in response to the gospel, we too can become a model healthy church free of evil “foxes.”
Most of us know what it’s like to receive a dream from God — we have a sense of purpose, direction, and perseverance to walk in the calling God has laid out for us. But at some point, we hit resistance. Rather than bring us through upward mobility, our God-given dreams bring us through disappointment, difficulty, disagreement, or detours. In these moments, it’s tempting to give up on the dream altogether. The apostle Paul experienced this well. He’d been given a glimpse of what it would look like to participate in bringing God’s Kingdom down from heaven to earth but quickly experienced every kind of setback. But rather than give up on God’s calling over his life, Paul was obedient. By looking at Paul’s story from Acts 9-16, we learn that God-given dreams come with setbacks. But these are always for our guiding and purging. God’s “no’s” guide us to a better “yes” and purge our souls from sinful passions and desires.
As good, true, and beautiful as the gospel is, there has always been resistance to it. In Acts 15, we see the natural human inclination to fight against the reality that God forgives us simply because of our faith in Jesus — some Jewish leaders began forcing extra rules on new Christians. Peter, Paul, and the rest of the apostles give a wise response to these new Christians: they tell them to guide their hope back toward Christ alone, but also to guard their lives by following a way of life. The church today faces a similar issue. We’re either tempted to try and earn something that’s already been freely given, or we’re tempted to accept what’s been freely given without reorienting our lives in response. To follow Jesus is both to receive a free gift and to reorient our lives in response. We choose to put our trust in the person of Jesus and allow his free gift of grace to transform us as we submit more of our lives and desires to him.
Acts 14 tells a story of Paul and Barnabas living out Kingdom principles while experiencing a tough situation. After miraculously healing a disabled man, they’re hailed as gods before eventually being run out of the city and nearly killed. But even in the midst of these strange circumstances, Paul and Barnabas never abandon the Kingdom way of living. Rather than accepting the peoples’ worship, fighting back against their persecutors, or quitting their mission, they exercise self-control, endure hardship, and do the work of evangelists. Today, our call is the same. Despite persecution, hardship, and the world around us vying for our devotion, we can seek the Kingdom by dying to ourselves, enduring hardships, and working as evangelists announcing the good news of the Kingdom.
All of us have different feelings and attitudes when it comes to giving money to a local church. For some of us, it’s a regular and assumed part of our discipleship. For others, it’s a financial goal. And for others, it’s an exploitative way for churches to get more money. Regardless of how we feel about tithing, it’s difficult to be a generous person who lives out the way of Jesus without a regular rhythm of supporting the Body of Christ. In 2 Corinthians, we see a picture of what it looks like to become a community that generously tithes their money for the sake of the Kingdom. The grace of God allows them to give above and beyond what might seem possible. At Passion Creek Church, we find it helpful to think of the tithe as a starting point, not a stopping point. To practice tithing is to practice letting go of control, putting our trust in God, and participating in the Kingdom work that God has called us to.Luke 19:1-10; 20:20-25; 21:1-42 Corinthians 8:1-4; 9:6-11
In Luke 16, Jesus tells a perplexing parable. It’s a story of a dishonest manager who uses his master’s wealth to serve those around him. While Jesus’ doesn’t praise the manager’s dishonesty, he credits his ingenuity. This manager saw himself as a steward, not an owner, of his master’s possessions. When we examine our own perceptions regarding our money, most of us view ourselves as owners — we are the sole owners of our money, wealth, and material possessions. But the way of Jesus is the way of stewardship. By seeing ourselves as stewards of all of the things God has blessed us with rather than owners, we’re free to live generously. At the tail end of this parable, Jesus makes a startling claim: if you trust God with fiscal matters, He will entrust you with spiritual matters. Our goal is to become a church of stewards who generously give what our Master has given us to expand the Kingdom and bring others into communion with Jesus.
Like all our beliefs, the attitudes and dispositions we have toward money are largely shaped by our past – our family of origin, our cultural background, and our church experiences. In Luke’s gospel, we see at least 4 different ways of viewing money. Like the Rich Fool in Luke 12, some of us believe that the good life is found when we hoard the most for ourselves. Others of us live more like the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18; we falsely assume that God will always bless us financially as a reward for our faithfulness. Or we doubt God’s generosity towards us altogether and live more like the Older Brother in Luke 15. But in Luke 21, we see a picture of someone who really trusts in the God of abundance and not in the uncertainty of wealth. A widow, giving all that she has, is commended by Jesus as a picture of what true generosity looks like. We too can reshape how we view money and the way we give by reorienting our minds around the truths of scripture, reshaping our habits to reflect generosity, and participating in a community of Jesus-followers committed to doing the same.
Fewer sins are as deep-rooted and hard to detect as greed. Not many of us would admit to being greedy or materialistic, but greed, by default, lives inside each one of us. Jesus makes this clear in Luke 11 when he confronts the Pharisees who hid their greed from others and projected generosity instead. While they appeared holy and generous on the outside, Jesus calls out their inner attachment to money. A few chapters later, Jesus makes his criticism of greed even more clear: to ignore the greed that lives inside all of us makes it impossible to truly love God and others. To Jesus, greed is a poison. And yet, Jesus offers us a solution. The only antidote to the invisible poison of greed is the visible practice of generosity. Our goal is to become disciples, not donors, who practice generosity as a way to keep our greed away from our souls. We redirect our worship towards God by holding our money and wealth so loosely that we give freely, because we trust in the God of abundance.Luke 11:33-42; 16:13-14
As our church looks ahead to the rest of the year, we want to pause and remind ourselves of the vision we started the year with: to make friends and love other people. However, most of us have realized by now how difficult this really is. Jesus holds us to a high standard by commanding us to love our enemies in Luke 6, and so does James when he tells us to confront our bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in James 3. But the gospel gives us hope. By doing the holy work of faith, dying to ourselves, and practicing agape love, we can maintain the friends we’ve made this year and truly love both our friends and our enemies.
When most of us think of prayer, we think of talking to God. While this definition of prayer isn’t wrong, it can sometimes feel formulaic. We begin to assume that if we ask God for the right things in the right way, we’ll get what we ask for. But in Acts 12 we see God’s people contend with God in desperate prayer that doesn’t fit a formula. As Herod begins to intensely persecute the new church, Jesus’ disciples learn that following Jesus is unpredictable. But they also learn that in prayer, their true hope is in being drawn closer into the presence of the Father. For us today, though God might not answer all of our prayers, we can rely on God’s presence, God’s ability, and God’s goodness. Prayer looks more like turning ourselves towards God’s love than attempting to earn God’s love.Acts 12 CSB
As one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter knew what it meant to reorient his life around the love, lifestyle, and leadership of his Rabbi. He led like Jesus, and he lived like Jesus, but Peter still had to learn how to love like Jesus.In Acts 10, Peter is confronted with his next marathon: overcoming his prejudice. As a Jew, Peter believed that the gospel was only good news for his own people. But when God reveals the global scale of the gospel by showing him that Gentiles are just as loved by God as Jews are, Peter must confront his prejudice.Like Peter, all of us have biases. We classify, exclude, and judge people based on ethnicity, social status, or political tribe. But to follow Jesus means we must love everyone the way Jesus did, even when we disagree with them. Just like Peter, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we too can participate in the marathon of overcoming our biases and extending the gospel to all people.
In Acts 9 we meet Saul, a murderer and enemy of the new Christian movement. Saul has built his life around what he believes is the righteous way of God: zealously eradicating evil from the world. But then, in a moment, Saul is transformed. He meets the risen Jesus and learns that the righteousness of God doesn’t come by our earthly power, violence, or force. Instead, it comes through Christ. God in human flesh, coming to take our punishment and suffer violence on our behalf. We can learn from Saul by accepting our own brokenness and inability to achieve righteousness. Like Saul, we learn that to be a follower of Jesus is to let him be a warrior for us against sin and evil. Jesus is our only hope and confidence.Acts 9:1-19 CSB
In this message, we learn about one of the first false converts of the early church: Simon.Acts 8:1-24
The final part of peacemaking involves making peace with who we really are and who God made us to be. At some point in our lives, our perspective shifts. We realize that we aren’t the hero of our story in the way we thought we’d be. We make mistakes, poor choices, and few of us experience life exactly the way we thought we would. And yet, God can still redeem the lowest parts of our story. In fact, the most influential people in the biblical story all experience dramatic low points. At the end of Genesis, Joseph seems to be at his lowest point. But through his work of forgiving his past, forging new patterns, and framing his pain, God is able to fulfill Joseph’s purpose. Making peace with our purpose means making peace with disappointment, failure, and regret. But it also means making peace with who we actually are today. We look back at our lives, and ahead to our future, in order to fulfill the purpose God has for us.
One of the hardest parts of our lives to make peace with is the pain and suffering that follows us. All of us experience hardship, and for some, it’s the defining attribute of our lives. Whether from death, loss, infertility, chronic illness, sudden diagnoses, relational hurt and betrayal, or simply from apathy and the monotony of life, all of us have painful experiences. Making peace with our pain doesn’t mean we ignore its reality. It actually means the opposite. Unlike Abel in Genesis 4, we don’t allow our pain to stir up bitterness in our hearts. Instead, framing our pain is a way for us to vocalize our pain to God. We name the emotions connected to our pain, and we voice these emotions back to God. But we also declare God’s faithfulness back to ourselves. Like Jesus in the Garden before His crucifixion, we use our pain as a reminder that God is still faithful and in control. And even in our lowest, God is still near.
Once we’ve made peace with our past, we must learn to forge new patterns. To do this requires us to take ownership for the ways we contribute to the pain of the people around us. All of us have ways of coping with pain in our own lives, and some of these coping mechanisms can be good. If we’re lucky, we learn from our parents what it means to own up to our mistakes, forgive others, and resolve conflict well. But all of us also carry negative coping mechanisms into our relationships as well. Some call these negative coping mechanisms attachment styles. We learn how to get what we want from people and how to avoid pain that comes with relationships. Put another way, all of us tend to cope by becoming either peace-fakers or peace-breakers. We fake peace by ignoring conflict, pain, and hard conversations with others. We break peace by blowing up on those around us, storming off, and giving into anger and resentment. And like all negative coping mechanisms, these patterns are often fueled by lies we believe about ourselves, others, and God. By making peace with our patterns, we’re intentionally confronting our flesh. We’re calling out the selfish parts of who we are and refusing to let it rule over our relationships. Like the Psalmist in Psalm 139, we’re inviting God to search us and know us to get rid of the offensive and sinful parts of us (Psalm 139:23-24).
All of us are shaped by our past. Where we come from, who we come from, and the way we were raised all shape who we are today in profound ways. Most of us have a basic awareness of our family of origin, but few of us have done the hard work of learning about our past to better understand who we are today. As a result, all of us unknowingly transmit the same narratives, patterns, pains, and expectations as our family before us. To make peace with our past is to return to an ancient tradition from the scriptures. Throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, God tells His people to remember where they’ve come from, what God has saved them from, and the promises He has made (Deut. 6:12, Isa. 46:9, Ps. 143:5). Making peace with our past means we must forgive our past. We must take intentional time to see where we come from. We learn about our family of origin to better understand where our behaviors and patterns come from, both good and bad. But most importantly, we look back in order to recognize God’s providence and care for us in our lives. By recognizing both positives and negatives in our past, we’re able to see how God has used our family of origin to shape who we are.
Many of us fall into the trap of believing the myth of comfort: if something goes wrong, we must be doing something wrong. We falsely assume that if we’re doing the right things, we won’t face suffering, opposition, or conflict of any kind. But in Acts 6, we see why this is a myth. As it grows, the early church faces conflict. There’s complaining within the church and persecution outside the church. But rather than giving up on those around them or giving in to those around them, the church endures internal resistance and external persecution. By learning to abandon the myth of comfort, we too can become non-anxious in the face of resistance.
Until Acts 4, the beginning of the church experienced miraculous success. People joined the church daily, shared what they had with one another, and gained more and more favor with outsiders. But in Acts 4, all of that changes. Suddenly confronted with the gospel truth, Jewish leaders give in to their anxiety and start harassing the disciples. Peter and John are forced into court, interrogated, and threatened. But instead of toning down their message, they get bolder. Peter remains a stable non-anxious presence amidst the fear of the culture around him. Our culture is much the same today. And like Peter we also have a choice; we can either tone down our message, or get bolder in proclaiming it. By reminding ourselves that Christ is our cornerstone, we too can remain non-anxious and continue spreading the good news with those around us.
We live in a paranoid world. From the chaos, violence, and immorality around us to the anxiety, pain, and trauma inside us, most of us live in a constant state of fear. And without any hope of rescue, this paranoia leads us to either alarmism, or escapism.But the gospel story gives us a better hope.Jesus came into a world just as paranoid as ours, and he confronted the root of our paranoia; we’re all stuck in spiritual slavery, sin, and sickness. And by living the perfect life, dying the death we deserved, and rising again, Jesus offers us hope. But to choose this hope takes an act of “metanoia,” or repentance. When we repent, we actively choose to reorient our lives around the reality of Jesus and his resurrection.
In Acts 3, we meet a man unable to walk sitting outside of the temple. Separated from the presence of God and others, this man was left to beg for a living. But when Peter and John encounter him, they offer more than gold or silver; they offer him healing, both for his body and for his shame. Like this man, many of us today carry shame from our wickedness and woundedness that pulls us away from God and from others. And like Peter and John, at some point we will have the opportunity to extend healing from God to others. In order to deal with our shame and heal the shame of others, we must learn to confront it.
Most of us carry unrealistic expectations when it comes to church community. We all want the perfect personality to lead us, the perfect people around us, the perfect programs to serve us, and the perfect place to make us comfortable. But few of us fail to realize that community based around these things won’t feed the deep longing we have in our souls for genuine community. Instead of settling for personalities, programs, people, and places, the book of Acts invites us to see what a more true and genuine community could look like. At the tail end of Acts 2, just as the gospel movement is about to spread, we see a glimpse of this type of genuine community shared by the first disciples. Rather than settling for personalities, people, programs, and places, they commit to the teaching of scripture, deep and vulnerable community, intentional rhythms of practice, and reliant prayer for the Spirit. The goal of our church is to do the same.
Many of Jesus’ interactions with the lost happened over a meal. In Luke 7:34, Jesus is accused of being “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” The Gospel of Luke illustrates this well: In Luke 5, Jesus is described dining with tax collectors and sinners at a man named Levi’s house. Jesus is anointed by a sinful woman while eating at a Pharisee’s home in Luke 7. And when Jesus forgives and restores Zacchaeus, the Jewish tax collector in Luke 19, he first invites himself over for a meal.Bottom line: Jesus’ proximity to those living counter to the way of God was scandalous to the self-righteous and life-giving to the self-rejecting.Again, if seeking and saving the lost was his mission, then sharing a meal with them was his method. As Jesus’ disciples, we’re instructed to do the same. By practicing hospitality, we create a safe space for those opposed to the way of Jesus to encounter and experience the love of God. We don’t affirm people’s sin, but we do affirm that they’re loved and valued image-bearers of God.
The intro music is too loud but bear with us! We talk a lot about leadership, going to 2 services, and hosting strangers.
If “loving your neighbor as yourself” was the second most important commandment in the scriptures according to Jesus, then it’s something we should make a regular part of our day-to-day life. But in our hyper-individualistic and self-serving culture, few of us actually get to know the strangers we interact with on a daily basis.Jesus and his disciples faced similar issues in their day. Loving their neighbors was difficult because of boundary lines and discrimination that occurred between Jews and Gentiles. Later in the biblical story, the early church faced violent opposition and persecution due to their commitment to King Jesus. And yet, the more meals they shared with their “enemies,” the more their enemies became friends. Over time, those friends became part of the family of God.Henri Nouwen defines hospitality this way: “the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy.” People will always expect our hostility until they experience our hospitality. By getting to know the neighbors in our lives, even our actual neighborhood neighbors, we create spaces and opportunities to serve those around us and demonstrate the love of God.
When the people of God are described throughout the Bible, they’re most often described as a family. And when family gathers for dinner, they share more than just a meal. They share life, stories, laughter, questions, tragedies, and celebrations. Throughout the scriptures, the people of God use meals to mark this kind of fellowship.The art of eating together with those we’re close to is a lost one. Meals have been commodified and looked over as nothing more than a relieving break from the mundanity of work at best, or an inconvenient break in our daily rhythms at worst. We might enjoy an occasional date night, birthday celebration, or holiday feast, but the regular practice of sharing life at a table is one that fewer and fewer people in the West are participating in.For Christians to recapture this lost tradition, we must intentionally make space in our schedules to be hospitable toward those in our community. Feasting regularly with other followers of the way encourages us, strengthens our bonds, and nourishes our souls.But there’s also a shadow side to community. Without love, grace, and intentionality, we can fall into the trap of familiarity, codependency, resentment, and idealism.
All throughout the Gospels Jesus is described eating, feasting, and partying with common people. Jesus is almost always going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal. The early church adopted this practice as well. The book of Acts tells us that the first followers of Jesus made it a regular habit to break bread from house to house, eating with “joyful and sincere hearts.” And as the meals spread, so did the gospel.But for Jesus and his followers, a meal was about more than just food; it was a means of grace. Meals were a way for the Son of God to come near people and offer conversation, friendship, and healing. Every dinner shared with a sinner was a way for God himself to extend a merciful hand of salvation to those who least deserved it. This is why the communion was often shared as part of a full meal.When we partake in communion, we’re eating a meal together. We’re reminding ourselves that through his sacrifice, fellowship, and hospitality, God has cleared a space at his table for us. Taking communion is our way of feasting with our Savior.
When it comes to developing deep friendships that form and shape us into the image of Jesus, one barrier often stops us: preferences. Rather than commit to a community of people who hold us accountable and build us up, we find it easier to surround ourselves with others who think like, act like, and approve of us. But the people of God have never flourished this way.In Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, God institutes a set of practices and behaviors (the 10 Commandments) meant to shape and form his people into his image. And when Jesus starts his earthly ministry, he chooses 12 unlikely men who wouldn’t normally get along to reorient their lives on him.For us today, becoming a community of practice means putting aside our preferences, committing to each other no matter how different we are, and reorienting our lives on Jesus.
One of the hardest but most rewarding features of any healthy friendship is vulnerability. We get the most out of our relationships when we allow ourselves to be fully known and truly loved. And yet, few of us actually experience this type of freeing love.Instead, we live in private shame over our weaknesses, wickedness, and woundedness. But the gospel frees us from fear and shame.By learning to practice vulnerability with those around us, we become capable of deep and valuable relationships. To get the most out of our friendships, we move from proximity to vulnerability.
As connected, informed, and globalized as we are through social media and the internet, we’re also becoming more and more lonely. Fewer and fewer people admit to having close friends, and as life becomes more automated and individualized, it’s easier to go through our days without any meaningful interactions with other people.But this is far from the life that God designed for us. From the opening pages of Genesis to the end of the human story in Revelation, we see that God has always intended us to live in close proximity to one another — Adam walked with God and was still lonely before Eve; Abraham is called out to create a new close knit family; Jesus does ministry while in deep relationship with his disciples; Paul takes close friends like Barnabas and Timothy with him on his ministry journeys; and the early church grows because of their radical inclusion of their neighbors.To recapture these lost relationships and live the way God intended, we start with a simple step: moving towards people in proximity the way God moves towards us.
In this message, Pastor Trey examines Luke 1 & 2; Isaiah 8 &9 to learn what joy is and how we build more of it into our lives.
In this conversation, Pastor Billy (my dad) discusses his journey through different decades of life and ministry. He reflects on his drive for success in his 30s, the challenges faced in his 40s, and the intentional planting of seeds for a meaningful future in his 50s. The discussion touches on the complexities of relationships in ministry, the importance of balancing work and personal life, and the significance of making wise investments for the future.
As James nears the end of his letter, one of the last encouragements he wants to give is a call to perseverance. In a world accustomed to anger, favoritism, slander, and ambition, it’s easy to feel the pressure to give up on the practices of Jesus, the truths of Jesus, or even on the way of Jesus altogether. But James reminds us that perseverance in our relationships with others and with God will reap rewards.Everything we deeply desire, from formative friendships to a tangible hope in God, requires us to pass through suffering with endurance, not sidestep suffering with escape. When we commit to loving each other well and maintaining hope in God, we become people able to reject the lies of the world and live out the truth of the gospel.James 5:7-12
As humans, we’re all accustomed to greed. By default, we strive to hoard and live extravagantly in order to build up wealth for ourselves and our families. But according to James, this lifestyle comes at a cost. Not only do we feed our greed at the expense of the poor and oppressed, but we also bring rot to our own souls.The more we indulge, the less like Jesus we become. But the gospel frees us from this trap of greed.In Christ we have no reason to hoard, live extravagantly, or perpetuate injustice because we have true and lasting contentment that comes from living a life focused on the Kingdom in communion with God.
When most of us think of resisting the devil, we might imagine something like demonic possession, exorcism, or a dramatic and visible display of blatant evil. But the devil’s influence in the world is more subtle than that. Throughout the scriptures, Satan’s primary tactic isn’t force, it’s deception.From the beginning of time, Satan has used lies to distort God’s truth, turn people away from the way of Jesus, and live according to the world and flesh. And if we’re not aware of his tactics today, we can unknowingly give in to these lies as well. But James 4 promises us that the more we learn to resist the devil, the more we can find freedom through Christ from Satan’s deception.
In James 4, we learn that on some level, followers of the way of Jesus are at odds with the world we live in. While we have a responsibility to love the created world, steward our lives to make it better, and love the people in it, it’s clear that the cultural air we live in is becoming more and more hostile to the way of Jesus. From sexuality and gender to justice and violence, the world normalizes rebellion against God and retaliation against man. To resist the world, followers of Jesus must choose to accept Christ’s love over the world’s promises.James 4
We live in a culture today that encourages us to satisfy any and all of our desires as we pursue our “true selves.” The only caveat the world gives us is that our desires shouldn’t hurt other people. Otherwise, those desires are good. But what if the people we really hurt in satisfying our desires is ourselves?In James 4, we learn that not all desires are good, fulfilling, or even authentic to who we’re made to be. When the church buys into the lie that giving in to all our pleasures will bring us joy, James reminds us that this actually results in more conflict and sin. Instead, James invites us to deny our desires, stop the waging war of passions within us, and humble ourselves in confession before God. Doing this feels like self-denial, but it’s the God-designed way for us to experience true grace, healing, and satisfaction.James 4:1-3
One of the greatest dangers plaguing the church today is also one of the oldest — selfish ambition. Since the church was first established, the people of God have experienced conflict, disagreement, and division, and often times these circumstances provide an opportunity for us to become bitter, envious, and boastful.But James 3 shows us what it looks like to endure conflict well. Rather than give in to the bitterness and envy that comes naturally to us in conflict, James instructs us to practice godly wisdom. We reject selfish ambition and instead choose to be people of peace, mercy, and good fruit.James 3
It’s part of our human nature to play favorites. We often move towards, look up to, and speak highly of those who have wealth or achievements while also looking down to, ignoring, or withholding mercy from those who lack these things. Christians aren’t immune from this sin of favoritism, and it goes back to the very beginnings of the church. James likely witnessed his half-brother Jesus correcting this sin by extending mercy to the poor, the ignored, the marginalized, and the outcasts.According to Jesus, the Kingdom belongs to the least of us. As a leader of the early church, James applies the way of the Kingdom to how we treat others. By accepting the free mercy of God as a gift rather than as something we have to achieve, we can then extend that same mercy to everyone regardless of their wealth or status. But to try and earn mercy or to withhold it from others is to neglect the heart of the gospel itself.James 2:1-13 CSB
James 1 confronts us with a painful reality: life will be hard. We’ll be persecuted, gut-punched, and exposed as we continue practicing the way of Jesus in our everyday lives. But James 1 also gives us a vision for the kind of people we can be if we endure these hardships with humility and patience. The church is at its best when we’re people who speak graciously, serve selflessly, and live holy. To become this type of church, James invites us to examine how we react when people offend us, and when the Bible confronts us. When in conflict with others we often react with anger, and when exposed by the Bible we often react with apathy. But to learn to submit ourselves to God in both of these situations will allow us to mature into the kind of church God has called us to be.
When most of us think of simplicity, we think of digital minimalism, materialism, and wealth. But few of us would consider the practice of simplicity as something that involves our speech and relationships. And yet, when we examine how often we use sarcasm, exaggeration, and flattery to manipulate people and get what we want, we might be surprised to see that our speech is not simple or wholesome by default. Jesus himself says that our speech is an automatic result of what’s already in our hearts, and the apostle James warns us that our speech has the ability to stain our whole bodies. Left to our own, we can find ourselves trying to manipulate others, gain status and approval, or win arguments. To fight against these impulses we practice simplicity of speech; we speak honor in place of flattery and contempt, secrecy in place of gossip and exaggeration, and silence in the place of rage and manipulation.
As Americans our identities are often shaped by the quantity and quality of the stuff we own. Security, stability, and satisfaction are only possible when we buy and accumulate more wealth. And while we’re really after deep contentment, we falsely believe that the very joy we’re searching for is still on the other side of the next purchase. Cue our endless cycle of buying more so we can desire less. But Jesus offers us a better way. He does this by confronting our attachment to our stuff and our lack of trust in him, and also by modelling a life of simplicity. When we study the Scriptures, we find a deeper truth than the lie we’re trained to believe — real contentment is actually found by limiting what we own and increasing what we give.
We live in the age of the attention economy. From social media ads and online shopping to streaming and news, our hearts and minds are often cluttered and rewired for discontentment. We live chasing accumulation, or what Jesus calls “the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things.” And for most of us, this discontentment comes directly from our digital consumption. But the way of Jesus is an invitation to simplicity — learning to be content with less, not more. To start this practice, we must first train ourselves to curate our digital consumption. By limiting our digital intake, we can rewire our brains towards contentment and train ourselves to be more present and attentive to God and to those around us.
For resources on simplicity, go to: https://formedbyjesus.com/simplicity/
TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Formation is happening whether you like it or not. 2:20 - Mark 4v1-20 7:48 - Nothing crowds our time and attention like the digital world. 19:05 - The Practice of Simplicity 20:53 - Our definition of simplicity 22:35 - Jesus practicing solitude 28:18 - The way OUT of the digital chokehold 36:32 - Don’t fear the desert.
Let the timer begin. Revelation 1, we looked at, at the beginning of summer, we talked about how there's, just based off that one chapter, there's three ways to interpret the rest of the letter. We learned that St. John is a theologian. What that means is when you read the book of Revelation, it's more important to read it Christologically, meaning where's Christ in this passage, than it is reading it Chronologically, we think the biggest mistakes people make is thinking this was all written in a right order.
And now that Revelation 15 just happened last week, now we're ready for 16. It doesn't happen that way. It's all over the map. It's just by which John saw the next vision. It doesn't mean that's when it happened. Another thing we learned is he's a pastor to the seven churches, which means he has a pastoral heart.
And so when we read all of Revelation, the focus needs to be on discipleship, not on decipherment. It's not like the National Treasure, where we gotta take a candle, pour some lemon juice on it, and see the secret hidden meaning, and see what happens with the Twin Towers in 2001. None of that. This is, there is a plain message we can read if we're willing to wrestle with the text, and it's to change us.
Lastly, we learn in Revelation 1 that John is a poet. Meaning, we read Revelation literarily, not literally. Meaning it's not like a newspaper. It's more like a political cartoon where you see something like a beast. It's not an actual beast. It's communicating something even bigger and much larger, really.
That's Revelation 1. That was in a minute and a half. We're in trouble. Revelation 2 and 3, he shows us there's these seven letters to these seven churches, and Jesus has this three point sermon. He affirms each church for what they're doing well. He rebukes them for where they're not, and he motivates them to keep pressing on.
We knew. We learned. Those seven letters in chapters two and three are written to the first century church, but hear me, they are for every single century, every church, and we're going to be diving into that in the month of September. When you boil it down, Jesus affirms the type of church who are people of love, who avoid heresy, and endure hardship.
How am I doing on time? Okay, I don't know. Revelation 4 through 5, there is now this image of a scroll and the scroll is being passed around and everybody's saying, Who can open the scroll? And everybody's sad because they're saying no one can open it. This scroll is the purpose of your life, but also the meaning of all of history.
It's the answer. The answer everyone is looking for. Different philosophies, different religions, and it's bound in this scroll. And there is this moment of like, Oh, no, no one knows the answer. And then there's this lion who was a lamb who comes in and says, Oh, brother, I can open the scroll. I'm the one with meaning.
I'm the one with purpose. Come to me. Your life actually does make sense. There is hope. There is a future for you. And so we learned on that day, man, we have hope because of the lamb who was slaughtered because of us, who was slaughtered instead of us. And who was slaughtered for us if any of these things interest you Go to pastor creek church teaching revelation because i'm not going to explain anymore revelation 6 to 18 one week.
We talked about judgment We learned, actually you'll see all throughout Revelations a lot about judgment, but that is a good thing. There is evil going on in this world. There is injustice. We want something to be done about that, or else he wouldn't be a good God. And so these, these judgments are seen in three different sets of images.
Seven seals, seven trumpets, and then seven bowls. We look together specifically at the seals. And we learn that because God is a God of, who is slow to anger and full of compassion, these judgments, hear me, Are purgative they're meant to be purgative meaning they're meant to purge us They're meant to wake us up and go we don't know how to live life without christ We need to run to him or this punishment comes our way So it's meant to be purgative, but eventually it becomes punitive Eventually, it means if you don't come to jesus, you will suffer the punishment of these judgments.
And then we talked about the four horsemen, which are the white horse leading to deception. We see deception in our era today all over the place. The red horse, which is all about violence. Do we not see violence all over the globe? The black horse, which equals famine. We see that everywhere still. And then the pale green horse is sickness leading to death.
We have certainly seen that even within the last few years at a cranked up rate. And we ended that kind of... Passage saying, look, the horsemen ramp up when the church stands up, but we're going to have victory. So we have to keep standing up against these horsemen. Revelation 12 through 13. We then introduce the unholy trinity.
The unholy trinity is the dragon who is the devil. The sea beast who is the state politics, political powers. And then the earth beast is propaganda. And these three conspire to destroy the church. They've already lost against King Jesus on the cross. At least what they can do is to destroy you and me, those who follow the Lamb.
And Michael J. Gorman, he had this great quote about propaganda, which we see every day today. It says, The function of propaganda is to make evil look good, the demonic divine. Violence look like peacemaking. Tyranny and oppression look like liberation. Do we not see that today? Our argument is that you'll see this in every generation.
Sometimes other generations, it ramps up. Other times it seems to settle and then it ramps up again. So you'll see this in every generation. One more thing about the unholy trinity, they want the church to either commit violence against other people, make us against anybody, that's not the way of Jesus.
They want us to silence, not stand up for what is right. Or they want us just compliance, just to look just like Babylon, to do what everybody else is doing because everybody else is already doing it. Now, Pastor Caleb had the joy of... Bring in good news. Revelation 11 and 14 contains a lot of hope. It's about the witnesses.
It's about these three angels. And this whole idea is those three angels promise three things. And we can take hope in this in the midst of really hard times. Number one, the gospel will spread to the ends of the earth. So we should be all about missions because that's the one thing Jesus says it's going to work.
Number two, Babylon, which is the city of man, which is any time, we'll talk about in the next thing, just corruption. That's not gonna last. It will end, even though it doesn't look like it today. Number three, judgment will come and all will be made right. This gives us hope to be patient, to endure in suffering, not to give in to violence, silence, or compliance.
Are you with me? Do I have any time left? Oh, look at this. I'm getting a full head of hair still today. All right next one revelation 17 through 19 We looked at this last week. We kind of taught out of order, which is kind of important because we wanted to teach you It's not chronological 17 through 19 Babylon is the city where the unholy Trinity uses There the city for destruction.
So we talked about last week how Babylon's a prostitute what it's a prostitute do it perverts it deceives It seduces and you and I have to recognize you and I can be seduced by the culture It going against the way of Jesus. The main thrust of what we talked about last week is the prostitute seeks to seduce the church, you and me, by normalizing the sins of Babylon, right?
The things that generations ago used to say was completely wrong. Now even the church says, well, maybe it's not that bad. That is what Babylon does. It seduces us to lower the standard that God's word has put in for us. But here's the good news. This city who seeks to be divine, Always becomes demonic and it self destructs babylon will not prevail But the kingdom of god the city of god will rule and reign forever And that's what revelation 20 through 22 is all about This is how it all ends.
We have a more compelling answer. Hear me revelation. I want us to come away knowing It's not just about if you were to die today, where do you go? Oh, you're going to be sold Floating in a cloud and a harp in heaven for eternity. That's not the full answer. Pastor. Caleb did a great job talking about that It's much more beautiful than that.
The reality is is Jesus is coming back To not destroy the world, but to redeem it, and restore it, and to make it new. There's a new heaven and a new earth. You and I will have resurrected bodies. Our relationships will be reconciled. All these things that we've grown about will one day be made right. We won't have any more tears, any more crying.
Any of these pains that we feel so deeply is now washed. Away
In the 20th century, two books were written to predict our future: "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley in 1931 and "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell in 1949. Both books had different ideas about how our future could be grim. Neil Postman compared these books in his work "Amusing Ourselves to Death," where he said Orwell feared the truth would be hidden and people would be controlled by pain, while Huxley feared the truth would be lost in irrelevance and people would be controlled by pleasure.
In the book of Revelation, some people read it like "Nineteen Eighty-Four," seeing evil events happening through force and obvious tactics. Others read it like "A Brave New World," where evil systems and powers subtly deceive and seduce us away from Jesus. Revelation 17 talks about a Prostitute, representing a seductive force in the world.
Babylon in the Bible is like a city without God, and it symbolizes any place that goes against God. The Prostitute in Revelation seduces people by making sin seem normal and by rewarding strategies that go against what Jesus taught. But we can choose not to be a part of Babylon's ways by turning towards Jesus and living a different way. We can be citizens of heaven, not of Babylon.
People often get excited about predicting the future or trying to figure out when the world will end, but Revelation is more about understanding what is happening in our present time. The dragon in the story wants to harm people, and he uses two other creatures to carry out his plans. One of them uses the power of the government to intimidate and control people. This can be seen in history when leaders have used their authority to manipulate and oppress others. The other creature uses deception and propaganda to trick people into believing false information or ideas. It’s like when advertisements or media twist the truth to persuade us in certain ways. The message Revelation 12-13 is that we need to be discerning and wise in our understanding of the world around us. We shouldn’t be easily swayed by false ideas or manipulated by those in power. Instead, we should seek truth, be critical thinkers, and strive to live according to what is right and good. So, rather than getting caught up in trying to predict the future or obsessing over sensationalized interpretations, we should focus on understanding the present, recognizing the forces that seek to harm and manipulate, and staying grounded in truth and wisdom.
The book of Revelation talks about judgments and the suffering of people. It reminds us not to feel superior and gives hope to persecuted Christians. The judgments are meant to soften our hearts and lead us to salvation. They come in groups of seven, like seals, trumpets, and bowls. The book also tells us about the four horsemen representing deception, tribalism, injustice, and sickness. But in the end, God will make things right and there will be no more suffering.
Revelation is a book that shows us a different way of understanding the world. It tells us that things are not always what they seem. Jesus, who is both powerful like a lion and sacrificial like a lamb, is the one who can save the world. By focusing on Jesus and His sacrificial love, we can find hope, purpose, and power in our lives.
In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, John writes letters to seven different churches. He affirms them for what they are doing right and corrects them for what they are doing wrong. It’s like a teacher giving feedback to help them become all they were designed to be. For example, the church in Ephesus is commended for avoiding false teachings and enduring hardships, but they are told they have forgotten to love God and others. The church in Pergamum is praised for being courageous, but they are criticized for tolerating wrong behavior. And so on for the other churches. The main point for us today is that Jesus wants us to be a people of love who avoid false teachings and endure hardships. We need to love God and others, and not be swayed by wrong beliefs. It can be tough, but Jesus promises us a reward if we stay faithful.
At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus ends with a warning: our obedience to his Word is what makes us true disciples. While most of us would agree with this idea, few of us live it out. We’re either too afraid of becoming legalists, too obsessed with information alone, or too unwilling to humble ourselves and live out what we read. In each of these cases, we fall short of the blessing of being formed into a person of love.But the cross frees us from falling short.By accepting this gift of grace from God, we have freedom from earning God’s love. And by embracing this freedom we’re able to truly live out God’s commands and experience the transformative power of His word.
All of us tend to twist the Bible to mean something it doesn’t or tame the Bible to make its teachings more palatable for us. But both ways of handling Scripture lead to our destruction and deformation.Instead, throughout the Scriptures, one of the most common metaphors for engaging with God’s word is eating it. We eat the text when we meditate on it, study it, and submit ourselves to it. We chew on passages, mulling their truths over and over in our minds and rethinking how we’re living our lives in light of what the Bible commands. And while this way of meditating on the Bible confronts and challenges us, it’s also the way we allow Scripture to form us into better followers of Jesus.Psalm 1; Joshua 1:7-8; Revelation 10:9-10
We’re bombarded with messages from political pundits, popular culture, social media ads, and news stories, all urging us to be true to ourselves, vilify those who are different, and pursue our own happiness no matter what the cost. These lies offer happiness but instead bring us slavery, just like how Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden. Satan still uses lies to lead us astray from God today.To follow Jesus in today’s world, we must seek and live by the truth. Reading Scripture helps us understand what’s true about the world, God, and ourselves. However, just reading the Bible isn’t enough. We must also let it shape us by setting aside our assumptions, presuppositions, and personal experiences to submit to its authority.Matthew 5:17-20
Where we once found hope and meaning outside of ourselves in the church, the city, or the market, today we’re left to create our own hope and meaning from within ourselves. We follow our hearts and feelings, no matter the cost to ourselves and those around us.But where society says choice is now the highest value, tolerance the highest virtue, and denying yourself is the new unforgivable sin, how should Christians respond? What hope does Jesus offer?In John 14, Jesus makes another countercultural claim about himself: that he alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Each of these statements is a direct counter to the values and virtues of today. Only in Jesus do we have access to God. Only in Jesus do we experience true reality. And only in Jesus can we have life and life to the full. To respond to the way of the world and live in a way congruent with these claims of Jesus, we practice self-denial.
John 11 is a story of resurrection. But it isn’t Jesus’ resurrection. Just before he’s handed over to the Roman authorities to be crucified, Jesus brings his friend Lazarus back to life from the grave. In doing so, he demonstrates both his power over death, and his sympathy in the midst of it. This story reminds us of the authority Jesus has over the grave, but it also reminds us of the severity of our sin. Death is the result of our rebellion against God and his Kingdom. Yet despite our guilt, God still heals us. The resurrection of Lazarus points forward to the resurrection of Jesus, and also to our resurrection. The message of Easter is that like Lazarus, we are dead in our sin and broken from the source of life. But also like Lazarus, Jesus forgives us and promises to one day resurrect us too.John 11 CSB
For the modern mind, the Sabbath is typically associated with a day off work to attend church, get things done around the house, and binge on the latest TV show. While this may offer the illusion of rest, it is far from a holy day set apart for the Lord.The Bible presents a different view of the Sabbath, which involves focusing our minds, hearts, and bodies on the adoration of God. It includes thinking of God throughout the day, turning our attention from worldly things to God, and loving and serving others. Without worship, the Sabbath can become a day of self-centeredness rather than a day to honor God.Rather than simply resting, worship transforms the Sabbath from a day off work to a day centered on God’s character and nature.Genesis 2:1-3; Isaiah 58Together Guide at https://formedbyjesus.com/sabbath/worship/
A key element of Sabbath is the practice of delight. When we take the time to stop and to rest, we find ourselves more aware of the goodness and beauty in the world around us. This recognition and enjoyment of creation is called delight, and it’s something that God himself does. Scripture is full of God delighting in his creation, including us. God delights when we delight. But most of us are too unaccustomed to delight.Simply put, we don’t know how to play. We know how to indulge, how to escape, and how to numb, but few of us have cultivated the Godly qualities of playfulness and joy in our lives. God institutes Sabbath not as a day of restriction and rigidity, but as a day of delight so we become people defined by our joy.When we use Sabbath to practice delighting in God, in others, in creation, and in ourselves, we allow the Spirit to form us into people of delight.Genesis 1:31-2:3; Mark 2:23-3:6
The idea of rest seems simple enough. We all want rest, but never seem to get it. Always just outside of our reach, rest seems either something to laugh at, or something to buy. But one of the most radical things Jesus teaches us is that he is able to offer us true rest without requiring us to work more, do more, or have more. When we practice Sabbath, we stop all our work and worry so that we’re able to become people of true rest. Like Israel, we remember that we’ve been saved from the oppressive yolk of productivity, and instead we’ve taken on Jesus’ yolk of ease. We reject that lie that our worth and value come from what we do, and that rest is a commodity we have to earn. In this way, rest is a countercultural rebellion against the powers and systems at war against God and his kingdom. To practice Sabbath is to accept the invitation to rest while living in a world of hurry.
In our culture of restlessness, busyness, and hurry, setting aside an entire day to stop all work and productivity sounds anything but restful. Yet deep inside all of us is a yearning for true rest, which is why God offers rest as a gift in the form of the weekly Sabbath.In Genesis 2 God himself takes a day to rest from his work, weaving a rhythm of rest into the fabric of creation. When we live by this rhythm, working during the week and resting for a full day, we’re slowly transformed into people of true rest who are able to genuinely love others. But living outside of this rhythm wreaks havoc on our souls and relationships with others.To realign ourselves with this ancient rhythm, the first step is simply to stop. For 24 hours we commit to ceasing our work and turning our trust from our own hands to God’s provision.
In Exodus 14, Moses finally leads the people of Israel out of slavery and into freedom. But before they can enter the promised land, God tests them. He puts them between Pharaoh and the Red Sea, he leads them to undrinkable water, and then he makes them wander long enough to run out of food. Each time, the Israelites complain.They would rather remain in slavery with stability than have their freedom without control.In many ways, the story of Israel is the story of the Christian life. Like Israel’s struggle to detach themselves from Egypt, we struggle to detach ourselves from our sin. To confront us with this reality, God tests us. But from the life of Moses, we learn that the best way to endure seasons of testing and turn our attention away from our old life of sin, is to practice praise.
this time Lisa Thompson is going to be reading our scripture today. All right. Thanks Jordan. Hi again. I'm Lisa and I'll be reading the scripture, which comes from Exodus chapter five verses one in two.
Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, this is what the Lord the God of Israel says, let my people go so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness. But Farrow responded, who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don't know the Lord. And besides, I will not let Israel go.
Amen. Let's pray. Father, we just ask that we would be good hearers of your word today, A passage that isn't really culturally something that we would just easy to accept, but may not only we be hears, but God may we be even better doers. Empowered by your spirit, empowered by your grace, gladly welcoming the truth.
God, we love you. We thank you for what you're doing in our lives, and we thank you that you take us for where we're at and we just submit to you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Perhaps the greatest boast of our generation is our ability to redefine reality. The creation of machines in the past century has redefined our relationship to work.
It has saved us from sore backs, sweaty brows, and delayed timelines. Not only that, more and more, if you watch YouTube these days, artificial intelligence is taking everything by storm. It is redefined, sadly, how we even study. At the click of a button, it can literally write an essay for you. Teachers are now scrambling to figure out how do we check and make sure a bot didn't write this essay?
Cuz you can literally tell it, write this in a fifth grade level in the voice of Donald Trump and it'll do it. Like what? Right Here is creation, where we're at. Virtual reality is another way we've re. Our mode of escapism. We don't even have to take vacations anymore. We are exa. We are imagining a day where we can just enter into a new world where you don't have to work out, you don't have to sweat, you don't have to go through trials.
You're just immediately the hero and you look really good. We also have redefined reality and many good ways of course, and medical breakthroughs. We've redefined how long we live. Antibiotics, organ transplants, medical imaging is the reason many of us maybe even are here today. And let me be clear, I am very grateful to live in the 21st century.
I am not that romantic type that wants to live in the 15 hundreds. I enjoy air conditioning. I enjoy the computer. I enjoy vehicles. Praise God. I enjoy that. I have a microphone right here, right now, and I don't have to yell. Now. With all these breakthroughs though, we have to recognize it does not come without side effects.
There are many side effects to us redefining our reality. . These breakthroughs have come because of a core value of the modern age. We don't discover reality. We create it, which this is the boast of America, is it not? We don't discover it. We create it, and this works great as long as we live in a peaceful and orderly world, relying on things we don't really recognize until those things are gone.
A k a pandemic, a k, a, you get the worst scare of your life getting a diagnosis, and now your redefinition of reality begins to unravel. A few months into the pandemic, psychologists and counselors were ringing the alarm. They said The only way to happiness is to actually accept reality for what it is.
This was hard for. We are a generation who redefines reality, and now we're told we are happy once we stop trying to redefine it and just simply accept it. But studies have shown the quicker you are to accept your condition, the quicker you are to find hope. And those who bury their head in the sand or run after other conspiracy theories or whatever it is, they actually wind up multiplying their anxiety, which thus multiplies their illnesses, which thus makes life so much worse.
M Scott Peck, he's an American psychology psychiatrist and bestselling author. He actually noted that mental health he has this quote, he says, mental health is dedication to reality at all costs. So in a generation today who is more obsessed with mental health than ever before, but lacking it more than ever before, will not do the one thing it says to do except reality for what it is he actually says in one of his books, if you expect life to be perfect, you will be very depressed and very frustrated.
And I blame my parents cuz the millennial generation, we were told the nineties Disney era life was supposed to be great. And it's not now, but if you expect, here's what's incredible, the paradox of life. When you expect life to be hard, turns out to be full of joy, there's great moments of peace. You're actually really filled with purpose.
See, as Americans, we find ourselves in this tension because redefining reality is one of the hallmarks of our culture. It's one of the hallmarks of our ingenuity and our individuality. But the same time, redefining our reality has turned out to be our Achilles heel. It's the very thing that causes depression because we cannot stand reality for what it is.
So we just keep redefining it. And I don't say this as an innocent bystander at all. As a Christian, I find myself finding passages and trying to redefine it so that it feels better for me, but it leads to more depression. It leads to more heartache. Carl r Truman, in his book, the Rising Triumph of the Modern Self, one of my favorite books I've read in the past five years, he has this scathing critique of the modern age.
He put it this way, the quote should be on the screen. He says, we all live in a world in which it is increasingly easy to imagine that reality is something we can manipulate according to our own will and desires, and not something that we necessarily need to conform ourselves to or passively accept. He goes on to give great illustrations and the farming culture, you are reliant on some sort of higher power to take care of your crops.
Today, we can just manufacture that right example after example. We are making a more and more detached where we feel like. We are not we are not having to submit to nature, but instead nature submits to us. My point is that you and I, we find it really hard to accept reality even as followers of Jesus at times.
And this kind of stubbornness feels unique, but it's not. It's just a little bit of a different flavor. In fact, this stubbornness is as old as the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter three, and also as old as the pyramids of Egypt, which we read about in the Book of Exodus. So ancient Egypt is the context we've been learning about as we're studying the life of Moses.
Most Sundays what we're doing is looking specifically at Moses, but today I felt led to really look at Pharaoh. Now, ancient Egypt, they made a name for redefining reality. They were really one of the first innovative countries to do all sorts of things. They innovated the way when it came to architecture.
Engineering and writing. They redefined the way people worked, the way things the irrigation system. They developed the first complex irrigation system for farming that we still use based off of that foundation. Today, the list of their genius goes on and on. And you probably learned that in school.
And this is the world Moses and the suffering Israelites find themselves in the book of Exodus, Egypt. They are the powerhouse and they breathe the air of a stubborn spirit. It's the spirit of Pharaoh where Pharaoh believes he is completely in charge and he can define reality however he sees fit.
But God has a word to say about that Exodus chapter. We're looking at a lot of scripture today. Thank you, Lisa, for starting with Exodus five. It's a helpful way for us to see the stubborn spirit of Pharaoh, but now let's look at seven, the first seven verses. We're gonna jump a lot from here all the way to chapter 11.
So bear with me. Verse one, the Lord answered. Moses, see, I have made you like God to Pharaoh and Aaron on your brother and Aaron. Your brother will be your prophet. You must say whatever I command you. Then Aaron, your brother, must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land.
This is the plan that God has for Moses and his people. Verse three is very interesting, though, he says, but so I have this plan, but I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the lands of Egypt. Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people to Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts.
Of judgment. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them. It's pretty fascinating. We will see plagues always hitting Egypt, but Israelites seem to be spared. Verse six. So Moses and Aaron did this. They did just as the Lord commanded them.
Moses was 80 years old and Pharaoh 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh, and now you have the showdown. So Exodus seven through 11 are the 10 plagues, and this brings up a lot of theological truths that quite frankly, we don't have enough time to fully exhaust. And to be honest, most of us theologians have debated for centuries and nobody's really come up with okay, we can all agree this is the answer, but I'm gonna bring it out.
A major point of discussion that we're gonna go so fast through, you're gonna be upset with me, is the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. The questions we have to ask ourselves are two. One did God heart and pharaoh's heart without his free will. Or number two, did Pharaoh already harden his own heart? Okay let's look at the text.
Seven three chapter seven, verse three says, but I, this is God speaking, will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the lands of Egypt. So what does it look like? It looks like God is in charge and God hardens the heart of Pharaoh. But hold on, look at this next verse, eight 15, chapter eight, verse 15.
But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart. And when not listened to them as the Lord had said which is it? Does God harden your heart or do you harden your own? I don't know. . Here's the here's what we do. Now what you do does something to you. And the more you say no to God, the harder it will be to say yes to God.
That's good. And this is why in the Book of Acts Peter says, today is the day of salvation. Why? Be careful. The more you reject this message, the harder it will be for you to receive it. And the reality is, every single time, if you grow up in church, if you've ever heard the gospel, you have always responded to the gospel.
Now the question is, did you respond with a yes or with a no? But every week you are responding. John Mark Homer, one of my favorite modern day authors in this book, live, no Lie, such a great book. He has this line. I think it's really helpful. He says, our freedom or this free will right, expands or shrinks with each decision we make.
So we have this ability, when we say yes to the Lord, it actually empowers us to keep saying yes even. But be weary because then the more you say no to him, the easier and easier it is to say no to him, all the more. Now, what I love is that we believe God is a God of grace. We believe there is a part where it seems like his grace is irresistible and it seems like God just comes down into the scene and saves your life.
But there are stories where people are not with God now because they just kept saying no. Which one does it? Is God the one who saves or are we the one who receives? Yes. Was it God who hardened Pharaoh's heart or was it Pharaoh who hardened his own heart? Yes. So now that we've 2000 years of theological debates, we've settled it.
Praise the Lord. Let's look at the 10 plagues. Shall we? ? Let's talk about pain. All right, so starting Indus seven. What we see here is God sends 10 plagues to the Egyptian people. And as I starting this week, it's pretty fascinating. The ancient Egyptians, they had about 80 Hear me, 80 major gods and goddesses, right?
So they had a God for everything. And what happened is they took these 80 gods and they have really three main categories. So you have gods that are Gods of the Nile. The Nile River is what made Egypt so unique compared to all the surrounding countries. And it's what they're boast in their pride. This is where they got life.
Then you have the land. And because of the irrigation system and their ingenuity, the land was really fruitful. So it again was something that made them very unique. So they had many Gods contributing to their land. Lastly, you have the sun, or some would even go even larger and say the sky. There are many gods concerning the sun and the sky.
What's amazing is when you look at these plagues, there's 10 of them. Every single plague is directed at one of these three domains. So the first two plagues are actually against the Nile River, against all of the gods of the Nile. If you don't believe that, you're just in denial. I don't know. Denial.
The next four I had to pull in my inner jungle cruise whatever they call that person, skipper. All right, the next four are against the land. . So Nats, the flies, the diseases, livestock, and the boils, they are specifically against the gods of the land. And the final four, including the death of the firstborn son, is actually against the sun and everything associated with the sky.
It's as if God is saying, I'm gonna give you a reality check. You think you know what life's all about. I'll take away everything you've put in your trust in, and then what do you have left? This is what God does. The first plague is blood in the Nile. You see this in chapter seven. For the Egyptians, the Nile was the source of life.
And what does God do through the hand of Moses? He turns it into blood, which now is communicating this source of life is now the source of death. And God goes, what you good do about that? The reality is, what does Pharaoh do? The whole idea, what is Moses trying to get done? Trying to get his people the permission to leave Egypt and to go worship God in the wilderness?
And so you'd think after this terrifying incident, Pharaoh says, wow, your God is more powerful than ours. Go ahead. But he has a stubborn spirit. I wonder how many of us have been given chance after chance, and yet we stick to being stubborn. The second plague is the frogs. I didn't know this, but this week, as I learned for the Egyptians, frogs actually had magical powers and were considered sacred.
Like they would create images of frogs and worship it. And so here's the worst part. You have all of these frogs just consuming everything. Can you imagine all the warts, isn't that not true? Do you get warts from frogs? I've always heard that. And then I heard maybe it's a.
That's good. It's a theory, whatever. So the frogs, here's the worst part about it. This is annoying, but guess what, according to the Egyptian worldview, their religion, the frogs could not be killed. They had to just endure the frogs. Why? Because the frogs were gods, and the last thing they wanna do is kill a God.
And so they just had to deal with it. All right? I would've said, all right, go. I'm out. But third plague is Nats. So here is pretty fascinating for the Egyptians we're now transitioning from the plagues against the Nile, to the plagues against the land. And they actually believe that there was a God called Gbb.
And Gbb was supposed to protect their land from anything such as Nats. But look at, let's look at chapter eight, verses 19, 8 19 says the people, they were overwhelmed by the Nats. Wouldn't you be? They said, and I'm even imagining as they're speaking, It's getting in their mouth. You know what I'm saying?
This is how overwhelming it is, and they're saying this is the finger of God. And the magician said to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he would not listen to them as the Lord had said. So already, the people around Pharaoh after three plagues said, enough's enough. God is in control. We are not.
We are able to fabricate some of these plagues, but not this one. Let's give in. But what does Pharaoh do? He doesn't listen and he hardens his heart even more. But now the Egyptians are thinking, what's up with all the God? How come the frogs are doing this to us? How come Gbb didn't protect us? Then you have plague number four, which is the swarm of flies for the Egyptians.
Many insects were associated with DeeDees, and so they couldn't just kill insects. What they have to do when you had the swarm of flies, they had to simply endure them to kill them with, to go against their faith with to. Ruin, maybe a reincarnated person or a sacred deity, and so they again had to just endure the flies.
The fifth plague is the disease, livestock. As livestock is people's like income in this day. So this was everything for the Egyptians. Also though, the livestock were the incarnation of sacred beings, and so they believed in a bull god and a cow goddess, and they were thinking, how come the bull God couldn't protect all the bulls?
We give and sacrifice to it every day, and yet the bulls are dying. How come the goddess of the cows is not stepping up and healing these cows? They are dying of diseases and now we can't even eat them or use them. What God is slowly doing is he's unraveling the Egyptian's concept of reality, and yet some still stayed stubborn all the more.
Five plagues in. They're not done. Plague number six boils. This one is fascinating. Let's look at chapter nine verses eight through 10. It says, then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron take handfuls of furnace, soot, and Moses is to throw it towards heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And so verse nine, it will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt.
It'll become festering boils on people and on animals throughout the land of Egypt. And so they took furnace, hood, and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw it toward heaven and it became festering boils on people and animals. Now, this is really fascinating. God is playing with them now because this is what I learned this week.
James Montgomery Boy has a really good commentary on this, and he says the following, he says, in the practice of their Egyptian religion, the Egyptians took the ashes of an offering. and threw the ashes into the air just as Moses was doing right, but wow, as a means of blessing, this was common in their culture.
Look, if ashes fell on individuals, they consider themselves very fortunate. But what had been considered a blessing suddenly became a curse causing boils to break out on the people. See how God is just reversing everything you think You gotta figure it out. This very action that used to bless people, he's saying no.
I am done letting you play your reality game. This is reality. That's not what blesses you. In fact, you keep doing it, it's gonna start cursing you. I wonder how many of us have done this where we practice in something outside of the faith of Jesus, and for a while it blessed us, but in God's grace, he begins to expose it for what it really is.
and the curse is actually meant to send us back to the real blessing. So they were thinking, where were the healing Gods? Egypt was known for their medical innovations. Gods like emote, thought, and sec, those gods are supposed to heal the people and they are powerless in the face of God. Almighty, what Gods are you serving and will you recognize they're powerless in the face of Jesus?
The seventh plague is hail and lightning. This freaks us all out as Arizonans. When it lightnings, we do nothing. We freak out. And deservedly I do too. So I'm, whatever. Let's look at verse 15. Let's look at the story of the hail and the lightning. But by now, I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with the plague, and you would've been obliterated from the earth.
However, I have let you live for this purpose. I love God. He says, to show you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth, you are still acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go. So tomorrow at this time, I will reign down the worst hail that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
So therefore, give orders to bring your livestock and all that you have in the field into shelters. Every person and animal that is in the field and not brought inside will die. Notice all, all, still the compassion of God. I'm giving you a warning. If you go in the shelters and listen to my word, you can be saved.
But so many of us, we hear his commands and we still do the exact opposite. And and Brandon will die when the hail falls on them. Many of them did not believe this. So those among Pharaoh's officials who feared the word of the Lord made their servants in livestock flee to shelter. So Pharaohs stubborn, but his people are putting the dots together.
Saying, it looks like your God is not as powerful as this God. So we're gonna do what this God says, verse 21. But those who didn't take it to heart, didn't take to heart. The Lord's Word left their servants and livestock in the field. Man, as I was reading this, I thought, Lord, do I take your word to heart?
Or am I like the foolish Egyptians daring God to do what only he can do? Verse 22, then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt on people and animals, and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt. So Moses stretch out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail.
Lightning struck the land and the Lord reigned hail on the land of Egypt. Notice this is now the plague of the sky. The hail with lightning flashing through it was so severe. That nothing like it had occurred in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. So God is a God of his word.
Verse 25, throughout the land of Egypt, the hails struck down everything in the field, both people and animals. Can you imagine this? This is like the movies we create today about the end of the world. The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field. The only place it didn't hail was in the land of Goshen.
Where's that? That's where the Israelites were. So Pharaoh sent from Moses and Aaron, I have sinned this time. This is a huge deal, right? He admits I have sinned, not just that I'll let you do it. No, I have sinned. He said to them, the Lord is the righteous one. I and my people are the guilty ones, a change of heart.
He says, make an appeal to the Lord. There has been enough of God's thunder in hell. I will let you go and you don't need to stay any longer. So Moses said to him, when I have left the city, I will spread out my hand to the Lord. The thunder will cease and there will be no more hell. So that you may know the earth belongs to the Lord.
Last verse. But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the Lord God. There is a way to repent because of the consequence versus repenting because of who God is. Many of us have a false comfort that we're saved, that we're okay, but we never actually have surrendered to King Jesus for who he is.
Pharaoh, it almost looks like he had the sinner's prayer. I have sinned. Save me now. I don't say this to bring doubt. I don't say this to, for those struggling with shame and fear. Oh no. Now I don't know if I'm saved. If you're wondering that, I promise you Pharaoh wasn't wondering that. That's already a good sign.
Right this, oh, I want to be with the Lord. Pharaoh did not think that Pharaoh was using this as a game, but be weary just saying a few words without meaning, it doesn't really mean anything. So for the hail enlightening the Egyptians, they served and sacrificed to Gods who protected their fields and preserved their atmosphere.
And now they're thinking, where are those gods now? But Pharaoh still won't accept reality. How often do you and I do the same Next plague, the eighth plague locust, right? Where is Neet? Because nee is the goddess of grain, but the locust completely consumed it. What about the God of men? Am I in the deity of the harvest?
Again, the Egyptians are thinking our whole worldview is crashing. The things we thought gave us security and purpose and understanding of life is crumbling before our eyes. And we tend to be mad at God. When that happens. But we have to see God as opening up their eyes to see what the truth is actually to deliver them.
The ninth plague is darkness. Now, this was the greatest of all Gods, according to the Egyptians. I remember this, in fifth grade we did those Egyptian wax museums. Did anybody else do that? Or is that just my school? It was the coolest thing ever. And then I thought, Lord, are you gonna judge me? Like when I was like in fifth grade, I was like, I'm sorry that I'm this God thing.
Oh no. So I, anyways the Lord's forgave me, but, so this is the greatest of all Gods and his name is raw. Here's the reality during this came because guess what? Pharaoh was considered raw incarnate. So Pharaoh is saying you can do all those things, but my domain is the sun. Egypt, like Arizona can boast that it never rains here, that it never gets dark.
We always have the sun, ironically, on the day that it rained, but you get it , and now darkness has come. God is slowly humiliating the Pharaoh. Now he is directly humiliating the Pharaoh. You think you are in control of the sun? It's now pitch. Black people also just quickly, they think of the darkness.
I'm reminded when Jesus was crucified, darkness entered the land showing that this plague, all the plagues actually rested on Jesus so that you and I could be saved. The 10th plague was the death of the firstborn sons. This is, you reap what you sow. As we talked about in the first week, pastor Caleb did such a great job.
What do the Egyptians do? 80 years prior to this, they killed all the infant sons of Israel. They killed all the firstborn sons and now their firstborn sons who are gonna be killed. Now you have to ask this question, why would God sin these plagues? Isn't God a god of love?
God is loving enough to rip off the bandaid and expose you to reality for the sake of your soul. Eugene Peterson, I, I can't think of a better way to put it, talking about the plagues in Revelation, but also he was pointing back to Exodus. He says this, he says, however, practice we become at tuning out sounds that we do not want to hear, including the sound of God's displeasure at sin.
God finds new ways to penetrate our defensive deafness. God is actually really gracious for sinning the. . God is causing Egypt and Israel to open their eyes to the destruction of sin and all that it brings. We say this all the time, but what's so evident in this passage, sin is not bad because it is forbidden.
It is forbidden because it is bad. It's not good for you. It's not good for anyone. It's not like it's this great thing and God just is a killjoy. Sin is destructive. It knows no other, let me put it this way. To disobey God is to unleash chaos and disorder in your life and everything around you. God is communicating.
This is the law of. God didn't sense some magical plagues. It's just the things of nature. All of a sudden it began to unravel. So many scholars have actually noted what's happening in the 10 plagues is the undoing of Genesis one and two. In the beginning was chaos. But God takes these elements like man, women, animals, plants, land, water, sky and he turns them into beauty.
He takes it and he makes something in harmony. He puts it all in order. What happens with sin? It begins to take all of creation apart. It begins to make all of these things undone, and what sin does, it makes everything ugly. It's no longer beautiful, it makes it dysfunctional. It's no longer harmonious.
It makes things chaotic. It no longer has. And in this passage, what is sin? Sin a chief form of disobedience in this passage and all throughout scripture in life is what the Bible calls idolatry idols, which is what the Egyptians were famous for, and you and I are famous for. We just don't dress them up.
In statues is trusting in someone or something to bring about peace and order in our life. Sacrificing to it, giving our time, talents, treasures, attention to it, thinking if I do this enough then everything will be okay. If I have that, then my life will have meaning. If I get this, then I will be secure.
And how is that working for you? The reality is outside of the grace of God, you and I are no different than Egyptians. We look to our spouse to guarantee our happiness. Your spouse doesn't deserve that, nor can they do that. We look to our career to guarantee us a sense of significance. The moment we do that, our career winds up killing us.
We look to our finances to guarantee US security. , but our greed takes over and it's never enough. It destroys relationships. It destroys our self-worth. We look to public opinion to give us comfort. Public opinion changes more than the waves, right? It is always different. Sometimes you're in their good favor, and other times you're not.
See, we may think that these idols are actually giving us exactly what they need, what we need. However, here's the reality. I'm so grateful for this reality will not bend its knee to our delusions. Reality will not bend its knee to our delusions. Even culturally. Our attempts to redefine biology today are already producing massive pain, dysfunction, and destruction.
Reality not, is not gonna bend its knee. Our attempts to redefine our sexuality. And if that's you in this room, we are so sympathetic and empathetic to that, and we get that there's a lot of things like identity and abuse and just all sorts of things being misunderstood, not being allowed to share some of your longings, and it got you to this point.
But here's the reality is reality will not bend its knee to your delusion. You can say you are happier and more fulfilled all you want, but it's doing the exact opposite. There is a time where the idol makes you feel, and it does seem like it is succeeding, but God in his grace will begin to make it completely unravel.
Our attempts to redefine truth as relative what's true for you is true for you. What's true for me is true for me is only making us more divisive, more disintegrated, and more anxious, right? So reality is reality. So before we identify with Moses, we need to take a long look at Pharaoh. Do we come to God to discover reality?
Or do we just look to ourselves to define reality? Reality will not bend its need to our delusions. So the question is, will we bend our need to reality? It reminds me of a passage in Philippians, one of my favorite passages of Philippians two verses nine through 11. It says, for this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.
I want you to even think of Pharaoh here. This is what Pharaoh wanted, but literally it's the exact opposite. And Jesus came as a servant, right? And his name is now above every name. Pharaoh wanted to be exalted, but it was Jesus, so that at the name of Jesus, not at the name of Pharaoh of any other God, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.
Why? Because reality. Will not bow to your delusions. Every knee will bow to the reality of Jesus in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So in the end, reality wins. But here's what this passage is telling us. We can either bend the knee with joy and delight or bend the knee with a stubborn spirit and only because we have to at the end of all time.
God is gonna fully reveal himself. And as at that point, those who are not even in heaven will have to at least acknowledge God. You are the God, you are in control. Jesus, you are the Lord over all creation. And yet, as their knees are being bent one theologian says that their knees will break. They will have to bend.
They will still have the spirit of Pharaoh thinking. But I don't want to, or you and I can have the spirit of say Moses, the spirit of Mary, the spirit of Paul, the spirit of these of David these people in the scripture is saying, it's nothing in my hands. I bring simply to Christ. I cling. I don't bring any argument.
I bring no other plea, but that Jesus died and he died for me. I'm here to say, Jesus, you're in control. I am not God. As these plagues are entering my life, may I wake up and recognize this isn't to punish me. In fact, it's to push me back to grace, back to love. To see the reality for what reality really is.
I want us to use this moment as we close to ask ourselves, are we trying to make reality bend to us or do we have the humility to bend to reality And the scriptures say the ultimate person and work of Jesus, that is the reality. Will we submit to him? So I was thinking through and praying and Exodus we finished at Exodus 11, chapter 12 starts to begin to explain what the Passover is.
And so I was thinking through, is there a practice from the way of Jesus that can help us bend our need to Jesus? And it's the practice of communion. See at the Passover mill, which starts in Exodus 12, God is showing us what the mill is actually about in the person of Jesus. What you have in Exodus 12 is they have to sacrifice the lamb and take that blood and put it over the doorpost, and the angel of destruction will pass over that house.
This destruction that honestly, they deserve. The firstborn should have died, was passed over. They were redeemed, they were rescued because of the blood. Jesus, the last Supper says, I am that lamb. I am going to the cross because you need my blood to put over the doorpost of your life. He takes the bread and he takes the cup and he is tell, telling his disciples, as you partake in this, recognize you're partaking in.
The bread is represented of the body, which is being broken on behalf for you. The blood is being spilled out. The cup is my blood and it's being spilled out so that you can be saved. See, we are in shock that the firstborns died, but let us be even more shocked that the firstborn of all creation died for you and for me.
God, in his sovereignty, he ultimately saves us through the death of his own son. And at the cross, Jesus takes all the plagues, all the chaos that sin produces, and he puts it on his shoulders so that you and I can be rescued from oppression and enter into the promised land, no longer defined by sin, no longer defeated by Satan, no longer in destruction because of death.
We have life, and life and abundance, and what I want us to do is to humble ourselves and accept reality. For these next two songs, I almost encourage you to do this right away, to come forward and to partake in the communion here on your left or your right. Take it one at a time, the bread and the cup, and maybe pray as a family or pray on your own, however you came and just say, okay, God, you are God.
And I am not God. I cannot save myself, but Christ, you have rescued me. Maybe before you even go to the communion you wrestle with God and say, God I've had the spirit of Pharaoh. I've heard your warnings. And I keep saying no, but I don't want it to get to the point where now you begin to harden my own heart.
God, I want to soften my heart. I want to come back. I wanna receive the grace that is mine in Christ Jesus. So if we can, I would love for us to allow this to be a holy moment.
Afternoon, passion Creek. What a great day to be a part of this community. Amen. Exciting times ahead and as we prepare tonight for the word, let's take a look at Exodus chapter three. But Moses
asked God, who am I that I should go to
Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt? He answered, I will certainly be with you and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you.
When you bring the people out of, You will all worship God at this mountain. Then Moses asks, God, if I go to the Israelites and I say to them, the God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? What should I tell them? God replied to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are To say to the Israelites I am has sent me to.
Amen. Thank you Ron so much. If you guys can open your Bibles to that. In Exodus chapter three, we're just doing like a six part series on the life of Moses. And so, and leading up to, uh, when we we're finished, we're gonna be actually in the new place and we have a whole nother series we're really excited about as we start in the junior high.
Uh, but Pastor Caleb, I thought did a phenomenal job last week. We learned, uh, many things, but one of the things in Exodus two is Moses, he did the right thing for all the wrong in all the wrong. , right? And so he was bothered by the oppression of his people. And so we see that he took matters into his own hands.
He struck the Egyptian, hid him under the sand. And I don't, it seems kind of in the text, he wasn't particularly remorseful or guilty until he got caught. Uh, the next day, uh, the, uh, the Israelites were saying you were the one who murdered this Egyptian. And so what he does, kind of what all of us would do, he bottles up that shame and he runs away and he runs to the.
So now we're back into the story where Moses' dreams are dashed. This royalty he was in the house of the Pharaoh, is now a refugee Moses, which actually means to be drawn out by water. This significant imagery of water is now stuck in a dry and barren desert. Everything his life thought was going to be is completely opposite.
Now, what does he do? We actually learned in Acts chapter seven that Moses was in the wilderness here for 40 years, and at the 40 year mark, Moses noticed something out of the ordinary. Look at it mean. Look at it with me. In verse one of chapter three, it says, meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law jet.
The priest of Midian, he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horrib the mountain of God. By the way, later, Horeb is also the same phrase for Sinai, which is where Moses gets the 10 Commandments. We'll probably talk more about that later in a few, uh, messages. Why does he say hob sometimes than Sinai and other, but it's pretty significant.
Verse two, then an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. We first need to give Moses props for noticing, right? Like most of us, especially today, we are so focused on getting attention that we never give enough space to give attention.
Especially in our economy and our world of attention grabbing with social media. How many of us are even at a spot like Pastor Caleb said to practice last week? Silence and solitude. If Moses wasn't practicing silence and solitude, maybe he would've never seen this bush and maybe this story wouldn't have happened.
Look at verse three. So Moses thought I must go over and look at this remarkable. Why isn't the bush burning up now? Scholars have long debated the significance of the burning bush. Lemme give you a few theories of what people think the bush and the fire represent. Uh, the first one is the bush is Israel and the fire is the oppression of Egypt.
And so bush, uh, what's interesting too about Israel, that it's a very. Israel has always kind of mentioned as just common people. There's nothing particularly amazing about them, just that God chose them, which by the way, amen. Nothing particularly great about you, but God loves you and that's what makes you so great.
All right, so the bush is Israel, and what's interesting here is the fire, which would normally do wet to a bush, completely dissipate it. Instead, the bush is still living. And it's a picture. Some scholars point to the fact that although Israel is in the midst of slavery and oppression with seemingly no way out, they're still strong despite being enslaved, despite them wanting to kill all of the sons, they're still here.
Another example though of the bush. The bush equals God's imminence and the fire equals God's transcendence. These are big theological terms. Let me explain. Imminence simply means that God isn't just high in the sky. He is with us. He's present with his people in the most ordinary of circumstances in the most ordinary of ways.
If you hear Christmas Eve, we talked about how Jesus is fully. Right. He is imminent. He is with us. You would assume God is in this special place up in a high tower, but instead his presence is with us even in the midst of something as common as a bush, but also the transcendence. The transcendence points to the power and holiness of God.
So the fire is something altogether, not like we're used to. God is not someone to be trifled with. He may be in the ordinary, but do not. He is not like us. He is not even just extraordinary. He is holy other than us, which again, kind of points to Jesus. He is fully man. God's imminent with us, but also he is still.
Jesus is fully God worthy of our worship and praise on his holy other than us. One more theory. That. I think, by the way, this is like the main reason why it's the bush and the fire. But one more that I think is really interesting. Uh, pastor Caleb has me in, not really, but getting me into more and more, uh, where is he?
A Greek Orthodox art . Oh, he's fixing his guitar. I call them out the worst time. Yo. Okay, so he has me looking into Greek Orthodox art more, which is weird. Don't do it. But what's pretty fascinating is Mary, there's a picture of Mary and she is painted as if. Fully consumed, not consumed, but surrounded by fire.
And so the bush equals Mary's womb and the fire equals the presence of Jesus. And isn't that amazing like a bush? Mary is just an ordinary woman, but extraordinarily used by God. And in the God of the Old Testament as we read, God is so holy and unlike us, typically, if you encounter God, you die at the spot, and yet God in His grace doesn't consume.
Mary is preserved and Mary is used for the story of God. Anyways, that'll preach, but let's keep going. Verse four, it says, when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, look at that he noticed. He's responding to Moses's attention. God called out to him from the bush, Moses, Moses. You see this throughout the Bible when they say the phrase multiple times, it's to get someone's attention, but it's also affectionate.
If you see like Jesus, he always says, Peter, Peter, it. It's actually a sign of love and a, it's almost like saying, Hey, look in my eyes. And so Moses replies, here I am. He answered, do not come closer. He said, remove the sandals from your feet for the place where you're standing is holy ground. So then he continued.
I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of. Now you have to recognize this is news to Moses. Moses has been an identity crisis. He was born a Hebrew, but raised in Egyptian. So when a God appears the God and says, Hey, I'm the God of your fathers, he must be thinking, which one?
I don't know who I am the God of Pharaoh. Or the God of Abraham, the, the story of those, uh, of, of that lineage. He doesn't know who his dad really is. And so God here is already giving him an assurance of who he is. No, your father is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And so Moses hit his face because he was afraid to look at God.
This is to insinuate how powerful in the presence of God in this moment was, was overwhelming. So then the Lord said, I ob observed the misery of my people in. And I've heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, and I've come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land.
A land flowing with milk and honey, the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, parasites, HIEs, and Jes. So because the Israelites cry for help has come to me, and I've also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing. Therefore go, I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites out of Egypt.
So first we have to see this passage says more about God than it does about Moses. First of all, God didn't pick Moses because he's perfect. It's not like Moses all of a sudden because he was in the desert for 40 years as this perfect human being. Instead, we see here that God's just a God of grace, and in his gracious choosing, he chooses Moses.
Also, we see God doesn't have to. God is right for just not intervening because God is God. He doesn't need us. He doesn't owe us anything. And so the fact we even read in the Old Testament that he's calling them my people, that he feels their, their, their cries and, and wants to come down. This is a personal God.
This is a God that nobody had ever heard of, especially in the ancient Near East. No one imagined a God like this who's so extremely personal. But also we have to see here in this text, God doesn't need any of us. He is wholly self. We're about to see in verse 14. He has that phrase, I am. I am who I am, Yahweh, which means this.
In his kindness, God is inviting Moses. Look, verse 10, therefore go. He's inviting Moses to have a part to play, not because he needs Moses, but because in his grace he decides to use him. And that can be the same for you and me. God does not need us, but in his grace, he invites. To be a part of his mission, but I do want to, so there's, I, we can literally talk for eternity about God and his character and what we even see just in this passage.
But I also want us to use this moment to, to what does this mean for the life of Moses now? Now, quickly, it's likely Moses was never expecting a word from God, and there's three reasons why, uh, should be on the screen. Number one, he's a murderer. Right, so God is holy. We are not, and and God in his holiness cannot be approached, especially by someone who as sinned so much that he murdered someone.
So Moses is carrying around this shame, and so he is not imagining God coming and intervening. The second reason is the last time God spoke was 400 years prior. Anybody else noticed the significance of the 400 year gap of silence? Where else did that? between the old and the New Testament, right? When Jesus was introduced, when, when the angel came down and said, I've become to bring good news, there was a 400 year gap of silence.
We also have it here. And so the last time God spoke to his people was to Jacob to go to Egypt, and that one day they will be rescued and sent to the promised land. But now that's been 400 years. So Moses doesn't know anyone who knows anyone who heard a word from God. So he's not expecting it. And number three, he's in the middle of nowhere.
Midian is a desert in the ancient Near East Place meant something. I actually think we can do a great service to us if we begin to recognize the significance of a place. I think one reason why our souls are so distraught and disconnected is we never stay somewhere long enough. , right? There's something beautiful about planting roots and just being who you are with the people who are around you, whatever those, whoever those neighbors are.
But anyways, he says he names his son in Exodus two. He's, he names his son, gosh. And gosh, literally means I am a foreigner in a foreign land. What's Moses saying here? Saying, I'm lost? My son represents this season of life, and in this season, nobody knows who I am and I don't know where. So he is thinking, God won't speak to me.
He has no home. Moses has no security. Moses has no identity, and by this point he is in a deep identity crisis. In fact, one could argue he just has given up to even figure out who he is. Is Moses like pastor Caleb mentioned last week. Is he an Egyptian or a Hebrew? Is he special? Or is he just a shepherd?
Is he a deliverer or is he just a murderer? Is Moses chosen by God or just forgotten by God? And I imagine you are well acquainted with this type of crisis. And I know , I know I am right, but this crisis is way too important for us to brush off and distract ourselves. And I think that's the grace that Moses had getting to the desert.
He had nothing to distract himself and now he had to encounter God. Now, the world today, we'll call this identity crisis, but here's what the crisis really is. Write this down. The crisis of knowing self and knowing God, these are two equally important crises, that for some of us, it's why we are so disintegrated, so depressed, and so.
There's been a lot of theologians throughout history who have claimed that these two things are the most important tasks to partake in the journey, to partake in, uh, for us to really live out what God has called us to German theologian, a meister I Eckhart, he said the following, he says, no one can know God, who does not first know himself.
Sounds a little new agey, doesn't it? What's going on here? No, we need to know ourself. How about the 15th century Spanish nun, St. Teresa of Avila, where we get a lot of our stage theory of the Christian life from? She says, almost all problems in the spiritual life stem from a lack of self knowledge. Now, let me give you one more person, which may most people, if you, if you're a theology nerd in the room, you would never guess he would say such a thing.
Reform theologian, John Calvin. He said the following, our wisdom consists almost entirely of two parts. The knowledge of God and of ourselves. He actually goes on to say, but as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.
So in other words, do you try to know yourself first or you try to know God first? And John Calvin says, yes, it is a journey that goes together hand. And so this journey, this process is what I would call is the egoic journey, the journey of the ego, figuring out who you are and what God's called you to.
So there are stages if you, if you're around passion Greek, you know, we love this stuff. But there seems to be throughout the biblical text, throughout just life in general, there seems to be stages of your journey in figuring out who you are. And in so doing, also figuring out who God is. Now, most of us begin here at stage one, which is the conceited.
This is the blessing of being young, by the way, cuz you don't know any better. You're just ignorant and you think you're awesome. , God will fix that. But anyways, concede itself. What happens when you're conceited is a simple reality and it's okay. Life hasn't beat you up enough. And so there's still something in you that says, I can figure it out.
I have the power. Just give me the control. And in God's patie, You'll see throughout the Bible, God uses conceited people for some pretty extraordinary things. Now, he beats out that conceit, but he uses them. Think of the story of Joseph in his arrogance, tells his brothers about how great he is and how they're going to worship and serve him.
One day he's conceited. That was not the point of the vision, but God still used them. Moses in his conceit, saw the Israelites hurting and he thought, I'll take care of this. Let me just kill. Conceited, and this is what happens. And here's what, what. Here's different ways you can figure out if you're conceited.
And it's okay. There's grace in this room. Let me just say quickly. This has been a lot of my life. All right, so the conceit itself finds identity in one of three ways, or possibly all three. First off is performance. So some of us, we think I'm great because of what I do. Right, so you'll see this a lot in the sports world, in the career world, right?
I'm just really good at this specific task, and let me just say, it's great to have pride in what you're doing. I think that's totally fine, but you cannot base your worth off of what you're doing. See the difference there. What's hard though is some of us we're so good at what we do. It's a pretty good idol.
You're pretty satisfied for a while because you work hard and you get paid. The second way that the conceit itself finds its identity is in possessions. I'm great. Maybe not for what I do, but I'm great because of what I have. Some of you have won the lottery, like literally, if you have talked to me, we're trying to get a church building.
You know what? But possessions wise, right? You find your hope and satisfaction on the things that you own, right? You actually compare your worth and value by comparing what items you have versus what items they. This is all good and dandy until that no longer works, right? Or the third one is popularity.
I think some of us have actually never graduated from high school, right? All of life is who's at the popular table. So I'm great because of what others think of me. Social media has taken that and cranked it up to a hundred. You can now people say your value is based off how many people follow. Like I have people, I have a YouTube channel, been slaving over it for six years.
I have this, it's a steady amount of subscribers, but oh, the judgment. When I tell people how many subs they have, they go, oh, hmm, okay, and move on. And you're like, no, I'm worth more than what you think. You know, like this is a thing. Popularity, the conceited self runs to this. And the reality is is Moses could actually run to at least several of these popularity.
He was in the Pharaoh's home possessions. He was in the Pharaoh's house. And so this probably helped, you know, boost his ego, but by the grace of God, and here's what happens. If God is so gracious to you, God will meet you at a moment where you have been completely stripped of all your arrogance and conceit.
God does this many different ways. I think one way, God, we as a church went through the Book of Ecclesiastes last year and I, and I think that's a huge way God can grace you with a sense of exhaust. You're just exhausted. Like possessions. Just they, they never satisfy performance. There's always somebody better popularity.
I'm never enough. And so the chase isn't fulfilling, and so if you're here for the Ecclesiastes series, you just kind of say, heaven, it's useless. You have it all and you still need more. Or God can grace you, not with exhaustion, but with embarrassment. There's maybe a moment where you are publicly humili.
You lose everything, someone takes over the spotlight. Or like Moses, you take it a step too far and wind up murdering someone and having to run away. So Moses was the conceit itself, and he ran away embarrassed and ashamed. And after the beat down, if you and I are given the Grace Long enough, what typically happens is we now enter into the desert of the defeat.
Your wounds have stacked up against you. Your opportunities have slipped away from your fingertips. Those relationships were not based on love, but on a contract on performance. And you are now left alone. And if I can be honest, I am much more acquainted with this one in more recent. And as I wrestle with this text and as I've been praying about us getting victory over the defeat itself, I have to acknowledge moving on from here does not happen quickly, nor does it happen easily.
Let me give you some examples. What does it mean to be the defeat itself? Maybe you're in the room thinking, is this who I am? Well, here's how you can know. The defeat itself finds its identities in one of three ways. One is victim. , right? You live your whole life. If others knew how hard I had it, your, your identity is your illness, right?
You just tell everyone how bad you have it, and that's how you find hope. You're defeated. Your hope isn't in victory. It's in being a victim. The second thing is vengeance. The defeated self thinks, okay, if I can just make them feel the pain that they made me feel, then I'll be. So you're living really an operation of defeat.
You're bitter, you're looking to the past, not to the future. And this next one honestly, is a word that I haven't heard until recently and I'm hearing a lot of psychologists, experts, uh, mention. It's, is voyeurism. Voyeurism at its most basic element is just finding pleasure and watching others do what you can never do or what you would never be brave enough to do.
Not, it's worse. Voyeurism can be uh, things like watching things online, but it's also just in being a fan of, of, of a football team. And your whole life is just about that cuz you can't find victory. So you just watch others do victory while you sit on the couch. That's the defeat itself. And to be honest, I know that we get so annoyed with, with young men being so conce.
But I think some of us, we just put them to the defeated realm and we just leave 'em alone. Men, we, we need to have a journey to go towards, right? It's not a victory that many teenagers can't even think of what life could look like, and so many have committed suicide. So many have no future because we have made sure to tell them how terrible this world is, how terrible they are, and then we wonder why we're in the mess.
So, so many men, and I'm speaking to that just cuz I'm a man if you didn't know. Um, voyeurism is a huge, huge thing that men are running to. They've raised their white flag and they just wanna watch somebody else be victorious for them. Now Moses, he, he had a lot of emotions to process in the desert, right?
Victimhood, maybe thinking, man, they don't understand why I did that. Right? I murdered that guy because I wanted to save them, but now they were mad at me, right? Vengeance. Man, I need a man. Look what the Egyptians have done to me. Look what those Israelites have done to me. But they don't know, right? And they're stuck.
And we're honest with ourselves. You and I are well acquainted with this cycle of being conceited and then being defeated and then having enough self illusion we are conceited again, and then we get defeated all the more. And the reality is, is without God, you are either conceded or. But God can step in sometimes in a burning bush moment and flip things around.
What's what's fascinating is today, technically it's on Tuesday, but today is our seven year anniversary as a church. and, um, it is entirely not gone the way that I planned at all on the five year vision board or the 10, or even the two. And so the ver the first few years and some of you in the room you were there, um, I, I would say I was clearly the conceited self.
And the reality is, is, uh, church planning book I read last year has said that. I think every single church planner is conceited or else they would be too wise to not plant a church. Uh, but we're so arrogant we think, no, we can do it. Okay. The stats are 90% failed. Yeah, but I'm like, the 1%, you know, I'm the greatest, so let's do it.
And so God in his grace somehow does that. And so this journey of planning a church has been humiliating. It has been slow, so slow, way slower than I thought. And um, for the first few years, I would just give myself a pep. or I go to Disneyland, , and then we would move forward. But eventually that exhaustion and that embarrassment got to me.
And as I look back at my life, like I I, I had this moment where I looked at Jordan and I said, look, the more effort I put in doesn't equal more success. And that's frustrating, right? I try harder, but get almost the very same or even less results. What do I. . So the last few years has really, I know some of you're like, Trey, you, you're too vulnerable.
Whatever. The last few years has like broken me like, um, it's been hard. I think it's hard for all of us. I'm only sharing this because I want to identify with the story, Moses, and hopefully it's helpful to you. But I think what, what I've noticed is I've kind of shifted from conceit itself to defeat itself, and it is very, very hard to lead when you are defeated.
Man. I even think about last year I went from like full of energy to just fighting for any amount of energy. And so I found out about this thing called coffee and I was like, whoa, this is how humans actually exist. This makes sense to me now. And then I found out about monsters and I was like, wow, like how did I get through college without these drugs?
Uh, and so, but I went from. So much energy to like needing substances to push me forward. I went from clarity. You would, if you would ask me ever, like, what's your five year, 10 year plan? What? Oh, I would have all the answers. I went through a season where I was confused. I don't know. I just know my Bible's right, so let's just keep reading it.
One more. The, the biggest thing I found from going conceited to defeated, um, in the first few years, I, I loved my sermons. Like I would watch him again and go, why aren't more people listening? You know, like, come on. Did you hear that rhyme? You know, And now, like I despise them. And every week I walk down and go, what am I supposed to be?
An artistic, like graphic designer? You know? Like, I'm just like, what is my purpose in life? And, and what's been so helpful, and this all has a purpose besides like making sure you never look at me like a strong leader ever again. But part of this is recognizing this is the journey of the Christian life.
This is a part of. I read Hebrews, uh, 10 through 12 this morning, and in it he says, no. Listen. Listen. God disciplines, those he loves, like God in his mercy actually makes life hard on you because he's teaching you this thing called faith and perseverance and humility. And even like for me, man, two years ago, I would've said a sermon on identity would've made that would've made me.
Quit struggling. You know, like I would always make fun of people like, you know, the friends who say, I just need to go across the world to find myself. I'm like, that's not gonna help. You know, like, you're right there, you know? But now I'm like, I kinda get it. Like, anybody got a ticket? Let's go to Malaysia.
I don't know, let's figure something out. You know? And this struggle, like the dark fog of the unknown. And, and I hesitate to say this, but I, I really do feel like we're entering into a new season as a church and in my own life, and it's very exciting. And now I, I believe clarity is coming back and opportunity and favor in ways we've never seen before.
But, but what, what I've learned, and I think what Moses is interacting with here, is you cannot skip the desert. The reality is, is God will keep you in the desert as long as he needs because he loves you. Here's the good. God's deliverance is imminent. When you accept, you are limited.
This was the burning bush moment for Moses. God had to wait until Moses was at this beautiful crossroads of knowing. Man, I can't do it all by myself, but man, I still wanna do something good. H, how do I, I need God or else I can't. Well, I need to do something. See, Moses had to get to the end of himself so that he had the eyes to see God.
Look at verse 11. This is how God now introduces himself. So, so he says, Moses, ask God, who am I? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of? Look how he answers. He says, I will certainly be with you. That's all you need to know that I'm with you, and this will be the sign to you just to comfort him.
I'm the one who sent you. When you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain. You know this mountain? You keep walking around for 40 years. There's a purpose I've been, this feels useless. But this mountain here was always here for the future. You just never understood it until now.
This is the sign, the very fact where you're sitting, standing, I'm gonna give you the 10 commandments in the law, verse 13. Then Moses asked if I go to the Israelites. So he is still kind of like that defeated itself. Like, okay, uh, well what about this? What about that? So now he says, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your ancestors will send me to you, and they ask, well, what's his name?
What should I tell them? These are the most two simple questions we always ask. Who am I? And God, who are you? So God, in his grace answers, God replied to him saying, I am who I am. This is what you are to say. The Israelites I am has sent you this. This name means Yahweh. This is He always was. He always is.
He will forever will be. Don't worry, he has this in his hands. look at the two gifts, even just in 11th through 14 that Moses has given. Number one, Moses is given the gift of a limited self, not conceited, not defeated, just limited. See, God doesn't call him up to be strong and mighty. Again, that's exactly what the conceited self wants to hear.
But also notice God doesn't like cast him out for failing to live up to God's standards. That's what the defeat itself expects to. Instead, he's saying, Moses like, who am I? God is saying, Moses, you're limited, but you're anointed. You're limited, but you have my presence, so it's gonna be good. Other passages say, I am who I am.
Other people translate as I, I will be who I will be. You just watch. You just wait and see. And that's the second thing He, he's given the grace of a covenant God. So who am I? I'm. God, who are you? God's a covenant loving, faithful God. Time and time again, God is saying, I will be with you. Moses says, but what about this?
He says, I am with you. I will go before you. I am your power. I am who you need me to be, but God, who are you? I'm the God of mercy. I'm the God of faithful, never-ending. Love. Love. And this is where the egoic journey eventually leads us to. It eventually leads. These are the two questions I want us as our response time to think about, to pray to meditate, maybe kind of just spend some time with God is this first question, will you accept who you have actually become?
Now to the conceit itself, you're not as great as you think . Just accept who you really are to the defeat itself. Hey, actually, God's doing a lot more in your life than you.
You're just limited. You're one human and that's actually such a grace. I want you to wrestle with that question this week. Will you ex, will you accept who you have actually become? This is especially true for those of us on the back half of life. The saying goes, young people are only nice cuz they keep thinking one day they'll be nice.
Right? They have expectation. They'll actually. Will you accept who you've actually become? Will you get really honest the things that have been done to you? Will you just accept that? Realize this is always, this trauma is a part of my story. James K. Smith, he wrote a book, wait, it's, it wasn't that great, but he had a line in there that I thought was so good, talking about the grace of just recognizing who you are and being okay.
It's not on the screen, but I put it on my notes this afternoon cause I think it's so good. It says, grace is not a time machine. Grace is not a reset button. I think that's what we want. We come to church cuz we don't like who we become. So we want the reset. It says no Grace is something even more unbelievable.
It's restoration. It is reconciliation of, and despite our histories of animos. Grace isn't an undoing, it is overcoming. Isn't that interesting? When Jesus rose again on the third day, he still had the scars. See, when we talk about come to Christ, come to the cross, come to His grace, we're not saying we reset everything that's ever happened in your life.
But the reality is, is there is a resurrection that. The pain is now being resurrected into something beautiful. The brokenness is being resurrected into something powerful. This wandering by Mount Ho for 40 years is now being resurrected to where this is the very place where people will encounter God and the ethics of all of Israel will be set throughout all eternity.
What he does is God isn't looking to reset, to ignore. No. He is taking all your pain and all your hopes and dreams, and what he wants to do is for you to come to the end of your. Clinging to the cross of Christ, receive him, surrender to him, trust him, and in his power. What he does is he takes your history, he takes your pain, he takes your sin, and and the very things he used to struggle with, the things that you hate about yourself now through the resurrection, gives you a grace to be a source of love to those people who you once were.
You now have greater empathy. You now have greater patience and love and purpose and courage. This is all according to his plan. The second question you have to wrestle with, that you have to get honest with is will you surrender to who God actually is?
Man, God is way more personal than you've ever imagined. Look at the text. God is way more holy than you'd ever expect, but God is so much more loving than you could ever hope for. Will you surrender? Will you surrender to him, Phil led, just to kind of just sit there. Will you actually accept who you've actually become and will you surrender to who God actually is?
What we're gonna do this week in your together groups? We're gonna put forth, we're trying to think through what's a practice here that can help you kind of have a burning bush moment And just thinking through the daily examine. It's a, most of this just go on the, on the group guide on the website, but quickly it's an exercise where you just review your day and you say, okay, where's all the bad stuff?
What was all the gracious stuff? And, and just thank God for it. And we wanna do is actually, as you start groups again, this week, pastor Caleb's done a great job of doing a a decade by decade. What, what we wanna invite you to do is to, to look at your life a and and to ask for the spirit's guidance and get honest and accept your past failure, decade by decade.
Writing him down, but then recognizing and accepting God's grace throughout all of that decade by decade and giving thanks to him. I'm really encouraged for us to do that, but again, I want us to, Which question are you wrestling with most? Will you accept who you've actually become? Cuz God doesn't want to work with your idealized self.
He wants to impact and work with your real self. And will you surrender to who God actually is? Way more loving than you'd ever imagined. Way more gracious, personal, holy. And it's that intersection. We can have a burning bush moment that sets. Towards a purpose and mission for the rest of our life.
During the advent season, we are called to celebrate the first coming of Christ and anticipate His second coming. This means we celebrate the fact that sin has lost its power over believers and anticipate the day sin loses its presence among believers.But in a season filled with joy and anticipation, we still feel the pain and tension of living between the two comings of Christ.Although the devil has lost its dominion over us, he still has an opinion that can influence us. His lies create in us a spirit of arrogance, anxiety, and apathy.In 1 Peter 5, the Apostle gives us 3 ways to resist the roaring lies of the devil.
If you ask 10 people what they expect from their pastor, you will probably get 20 different answers. Throughout history, pastors have been expected to be all sorts of things.But what does God expect the pastor to do?In 1 Peter 5:1-4, God lays out the three expectations for every pastor: to be an elder, a shepherd, and an overseer. In this message, we will learn what these terms mean and how it effects our life with Jesus today.
By the grace of God, you will encounter a fork in the road where you have to make a decision: you can live by faith in Jesus, or you can die by fire without Him (Matthew 25). If you put your faith in Jesus, you can’t help but express your joy through songs like, “I put my faith in Jesus, my anchor to the ground, my hope and firm foundation, He’ll never let me down.”
But what happens when it seems like He does let us down?
We set ourselves up for major disappointment when we confuse our eternal condition with our present one. Because contrary to popular belief, stepping up your faith is stepping into fire… and that’s a good thing. In 1 Peter 4, we are encouraged to look at our trials like a fiery furnace: burning off our impurities & idolatries to further glorify Christ.
In this message, we will learn about the three stages of faith that only come from stepping into the fire.
Your threshold for pain can withhold your purpose. Your threshold for pain can tenfold your purpose.
1 Peter 4:1-11 CSB
Words like “submission” and “authority” aren’t very popular in our western world. To follow a way of life that instructs people to submit to one another seems archaic at best and abusive at worst. But properly understood, the practice of submission is life-giving and freeing. In 1 Peter 3, Peter pastors women in the church to lovingly submit to and respect their husbands. He also instructs husbands to lovingly serve and care for their wives. This idea of service and submission is echoed throughout scripture. Jesus himself teaches that true leadership and power actually comes through service and submission. The practice of submission then isn’t just for women, couples, or children. It’s a practice for all Christians that actually leads to the good life.
Although the culture we live in pushes us to create our own individual identities, our brains are wired to find our identity within the context of a group. Naturally, we discern our purpose, discover our belonging, and decide our values based on the communities we find ourselves in. As followers of Jesus, it is incredibly important to shape our group identity and practices around the humility and confidence given to us through the gospel. In 1 Peter 2, Peter warns us to avoid the common practices of the culture around them: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander, and encourages us to center our lives on the cornerstone of grace. Today, we live out this same identity by practicing humility and confidence within our community.
1 Peter 2:1-10 CSB
Genesis 12:1-3; Revelation 7:9
Throughout the storyline of the Bible, we see that God’s desire is to bless all of humanity. It starts with Adam and Eve, but rather than spread God’s blessing and goodness to the world, they spread sin and death. But God doesn’t leave humanity hopeless and helpless. Instead, he chooses the people group of Israel to provide blessing and healing to the rest of the world. As a nation of people set apart by God, Israel was given the unique opportunity of allowing God to bless the whole world through them. Today, we have the same opportunity. But rather than waiting for the nations to come to us, Jesus’ last command while on earth was to go to the nations ourselves. As we allow ourselves to be formed by Jesus, we must remember that we do this for the sake of others and not just for our own self-improvement. We also must remember that God’s intention is to restore all of humanity from all nations. By intentionally praying for the nations, giving sacrificially, and by actually going to the nations, we can continue God’s work of providing blessing and salvation to the rest of the world.
Our workplace is one of the most strategic places where we can effectively share the gospel. We spend roughly 1/3rd of our life there, we regularly interact with the same people there, and we contribute to the well-being of society by what we do there. However, most of us also have negative feelings and experiences associated with work. We wake up, toil, grind, and come home exhausted only to do it again the next day. Or we work tirelessly to get more power, approval, security, and comfort. At its best, work is a necessary evil. At its worst, work is a false god that never gives us what it promises. But the way of Jesus provides us an alternative: to see our work as the means by which God uses us to restore beauty, goodness, and well-being to the world around us. By seeing our work through this lens of restoration, we can start detaching ourselves from these lies about work and begin utilizing our workplaces to invite other into the way of Jesus. Rather than living to work and working to live, followers of Jesus can love to work and work to love.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to share the way of Jesus with our lost neighbors. Political tribalism, spiritual suspicion, and the recent phenomenon of religious deconstruction all form a perfect storm of hostility towards Christians who try to invite others to follow Jesus. In Jesus’ day, the world was much the same. But rather than combat or retreat from the world, Jesus confronts the world’s hostility with hospitality. The meals that Jesus shared with others were invitations to relationship, opportunities for reconciliation, and a demonstration of the love that God has for all people. Today our mission and outreach must come from our discipleship to Jesus, and not the other way around. This means that we must learn the practice of hospitality as a way to invite others to witness the love of God. When we share a meal with others, we remind ourselves that God chose to seat us at his table in the Kingdom despite our sin. We also demonstrate to our neighbors that the love of God is on offer to everyone who wants to accept it. Mark 2:13-17
In our day and age, healthy relationships built on mutual love and service between generations are rare. We easily find ourselves frustrated with the problems left behind by those older than us, or frustrated by the ambition and naiveite of those younger than us. But these frustrations only keep us stuck in our own struggles and fears. Those in their first half of life find themselves ambitious, but lonely. Those in their second half of life find themselves faithful, but angry. In Titus 2, Paul gives practical instruction on how we can overcome these frustrations by mending our relationships. When we commit to listening to and learning from others in different life stages, we complete the family of Christ and act as an alternative community who prizes each other’s gifts and stages.
Honest relationships, genuine connections, and healthy friendships are all hard to come by in our modern age. While we might experience increased connectedness through the internet and social media, most of us lack real friendships with other people. As a result, we default into radical individualism or rugged tribalism, both of which feed our experienced loneliness and isolation. But the way of Jesus offers us a remedy to our loneliness by way of community. When Jesus lived on earth, he entered a world of broken people and invited them to live life with him. And the community that he formed with these people wasn’t jeopardized by their drastic differences. Instead, their relationships with each other were strengthened by their commitment to their rabbi. Today, we can experience the same type of life-giving relationships by adopting Jesus’ 4 components of community: Proximity, Vulnerability, Practice, and Mission.
Until recently, disciples of Christ Jesus always valued and treasured the weekly gathering of the saints. It was a consistent place and time to habituate our minds, hearts, and bodies toward a community of love, joy, and peace through the acts of worship, service, and communion. But with the advent of the internet, do we really need to be together in person to accomplish these functions of the church? Looking to the wisdom of 1 Peter 4:7-11, we learn the grace of God is poured out on the saints when they gather together to stay alert, love each other deeply, and open up their hearts without grumbling. By humbly using our gifts to serve one another in the church, we reject the lies from the world that community must be entertaining, idealistic, virtual, and tribal.
Life is more demanding and complex than we all imagined it would be. To take the edge off, we look to stories to help us make sense of life. In the modern age, the default narrative we believe is the myth of self-actualization and self-expression. But have we ever stopped to question how helpful this story has been for our souls and our society? Following the leadership of Jesus, we learn to resist the lies of the Enemy by adopting His teachings of reality. We experience this freedom by (1) identifying an anxious thought or feeling, (2) detecting the lie beneath the sensation, and (3) declaring the truth of God’s word to our weary and wounded souls.
The end goal of the Christian life is to commune with God so that we become people of love, joy, and peace for the sake of our neighbors (Ga 5:13; 16-26). The problem many of us face is that we simply don’t know how to get there. Without a roadmap, we naturally give all our attention and time to self-gratification, pleasure, and selfish ambition. Instead, Jesus offers us a better way to live. By learning to walk in the Spirit rather than in our flesh, we slowly begin to kill the desires of our flesh. We do this by training ourselves with the practices of Jesus rather than trying to better ourselves through our own willpower.
The Modern Age believes change exclusively comes from more knowledge. As a result, civilization is convinced it will progress into a utopia as our access to information increases exponentially.
But how do we explain the evil and brokenness we still see in the educated regions of the world? How can we explain the gap between what we know is right and our perpetual failure to do what is right?
Knowing the anatomy of the soul, Jesus, our Rabbi, doesn’t just inform our intellect but shapes our desires. By default, our desires are shaped by the world in 3 ways: (1) the lust of the flesh (2) the lust of the eyes, and (3) pride in one’s possessions [1 Jn. 2:15-17]. But by design, we can begin to redirect our desires by anchoring our identity in the love Jesus has for us through the consistent practice of abiding [1 Jn. 4:7-16].
Rather than allowing ourselves to be formed by the world, the flesh, and the devil, Jesus offers us a better way to live. When we allow ourselves to be formed by Jesus, we slowly become steadfast people who are able to love others the way that God loves us. In order to do this, we must position ourselves to be formed by Jesus’ love, life, and leadership. Leaving out any one or two of these elements makes us stuck, stubborn, or stingy.
Matthew 11:28-30
Is it okay to pray for yourself? Isn't it selfish? In this message, we actually learn our lack of "selfish" prayers says a lot more about our misunderstanding of God and His love toward us.
Luke 11:1-13 CSB
God can work with any plan, but He will only work through His power.
2 Corinthians 12:6-10, Acts 1:6-8 CSB
Psalm 103 CSB In this message, I talk about how we overcome the biggest obstacle to prayer: condemnation.
Luke 24:13-35 CSB
We are counseled by God through the Scriptures. We commune with God through the Sacraments. We are comforted by God through the Spirit. We are connected to God through the Savior.
Ecclesiastes 7:13-18 - We learn how to deal with disappointment by leaning into the Father, not into a formula.
The seasons of life are always up and down. All we can do is manage what we've been given and give glory to God every step of the way. Ecclesiastes 3
In a secular world without God, mankind rushes to find meaning in other places like justice, pleasure, and work. In today’s hustle culture, a career has the allure of solving all our problems.
But is work really working? Does it satisfy our eternal ache for significance, contribution, and recognition?
With the help of a successful entrepreneur, Ecclesiastes teaches us the limits of our labor. The work never ends, it multiplies our grief, and keeps us in the captivity of tomorrow.
Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t call us away from work but a new way to work.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-26; 4:4-6 CSB
We should do whatever it takes to get happy and stay happy. At least that is what our culture tells us every single day.
But is this pursuit of pleasure working? Is it really what we are made to pursue?
With the help of an embittered Teacher, Ecclesiastes teaches us the paradox of pleasure: the more we pursue it, the more we will lose it. This isn’t to say God wants us to be miserable. Quite the opposite. We were made for something so much more than pleasure.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, 24-25 CSB
Time, chance, and death are the enemies of hope. Most of us try to escape these enemies through romance, creativity, or religion. But every endeavor is ultimately futile and meaningless in the hands of mortal men. But what if immortality made a visit?
2,000 years ago, Jesus promised us a life free from the chains of time, chance, and death. He delivered on this promise when He rose again on the third day.
In this message, we will cover the different paths we take to find meaning and discover why the resurrection is the only hope we have.
1 Corinthians 15; Ecclesiastes 1
Matthew 9:18-26
When you come to Jesus, you'll be more burdened than you could ever imagine and more blessed than you could ever believe.
Every human is on a search for the good life. And society assures us the only wrong path to take is the one forced upon us. But how often do we stop to consider if the path we are taking is fulfilling its promises? 2,000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth made the audacious claim that He is the only way to the good life (Jn. 14:6). According to Jesus, our apprenticeship to Him will lead to a life filled with love, peace, and joy. But this abundant life doesn’t happen from mere mental assent. It is a life that spends its time: (1) being with Jesus, (2) becoming like Jesus, and (3) doing what Jesus did. In tonight's message, we will cover the different paths people take and discover how Jesus is the only one delivering on His promise. Matthew 9:9-17
“Were we always this lonely and embittered?” – The Atlantic
Title: Misery Loves Company
Matthew 8:23-27
They didn’t reach out for Jesus’ authority; the disciples just wanted His company.
Misery loves company but needs authority.
Matthew 8:28-34
“The point of this story, then, is that the Jesus who has authority to teach people, as he was doing in the Sermon on the Mount, also has authority over disease both close at hand and at a distance; over the lives of people who want to follow him; and over the winds and waves on the lake, and over the shadowy forces of evil, however we think about them or describe them.” – N.T. Wright
They’d rather stay in their loneliness so they can stick to their lawlessness.
Misery loves company but needs community.
“Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Matthew 9:1-8
Your woundedness and wickedness keep you from full deliverance.
Misery loves company but needs forgiveness.
Notes: Isaiah 53:3-4
Title: Amazing Jesus
Lord, I don’t understand You, but I trust You.
Matthew 8:1-4
- Jesus isn’t just good, Jesus is God.
- Jesus isn’t just a teacher, Jesus is the Temple.
Matthew 8:5-13
God’s favor isn’t rooted in behavior. God’s favor is rooted in a Savior.
Luke 7:4-5
- Self-Righteousness
- Self-Rejection
“Faith that amazes Jesus emerges from a person that is amazed by Jesus.” Rich Vollidas
Matthew 8:8-9
“Think of authority this way: the capacity for meaningful action. When you have authority, what you do, or do not do, makes a meaningful difference in the world around you.” Andy Crouch
God’s authority doesn’t come to those who manifest their destiny, it comes to those who confess Christ’s divinity.
Matthew 8:14-17
“God is always faithful, but he is extremely unpredictable. You cannot rely on your assumptions about what he will or will not do… Look at the apostles in the early days of the Church. Peter was supernaturally delivered out of prison from the edge of Herod’s sword, the same sword which only days previously beheaded James the Son of Thunder… So why all the difficulty? Why does God insist that the world remain unyieldingly chaotic? My conclusion is this: only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist. Only in a world where pain is real can love be proved.” Andy Squyres
Lord, I don’t fully understand You, but I fully trust You.
Daniel 7 marks a transition in the book. We are now learning about the future of the world.
Daniel 7 CSB
You will never escape the prison of pain if your purpose is shaped by covetous gain.
Daniel 4 CSB
Today, biblical courage is either minimized or misapplied. Daniel 3 teaches us what true courage looks like in Christ.
I had the honor to guest speak at Cornerstone Prescott. In this message, I wrestle with the practice of silence to become a person of love. Luke 1 CSB
Why celebrate Christmas? To rejoice in the first coming of Christ and look forward to His 2nd and 3rd coming. The characters of Christmas remind us God’s delays are not God’s denials. In the midst of heartache, we can hold to the Christmas truth that God is not punishing us but preparing us. Luke 1 CSB
In our journey with Jesus, we learn the beauty of changing the outcomes of the world around us and in us through the power of the Spirit. However, some symphonies remain unfinished. This, too, can bring glory to God and joy to the church.
John 21:18-25
Part 7 in the Stages of the Christian Life
We cannot address the stages of the Christian life without also addressing the stages of emotional maturity.
1 Peter 2
What is God's will for my life? Part 4 of the "Stages of the Christian Life"
Psalm 32:8-9
In the first half of the Christian life, we carelessly squander the father's love. In the second half of the Christian life, we callously squander the father's love.
Luke 15:11-32
We learn from Paul’s letter to Galatia that we were created to be formed fully into the image of Jesus, but many feel stuck in their spiritual growth. Using a map of spiritual growth, we can begin to envision what God has next for our lives.
Galatians 4:8-11, 19
Reality isn’t what most of us expected it to be. As each year goes by, our anxiety and despair drive us to long for the coming of Christ and the end of the world. But are we putting our hope in the right place? Are we being lulled and intoxicated like the rest of the world? 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
The North star for our generation is to keep showing that we’re growing! This embedded growth obligation has led us to assume that grief cannot coexist with belief. But what do we do when grief knocks on our door? What happens when a plague halts all our progress? We can grieve without hope through the practice of ignorance and illusion or we can grieve with hope by embracing the death and resurrection of Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Why are we in such outrage and how do we get out of it? The Apostle Paul gives us a way forward.
Our generation has a fragmented view of the flesh and freedom. As a result, unbelievers see the commands of God as oppressive and repressive. Conversely, many believers see these commands as desirable yet impossible. We are not without hope. Through the blood of Christ and the discipline of the body, we can experience true freedom apart from the flesh. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 CSB
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Our digital world normalizes rebellion against God and incentivizes retaliation against man. This is why we need to take a step back from it all.
1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 CSB
In a world full of fakers and movers, we desperately need spiritual fathers and mothers.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 CSB
In this message, we examine the 4 idols we must crucify on the cross of Christ.
Preached at Passion Creek Church Series: The Cruciform Life Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
In this message, we examine what it means to have: a work produced by faith, a labor motivated by love, and an endurance inspired by hope in Jesus Christ.
Preached at Passion Creek Church Series: The Cruciform Life Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-7
The Commission Tradition makes space in the sermon to encounter the forgiveness of God.
James 5:13-18 The Charismatic Tradition makes space in the sanctuary to encounter the power of God.
Series: A Kingdom of Tribes
What is the Bible? How is it inspired? How should it be read? We cover that and more in today's Theology of the Gospel.
What is the purpose of the church? What is the kingdom of God? In this session, I take my congregation through a theology of each. My video did not record so this session is not available on my YouTube channel.
John 15:1-11 The Contemplative Tradition makes space in the solitude to encounter the love of God.
From our series, "A Kingdom of Tribes"
The compassion tradition makes space in the city hall to encounter the justice of God.
Micah 6:8; Luke 10:25-37
The Catholic Tradition makes space in the sacraments to encounter the presence of God.
John 6 CSB
The character tradition makes space through self-denial to encounter the holiness of God.
Matthew 23:1-12 CSB
Beginning our new series, "A Kingdom of Tribes"
We are learning from the 6 traditions of the Christian faith.
🙏 Join me in praying through Psalm 41.
I will provide context to each verse and then give you 2 minutes to pray with music in the background... then we do it all over again. 😁
1 Timothy 6:17-21 Simplicity is a counter-cultural way to give and a Christocentric way to live.
Paul encourages Timothy to grab hold of what is already his in Christ. Three reasons we don't: all-consuming greed, all condemning guilt and all controlling grief.
1 Timothy 6:11-12
There are 3 ways we try to find meaning outside of the resurrection but they all come up empty... Matthew 26
5 AMAZING short Christian Books. 5 AMAZING large Christian Books. My current favorite trilogy.
Taken from a LIVE Q&Trey episode on YouTube.
1 Timothy 4:11-16 - Lessons I've learned from 5 years of pastoring Passion Creek Church.
In this message, I walk through 1 Timothy 4:12 and lay out 3 practices to start the new year.
Jesus came to bring a peace the world could never give.
Humanity is afflicted because we are weak, wounded, and wicked.
John 14:27, 16:33, Isaiah 10-12
There are 4 ways joy is a grift (based in Isaiah 8) and one way joy is a gift (based in Isaiah 9). Merry Christmas and happy Advent!
Paul is more concerned for the pastor's character than his competence. In this message, we look at the three marks of a resilient disciple of Jesus.
1 Timothy 3:1-7 CSB
In what capacity should women lead in the church? How do we explain one of the hardest passages of scripture? In this message, we look at the context of Paul's words to the women at the church in Ephesus.
1 Timothy 2:8-15 CSB
Are you feeling stressed over the state of our country and our world? In this message, we explore 3 truths that may prove to be liberating for your life.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 CSB
The version of your origin story shapes the vision of your future glory.
What is the origin story of mankind? How is the church to usher in the kingdom of God in a beautiful way in an ugly year like 2020?
1 Timothy 1:18-20 CSB
Christians have a way of disguising coping as hoping. Coping worked in March but it's doing incredible damage to us in October. In this passage, Paul encourages Timothy to meet the Lord in the middle of his limitations.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 CSB
Are we a steeple full of sheeple?
In this message, we examine the two false gospels that are alive and well in 2020. We end by talking about the true gospel that gives us the only true hope.
1 Timothy 1:3-11 CSB
How do we raise our children in the 6-12 year old range? We talk about it by looking at Ephesians 6:1-4 and Luke 2:52.
This is from my weekly Q&Trey. The topic was reflecting on my 4 years of uploading on YouTube.
This week's special guest was Jason Mayfield.
Ephesians 6:1-4 - We must lay the proper foundation for our children in the first 5 years of their life. What is most essential? A heart of obedience and self-control.
Taken from the LIVE show on my YouTube Channel.
A big thanks to Vaughn Sanders, Clint Zeller, and Ray Jones for the interview.
We are called to outdo one another in showing honor and yet the world seems to race to undo one another of honor. In this message, we learn that honor starts in the home. How come it is so hard for us to honor our parents? This message gives us two reasons and two applications. Ephesians 6:1-4
How do we change? In this message, we talk about the process of change and it involves a lot more than just saying, "I want to change!"
Ephesians 3:20-21
What does a life without lack look like in 2020? In this message, I compare and contrast the False Self with the Full Self. The Full Self experiences the fullness of God by embracing the joys of desire, detachment, and discipleship. The false self assumes God cannot be trusted, cannot be generous, and cannot be sufficient.
Ephesians 3:17-21 CSB
A remnant is imminent when it's willing to get different.
Paul prays for: a different posture, a different power, and a different purpose.
Ephesians 3:14-19
0:00 You Better vs He’s Better 4:11 JESUS OFFERS US A BETTER WAY TO LIFE. 5:03 Three ways people are trying to find life (meaning & hope) 13:25 Renewal requires relationship. 13:55 Our future is bleak if it’s up to technique. 17:40 JESUS OFFERS US A BETTER WAY TO LIVE. 18:21 Three ways people are trying to live (habits & decisions) 24:22 Renewal requires repentance. 25:30 JESUS OFFERS US A BETTER WAY TO LEAD. 25:56 Three ways people are trying to lead (toward peace & happiness) 31:27 Four Needs in Queen Creek 36:00 Renewal requires a remnant.
We all want revival to be a reality but are we ready for the reality of a revival?
The church is worth suffering for, serving under, and standing with.
In this session of the workplace workshop, we talk about the importance of Sabbath Rest. We think this one is insanely practical and much needed for our culture today.
How do we balance the friction between cooperation and conviction?
Ephesians 2:19-22 CSB
Passionately pursuing the life and lifestyle of Christ in Queen Creek.
I will always produce harm in me if my soul is not in harmony. Jesus came to bring redemption to our hearts, revelation to our minds, and resurrection to our bodies.
In order for us to become fully alive, we must first become fully aware. “Nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.” John Calvin
PERSONALIZING THE PROBLEMS
It is your woundedness and wickedness that keeps you from full deliverance.
Heart – struggles with various forms of shame. (2s, 3s, 4s) • “If I stop pushing my image, then I’ll be found worthless.” • You crave approval and affection.
Mind – struggles with various forms of fear. (5s, 6s, 7s) • “I will sink if I don’t keep swimming.” • You crave security and survival.
Body – struggles with various forms of anger. (8s, 9s, 1s) • “If I let my guard down, I’ll be annihilated.” • You crave power and justice.
Galatians 5:16-21 – Wicked works of the flesh. • Heart – pride, deceit, envy • Mind – greed, fear, gluttony • Body – lust, sloth, anger
Galatians 5:22-26 – Righteous fruit of the Spirit. • Heart – faithfulness, gentleness, joy • Mind – love, peace, self-control • Body – goodness, kindness, patience
PERSONALIZING THE PRACTICES
Your Christian life will be that of frustration, if you are not intentional with spiritual formation.
Intentionally integrate your heart, mind, and body to the way of Jesus. • Heart – You are what you love. • Mind – What you think does more than you think. • Body – What you do shapes what you love.
LOVING GOD – GOD TIME AND GATHER TIME
God Time Silence + Solitude Fasting Sabbath Prayer
Gather Time Worship Service Giving Communion
LOVING OTHERS – GROUP TIME AND GO TIME
Group Time Fellowship Bible Study Confession Conflict Resolution
Go Time Hospitality Evangelism Peace Making Disciple Making
Commit to Daily and Weekly, Feasting and Releasing Practices Daily Feasting Practice:
Daily Releasing Practice:
Weekly Feasting Practice:
Weekly Releasing Practice:
5 Lessons Learned About The Practices of Jesus
Trying to behave like Jesus leads to death. Training to become like Jesus leads to life.
The practices are not removal to get approval. They are making space for God’s grace.
Grace isn’t anti-practice. Grace is anti-performance.
Our practices have the power to forecast our future.
Dwelling on God’s love for me keeps the practices from drudgery.
In this episode, I share the news about our transition to a new location for Passion Creek Church.
When perks become your purpose, you'll lack depth beneath the surface.
Ephesians 2:5-10 - the what, how, and why of salvation.
Arizona is going through a lot right now and we've had to make leadership decisions that doesn't make the majority happy. In this convo, Pastor Caleb and I explain our mindset behind a lot of this madness and how Friedman's theory on leadership is helping us make our decisions.
It is a blessing to feel the gravity of your own total depravity.
Ephesians 2:1-5 - We are depraved, deformed, deceived, and disintegrated through the world, the devil, and the flesh.
In this workshop, we talk about the four chapters of the gospel: God and Creation Man and the Fall Jesus and Redemption Response and Restoration
At the end, we talk about what happens when we have a partial gospel.
Ephesians 1:15-23 In a society that is constantly spinning the narrative, it is imperative that the church shifts the narrative. Mainly, concerning our hope, our dignity, and our power.
Unless our love is shaped by the Trinity, it will not become our chief identity. Ephesians 1:3-14
Our identity is shaped by: 1) being loved by the Father, 2) becoming love in the Son, 3) doing love through the Spirit.
4 goals that deaden souls: 1. Holiness 2. Service 3. Wholeness 4. Enlightenment
Our Primary Goal is Love (Matthew 22:34-40) “Love is the essence of our relationship with God and its goal. From a biblical perspective, a loving relationship with God produces the fruits of holiness, service, and wholeness.” Ashbrook
First Half of the Christian Life: We pursue a life of love by leaning into our longings.
Stage One – Awakening [Eph. 2:1-10; 1 Cor. 3:1-3] Redeemed from a pointless life to a purpose in life.
“God, I believe in you!”
Stage Two – Purgation [Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 6:10-18] Releasing disordered desires to feast on deeper desires.
“God, I belong to you!” “God doesn’t hate sin because he’s anti-pleasure. He invented pleasure. He hates sin because it promises so much and offers so little.” John Ortberg “We often blame God or ourselves, when much of the turmoil in our heads is caused by the devil’s harassment.” Ashbrook
Second Half of the Christian Life: We pursue a life of love by leaning into our limitations.
Stage Three – Illumination [Eph. 4:1-3; Phil. 2:12-16] Redeemed from an impressive life to an empowering life.
“God, I’m working for you!”
Dark Night of the Soul [Psalm 51; Habakkuk] A wall that works through your wounds and wickedness.
“God, where are you?” “We underestimate the depth of our dependence on this world, our distrust of God’s goodness, and the brokenness of our human nature. God sees it all but loves us too much to let us remain there.” Ashbrook
Stage Four – Union [John 15-17; Phil. 3:7-11] Releasing what’s interesting to feast on what’s integrating.
“God, I long to be with you!”
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES: Mansions of the Heart by R. Thomas Ashbrook Becoming Sage by Michelle Van Loon Invitation to a Journey by Robert Mulholland Eternity is Now in Session by Ortberg
One of our biggest problems in these Not-So-United States is our identity. In this message, I look at Ephesians 1 to establish the foundation of our identity in Christ. It is truly the only identity that can be simultaneously humble and confident.
Ephesians 1:1-4
You will be reckless and restless if you adopt the wrong prospectus.
Analyzing Acts 19:1-20, we see Paul's plan to establish a Jesus loving church in Ephesus. It has so much relevance for our society today.
- We must make personal the presence of Jesus.
- We must make personal the practices of Jesus.
- We must take personal the passion of Jesus.
Looking at Ephesians 6:21-24, we learn that God has a vision for every church in every era to be a "fairy-tale landscape of grace" in the middle of hell on earth. Our prayer is that you'd see how peace, love with faith, and grace only make sense in the context of community. You rob your soul of immunity when you deny your role in community.
Ephesians 6:17 The word of God is a powerful weapon when we understand and use it in its proper context.
Ephesians 6:17 - what does Paul mean when he says we are to put on "the helmet of salvation"?
Your fractured vision of God's love produces a fragile version of your hope.
Pastor Caleb Martinez and I walk through the 3 daily and 3 weekly practices that will draw us closer to the love of God and neighbor during these hard times.
I chat with fellow YouTube Pastor Joshua Verwers and discuss the implications of staying online post COVID-19.
Ephesians 6:10-15 // The church is "in decline" and has lost a seat at the table of power and influence. Why did this happen? Should it be our goal to gain it back? Or is there a better question to ask?
Luke 24:13-33 - Happy Easter everyone! In this message, I compare and contrast the three different stories of hope... only one lasts.
This isn't the Palm Sunday any of us expected and it wasn't what Israel expected 2,000 years ago either. Mark 10:35-45
So thankful my friend and mentor jumped on a convo with me about how pastors should face this current crisis.
Ephesians 6:10-13
Virtual Groups: https://bit.ly/3adeeq2 Virtual Group Guide: https://bit.ly/2xgmK9g 5 Day Devo: https://bit.ly/3bm4HgN Kids Video: https://bit.ly/3dljA4D Message Notes: https://bit.ly/3adertk
When our community faces affliction, do we lead by consensus or do we lead by conviction? Ephesians 4:7-16
“Tribalism seems like a way to restore the bonds of community. It certainly does bind people together. But it is actually the dark twin of community. Community is connection based on mutual affection. Tribalism, in the sense I’m using it here, is connection based on mutual hatred... Life is a battle for scarce resources and it’s always us versus them, zero-sum. The ends justify the means. Politics is war. Ideas are combat. It’s kill or be killed... Tribalism is community for lonely narcissists.” David Brooks
This was the last session for our retreat in Flagstaff, Arizona. This is for the numbers 8s, 9s and 1s. I hope it brings you value!
In this session, we look at the last half of emotional intelligence: social-awareness and relationship-management. We break that down into communication and care. I hope this is helpful!
Looking at Ephesians 5:22-33, we learn that God has called men to be both woundable and responsible.
In this workshop, we cover why your emotional maturity is vital to your marriage. I hope you're encouraged by this one.
We can move forwards if we redeem these 4 words: helper, respect, submit and splendor. Ephesians 5:22-33
4:00 - We aren’t fully alive because we are full of fear. 5:03 - Fear believes the lie, “I won’t have enough.” 5:53 - Outwardly, you may be seen as clear, convinced and clever… 6:30 - Broken cistern of security and survival. 7:35 - explaining 5s, 6s, 7s 14:15 - You experience fear because you crave contentment.
Walking through Ephesians 5:29-33, we look at how emotions play an integral role in marriage. It seems many of us have an improper view of emotions. Some of us deaden our emotions while others of us are driven by our emotions. How has Jesus offered us a third way of living?
In this workshop, we talk about 2s, 3s and 4s. However, it's applicable for all of us because God has called all of us to operate with our heart. I hope this brings you closer to Jesus.
JesusIsBetter
You'll have no problem telling when a story is clear and compelling. In this message, we examine why the gospel is the most clear and compelling message ever told.
Looking at Proverbs 4, we learn that our minds are deceived through destructive ideas and distorted images... thankfully, Jesus comes to redeem us and reveal a new reality that is only found in Christ.
Pastor Charlie Mitchell and Pastor Derek Parks hop on to a zoom call with me to talk about my productivity. These are guys I look up to and so it was fun to share my daily and weekly schedule with them. I hope you are encouraged by this!
Looking at Luke 10:38-42, we examine what it looks like to have the metrics of Mary in a Martha world. Our 3 metrics are: Presence, Formation and Mission. I pray it blesses you.
Imagine God crying. This is a short Christmas Eve message that I hope will bring you some value and joy. Sorry for a few audio cuts (this was at a different venue than our normal church).
In this episode, I sit down with my wife to talk about the practice of slowing and how we tried to apply it at Disneyland. Parts of this convo are featured in my latest vlog.
Life, like Christmas, is complicated. We often hurt a lot of people when we try to over-simplify hope. Simeon gives us a great grasp of peace and pain, life and strife.
Passage: Matthew 2:1-18 In this message, we compare and contrast the way of Herod with the way of Jesus.
In today's message, we examine the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth in Luke 1. This passage is a great reminder that the Advent season is a lot about waiting in silence... and silence isn't as bad as you and I are led to believe.
Ephesians 5:18-21 - Paul is comparing and contrasting drunkenness to being filled by the Spirit. The lessons in this passage are rich and I pray it blesses you.
Welcome to the MinisTrey Podcast. Its a privilege that you’d tune in.
All of my content is designed to bring hope to the dreamers and doers that Jesus offers us a better way to life and a better way to lead.
Ephesians 5:14-17 // We cannot preach redemption if we do not teach routine.... We cannot preach routine if we do not teach redemption.
Looking at Ephesians 5:8-14, we examine what the fruit of the light looks like in our dark world.
Paul is constantly warning Timothy and the Ephesians from engaging in "empty words and arguments." In this message, we do a deep dive on what that means for us today.
Book referenced: Edwin Friedman's "A Failure of Nerve"
Ephesians 5:3-5 can seem daunting if you forget verses 1-2. How should we fight against our delights? We can view these commands as troublesome, tiresome or transformative. My prayer is that it'll be the latter for you.
Looking at Ephesians 5:1-2, Paul is laying out a beautiful vision of what the church should aim for.
Daniel Darling is the Vice President for Communications for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC). Dan is the author of several books, including Teen People of the Bible, Crash Course, iFaith, Real, Activist Faith, The Original Jesus, The Dignity Revolution, and his forthcoming book, The Characters of Christmas. He is a contributing editor to Christianity Today’s CT Pastors, a columnist for Homelife, and a regular contributor to In Touch Magazine. He also writes regularly for several leading publications, including Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition. Dan’s op-eds have appeared in USA Today, CNN, Washington Times, Time, Huffington Post, National Review, Washington Post and First Things. He has appeared on CNN and on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Dan is also a contributor to The Worldview Study Bible.
A lot of us have a culture problem. How do we create a culture that embodies the love and forgiveness of Christ? Culture is created through the combination of celebration and confrontation. Ephesians 4:25-32
In this message, we begin a new collection of talks centered on the Right Fight. The solution isn't to stop fighting... the solution is to stop fighting the wrong fight. Ephesians 4:17-24
It's difficult to be disappointed with God when you are dysfunctional. However, it's difficult not to be disappointed when God doesn't show up even though you are disciplined. Isaiah 43:18-19
I was given an opportunity to speak to the leaders at Mountain Ridge Baptist Church. It was such a pleasure to spend 20 minutes on the topic of becoming a coach that is able to produce other coaches.
Text based in Galatians 5.
We are starting a new sermon series at Passion Creek Church about SOMETHING NEW. We are analyzing Isaiah 43 and seeing what God has for us in this next season of our church. Isaiah 43:1-7, 19
I guess all good things must come to an end. Xiong has been doing ministry with me for a little over two years and now it's time for him to move back home. We will miss him dearly.
We are starting a new format where we sit down with our intern and talk all things ministry. In this episode, we talk a lot about: - how to prepare a sermon - what every young preacher must focus on - my personal method of writing a sermon - how to find your own voice.
03:35 - “Secularism isn’t a conclusion but a mood.” Ken Myers 05:18 - The mood is disenchantment. Our move is re-enchantment. 06:28 - Secularism has swapped the pursuit of supernatural presence with super natural progress. 11:23 - Satan doesn’t want us to connect the dots between our disenchantment and our depression. 15:46 - Secularism wants the fruit of Christianity without the root of Christianity. 19:29 - Satan doesn’t want us to connect the dots between our defiance and our discord. 21:47 - Secularism wants the fruit of Christianity without the route of Christianity. 23:40 - Satan doesn’t want us to connect the dots between our decisions and our decay. 29:43 - Titus 3:1-8
We are finishing up the Sermon on the Mount and we are in the section where Jesus warns us against false teachings and false teachers. This message explores three ways we can spot wickedness that is clothed in innocence. Matthew 7:15-20
0:07 - Lifestyle of Christ 6:32 - Your journey of faith will be that of frustration if you are not intentional with spiritual formation. 9:47 - Loving God - God time and Gather time 12:42 - Loving Others - Group time and Go time 18:03 - We can personalize these practices according to our sin, season and stage of life. 19:19 - Our sin - our particular temptations that draw us away from God. 20:32 - GUT // INSTINCTIVE TRIAD 22:15 - HEART // FEELING TRIAD 24:10 - HEAD // THINKING TRIAD 29:33 - Our season - our particular set of life circumstances 31:25 - Our stage - our particular stage of growth in Christ 33:22 - Trying to behave like Jesus leads to death. 34:44 - Dwelling on God’s love for me keeps discipline from drudgery.
2:23 - The gospel is more than a sentence. 3:33 - The gospel is more than a sentence at death. 8:14 - The gospel is more than a sentence because it’s a story. 9:05 - God // Creation 13:10 - Man // Fall 15:39 - The Way of Self-Discovery 19:21 - The Way of Self-Discipline 21:29 - Jesus // Redemption 24:02 - The Way of Self-Denial 26:20 - Spirit // Restoration 28:14 - The gospel is a story that we are all invited to partake in.
3:30 - Let’s talk about parenting 4:40 - Essentials To Parenting 8:27 - Current Generations Problem in Parenting 11:45 - How Education System is Helpful 14:21 - This Isn’t The Job of the Education System 18:00 - My Great Epiphany 20:57 - How To Establish Rules For Multiple Children 22:35 - When To Give Children A Phone? 25:55 - Don’t Slip Into Rigid Ritual 29:14 - When To Spank and Instill Boundaries 32:15 - You Should WANT To Release Them Into The World 35:57 - Parenting and the Enneagram 43:25 - A Healthy Fear of Parents 44:28 - Chores 47:45 - The Turning 16 Rule Too Far? 49:04 - First Audience Question 52:47 - 2nd Question on Parenting & Formation 01:00:00 - Coercion
TIMESTAMPS: 4:50 - First Half of Spiritual Life: We pursue a life without lack by leaning into our longings. 6:35 - Stage One - Awakening 10:12 - What we learn in this stage
11:14 - Stage Two - Purgation 16:57 - What we learn in this stage
19:22 - Second Half of Spiritual Life: We pursue a life without lack by leaning into our limitations.
23:35 - Stage Three - Illumination 25:21 - What we learn in this stage
27:23 - Stage Four - Union
29:28 - Some things to know about stage theory
31:02 - Jesus may not be calling you to the next stage but He’s certainly calling you to a next step.
Why is anxiety the plague of our society? The way of Jesus offers compelling answers. Matthew 6:25-34
In this episode, I interview my good friend Charlie Mitchell. He is a church planter in Baltimore and is looking to be more for B-more. Be in prayer for him and his new church.
This conversation brought life to my soul and I pray it does the same for you.
In this message, examine Matthew 6:19-24 and see what Jesus says about treasure and possessions.
Be encouraged!
In this episode, I sit down with Zach and we walk through "Facing Leviathan: Leadership, influence, and creating in a cultural storm" by Mark Sayers
This book was helpful for me in many ways. This is not meant to be a perfect book review but it's an opportunity for me to chat with a good friend about the principles we are wrestling with in the book.
We encourage you to grab a copy yourself! Leaders are readers!
Looking at Matthew 6:9-13 and Ephesians 6:10-18, we examine that prayer is not just about gazing on the beauty of the Father. It's also about engaging in the battle with God our Fighter.
I hope you're encouraged by this message. Remember, #JesusIsBetter!
First of 5 sessions, we are examining what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus in the 21st century. We hope this brings you encouragement.
0:40 - Matthew 13 3:48 - The philosophy of our time says the way to change is through the mind. 5:20 - The way to change is to be made whole and that can’t happen without the soul. 7:45 - Passionately pursue the life and lifestyle of Christ in Queen Creek.
7:58 - APPRENTICE OF JESUS PASSIONATELY PURSUE 8:21 - Apprentice of Jesus never stops learning, never compares, never gives up, never holds back and is never alone.
12:55 - APPRENTICE OF JESUS PASSIONATELY PURSUE LIFE IN CHRIST. 13:55 - Christ is our reconciler, redeemer, substitute and victor.
14:57 - APPRENTICES OF JESUS PASSIONATELY PURSUES THE LIFESTYLE OF CHRIST. 16:30 - God time, Gather time, Group time, Go time
20:07 - APPRENTICES OF JESUS PASSIONATELY PURSUE THE LIFE & LIFESTYLE OF CHRIST IN THEIR CITY
I am reading about two books a week and I am starting to realize that I need to process them with someone. Thankfully, my friend Zach has decided to read some of them with me. This is a part two conversation and you'll likely need to listen to part one for context.
This is not us claiming to be experts on anything. We are in the beginning phase of recognizing how deeply secularism has actually effected our spiritual walks... more than we'd like to admit.
In this message, we work through Matthew 6:5-9. I hope this is encouraging for you. It's critical to see the importance of seeing God as our Father.
I sit down with my college friend Zach and work through James KA Smith's "How To (Not) Be Secular." It's a fantastic read and it has caused me to wrestle with a few concepts as I attempt to pastor a church that is more influenced by secularism than we even realize.
We are BACK from Malay and we couldn't be more thankful. God gracefully used our team to help advance the gospel message on the other side of the earth.
This is one of the defining markers of Christianity and yet many of us have a lot of problems with it. I hope this message encourages you and enables you to see that Jesus empowers us to love our worst enemies.
Matthew 5:43-48
This was a great conversation with Chase Jones. We cover topics such as: the difficulties of starting out, what I would have done differently and how to lead through different seasons of the church.
He is planting a church in Macedonia, Ohio. Please pray for him as he launches 2 weeks before Easter Sunday, 2020!
Check him out on youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/bobiscoo
Our quick response is to fight or flight. But what if there was another option? In this message, we look at the core issue of our desire for revenge and retaliation: dehumanization. Praise God that the cross paves the way for us.
Matthew 5:38-42
When we read Matthew 5:33-37, we can get lost in a cultural disconnect. We don't use oaths the same way they were used in the time of Jesus. When we learn the motivation behind taking oaths, we get to the heart of the issue.
Are you a master of manipulation? It points to an issue that only a regenerated heart in Jesus can solve.
JesusIsBetter
This has plagued so many people and I think a lot of us have grown hopeless in the battle against lust. It's important for us to recognize that this isn't a battle against desire... but a disordered desire.
We believe Jesus gives us the blueprint to truly find liberation from the destruction of lust.
Matthew 5:27-30
The focus on the 21 Day Practice starts around 24:00. However, this whole episode was fun and encouraging. We talk about how to make conversations and bring people into the fold. I know you'll love it.
I hope this podcast encourages you and maybe makes you feel a little more at ease. Sharing the gospel is not just for the crazy extroverts that aren't terrified of a crowd. I believe this trying vs training mentality will release a lot of anxiety and give you the courage to take at least one step forward.
Each day I will be walking through the practices we will be engaging in during this #21DayPractice. I hope this will inspire you to partake in this with us. Todays topic: Pray for formation.
We desperately need this message in today's society. Contempt is killing us and the gospel of Jesus enables us to be free from it.
Matthew 5:21-26
Also excuse the poor audio at the end. The camera that records the audio died and so we had to use the poor audio from the other camera to complete the message.
Self-discovery, self-discipline or self-denial. Passage is centered around John 10:1-11.
Happy Easter!
Looking at Matthew 5:17-20, we learn how content without context leads to conflict. It really was a great response and I pray it encourages you as well.
As Christians, we are agents of hope and change. In this message, I walk through how we are called to be salt and light in a secular age.
Jordan and I sit down for an hour and debate over a bunch of would you rathers. We also throw in some life-ministry balance tips and theology I am working through.
How we begin the Sermon on the Mount is critical in understanding the rest. I hope this interpretation makes sense and brings you hope. Matthew 5:1-12
I am in a bit of a slump in this episode and process it all with Caleb. I think this podcast is a good one and I pray it encourages you.
We seem to struggle figuring out how obedience doesn't get us to Heaven and yet for some reason we are supposed to still obey. I hope this message clears it up for you a bit. Matthew 4:17-25
We are trying something new here. Pastor Caleb is going to join me weekly to walk through what our topic was from Sunday. We always feel like we have more to say about Sundays message and this is our opportunity to dig deeper into it. I think this one is worth the listen. Go follow @calebcmartinez on instagram while you're at it.
Studying Matthew 6:9-13, we are looking at the practice of prayer. I think this message was helpful for our congregation to get a better grip on how to pray. I pray the same happens for you.
Sabbath is often ignored and I believe that's to our detriment. I hope this message gives you another perspective of the Sabbath.
I apologize for the audio quality. Perks of being portable - we have no idea what went wrong with my mic. So sorry!
We sit down for an hour and recap our trip to the Bahamas. We are so thankful for family time!
Why do we have membership? How is the leadership supposed to operate? This episode we walk through those questions.
Fasting is a combination of feasting and releasing. This message is an overview of the power of fasting and why we do it. I hope this encourages you to engage in the practice of fasting.
What if your enneagram number can point to the practices of Jesus that your soul needs most? Here is my first attempt at that.
God has called every church to have deacons and elders. The problem is that we often don't keep them accountable and often overlook character because of their competence. I hope this helps you decipher whether or not God has called you to be a deacon or elder.
EnTreyPreneur
Walking through Ephesians 4:17-24, we examine the process of spiritual formation. We are either intentionally becoming like Jesus or unintentionally becoming someone else. From the series: Practicing the Way of Jesus.
3:52 - The church will serve its role once the Kingdom is the goal.
7:30 - Engage The City 8:28 - Salvation Framework: Mission of the church is peace for your soul. Kingdom Framework: Mission of the church is peace for our city. 11:53 - Woe to use when we serve the city to get publicity.
13:49 - Make Disciples 14:45 - Salvation Framework: The goal is new life in Christ. Kingdom Framework: The goal is new life in Christ and a new lifestyle like Christ. 15:39 - As a church, we are called to obsess over the life and lifestyle of Jesus, together. 17:00 - Our Calendar for Discipleship
20:24 - Plant Churches 22:21 - Salvation Framework: The goal is a church in the city. Kingdom Framework: The goal is to church the city. 24:50 - Domains The Church Must Reach 28:19 - We’ve completely missed the mission if another church is competition.
First sermon in the "Practicing the Way of Jesus" series. My prayer is that this would bring life to your heart and reawaken your affections for Jesus. This message is centered on Galatians 5:16-26.
In this workshop, we will explore the nature and structure of the church. I hope this brings you a lot of value. I look at the 4 marks of the church and what to look for in a church.
Jesus' chief strategy in reaching sinners was to start with eating and drinking. In this message, I talk about how this must be our chief strategy in the midst of the cultural war in 2019.
We had so much fun hanging out with you guys on YouTube live. This is our first podcast in the new house and I hope you enjoy.
In this message, I walk through John 17 and examine what Jesus prays for us before He walks towards His death. Essentially, Jesus prayed for unity and mission.
I cannot tell you how important this message was for me during my prep time. I really think it'll help you start processing lies that you have been infusing into Christianity. Let me know what you get out of it!
Some quotes from the talk: "Satan's strategy is to starve your soul through the sway of society." "Many of us want the result of Christianity without taking the route of Christianity." "Lies have the power to pervert your passions in the name of progression."
I really poured my heart into this one. I hope it brings you value. I show you the Spirit helps battle our Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism that we struggle with as a culture today. John 16:7-12
While the world is obsessed with self-discovery, the Word says you're blessed through self-denial. John 12:20-33; 1 John 2:15-17
We cannot bring any love to the table if we do not receive what was done at the stable. 1 John 4:7-12 - Christmas Message
1:33 - Graph of the Law of Diffusion of Innovation
9:22 - Great communicators convince early adopters by painting a future worth sacrificing for.
10:22 - Great communicators paint a picture that connects with their culture.
11:40 - Our Heartbeat - why we are here.
12:43 - Our Goals - how we define success.
13:33 - Our Culture - the attitude of our community.
14:18 - Our Patterns - how we practically get involved.
15:47 - In order to steer you have to be clear.
19:20 - Great communicators convince the early majority by celebrating the early adopters.
20:12 - Whatever is celebrated is replicated.
20:07 - Social proof is absolutely necessary.
23:14 - You are not the hero.
24:21 - 1. The Character
25:02 - 2. Has a Problem
25:16 - 3. Meets A Guide
26:00 - We can impress or empower but only one will go sour.
26:52 - If you appear unreachable, you’ll be unable to reach.
27:20 - Great communities reach the late majority by guiding them through the obstacles of life.
28:25 - Great communicators know their job is to give guidance.
29:20 - Great communicators know their job is to bolster confidence.
31:11 - Great communicators know their job is to equip with tools.
31:45 - (the rest of the story brand outline)
1 John 1:5-2:2. Jesus claims to be the light of the world. Why is that so important for us today? The light of Jesus creates a path for us to walk in. The light of Jesus shows God's presence in our lives. The light of Jesus brings peace to those who were guilty.
In this episode, my wife and I talk about what God has been teaching us and we answer your questions. It was a ton of fun! I hope you enjoy!
I had the opportunity to deliver this message to my congregation as well as Heart Cry Church (my dad's church). This one is from Heart Cry's first service. The empty need logic and the lonely need empathy. All of those needs are met in Jesus Christ. This message was centered on the study of 1 John 1:1-4.
JesusIsBetter
In this episode, I sit down with my wife and we answer your questions on marriage, parenting & leadership.
You cannot walk in God's assignment if you want to win man's assessment. 2 Samuel 16. #JesusIsBetter
In this Q&Trey, I answer questions from our communication workshop about how to find your tribe and what kind of content will work best to get them. I hope you enjoy this podcast. Keep leading people to the truth that #JesusIsBetter!
This weekend, my wife and I had an adventure in St. Joseph, MO. Watch the vlogs if you haven't - they're a ton of fun. The snow made us have to cancel church but we got interviewed on Facebook live... of course I recorded it with my camera. I hope you get something out of this. I talk about my journey toward church planting and how I didn't want to do it. My wife talks about her struggles as a pastor's wife. We also talk about our strategy of reaching people in our city. Be encouraged!
Dave does the unthinkable in 2 Samuel 11 and he gets confronted in 2 Samuel 12. In this message, I talk about how Dave got here and how we could get ourselves in this same situation if we aren't careful. #JesusIsBetter
This was a huge honor for me. My goal was to encourage the encouragers. I hope it brings you value and encouragement as well. #JesusIsBetter
Don't miss out on doubt but don't let your doubt move you out. 1 Samuel 27 and Psalm 22. Be encouraged! #JesusIsBetter
We have two problems today: we hold back from sharing our beliefs and we hold back from those with differing beliefs. I hope this brings you value.
In this message, we look at 1 Samuel 24 & Psalm 57 to examine the life of David when he was hiding in the cave. It really gets down to knowing God's will for your life and how to get to it God's way. I think you'll be encouraged! #JesusIsBetter
False doctrine is full of dysfunction. Therefore, when we believe that Jesus has freed us from the slavery of sin but not the slavery of circumstance... we wind up going crazy.
0:46 - We hear the word of the Lord before we ever see the work of the Lord. 2:14 - Great communicators never give up on finding their tribe. 6:08 - If you try to reach everyone you wind up reaching no one. 7:34 - Define your avatar. 8:48 - Your biggest tribe is two steps behind. 9:35 - Small tweaks lead to giant peaks. 10:30 - Great communicators never give up on producing consistent quality content. 13:12 - The inconsistency of our output points to the insufficiency of our outlook. 14:22 - Batching is your best friend. 16:00 - Great communicators never give up in the face of constant criticism. 17:15 - Friction is a sign of good diction. 19:03 - Going on rants is a great way to advance. 21:05 - Great communicators never give up on calling people to action. 22:58 - Doers, suppliers, influencers, innovators 26:13 - Bad communicators are experts in the truth for us. Great communicators are experiencing the truth with us. ▶ Check out my gear on Kit: https://kit.com/treyvancamp
In 1 Samuel 18 and Psalm 37, we see a picture of envy and how we must fight it. It is incredible how we let this sin fester without intentionally fighting back against it. Be encouraged!
Before starting our series on King David - I found it helpful to examine the life and prayer of Hannah. This message was received better than most and I am excited to see how God uses this fast to grow our church. Will you join us in fasting October 1st-21st? If so, go to rtec.me
In my last message in 1 Corinthians, we walk through 1 Corinthians 16 and learn from Paul how these 5 imperatives give us direction in love. Especially when it comes to money, opportunities and people.
We are looking to have more time together on the podcast. I hope you enjoy this style. I am so proud of all the ways Jordan is growing lately and I want you to listen to what she has been experiencing. :)
Go to DocumenTrey.com/VIP if you'd like a free video training on starting your own vlogging journey!
In this message, we took a sober look at the reality of death. We do have a message of hope and we need to cling to it with everything we have. [1 Corinthians 15:35-58]
In this lesson, I talk to our students about the problem of Atheism. I absolutely love my friends who are atheists and this is never about putting them down. However, in this talk, I walk through the 4 hardest questions that Atheists have a harder time answering. Remember - Jesus is better! I hope you're encouraged.
In this Q&Trey, I answer questions from our small group after we had our first session in our communication workshop. I field a variety of questions and I think it'll bring you value.
In this first installment of our communication workshop, we look at the importance of "Never Stop Learning About Preparation." We look at 3 ways people have structured their stories and I end with how I have figured out how to organize my own messages. I hope this brings you value. 0:42 - Talk isn’t cheap; it’s how God saves His sheep. 2:50 - Proverbs 18:21 4:41 - The power in your presentation comes from hours spent in preparation. 6:15 - Great communicators know that God shows up when we study up. 6:40 - THREE WAYS TO STRUCTURE YOUR STORY 7:15 - ARISTOTLE’S STRUCTURE 9:04 - Never assume people trust you. 12:00 - Never assume people agree with you. 14:47 - Never assume people care like you do. 16:15 - NANCY DUARTE’S STRUCTURE 20:44 - You are not the hero. Your audience is. 21:43 - ANDY STANLEY’S STRUCTURE 26:20 - Great communicators know that you cannot make your point if you do not know your point. 28:00 - MY PERSONAL STRUCTURE
In this message, I walk through 1 Corinthians 15 and we learn what happens when we take out just one ingredient of the gospel. Are you living in the gap of speculation (between the cross and the crown)? Are you living in the gap of proclamation (between the crown and the gown)?
In this episode, I sit down and interview my brother-in-law John Bolin. I don't know many other people who are as talented as John when it comes to connecting with people on stage but also one-on-one. I am excited for you to learn about his content. If his content interests you, be sure to go to firstworship.com for more of his resources.
I would love for you to listen to this quick snippet and praise God that He has taken your place!! #JesusIsBetter
This is a portion from my message, "Saints, Sinners and Skeptics." I hope this brings you value. It's so helpful to see all the different metaphors for sin and how Jesus has saved us from every scenario. #JesusIsBetter
Learning from Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, we see that this good news is for EVERYONE! Saints ought to remember the gospel. Sinners ought to repent to the gospel. Skeptics ought to research the gospel. #JesusIsBetter
This passage brought so much life to my bones this week... At face value, it seems lifeless and cold. Without context, 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 can seem dismissing of women but that's far from the truth. I hope you take a listen.
In this episode, I talk to the leaders of my dads church and provide direction on our growth groups model. Feel free to steal anything you'd like and implement in your own church!
1 Corinthians 14 is a hotly debated chapter. I hope this message brings you value and allows you to see the heart of God. Jesus is better!
So thankful that Anthony asked me to talk to his interns in this talk. It's kind of all over the place but I say some things in here that I haven't anywhere else. I hope it brings you value!
In this message, I walk through 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 and walk through the importance of the Christian having faith, hope and love. I hope it's a blessing to you!
TIMESTAMPS 2:44 - 3 Reasons Why We Struggle To Develop Community 5:17 - In life, a lack of community always creates a lack of clarity. 6:08 - We will never face life alone because we can do more together than we ever could apart. AUTHORITY 6:43 - Great leaders know the difference between authority and abuse. 9:30 - Pipeline Chart 13:58 - Great leaders know that you can more authority when you give it away. 15:42 - Great leader use authority to give value to others rather than getting validation from others. ACCOUNTABILITY 18:12 - Great leaders create ownership because ownership creates accountability. 19:23 - Great leaders measure what matters. AUTHENTICITY 24:22 - We expect every leader to create a family bond among other church members. 25:53 - Great leaders love people and use plans. Bad leaders love plans and use people. 27:59 - Great leaders know the difference between authenticity and transparency. 29:34 - Great leaders win your trust before they ever consider asking you to adjust. 30:53 - Great leaders know that trust must be won for the rest to be fun.
In this message, I walk through 1 Corinthians 13:1-7. It's incredible how we miss the power of this passage when we only apply it to a wedding context.
There are far too many spiritual orphans. In this podcast, I start a Wednesday night teaching on the history of the church. The desire is to give a brief overview of how we started and where we've gone as a church all together.
It was incredible interacting with this community and answer questions about documenting your journey to make a difference in the lives around you. This episode includes: my 3 step strategy before starting a vlog, keys to storytelling and why I took a shift in my approach. Love you guys! Jesus is better!
I try to bring as much value as I can in a 35 minute window. This brought a great response at our church and I hope it does for you as well. As always, hit me up on Instagram (@treyvancamp) and let me know your takeaways!
There are far too many spiritual orphans. In this podcast, I start a Wednesday night teaching on the history of the church. The desire is to give a brief overview of how we started and where we've gone as a church all together. This episode was about how the church was able to rise above corruption and get back to making much of Jesus. I hope you enjoy! Part 3 is next week!
In this Leadership Workshop, I walk our team through the importance of never holding back on truth AND grace. I hope this is a blessing to you!
Wow! God moved in a powerful way in this message and I pray it does the same for you. Let me know in the comments what you got out of it the most! Remember - Jesus is better!
There are far too many spiritual orphans. In this podcast, I start a Wednesday night teaching on the history of the church. The desire is to give a brief overview of how we started and where we've gone as a church all together. This episode was about how the church kept the doctrine once the Apostles passed away. I hope you enjoy! Part 2 is next week!
This passage (1 Corinthians 11:1-16) is known as the most difficult passage to interpret in the New Testament. However, I think it brings us so much life and hope in the midst of what we struggle with in our day. I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
This is episode 4 of 6 of our Leadership Workshop. I look at the importance of DISCIPLINE (Lead Self) & DISCIPLESHIP (Love Others). SHOW NOTES 2:30 - We hear the Word of the Lord before we ever see the work of the Lord. 3:50 - We expect every leader to lead themselves and love others through the ups and downs of life. 6:25 - DISCIPLINE - Leading Yourself 8:25 - Great leaders push through the pain by sticking to their patterns. 15:43 - DISCIPLESHIP - Loving Others 16:50 - Great leaders know the way, love the way, show the way and go the way. 19:23 - Great leaders value others before they ever bring others value. 20:15 - 5 WAYS YOU CAN BRING OTHERS VALUE 20:30 - 1. Don't Get Bored With The Basics 22:07 - 2. Make Yourself Available 23:50 - 3. Expect More To Get More 25:39 - 4. Surprise Them With Something Extra 26:45 - 5. Speak To Their Potential
I hope you guys enjoy this content! Please leave a comment and a rating if you'd like. Jesus is better!
This episode is from a recent interview I had with Alejandro Reyes on Facebook Live with the Church Marketing Labs group. This interview is a peek behind the curtain of why and how I do what I do when it comes to using social media to make much of Jesus. I hope you enjoy and get a lot of tips and tactics from this one.
In this episode, I sit down with one of my Associate Pastors and talk about discipleship. We are so passionate about every single follower of Christ getting involved in discipleship relationships and we hope this inspires and informs you to get involved in one as well. Remember - Jesus is better!
Steve Ciccarelli is a VP of his company, has over 2 dozen patents that make a difference in your every day life & has written a book that explains every day phenomena with a Biblical worldview. Be sure to check out his book at http://myphysicsfun.com This man is the real deal and I gladly endorse this book. At the very least, I believe this podcast will bring you value and inspiration. Remember: Jesus Is Better!
In this message, I walk through 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 and learn from Paul how we can use God's blessings to rest in God or test God. I think this one can be really beneficial to you. I was in a different type of mood since I travelled that entire night was operating on one hour of airplane sleep. :) Remember: Jesus is better!
In this EnTreyPreneur, I give you a sneak peak of our second installment of our leadership workshop. Our main theme was: NEVER STOP LEARNING ABOUT GOD, YOURSELF AND OTHERS. Specifically, the importance of having emotional and relational intelligence. I pray it's a blessing to you. 0:28 Leaders Are Learners 2:58 Never Stop Learning About God 4:00 Never Stop Learning About Yourself 4:21 Great Leaders Are Self-Aware 7:00 Great Leaders Are Self-Correcting 8:30 Great Leaders Are Self-Encouraging 11:55 Never Stop Learning About Others 12:07 Create Conversations & Environments 14:55 3 Ways To Give Power To Conversations
Too often, we stay in the victim mentality and think that we cannot finish this race... Paul is calling us to finish the race morally AND missionally. Imagine if we walked in the victory Christ has given us and we finished this race with dignity. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Thank you again to all of the new subscribers! I hope I continue to bring you value by inspiring and informing that Jesus is better! Be sure to tell me where you're from and what you do in the comments down below!
To the Jews, I became a Jew... How do we become all things to all people? I hope you enjoy this one. I was sick during this message but by God's grace I was able to pull through! :)
In this FIRST installment of EnTreyPreneur, I host our leaders of Passion Creek and walk through our blueprint for leadership and culture. I hope you find this leadership teaching helpful and encouraging. TIMESTAMPS: 0:09 - REVIVAL 2:34 - No dreaming without doing. No doing without being. 2:48 - DREAMING (our goals) 7:22 - DOING (our patterns) 12:04 - VISION AND DECISION 12:27 - LEADERSHIP LEVELS (our pipeline) 16:28 - BEING (our culture)
In this second installment of "Love Thy Neighborhood", I share four leadership principles that equip us to be servant leaders. (1 Corinthians 9:1-18) I hope this is encouraging to you!
In this message, I walk our congregation through 1 Corinthians 8 and dissect how we can be more loving as a people of God. Imagine if we all applied this to our daily lives?!?!
In this message, I walk through 1 Corinthians 7 and examine how God sees singleness as a gift. I think this will encourage you no matter what season of life you are in.
You can enjoy whatever season you’re in because you know the reason is to look more like Him. I hope this message on calling & contentment is encouraging to you and gives you the courage to remain exactly where you're at!
This episode is a clip of my Q&Trey with my beautiful wife. This content is only on my podcast... However, there are 16 minutes of goodness that are also ONLY on my YouTube. I hope this brings encouragement and life to your marriage!
I hope you're encouraged from this message. In this episode, I walk through 4 things that bring life to a marriage and 4 things that bring death to a marriage. I'd love to hear which one impacted you the most!
In this Q&Trey, I interview Harry Luge to ask him about his success and failures in the music industry. I was super encouraged by this episode because I was stunned by all the hard work Harry put in to be where he is at today. I know this one will encourage you and inspire you to keep pressing on!
We live in a world that values sex so much to the point that "sex is god." The church is guilty of overreacting by responding with a loud, "Sex is gross!" Thankfully, Paul shows us that sex is a beautiful gift when it's understood and valued correctly. I hope this gives you encouragement. This is MUCH needed for today. :)
There is nothing I am more passionate about than the topic of my message this Easter. Jesus confronts us in our sin, comforts us in our suffering and commands our steps. Be encouraged!
I was blown away by my studies of Palm Sunday this past week. It's incredible how we've missed the story all together. Did you know that the donkey is more of a picture of confident royalty than anything?? I hope you take some time out of your day to listen to this message. Your attention means so much to me. Thank you!
In this Sunday Segment, I talk about my experience of walking through the route Jesus took on Palm Sunday... I really believe this one will be encouraging to you. Have a great Easter week!
In this episode, I talk about what peace making is and what peace making is not. We live in a world that tries to find hope in the chaos by faking the peace or taking a piece. Jesus liberates us with a third option.
This passage was extremely sanctifying and encouraging to me. I hope you give this a listen. I'd love to hear feedback from you on how this challenged you!
In this Q&Trey, I get to interview my dad. He's my hero in every aspect of the word. I am so thankful to be under his shadow. In this interview, I ask him a lot of fun questions and then a lot of tough questions. I hope you're encouraged!
In this episode, I walk through 1 Corinthians 3:10-17 and examine how our church has the opportunity to make a lasting difference in our community. I hope it brings you some encouragement to your week!
In this Q&Trey, I interview Pastor Ray Jones about the importance of pursuing genuine diversity. This conversation was super helpful for me and I hope it's a blessing to you.
In this message, I examine 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. It was extremely helpful and convicting for me and I hope it does the same for you. Rather than splitting up this message, I found it most helpful to give it to you in it's entirety. Jesus is better, y'all! Believe that :)
How we met, how we set boundaries and thrived in our relationship even though we were long distance. My wife is the best! I hope this brings you some encouragement!
In this brand new format, I walk through my 5 core values that are helping shape the culture of my life, family and church. Please hit me up - what are your core values?
In this episode, I was interviewed by Jeff Evans of the "That Bold Life" YouTube Channel - https://youtube.com/thatboldlife He gives me the opportunity to talk about my upbringing, how I study my Bible and my passion to engage with those who do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Thank you for taking the time to listen and be sure to check him out!
Hey Fam! Couple things... 1 - I hope this podcast gives you some encouragement to lovingly share the truth while still remaining patient and loving! 2 - I am going to vlog EVERY DAY in February.. So if you haven't already subscribed to my YouTube Channel, it'd mean a ton for you to do that today. Be encouraged!
Thank you so much for lending me your ear today. I hope this podcast brings you legitimate encouragement that is rooted and grounded in the gospel of Jesus.
Some of us wait for God to make sense but others of us wait for God to make a scene. I hope this podcast is encouraging to you. My next episode is a totally different style and I hope you'll enjoy it... so stay tuned!
In this #SundaySegment, I examine a roadblock that many of us face when it comes to our walk with God. We often to do not take steps toward our Savior until He completely makes sense... I hope this podcast continues to inspire & inform you that Jesus is better! :)
Looking at the church in Corinth, Paul was adamant about the people fighting for unity... that means we must sacrifice and gather together BEYOND just assimilating with our preferences. I hope this podcast is an encouragement to you!
This week has been particularly burdensome for me as I've watched the news about Andy Savage and how the church handled it. I am never a guy to spend my time pointing out the wrongs of other churches but I was saddened and angry to see the gospel muddled from the whole situation. In this clip, I talk about how Jesus doesn't conceal confrontation but he actually celebrates it. We can have confrontation without unity but we cannot have unity without confrontation. I hope you guys are blessed and challenged from this one!
I am so passionate about the people of God realizing how essential it is to share the good news of Jesus on a daily basis. It's actually not as hard as so many of us think. Please spend some time listening to this episode. Seriously - I can't imagine what would happen if we all took this seriously. I hope you are encouraged and equipped from this! Blessings!
It's so easy for us to get encouraged by the notion that we simply need to change our PERSPECTIVE... I agree on so many levels but we also don't get the full picture of the gospel when we limit it to that. God references "the blind seeing" because it's MUCH more than just getting a different angle on your situation. I hope you're inspired & informed that Jesus is better from this podcast!
This #SundaySegment is taken from my message about Elisha showing compassion to his enemies. It's an incredible story that shows us how the gospel enables us to genuinely show mercy to our greatest enemies. I hope you are encouraged by this. Your time and attention really does mean a ton to me. I am excited to see where this podcast goes in 2018.
In this message, I open up more than normal about what God has been convicting me about. I really think this podcast will encourage anyone who is feeling burnt out and wondering why God hasn't seemed to pull through as you expected. Be encouraged and have a FANTASTIC week! Love you fam!
We do our people such a disservice when we boil all of depression down to a "spiritual" problem. God provides for us in so many different ways. I hope this brings encouragement to those who are struggling in their faith this week. Keep striving. Our God is a good God and wants to minister to the entirety of your heart, mind, body and soul.
In this message, I walk through one of my favorite passages in all of the Bible - 1 Kings 18. It's such a temptation to think that God will act on our behalf when we impress Him... It's not about being impressive but it's about being impractical. Be encouraged.
In this #SundaySegment, I examine how we get depressed because we get shocked whenever pain enters into our story. I hope this brings you encouragement.
In this #SundaySegment, I walk through why we should aim for maturity in the Christian faith... Too often, we forget it's more about speaking the truth in love than it is about being in love with the truth.
In this #SundaySegment, I walk through a powerful history lesson that shows us the absolute power of a biblical marriage in a confused world. I hope you are encouraged from this message... If you are interested in the rest of the message, look up "Passion Creek Church" on iTunes and listen to the "Meaning of Marriage." Love you guys!
In this #SundaySegment, I look at the proper understanding of work. Too many of us either think work is our worth or work is a curse. The passage I look at is found in Ephesians 6:5-9. If you'd like to listen to the entire message. Look up our "Passion Creek Church" Podcast and listen to "Career & Calling." As always, I love hearing any comments of how this podcast or my vlog is encouraging you in your faith. Let me know!
I really enjoyed sharing this one with my church family. Walking through 2 Timothy 4:1-8, I talk about how easy it is for believers to fall into false teaching without even realizing it. I hope this message encourages you. Thank you for being a part of this community!
In this #SundaySegment, I explore the true essence of faith. I promise you it will be an encouragement to your soul today!
In the last edition of our Theology of the Gospel course, I walk through two major faiths that are prevalent in my area. I wanted to make sure our approach is one of love and patience (2 Tim. 2:24-25). We had a great response to this message and I hope you're encouraged by it as well!
I felt compelled to share this entire message after what we dealt with this past weekend in Charlottesville. This world is full of false teaching and thankfully Paul walks us through what we must do to fight it. I hope this brings clarity to you as a follower of Jesus.
In part 5 of our Theology of the Gospel class, I walk through the disciplines of the Christian life. I seek to answer questions pertaining to prayer, memorization, meditation, worship, fasting & more. I hope this piece of content was edifying for you. I'd love to hear your feedback!
In this Q&Trey I answer questions from my YouTube audience. I hope you have a fantastic day!!
In week 4 of our Theology of the Gospel class, I walk through everything Bible. It is amazing what we have at our fingertips and we should spend all the energy we have to study it. Some questions I seek to answer: how can the Bible be trusted? Is all of the Bible true? How do I read the Bible myself? What are some good tips for better reading? Stay encouraged!!
This #SundaySegment is taken from last week's message on 2 Timothy 2:1-13. In this segment, I talk about two of our biggest issues that we face as believers on mission. As always, I hope this short clip encourages you and brings a different perspective to your day today.
In part 3 of 6 of our Theology of the Gospel class, I spend time defining the church and the kingdom of God. This is one of the subjects I am most passionate about and I hope you can tell in this session.
In this #SundaySegment, you're listening to the ending of my message from Sunday. I really hope you pay close attention to the truth found in these 6 minutes. A big reason so many of us are discouraged is because we've lived under the false narrative that suffering shouldn't happen to us. Thankfully, Jesus has an answer for us. As always - be encouraged today!
In this #SundaySegment, we learn from Paul that discipleship relationships are valuable but they leave you vulnerable. It's really tempting to be discouraged by relationships and avoid them but I hope this short segment can bring some encouragement to you to keep loving!
In part 2 of 6 of the Theology of the Gospel class, I walk through doctrines that have HUGE implications for our every day life. We had a lot of fun on this one... From giving a history lesson on Martin Luther to emphasizing how meeting Jesus has to change absolutely everything about us. Let me know what you guys took away from this one :)
In this #SundaySegment, I look at a verse most of us love: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. I believe it's not coincidental that the context of this passage also contains God's wrath and in this 2 minute segment I explain why. I hope you are encouraged by this and that you have a fantastic day!
I've been attending Zona Camp for 12 years and I had the privilege of speaking to 1500 people in a morning devotion. In this quick message, I was given the task to give an overview of Romans 12... I was also given the task to make sure they were awake (camp tends to do that to students. hahaha). "In a world that says our power is on our performance, we can say our power is in our posture because of His performance!"
In part 1 of our Theology of the Gospel class, I walk through the definition of the gospel. It's academic in nature so this podcast won't be for everyone but I hope it encourages you... By the way - I had a whole 25 minutes before the part you hear but our audio wasn't working. Let me know if you heard this podcast by commenting on DocumenTrey 70 on my YouTube Channel :)
Last Sunday, I started a new series in the book of 2 Timothy. I love this book because we see Paul lead Timothy as a spiritual father. This message is a little bit ch-ch-ch-cheesy but that's how I roll ;) I know these long ones won't be for everyone but I hope this will bless you.
This is a #SundaySegment from today's message that I preached just a few hours ago. I'm thankful to hear the response of the segment I am showing you today on this podcast. It's amazing how quickly we forget the essence of the gospel of Jesus - "I can't but He can." I hope this brings you encouragement today. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment." 2 Timothy 1:7
In this #SundaySegment, I discuss the difference between receiving a promise and participating in a promise. The reason God's promises may not seem to be working in your life is that you are not actively pursuing them. I hope this brings encouragement. I personally need this reminder all the time. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3
In this #Q&Trey, I tackle one of the biggest hurdles I face each and every day. How can I effectively lead my people with authority while still recognizing I have a lot to learn? In this episode, I give 2 solutions that I believe go a really long way. I imagine I will speak into this issue again because I haven't fully figured this one out but I believe it's something worth talking about. What are your greatest ways to lead people who are 3x older than you?
In this #SundaySegment, we are taking a look at one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It's insane to even imagine God having this kind of love for us... It almost seems wrong. "As a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you." Isaiah 62:5
In this #CandidConvo, I reflect on my message from 2 Corinthians 7 that I preached in 2016... so I guess this is a #YesterTrey. I fear that most people have walked away from the church because they've been hurt by it. The problem is that the church is equipped with the gospel and should be the greatest place on the planet to experience forgiveness and restoration. What are your thoughts? Have you been hurt by the church? Will you give the bride of Christ a second chance?
In this #SundaySegment, I talk about why we can truly enjoy the process rather than just endure it. Praise God that we have Jesus for the journey and not just the destination! Thank you for taking the time to listen to this short clip. I hope it encourages you and breathes life into your day!