Bridges Community Church: Recent Episodes
Bridges Community Church
Whether you are seeking God, curious about our church, or attend Bridges regularly, there is something for you here. We look forward to meeting real needs whether in our own community or distant from us. If we can answer a question, offer a prayer, or help in some way, please contact us. Thank you for visiting us!
Jeremiah sometimes has the reputation of being a prophet of doom and gloom, however, he also pins some of the most hopeful words in all of Scripture. After God’s judgment on the nation of Israel, they are promised an immensely bright future, and it begins with the One whom God will send. He will be a king and a priest unlike any that Israel had ever seen, and He will accomplish what no one else ever could: never-ending forgiveness, righteousness, peace, and victory.
All of us, at some point in our lives, will face circumstances that feel impossible—where we can't see a way forward, we might lose everything, and God may seem distant. What do we do in those moments? And is there any way those moments can help us grow rather than destroy us? This week, we'll study an account from the life of Jehoshaphat, who faced the total collapse of everything that he held dear. Yet, in the midst of his doubt and despair, his turned to God in worship.
Moses didn't feel qualified to lead an entire nation or even speak in front of a group. In fact, he argued with God that he wasn't the right guy for the job. But yet, all these thousands of years later, we're still studying him. What made Moses who he was? This week, we'll see it wasn't his strength or confidence, but rather his humility that qualified him to lead.
The book of Ruth began with famine, displacement, loss, bitterness, and bleak prospects for the future. But in Ruth 4, God does what only God can do: He graciously steps into ordinary faithfulness, risky obedience, and broken places, and He writes a better ending than anyone could have ever expected. Join us this week as we conclude our sermon series in Ruth and rediscover how God’s redeeming grace can transform even our darkest chapters into stories of hope and new beginnings.
The third chapter of Ruth has puzzled biblical scholars for millennia. To be sure, we see people make decisions that may or may not have been motivated by entirely proper intentions. But we also see God’s faithfulness to everyone in the account. Their decisions (right or wrong) don’t stop His redemption. This week, as we study this puzzling chapter, we will find that God is faithful to all of us, in every moment, always.
As Christians, we believe that God orders the events of our lives and orchestrates all of history toward a glorious conclusion. But does that mean we don’t have a role to play? This week, we’ll study how Ruth and Boaz each made their connection with one another possible and how they model healthy relationship—even God’s with us.
Sometimes in Scripture, we see God work in supernaturally miraculous ways: manna falls from heaven, the sick are instantly healed, or the dead are raised. Other times, God isn’t as overt in orchestrating history. But does that mean He isn’t working? In the book of Ruth, we see God guide His people in a way that we can all relate—through relationships. As we begin our four-week study of the book of Ruth, we will study the power of relationships to lift us out of tragedy, and ultimately, to heal the world.
None of life is meant to be lived alone, which means wherever God calls us, we need a team for support and encouragement. In this final week of our Finding Your Way series, we will study what Scripture requires of a church when it sends a missionary, and by extension, what we all need wherever God may send us.
Obeying God is always a lot easier to talk about than to do.
Especially when it doesn’t make sense.
Especially when it costs something.
Especially when it feels like God is asking us to step away from what’s safe and comfortable and predictable.
Let’s admit it: Sometimes God’s will feels unreasonable. And yet, that’s usually right where obedience begins.
At some point every one of us confronts a series of related questions of enormous consequence: How do I find and fulfill the central purpose of my life? What am I specifically supposed to be doing with my time? How should I go about making potentially life-altering decisions? When I ask God for wisdom or direction, how do I know that it’s actually God speaking and not just wishful thinking on my part? And what if I make the wrong decision?
Easter instinctively feels hopeful to us. We have a sense that something is new. Something began. Something in which we can join ourselves. But what exactly is that? What started when Jesus rose from the dead? This week, we’ll study His resurrection, the new world it will eventually create, and why it provides so much hope.
In our final week of our Upper Room series, we see Jesus pray. Prayer is how He chooses to spend the very last moments before He is arrested. And He prays, primarily, for us. This week, we will study Jesus’ prayer, how it communicates His deep abiding love for us, and why His desires for us are essential for our thriving.
There’s one thing we can all be sure of, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey: There will be countless moments in your life that will simply make no sense, thereby threatening your peace and stealing your joy.
Fortunately, we are not left with only two options in these moments—either understand everything and rest in peace or understand little of what is going on around you and have no hope. The Bible actually tells us that there is a third way. A way to have sturdy, lasting joy that doesn’t rise and fall with the circumstances of your life. A way to be able to face sorrow and the uncertainty and confusion in your world with hope and confidence.
Following Jesus isn’t meant to be easy. In fact, Jesus tells His disciples to expect the worst, the very worst, for their faith in Him. Yet, we are not left without hope or without help. Jesus promises we won’t be alone on our journey because we will have a strong guide leading our way. This week, we’ll study Jesus’ warning to disciples, the comfort He offers them, and how we can apply it to our lives today.
We all look to something to reassure ourselves in times of difficulty. Whether it be relationships, prior achievements, or current status, we all count on something to pull us through seasons of uncertainty. But Jesus claims not all of these are as dependable as we might think. In fact, He says there is only one true source of life, only one reliable anchor for our hearts. This week, we will study what Jesus taught about the nourishment our souls need and where to find it.
As Jesus nears His arrest, trial, and crucifixion, it seems His mind is mostly on us, His followers. While He knows He will face a day worse than any of us can imagine, He wants us to be comforted, and He uses His final moments to reassure us of God’s goodness to us. This week we’ll study the comforts Jesus shares with His disciples and how they apply to our lives today.
Jesus knows Peter will soon lose faith and deny Him, but instead of chastising Peter, Jesus encourages him. This week we’ll study Peter’s denial, Jesus’ surprising reaction, and what it means for our faith today.
Judas stands not only as a looming figure in the biblical storyline, but as a name synonymous with the worst types of betrayal in popular culture. He turned over Jesus—an innocent man, his friend—to corrupt authorities who would crucify him. This week, we will study this tragic series of events and learn what it can teach us when we face hurt, loss, betrayal, and even evil.
Love is harder than we think. Yes, we, of course, love our kids and grandkids and close friends and nice people and those who treat us well. But Jesus said that everybody naturally does that anyway (Matt. 5:47). It’s not very hard to love people who love us.
The real question is, will we also love those who harm or betray us? Will we keep on loving, even when it means bearing burdens with which we would rather not be bothered? Will we love when the people we love do not love us in return? Will we love those who are unlovely, undeserving, or ungrateful?
Loving others is challenging. God does not make it easy, but He does make it possible. And Jesus shows us what it looks like and how it’s done.
In Jesus’ final private moments with His disciples, we see Him do something highly unusual. We see Him serve those closest to Him. We don’t typically expect people to spend the final night of their lives serving others, nor do we often witness leaders with enormous amounts of power get down on their knees and serve. But Jesus isn’t normal. He stands apart from the rest of us. And what He did for His disciples is exactly what all of us need.
Finances can be a touchy subject. It’s the number one point of conflict in marriages, and sometimes people choose to avoid church if the topic is scheduled for an upcoming Sunday (like this one). But while we might regard it as sensitive or uncomfortable, God doesn’t. He has given all of us financial resources, and He has a plan for how we can use them best. This week, we’ll study where generosity begins, why we love giving, and the joyous journey it can be.
When it comes to Christian stewardship, we typically think about how to best use our time, our talents and experiences, or our finances, but what about being good stewards of our trials and our times of suffering? Rather than hiding our pain and pretending that everything is okay when it clearly is not, or rather than being trapped by our pain and never being able to move beyond it, how can our trials and seasons of suffering actually be used for our good, for the good of others, and for God’s greater purposes? Join us this week to find out how.
All of us, in one way or another, are able to communicate. Even babies can get their ideas across with cries or gestures. But why did God give us this ability? What is it for? Can we misuse it? This week, we'll study the power of words, their purpose, and the proper way to use them.
For some, working with children feels like a natural calling, while for others, it's not so instinctive. The truth is, God calls all of us to be involved in stewarding the children in our community. This week, we’ll explore this shared responsibility, the path it leads us on, and how we can remain faithful in guiding the next generation with purpose and perseverance.
For some, a job is just a way to pay the bills. Others seem to have a career that perfectly fits their talents, skills, and personality. Whether you work to live or live to work, the truth is, work is an unavoidable and significant part of the human experience. This week, we’ll take a look at how work is part of God’s design and how we can better steward our work, and God-given talents, from the time we enter the workforce through retirement.
Perhaps more than any other gift, we are aware that the time given to us is limited. We only have so many days on this earth. But how to use them well? This week, we’ll study why God gives us time, how to use it well, and what it looks like to waste it.
As we come to the close of our study of 1 Corinthians, chapter 16 is one that some of us may be tempted to skip. It's largely a list of personal greetings, sprinkled with a few petitions. However, this chapter clues us into the importance of connection with others and what is necessary to form them and keep them.
Merry Christmas Eve! Join us tonight at 5:00pm for our annual Christmas Eve Service. Come light candles, sing familiar carols, read the Christmas story, and hear a message from Pastor Dan. All are welcome, and childcare will be available for ages 0-3 in the nursery.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a bottomless wealth of hope with significance for all of our lives. This week, as we study the longest single text explaining its meaning, we’ll see its wondrous implications and how it fulfills our deepest longings.
Love is harder than we think. Of course we love our family, our friends, and those who treat us well. We love nice people. But Jesus says everybody naturally does that anyway (Matt. 5:47). That’s not hard. People love people who love them.
The real question is, will we also love those who harm us? Will we keep on loving even when it means bearing burdens we would rather not be bothered with? Will we love when the people we love do not love us in return? Will we love those who are unlovely, undeserving, or ungrateful?
Loving others is challenging. God does not make it easy, but He does make it possible. And He shows us how it’s done.
We are often impressed by people who seem “gifted.” Whether it’s in sports, business, crafts, music, comedy, or something else, there are some people who stand out from everyone else. But what does that mean for us “normal” people? Do we have gifts as well? If so, where do they come from, and what is their purpose? This week, we’ll study Paul’s instructions regarding spiritual gifts, why God gives them to us, and how we are meant to use them.
Sometimes we encounter a biblical passage that seems confusing or even contradictory to other biblical passages. These comments from Paul regarding women in the church might likely be among them. But as we will see this week, his comments have contemporary significance, are not what they may seem on face value, and might, just perhaps, show us something important about God.
The cup and the bread—timeless symbols instituted into church practice by Christ Himself. In some Christian traditions, communion takes a central role in each service, while other traditions seem to minimize it. But what was it like in the early church? This week, we’ll study the early practice of communion and see how it outshines even the greatest of Thanksgiving feasts.
Nothing can make us desire great leaders quite as quickly as experiencing bad ones. But what exactly makes the difference? Are there certain qualities that great leaders share? Does God have a design for leadership? This week, we’ll study two contrasting styles of leadership, the role each of us can play regardless of our official title, and the ultimate litmus test for any leader.
One reason why the book of James is so challenging and practical is that it lays out a series of tests that are designed to help us understand what authentic Christianity looks like in action, so that we may then examine our own lives and faith to see how we measure up. And according to James, one of the things that a living, genuine faith ought to produce within us is Christlike compassion—the way we think about, speak about, and treat the poor and the vulnerable.
This Sunday, our mission partner Eric Prager (Executive Director of Baja Christian Ministries) will be the guest speaker for our annual “Compassion Sunday”. Join us as we consider this challenge from James, and be reminded that loving, caring for, and meeting the practical needs of the vulnerable and hurting all around us is the job of every single believer—as fundamental to our Christian living as evangelism, discipleship, and worship.
Good. True. Right. Faithful. Honorable. Trustworthy. Admirable. We likely know people who live up to these characteristics, and we hope to be among them. But how are they actually developed in us—especially when some amount of corruption seems so much easier? This week we will see God’s desire to develop goodness and faithfulness in us, and how He accomplishes it.
Jesus is meek, gentle, and humble of heart. But also . . . He confronts various people with some of the strongest language in Scripture. What are we to make of this? Is there some way the two images of Jesus can fit together? And how does Jesus’ behavior inform our own? When God develops gentleness in us, is it void of any severity? This week we’ll see the kindness in all of Jesus’ language and what it means for our interactions with those around us.
The process of the fruit of God’s Spirit developing in your life is not a quick one. It would be wonderful if we could pray one day to have no more problems with, say, anger, selfishness, materialism, envy, or lust, and then when you woke up the next day those things were completely gone. However, we know from personal experience that it doesn’t work that way. And yet God continues to patiently and lovingly work daily within each of us by His grace so that the fruit of His Spirit is produced within us.
In this week’s message, we’ll give specific consideration to the topics of patience and self-control. We’ll look at why growing in these two areas is so crucial but also so challenging, and we’ll also see how they both work hand-in-hand with each other.
Our world so often seems marked with conflict—conflict at home, conflict at work, conflict on the national stage. Many voices call for peace, but how do we actually get there? This week, we’ll see the resources God’s Spirit gives us to create peace in our conflicted time.
While we often cannot change our circumstances, Scripture often speaks of finding joy in the midst of them. This week we will explore one of the passages that speaks of a joy available to us, regardless of level of difficulty that we're facing. We'll discover Paul's source of joy that was so deep, it couldn't be shaken.
One of our deepest desires is to know that we are loved. When we have it, we can step out into the world with confidence even when we face seemingly unsurmountable challenges. When we lack it—when we feel rejected or unwanted—we can become riddled with insecurities. This week, we'll see the unconditional love of God, how we can be certain of it, and how it transforms us to love others.
Many of us desire more peace, joy, and patience in our lives, and we hope to remove things like jealousy, rage, and bitterness from our hearts. But how can it actually happen? It seems we need more than new behaviors, we need some of the deepest corners of our souls rewired. And what is powerful enough to give us that? This week, we begin a new series on the fruit of God’s Spirit—how it grows within us, and how we can participate in God’s amazing work.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear from Elder Chair Todd Kjos about how various Christian communities and studying God's Word helped to develop his faith.
Many people could quickly identify any number of urgent physical and spiritual needs that plague so many around the world today, including in our own community. And we would likely have a lot of agreement as believers that something absolutely needs to change in order to address these matters. But this week’s message will also argue that something needs to change in our own hearts as well about these urgent needs. It will be a call to let what breaks God’s heart break yours, and to take action wherever God has placed you.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear from Brad Cole about how the life of Caleb inspired him through various seasons of stepping out in faith and trusting God.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear from Laura Perez, our Associate Director of Worship and Young Adults, about how she has experienced the goodness of the Lord during various (and sometimes uncertain) seasons of her life.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear how the faith story of Dave Kellejian, our Director of Student Ministries, intersects with that of a man in Mark 5 who had a life-changing encounter with Jesus, and whose story has far greater implications for our own lives today than most of us realize.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear from Austin Ward, one of our elders, about how God weaved the concept of trusting in Him through many different seasons of Austin's life.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear from Danny Oh, one of our church elders, about how God moved him from a bargaining faith to a surrendered faith.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear from Mark Liu, one of our church elders, about how God used the powerful stories of Jesus' time on earth among his people to teach Mark how to be a servant in his community.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear from Al Kruger, one of our church elders, about how God used pivotal circumstances and providential relationships throughout his life to bring Al to the point of faith in Jesus.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear how the faith story of Alba Kellejian, our Director of Family & Children’s Ministries, intersects with that of a frequently overlooked character from the book of Genesis who learned firsthand that God often reveals Himself to us in the most unexpected ways and is aware of every minute detail of our lives.
This summer, we’re hearing from our elders and various staff about how God has worked in their lives in similar ways to how He worked in the lives of people throughout biblical history. This week, we'll hear how Pastor Dan’s story intersects with Jonah’s story. It is one of God’s faithfulness in the midst of rebellion, and how we often don’t surrender until we are in the depths.
The Bible is filled with unexpected and dramatic accounts of reversal—stories in which a situation of despair, failure, or judgment is somehow miraculously transformed by God (often at the last moment) into one of hope, victory, and redemption.
We enjoy hearing those types of stories in Scripture, but we sometimes struggle to believe that God is really able and interested in reversing seemingly hopeless circumstances in our own lives. But as we wrap up our sermon series from the book of Esther this week, we’ll once again be reminded that God is always good and always wise and always at work (often behind the scenes), orchestrating events for His purposes, even when we cannot see a way out.
God isn’t only interested in restoring some of the brokenness in the world, He’s restoring all of it. This week as we study Esther chapter 8, we will see God reverse more of the terrible effects of evil and learn that His plan of redemption is far beyond what we could ever ask or imagine.
Up to this point in the book of Esther, not much has seemed to go right. King Xerxes is often drunk and impulsive; the villain, Haman, has run unopposed; Mordecai was overlooked and unappreciated; and the Israelites are facing extermination. The situation has looked rather bleak. However, in these chapters, we begin to see how God ties all those negatives into something positive—and how He will do the same for us.
All of us will face times of difficulty, stress, and disappointment. Some of those will be quite extreme (like Esther’s), while others will be more routine (like Haman’s). But not all of us will handle those situations with the same poise, grace, and rootedness. What makes the difference? How can we become people who remain steady, even when everything around us is crashing down? This week, we’ll look at the differences between Esther and Haman and find what helped Esther navigate her extreme circumstances so admirably.
Every one of us faces defining moments in our own lives. And some of these defining moments come unexpectedly and pass quickly, yet can have far-reaching consequences. Queen Esther found herself at just such a crossroads in Esther 4. And the fate of her own people, as well as her own life, was riding on how she would handle that defining moment. Join us for this week’s sermon as we discover not only how Esther processed this life-altering decision, but even more importantly, how God had prepared and led her to this very moment.
No doubt that we will all experience problems in our lives. Some of those will feel rather small and others will feel so large that we worry the world might end. However, no matter how small or large a problem may seem, God already anticipated it and has a solution in the works. This week, we’ll find that even the biggest problems are no problem for God. Victory is certain before the battle ever begins.
We might believe that God only works with perfect people living perfect lives–or at least pretty good people, living pretty good lives. But the God of the Bible shows us time and time again He is willing to begin a journey with us starting wherever we are. This week, we encounter the woman who becomes Queen and see that she, like us, doesn’t begin her journey with God fully formed.
Esther, chapter one. We can often make the mistake when we see corruption, when we see abuse of power, when we see greed, when we see systems and structures of sin, when we look at situations where there is so much wrong, so much broken, we think this will never be right. This sin seems to be part of the institution. It's too entrenched. Even if there is some kind of accountability structure.
There's nobles and wise men. But that has also failed. We see that just the whole thing makes us want to throw our hands up and walk away. And when we see circumstances like that, we can make the mistake that God has also thrown his hands up in frustration and walked away. We can think that even God has abandoned the, the scene.
Or if he hasn't abandoned the scene, we can make the mistake that if he's here, he must have lost control. He must not be able to do anything about all of this, just like we're unable to do anything about it. I mean, we might sing, he's got the whole world in his hands. He's got the whole world in his hands. We might sing that, we might sign off on that doctrine.
But then we look around and it sure seems like there are some situations very not in his hands. There are some places that are so dark that we might begin to believe even God can't be at work in the midst of that. We might have those thoughts sometimes, but that would be a mistake. Scripture gives us instances, stories, historical counts of terribly corrupt, twisted, dark corners of the world. And then scripture shows that even in those places, God has not abandoned the scene.
We're getting a new sermon series today which will take us all the way to summer studying the book of Esther in the Old Testament. I'll give you some background on the book before we jump into chapter one. The setting is the capital city of Susa in the powerful kingdom of Persia. At the time, fifth century BC, Persia was the world leader in might, strength and wealth. A couple of generations before the Book of Esther, Persia, under King Cyrus, conquered the previous world power, Babylon.
Cyrus raided Babylon's treasuries, absorbed its peoples and lands, but then, curiously, Cyrus frees various people who had been taken captive by Babylon, including Israelites. They were able to return to Israel if they desired, and many of them chose to do so, but not all of them. Some communities of Israelites stuck around Persia under Cyrus. People in Esther's family who will show up later in the story, they stayed in Persia instead of going back to Israel. And of course, like all decisions, there were pluses and minuses to staying.
Sticking around probably provided a more stable life. In some ways, Susa was the richest city in the world. But it was less stable in other ways because after Cyrus, the line of succession of persian kings gets muddy. There was infighting, coups, multiple attempts to take the throne, backroom deals. But eventually, a man named Darius rises to power.
And once Darius wins out over his internal rivals, he turns outward and expands the empire even further. Darius conquered even more territories than Cyrus had before him. He enriched Susa even more. He was the unquestioned supreme ruler over the largest territory in the world. No one had authority to tell Darius no.
And like typical kings of the day, Darius had many wives. He had many children with those many wives. In fact, he had a harem of women to fulfill whatever he desired. His women, possessive pronoun, intentionally used his women, couldn't say no to him either. With one of those women, he had a son named Xerxes.
And by the time of the book of Esther, Darius has passed away. Xerxes now rules the empire. His greek name is Xerxes. His persian name is Ahasuerus. Depending on which version of the Bible you're reading, you may refer to him as Ahasuerus or Xerxes.
Xerxes, of course, grew up as the son of the king of the richest empire in the world. He would have been denied nothing, he would have worked for nothing. And then, when his father dies, Xerxes is handed control of this massive persian empire without really lifting a finger. So, not surprisingly, Xerxes seems to have a bit of a God complex. Xerxes would later carve into the side of a mountain, which is still there today.
The inscription Xerxes, the great king, the king of kings, king of all peoples, kings to the far end of the earth, son of Darius carved it into a mountain. That's thinking a lot of yourself. When Xerxes went with his troops to the battlefield, he did not fight alongside of them. Instead, servants would carry Xerxes on his throne with their hands and backs and shoulders, and they would carry him on his throne to a place where he could sit and overlook all the fighting. And his throne has rules which will show up later in the book of Esther.
If anyone touched his throne without permission, they were executed. If anyone even got too close, close to his throne without permission, executed. Because only Xerxes was worthy to have the status of the throat. Further, Xerxes, like persian kings before him, was so sure that everything he ever spoke was so true and so inerrant and so infallible that any law he ever decreed could not be changed. The idea was, if the king had said it, it was perfect the first time, so it would always be perfect.
It would never need to change. If one of the king's decrees needed to be changed later on, it would indicate what the king said in the first place wasn't infallible. But because the king speaks as the word of God, everything he says is perfect and will never need to be changed. That's a bit of a God complex. Further at the opening of Book of Esther, Xerxes is near the peak of his imperialistic conquest.
Xerxes never conquered as much as his father, Darius, but he did put down a couple of riots and then he had a campaign into Greece. You may remember the movie 300. It depicts the Persians fighting the Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae. The persian army vastly outnumbers the 300 Spartans. The Persians look like an endless sea of warriors.
Xerxes is depicted as this foreboding figure, and the Persians defeat the well skilled, well trained Spartans. Thermopylae was the peak of military conquest that Xerxes ever accomplished because pretty much immediately after that, the Persians are defeated in other parts of Greece and they retreat back home, where Xerxes spends the rest of his days working on massive construction projects to his own glory, like the inscription on the side of the mountain that he's king of kings. But in Esther, chapter one, Xerxes greek campaign hasn't happened yet. His win at Thermopylae and subsequent defeats occurred sometime during the Book of Esther, probably in between chapters one and two, because there's a gap of many years there.
But the point is, in chapter one here, Xerxes hasn't been defeated yet, so he has an air of invincibility.
He's never lost, and even his best victory is still out ahead of him. So he's on the uptick. In his mind, he would have no reason not to believe he has unlimited power. He certainly has unquestioned authority in his own kingdom. He seems unstoppable.
He's Xerxes the great. Everything has gone swimmingly easy his entire life. So the question at the opening of the book of Esther is, what will he do with all that power and influence? What is the boy who never needed to work for anything, who was given everything, who watched his dad have many children with many women, watched his dad conscript a harem? What's that kid gonna do when he grows up and takes over the kingdom that was handed to him on a platter.
It's not gonna be good. It's not going to add wholeness and stability to the world. It might mean prosperity for some, but it will mean oppression and abuse for others. So as we jump into chapter one, we will see the darkness of Xerxes kingdom. Where is God?
In a godless, hopeless situation. And finally, the one for whom Xerxes makes us long, the darkness of his kingdom. Where is God in all of this? And the one for whom Xerxes makes us long. So, first, the darkness of Xerxes kingdom, its obscene lavishness, debauchery and ill treatment of women.
Take those one at a time. So first, obscene lavishness. Xerxes could have used his essentially unlimited resources to better the world, to improve the lives of others, to build wholeness and goodness throughout his kingdom. Could have done it, didn't do it. Instead, he uses his resources to throw a party.
And not just any party, a 180 day party, a six month party, half a year party for all the nobles and officials of the land, all of them. Verse three, from his vast empire, all the officials. Hard to say how many people that would have been, but we're told, verse one, there are 127 provinces in his kingdom, so there's several officials from each one of those. Some commentators put the guest list in the thousands. We have never seen a party like this because when all these officials come into the palace, they are shown on purpose the great wealth of Xerxes.
They are given a golden goblet to drink from, and each golden goblet is different than the next. Verse seven, probably so each person could keep track of which Golden Goblet was his. You know, sometimes you go to a party and the host has those red plastic cups with the sharpie sitting next to the stack of cups for you to write your name on your cup so you don't get it mixed up with anybody else's cup. Been to that party? Well, Xerxes did the same thing, except the cup was made out of gold for each person.
How would you like to go to your office party and you leave with an individualized golden goblet that you were handed when you walked in? It's lavish, right? But not only were the cups gold, the couches were gold. Verse six. Xerxes had golden couches.
I can't imagine golden couches are very comfortable. But if you were going for a wow factor, if you're really trying to show off your wealth, if you want people to think you have a silly amount of money, go ahead and decorate with a few golden couches. And that's just the beginning of the palace opulence. Chapter one describes wall hangings, tapestries, floors, pillars. All of it is way over the top.
The most expensive, lavish excess that existed. Xerxes had it. Now, what's the problem with that? If you have it, why not show it off? Right?
The problem is, Xerxes wanted to make much of himself. The problem is verse four. He wanted to display the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. He was using his wealth arrogantly instead of using it for the benefit of others. And throughout the Bible, the point of having wealth, the reason God has given resources to anyone, is so they can elevate others, not self.
For instance, Ephesians 428. Why are we even supposed to work? Like, why do we have jobs? Why does that exist? Is it to boost our own ego, to make us feel important, to keep us busy?
No. We work Ephesians four so that we have something to give to those in need. That's a consistent message throughout the Bible. But xerxes party is not for others. It's not to give all the leaders in the kingdom a six month vacation.
That's not really the point of it. Instead, his party is a flex.
It's for xerxes to say, I know I'm great, and I want to make sure you know I'm great too. That's why he throws the party. It should serve as a warning for us. I mean, we won't flex as flamboyantly as xerxes, but it's an easy trap to fall into because greed is so slippery and so incremental, it creeps up on us. However much we have, we want just a little more, just a little more than the next guy.
So we don't feel bad about ourselves. We want to have enough so that we feel like we're behind someone else. A little better car, a little better house, a little better tv, a little better vacation. And whenever we feel like we've made it, we look over and see someone with a little more than us. And then we feel inadequate all over again.
Our focus is often, how do I get just a little more for me? How much closer to the top can I get? It's worth looking into our own hearts to see how much of that is in there. It won't feel like greed because we almost never feel greedy. Instead, it will feel like inadequacy.
It will feel like if only I had a little more, then I would be okay. And if that impulse runs unchecked in our hearts, and we have the resources to do it. The end of that road is obscene. Xerxes not only needs to have more than everyone else, he needs everyone to know he has more than everyone else. So one type of darkness in Xerxes Kingdom is this obscene lavishness for his own glory.
Second darkness in his kingdom. Xerxes encourages debauchery. He not only throws a six month party, he throws a six month party with an open bar. Verse seven. The royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king's liberality.
Verse eight. By the king's command, each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man as he wished. So you don't even have to walk up to the open bar. The open bar will walk up to you to fill your personalized golden goblet. For six months, all you can drink.
That's not a pretty picture. Maybe a few of those officials were keeping it together, but no chance all of them were. I'm remembering parties I went to in high school. Confession and spring breaks where people just cut loose, drank with no limit, how people acted, what it smelled like. Have you been there?
You don't need to raise your hand. And those spring breaks were just one week. Those high school parties were just one night. And I can remember, like, even my craziest friends, even the most unhinged of them, would sometimes say, I've overdone it. I need to pull back for a while.
And they would say that after one night or after one week, this was six months, 180 nights. I don't think we could overstate how bad it would have looked. The darkness, the depravity, destruction to yourself, to others, to property. Probably those golden couches are going to need a cleaning. It's bad.
We aren't given many specifics about what happened in that environment, but we are given one third darkness in Xerxes Kingdom. Ill treatment of women, degrading of women. No surprise if there are hundreds, if not thousands of men who are, as the text says, in high spirits from wine, which is a generous way of saying drunk. If there's a huge crowd of men wobbling in their shoes, what are they going to do? I mean, not all of them, of course, but as a group, what will they do?
Degrade women? It's the worst version of a frat house. It's the worst version of spring break debauchery. And it's what happened. It was predictably bad for women.
No wonder the queen, her name is Vashti. Vashti. While the men are having their party, Vashti gets the women out of there. Verse nine. She has her own separate gathering for women, and we don't know everything about her party.
That could have been just as bad as the men. Who knows? But apparently she didn't want women around the men, which tells you something. Xerxes, however, in high spirits, doesn't prefer this total separation from women. So he calls for the queen.
He says, fast day. Get out of here. Parade yourself around in front of all these men. I want to show off how hot you are. Show off?
You belong to me. Vashi sends a message back and says, no. No way I'm going in there and doing that. I will not be an object to be flaunted around in front of a bunch of drunken men. I'll stay right where I am.
Thank you. Which was the right thing for her to say. Of course it was the right thing for her to say. If you're curious, history rewards Vashti later. Not in the book of Esther.
Much later, when her son becomes king, Vashti is honored as the queen mother. Okay. But the immediate response to her refusal to be displayed as an object is Xerxes is enraged. Verse twelve. The boy who had never seen a woman or anyone else tell his dad no.
He cannot fathom Vashti's defiance, so he turns to his entourage. Verse 15, and asks, what are we gonna do about this guy? She can't act this way. She can't disrespect me like this. And all his officials say, you're absolutely right.
She can't do that. Who does she think she is? If she gets away with this, all the women are going to start acting this way.
And then someone says, I have an idea. Let's make a law which can't be revoked, because whatever you say is perfect, king. Let's make a law that says, vashti will never be in your presence again. And women throughout the land must not act this way to their husbands. Xerxes approved.
And so it is done. Vashti is deposed. The decree goes out to strike fear in the hearts of all the women of the kingdom. It's a pretty bleak picture of darkness, of depravity. It's godless.
It's the opposite of godly. And when we think of a situation like that, we ask God, where are you? With all this sickening behavior? Are you even here? We ask, where is God?
In a godless, hopeless situation?
At work. He is at work. One of the points of the book of Esther is that even in a godless, hopeless situation, God is at work. The book of Esther is unique in that God is actually never mentioned in the entire book, not once. 167 verses, zero times.
God is not there, it seems. There's no prophet speaking on behalf of God. There's no angel descending from above, no voice from heaven. No one even prays. We don't even know if anyone believes in God here, or if they're just culturally hebrew.
God's name is not in the book. It looks like he's not there. It looks like he might be totally absent from the situation, especially considering how dark and twisted it is. But scholars agree the absence of God's name or God's voice in Esther is actually a literary technique to emphasize God's presence, God's work, God's orchestration amongst events, even when he's silent, even when no one is talking about him, even in places that don't acknowledge his existence, even if no one believes him in him, in godless places, God is still there. Up to something.
Even in an obscene, drunken man party where women are ill treated, God has not left the scene. Doesn't mean God is okay with any of those behaviors. He certainly isn't. All those sins will be judged for sure. But he hasn't dropped the ball either.
And as we progress through the book of Esther, we will see God. Even though he's not mentioned, we will see him take this message that humans have created and wrap it into his beautiful purposes for the world. One of the lyrics of one of the songs that we sing in here often is all the wreckage of my choices. You have turned to life from ashes. All the wreckage of my choices.
There really is wreckage. We really can make a mess of things, but then God brings them back from the ashes. Have you seen him do that in your life? Have you seen him take terrible blunders and turn them into something beautiful? Doesn't mean it's okay to blunder.
Of course not. But at the same time, it means we can never mess up so bad that it derails what God is doing. For example, we just celebrated good Friday and Easter. We reflected on Jesus crucifixion, which of course, his crucifixion saved all of us that praise God for the crucifixion. Right?
But at the same time, how did his crucifixion come about? Through lies, betrayal, corruption, injustice. None of which is okay. It's all bad. Most pointedly, Satan entered Judas before Judas betrayed Jesus.
Luke 22 three. That's as pure evil as you can get. That's as not okay as you can get. And that betrayal will be judged. Jesus even says, judas, judgment will be so severe, it will be better if Judas was never born.
Matthew 26 24. It's not okay what Judas did. God doesn't make some kind of ends justify the means calculation. It's not that. But what it does show is God is so powerful that he can take even the most pure evil, turn it on its head, and make it accomplish something good.
It means we can't out sin God's redemptive plan. And by the end of Esther, we will see even these terrible events play into what God is up to, just like the crucifixion plays into what God's up to. Anytime evil thinks it has the upper hand, anytime evil thinks it has advanced, it has always only advanced toward its own demise. Always. Evil never wins in the end.
So I don't know what environment you find so dark and hopeless that you believe God could not be at work within it. If your workplace seems godless, if your school seems godless, if you think the highest levels of political leadership right, the backroom deals to corruption, if it looks godless and hopeless. Esther teaches us that God has not abandoned those situations. If he had not abandoned fifth century BC Sousa, as gross as it was, he has not abandoned any corner of our twisted world. And we will eventually find that even the most terrible, inexcusable situations, even the darkest moments of our own lives, God will use those as steps in the journey for what he is building.
He cannot be hindered. He brings redemption to his people. No one, anything, nothing anyone ever does will ever slow him down. God is at work in hopeless, godless places now. Finally, the one for whom Xerxes makes us long, the true king.
When we read of xerxes, something likely protests within us. It may just feel like discomfort or angst, but if we put words to those feelings, those words would say, that's not what a king should be like. Instead of a king using his power and influence to elevate himself, he should use it to elevate others. Instead of a king being on a throne that no one can approach and die if they do, he should be with his people, serve them in some way. Instead of a king being a loose cannon of drunkenness and debauchery, he should goodness and wholeness and stability in the world.
Instead of forcing servants to exalt him, he should exalt others. Instead of mistreating women, he should honor women. Right? We feel that when we read of xerxes in short, when we read of xerxes, we long for Jesus. We long for the king who lowered himself in order to elevate us.
Philippians two we long for the king who doesn't stay on his throne when we're in the battle of our lives, but he comes to fight and win the victory for us. First Corinthians 15 we long for the king who says, come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew eleven who says that we can approach him with confidence, not fear? Hebrews four even if we are children. Matthew eleven.
Who honors women at every turn? John four, John eight Luke seven Matthew nine on and on. Jesus honors women. We long for the king who gave himself for us, that we may be saved. We long for Jesus, and throughout Esther, even though God is never mentioned as we study it, the goodness of Jesus, the truth of Jesus, the need for Jesus will become more and more evident.
I am looking forward to the rest of the series, and I hope you can make it for all the weeks. Let's pray.
Father, we are grateful that you have not abandoned us. No matter how dark our world might look, we are grateful that evil will never win, that you cannot be thwarted, that even the darkest moments, Lord, you can wrap them into something that they never intended to be, but you can take our messes and make them beautiful. So, Lord, it is you that we trust, it is you that we hope for, and it is in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the most unique event in the history of the world. It was witnessed by many, passed along through generations, and has stirred hope in the hearts of people for 2000 years. This Easter, we will dive into its uniqueness, significance, and necessity.
Our entire lives are, in a sense, spent either working or resting. Sadly, though, we don’t often think of our working or our resting in light of God and His Word. We either overvalue our work or we undervalue it; the same is true with our rest. In this week’s message, we will consider our work and our rest in light of God’s good character and actions. The God who finished His work of creation and then rested has made it possible for His people to discover new meaning in our own vocations, while also being able to receive and experience deep, abiding rest for our souls.
When God looked at man and saw he was alone, God said it was “not good.” He responded by creating woman and therefore, fellowship, community, and connection. In the ages since creation, humans have changed little. We are still hardwired with a need for others. This week we’ll see the various ways our need can be met and how God continues to work for our social well-being.
Most of us probably understand that rules are a necessary part of life—if only because we’ve seen the mess created anytime there aren’t rules. But likely, very few of us would say we enjoy rules, especially when they seem to get in the way of what we want to do. This week, we’ll study God’s rules, why He gave them, and why they are exceedingly good. Perhaps surprisingly, we’ll find they are the path to freedom and life.
Christianity has tremendous resources to assign inherent worth and dignity to every human. Regardless of ability or background, Scripture teaches that every human life is equally precious. This week, we’ll see how this belief originates all the way back to creation, has altered the history of the world, and still has more to accomplish in our modern day.
A. W. Tozer once said that what comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And if you want to cultivate better thinking about God, there’s arguably no better place to start than the creation account in the book of Genesis. So join us this week for our continuing sermon series in Genesis 1 and 2, as we take a closer look at the specific order of creation and consider what it tells us about God, about ourselves, and about God’s purposes for the world.
Genesis one, one through two. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
We're launching a new series today on the goodness of creation, which will take us all the way to Easter. Studying just the first two chapters of the first book of the Bible. In researching for this series, it became obvious quite quickly that every culture that has ever existed on the face of the earth has a story explaining the creation of the world. Often those stories are called mythologies. But every culture has asked, where are we from?
How did we get here? How did anything get here? Those questions have mattered to every civilization on record. The ancient Greeks believed at the beginning there was nothingness, just pure chaos, unformed cosmos. And from that chaos emerged the earth.
Earth was personified. She had a name, Gaia. Then the female Gaia. Earth gave birth to the sky named Uranus. And then Uranus and Gaia procreated with each other and gave birth to the Titans, who were later overthrown, banished to the underworld, and were placed by different gods who warred with one another.
And it was those kind of third generation gods who were responsible for the rest of creation. That's Greece. Ancient Egypt had varying accounts of creation. The earliest God, ra, similar to the greek understanding, emerged from a chaotic state of the world and gave rise to an air God and a moisture God, who again procreated in ward with each other. One of those progeny was murdered by another one, which created a power struggle, which was eventually won by a God named Horus.
And from that narrative, the egyptian kings linked their chain of command to the creator gods and believed that warring for power was not only good, but was divine. Remember all this from your ancient history class in college. There will be a quiz later. I hope you're taking notes. The mayan gods, two of them anyway, decided to preserve their legacy by creating an earthbound species looking like them.
That's us, but not quite us. Because their first attempt to make man was from mud, they found that mud crumbled. The two gods then enlisted help from other gods, and together they decided to make man from wood. But those guys had no souls and soon lost loyalty to the creators, and the gods destroyed them by rain. The final version of man was constructed from maize, which is, of course, corn.
In the Mayan, which the Mayans regarded as sacred. Chinese mythology has a number of stories about creation, but one is when heaven and earth were yet unformed. A series of events eventually produced the original qi. Qi was then separated from what was pure and bright, which formed heaven. While that was heavy and not as pure, presumably congealed to form earth.
Then conjoining these essences of heaven to earth produced yin and yang. From there, we get seasons, hot, fire, cold, wind, sun, moon, planet, stars, soil, et cetera. Ready for your test?
Every culture has a story about where we started, how the earth was started. Every culture believes a story. Many of those stories from different cultures, many of them have overlapping elements with each other. Like Egypt and Greece have similar elements. Many of them have unique elements that's only found in that one particular story.
Sometimes stories from the same culture have contradicting elements because they came from a combination of several myths that were blended together. It doesn't take much digging to see that. But here's what we might not think about. One implication of our beliefs about our origins, whether this is intentional or not, one implication is that our origin beliefs inform our beliefs about our purpose. In other words, what we believe about how we got here informs what we think about why we are here, what we are to do with ourselves, our worth, our value.
It's similar to what psychologists will tell you about children. What children believe about their origin can mark their lives. If a child is told, especially repeatedly, if a child is told, we didn't want you, you were a mistake, you are a burden. Or if a child goes from one bad experience, foster family to another, and in all of those places receives the same message, and of course, there's great foster families and not so great foster families. But if the kid gets the message, I'm not wanted, that child's life is marked in a much different way than a child whose parents reinforce the message over and over and over.
We wanted children. We prayed for you before you arrived. We celebrated when you got here. The wanted kids and the unwanted kids lives will be marked in different ways. Not that their fates are bound, of course.
Their origin won't determine everything about them, but it matters. And similarly, our beliefs about our origin inform our beliefs about our purpose, our value, and everything else, both as individuals and as collective humanity. Christianity, contrary to many of the other origin stories, does not teach that creation arose out of nothing. Nor does Christianity teach that we're the product of less pure matter that didn't congeal to form heaven. Nor do Christians believe that we're the byproduct of divine wars.
Nor do we believe that we were made as playthings for the gods to mess with. Instead, christian beliefs about creation give us a footing for human worth and dignity. Give us reasons to care about our planet and our world. Give us a purpose for our work. Help us to know how to order our lives and how to relate to others.
In other words, the goodness of creation in the christian account informs really just about everything that we find significant, and it sets up the world in a way that we would want to live in it. And that will be our series until Easter. The Bible tells a story of the beginning that even if you aren't a Christian, even if you're a skeptic, even if you believe the earth and humanity and everything else is just the result of mindless forces with no intentionality, that we won some kind of cosmic lottery, there is no purpose behind the universe whatsoever.
Even you. The more you hear the christian account of creation, you might find yourself wanting it to be true.
Just like kids want to believe they came from parents who desired them, who prepared for them, who cherished them. Every kid wants to believe that about his or her parents. Whether it's true or not, every kid wants to believe I came from a place of wholeness and planning and love. So just like kids want to believe that, maybe even need to believe that, you may end up wanting to believe that all of existence didn't come from mindless forces with no purpose, or that we're here by accident, or that we're the result of fallout from divine wars.
The christian story may play a tune that resonates with something deep within you.
So as we begin our series, we begin, of course, at the beginning. Genesis is the first book of the Bible, written down some long time after the events of creation took place, most likely. And as we dive into chapter one, we will see. We came from order, not chaos. We came from love, and we came with delight.
We came from order, not chaos. We came from love, and we came with delight. So first we came from order, not chaos. The first words of the Bible are in the beginning, God created meaning. At the beginning, God was already there.
So we're already different than creation narratives, where chaos was first and God arose out of the chaos. The christian story is that order and intentionality preceded chaos. There is chaos. In the christian creation narrative, the earth was formless and void, unorganized. That's verse two.
But that's not what was first. God, in all of his complexity, existed before unorganized matter and actually small timeout. For a second. We should pause and define what we mean by the term before, because before isn't technically the right word. Before implies some passing of time.
There cannot be a before unless there is an after, which can't happen unless a clock is ticking. And the problem with that language is that time itself is a created thing. Time began as part of God creating, so time didn't precede creation, but God did. God preceded creation. He was existing without time.
We can't say how long he existed before time started because that would require time, and there was none. God just was. The christian story is that God never wasn't. God never emerged. He's the uncaused cause.
He's the unmade maker. He is holy, and he is perfect in every way. He created on purpose, with intentionality, and believing that type of origin versus a chaotic, disordered origin actually has implications for how we live our lives. Now, I'm not saying you need to sort out all of your existential questions in order to fix breakfast and go to work. Of course not, right?
Most of the time, we don't give much thought to where all of this came from and why. But with one creation narrative, the more you think about it, the more grounded you will be. The more purpose and significance you will likely feel versus other types of creation narratives. The more you think about them, the less grounded you will be, the harder it will be to find significant purpose or meaning for your life. Those other narratives will actually make you more unstable the more that you think about them.
Let's sort it through together. If you believe the world, every molecule, every atom, every electron that makes up all of existence, including yourself, if all of it was made on purpose by a designer who is himself, flawless, stable and eternal, if you believe that it will lead you to believe that you were made for a reason, regardless of what your parents told you, you were wanted, you have a purpose. If you really sort out all the implications of a designer who was complex enough to make the universe, whatever God could envision and construct the supposedly 13 billion light years of space down to the atomic level, who carved it all out on purpose, that designer must have had a reason to make you.
Like if you've been to the Vatican in Rome and you've seen the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo, of course it's massive. You can't look at the whole ceiling at one time.
You have to look at it in little sections, and each little frame has so much detail that people have studied this tapestry for 500 years. But one thing you know, when you're looking at it, even if you're a novice, even if you've never taken an art class, you know all of it was on purpose. Every person painted every animal, every color, every brushstroke, all on purpose, right? It's not like when Michelangelo finished, he looked up and said, why didn't that guy have hair? Where'd that sword come from?
Who put that goat over there? Michelangelo knew every detail of what he was doing. It was all on purpose. And if you believe the universe is like that, created by a designer who knew what he was doing, it is much different than believing our origins are just chaos or meaninglessness. The christian belief is much different than the beliefs that we weren't really intentionally wanted, that we're just the byproduct, an accident of God's fighting, or that we came from somewhere without purpose, or all of existence is just kind of here without a reason for it being here.
And actually, if you believe the current scientific narrative without any kind of christian modification or addition onto it, any kind of christian overlay, the scientific narrative is not only did we come from somewhere without purposeful, intentional design, in addition to that, science would say, at the end of everything, we will return to nothingness. Science would tell us everything we ever do will eventually crumble because of entropy. The universe will run out of energy. And if you buy all of that without any kind of modification, it is more difficult to believe that you matter, because really, you don't.
Even if you try to construct your own purpose and meaning for your life, even if you say, well, the moments I have are all the moments that exist, and I've just got to give it my best for while I'm here.
Okay, give it a shot. But be honest with yourself. If everything you've ever done with your life, even the stuff that you think really matters, if all of that will crumble and descend into chaos from whence it came, and none of it will be remembered, because there will be no one to remember it, everyone you've ever loved or who has ever loved you, they will also crumble and return to insignificance if we came from meaninglessness and chaos, and we'll return to meaninglessness and chaos, if that's what you believe, sure, you can still get up and make breakfast and go to work.
You can. But in order to have the motivation to get up and make breakfast and go to work day after day after day, you kind of have to hide from what you believe.
You kind of have to keep your head in the sand a little in order to function in the world, because you're not part of a masterpiece. You're not part of an eternal plan. You're basically a, whoops, how'd that get there? And maybe worse than coming to exist without any purpose or reason. Maybe worse is that everything you ever do is also ultimately meaningless.
If you really dug into that belief and forced yourself to face all the implications of it, how many days could you get up and make your coffee? On the other hand, if you believe you were made on purpose for a purpose by an unfathomably brilliant engineer, the more you believe that and think about it, the more centered, grounded, stable you will become. You don't have to ignore the christian belief in order to function. The christian belief helps you function. Our beliefs have implications if we dig into them.
They have implications for how we make coffee in the morning. So we came from order, not chaos, which implies we have a purpose. Second, we came from love. Christians believe uniquely, no one else believes this. Christians believe that God is trinity, that God is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Each of the three persons is fully God, yet each of the three persons is distinct from the other two persons. Further, we believe Father, Son and Holy Spirit have dwelled together without beginning, in perfect love and harmony since before, if we can use that word, since before creation, since pre existent eternity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit have loved one another. Which means, Christians believe, that love preceded just about everything else. That love is more primary than anything else. Love is what existence is really all about if it is what preceded existence, all of which comes from our doctrine of the Trinity.
Now, it is fair to say the concept of the Trinity is mostly from the New Testament. Jewish people don't believe God is trinity. However, there are hints and clues of God's triune nature throughout the Old Testament and even here in the creation narrative. Verse one, God created the heavens and the earth. Verse two, the spirit of God hovered over the waters.
Why say it that way? Why make a distinction between God and God's spirit unless there is a distinction which there is? Genesis one is very similar to what we find in the New Testament, John, chapter one, where John writes, in the beginning was the word, and the word was God, and the word was with God. He was with God in the beginning. Later, John refers to Jesus as being the word.
The idea is Jesus the Son is both God because he says he was God, and he's distinct from God because he says he is with God. And it's what we see with the spirit of God. Here in Genesis, the spirit is God, yet the spirit is distinct from father and son. It's a clue that there is trinity from the very first verse of the Bible, another clue of God's triune nature, not in our text from today, but still within the creation narrative when God creates humans. Genesis 126 he says, let us plural make man in our plural image, after our plural likeness.
God refers to himself, who is a singular being. In the plural, God is both one and three. If you have questions, and you should. The early church had questions too. They wrestled with this concept a lot.
In fact, they had many conferences trying to sort out. Very technical language, which I can't detail all of that now, but if you want way too much information, I recommend this book, which we have an image of by Robert Latham entitled the Holy Trinity. It is the most comprehensive yet understandable, I would say, explanation of all the different arguments that were ever had about the Trinity up to modern day. And he shows why the orthodox understanding of the Trinity stuck, why it's important. His book's about this thick get the revised version.
Go for it. But what is critical to know for today is that Father, Son and Holy Spirit have loved one another in perfect, unbroken, ceaseless adoration, exaltation, glorification of one another since forever. Father glorifies the Son and the spirit. Son glorifies the father and the spirit. Spirit glorifies the father and the Son.
In other words, God is not self promoting even within himself, he's always giving, promoting another. The father is focused outward, the Son is focused outward. The spirit is focused outward to the other two. It's love. Since forever without beginning, love has always been christians don't believe love as a created thing.
We believe love as an eternal thing, which importantly means we don't believe God created something in order to get love. He already had his love tank full. So he didn't create in order to get love. He created in order to share the love he already had in himself. God wasn't lonely before he created.
He wasn't needy. He didn't say, there is something lacking in me. Maybe if I make something else, it will give me what I need. He didn't say that. Like some grownups say, right?
Husband and wife can say things if they're having relationship trouble, they may say something like, maybe having kids will answer our problems. Side note, kids won't solve your problems. And if you are a kid who was brought into that kind of home, you know how unstable of a place it is. That's not why God created us. He was already whole within his triune, selfless love before we ever came into the picture.
Now, if God were not triune, if there were a God, but he was only singular, then love did not precede creation. Love is not eternal. Love could not have existed until God created something else to love or related. If there is no God and we just came out of chaos, then obviously love didn't have anything to do with creation. And in fact, love isn't even real, right?
It's just biochemical responses to whatever is firing in your head at that moment. And either of those beliefs, either a belief in a singular God who created but not out of love he created for some other reason, or if there's no God at all and therefore no love at all, either of those are much different origin narratives with different implications. If God created us to share the perfect love he already had within himself and he was already whole and complete, and if he thought this love was so wonderful that he wanted others to experience his wholeness and perfect love, that's a much different reason for existence than, say, a God who created to rule, a God who created only out of a display of power.
If a display of power is what drove the weaving of the fabric of the universe, that's a much different story than if an overflow of love wove the fabric of the universe. And it's a much different story than our existence just being the result of a long process of mindless forces that had no purpose behind it whatsoever.
Right? Those stories have different implications for how we live our lives. They have different implications about what is most important in the world. And you should ask yourself, what story helps you face your day? What story will create the version of the world that you want to live in?
Your options are love is most central to the order of the universe, power is most central, or the universe has no meaning whatsoever. Which one do you want to be true? Which one is going to lead you to treat people in the way that you should treat them? If you believe power is what's most foundational to how the universe works, that belief will create different types of civilizations than if you believe love is most central to how the universe works. Those beliefs will play out in our lives, in how we treat each other, what we prioritize, what we celebrate.
Right? So even if you're a skeptic, you might want to believe the christian origin story.
So we were made from order, not chaos. We were made from love. And now, finally, we were made with delight. In full disclosure, we don't get a sense of God's delight explicitly from verses one and two, so don't look for it there. But numerous commentators note elements of poetry throughout the rest of chapter one.
Most of chapter one is prose not poetry. So you can't define the whole chapter as a poem. Genesis one does not have the structure of a typical hebrew poem. However, Genesis one also does not match typical hebrew prose. It's kind of a blend.
The creation account doesn't totally match with other biblical genres, but it's almost as if the author burst into poetry at different moments. Because there's repetition, there's parallelism, there is a non prose structure. Each day there is a refrain. God said, let there be light. And God said, let there be an expanse.
And God said, let the waters gather. And each day the author writes, there was evening and there is morning. There is evening and there is morning. There is evening, and there was morning. And each day God called it good.
And God called it good. And God called it good. It's almost like the chorus of a song. In a song, you may have different verses, but then you come back and repeat the chorus. There are elements of that in Genesis one.
There are markers of poetry, or even a song, which, for those of you who might be worried if it is poetry, even if it was totally poetry, that doesn't make it less literal, but it does add nuances of delight and joy. It's similar. It's not the same, but it's similar to what we see in other places of scripture. A song accompanies a literal event, right? The angel tells Mary she will be with child and give birth to Jesus.
And after Mary visits her cousins, she sings about it. Luke one or Exodus 15, parting of the Red Sea, Israelites escaping from egyptian slavery, Moses and Miriam stop and sing a song about it. Those songs don't mean Mary wasn't literally pregnant or the partying of the Red Sea didn't happen. Right. A song about event doesn't make the event less literal, but it does give you an indication that there's joy and delight about the event.
And that's how we should see God creating. We know God had delight in creation not only because of these poetic elements, but also because God called everything good. After each day, over and over and over, he was very pleased with what he made. Or psalm 104, verse 31 says, may God rejoice in his works. Or like we studied when we were looking at Zechariah, God sings over us in delight.
Zechariah 317. God loves creating. He has so much joy over his creation that he burst into a song. That's how the world was made. That's how you were made by a God who made you on purpose out of an overflow of love within himself.
And he was delighted while he did it. That's how creation happened in one of the Narnia books. And if you're not familiar with the Narnia books, it is a children's fictional series written by C. S. Lewis, and it is an allegory of many things in christian theology.
And in one of the books, the magician's nephew, two children are transported back to the beginning of the creation of Narnia. They get to see nothing, become something. And what they see is Aslan, who? He's the Christ character. Throughout the books, Aslan is always depicted as a lion.
So they see Aslan the lion singing creation into existence. I cut out various paragraphs, so go read it yourself, because it's beautiful and too long to read the whole thing. But C. S. Lewis writes, in the darkness, something was happening at last.
A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away, and diggory. As one of the children, Diggory found it hard to decide what direction it was coming from. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once, but it was beyond comparison. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.
It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it. Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was the first voice was suddenly joined by other voices, more voices than he could possibly count. They were in harmony with the first voice, but higher up the scale and cold, tingly, silvery voices. The second wonder was the blackness overhead all at once was ablaze with stars.
They didn't come out gently, one by one, as they do on a summer evening. One moment there had been nothing but darkness. The next moment, thousand points of lights had leaped out. If you had seen it and heard it, you would have felt quite certain it was the stars themselves which were singing. And it was the first voice which had made them appear and made them the stars, sing at the same time, all the time.
The first voice went on singing. The voice rose and rose till the air was shaking with it. And just as it swelled to the mightiest and most glorious sound it had yet produced, the sun arose, and the earth was of many colors. They were fresh, hot, vivid. They made you feel excited until you saw the singer himself, and then you forgot everything else.
It was the lion, huge, shaggy and bright. He stood facing the risen sun. His mouth was wide open and song. And as he walked and sang, the valley grew green with grass. It spread out from the lion like a pool.
Then the song changed once more. It was far wilder. It made you want to run and jump and climb. And with the change of the tune showers of birds came out of the trees. Butterflies fluttered.
Bees got to work on the flowers as if they didn't have a second to lose. Then there came a swift flash, like fire, either from the sky or from the lion himself. And every drop of blood tingled in the children's bodies. And the deepest, wildest voice they had ever heard was saying, Narnia, Narnia, Narnia. Awake, love.
Think, speak.
That's probably not exactly what it was like when jesus did it, but it does give a picture of his joy. When he created. We were made with delight. We were made from love. We were made on purpose, for a purpose.
Now, if you know all of that, if you know the beginning of the story, then you would be able to correctly anticipate what a God like that would do. If and when we turned on him, when we betrayed him, when we ran away from him, if he made us on purpose, out of an overflow of his love with delight, as he did then, of course he's going to win us back when we run away from him. Of course he's not going to abandon us. Of course, if he put that much intentionality in us and has that much joy in us, of course he'll come run after us when we get ourselves in trouble.
Of course he would, which is exactly what he did on the cross.
Jesus took the mess that we've made of his world, the mess we've made of ourselves, the penalty we deserve for all of it. He took it onto himself to restore us to him. Of course he would want to restore us to him. If you know the beginning of the story and now you do, then you could predict the end.
If you have never trusted in his work to bring you back to him who delights in you, tell him today. Tell him. Jesus, I'm sorry I've run from you. Thank you for doing on the cross what was necessary to reunite me to you. All I want to do is be with the one who sang creation into existence.
Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for such a firm foundation to the origin of all that there is. Thank you that you are eternal and good and created within a purpose that is eternal and good. And you created us out of the love that you already had within yourself, and you created us with such delight. Lord, let us dwell on those beliefs.
Let us dig further into them and let us feel your love, desire for us as you cherish us and have a plan for our lives. We pray those things in Jesus name. Amen.
Spend a few minutes with small children, and you’ll be reminded that kids typically become adept at an early age at watching and listening to and imitating the behavior of others.
Ephesians 5 explains that the Christian life is similar: as we mature in faith and as God’s image bearers who have been changed by the message of the gospel, we too should increasingly seek to imitate our heavenly Father in order that we may look more and more like Him. This week’s sermon will help us to better understand what that process looks like.
We expect to find apples on an apple tree. And we expect to find oranges on an orange tree. But what kind of fruit could we expect to see from Christians? If someone has experienced new inner life from Christ, what markers would be visible on the outside? This week, we’ll study how Christ’s work on our behalf changes us—not from the outside in, but from the inside out.
Have you ever seen someone with great confidence and poise during a difficult season? Have you ever wondered how such peace could be possible? This week, we study a passage where Paul explains the reasons he isn’t shaken even though his circumstances seem disheartening, and we will learn how his security can be ours as well.
One way to summarize the message of the Bible is with the phrase, “But God.” For instance, Scripture teaches the world was descending into chaos and sin, but God. Or we learn our hearts were more aligned to ourselves than others, but God. Or our problems were too much for us to overcome, but God. In other words, God intervened. This week, we’ll take a look at His intervention, why it was necessary, and how it changes everything.
We all look for a sense of security in the world—some way to know that we will be okay in the end. But how secure are all the various options where we can place our trust? Will they really keep us safe forever and ever? This week, we'll look at the security that Jesus provides and how it outlasts and outshines every other impostor.
Forgetful is us. It’s what we are. Not always, but often enough that we need help, because some of the things we could be forgetting are really important. Fortunately there is a lot of help for God’s forgetful children in God’s Word.
It can seem easy to have a missional mindset—to remember that people matter, that God’s truth matters, and that the gospel is our only hope—when we go on a short-term mission trip to some place outside of our own context. But what if we took that same approach with the people we interact with on a daily basis? How might that change the way we live?
Some of us may feel Jesus is too remote to find. Others of us may feel that we have too much baggage in our lives to be able to find Jesus. But this week, we’ll see all of us, no matter what barriers might be in the way, have an opportunity to find the One for whom we have been searching.
If faith is something so easy that even a child can do it, then why do we, as grown ups, sometimes struggle? What's our real problem with following Jesus? Might it have nothing to do with faith at all? This week, we'll look at those who embraced Jesus. those who hesitated, and those in between. For all of us, our real hope isn't so much the amount of faith we can muster, but instead, the One who comes to save.
In a culture with a decidedly unbiblical view of marriage and divorce, Jesus’ words in Mark 10:1-12 may sound extreme. However, since God designed marriage for His glory and for our good, we would be wise to listen to Him. And gratefully, God’s grace is sufficient when we fall short of His designs for marriage. So, in this week’s message, we will look at Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce, because as followers of Jesus, the entirety of our lives—including our approach to our most important relationships—matters and belongs to Him.
The world is made up of all kinds of people: dog people and cat people; mountain people and beach people; morning people and evening people; right-brained people and left-brained people; coffee people and anything-but-coffee people. And the list could go on. But among all of the incredible diversity of interests, values, and idiosyncrasies of humans, all of us are strangely similar in one area of interest: self-interest. Self-interest is one of the few things that unifies us as the human race, and it has a more powerful grip and it takes a greater toll on all of us than we could ever imagine.
In the midst of a me-first world, though, Jesus gives us an entirely different example for us to follow.
Repetition can be a really effective teacher because sometimes, frankly, we don’t “get it” the first time (or sometimes even the second or third time). In fact, it may not be until, say, the tenth or eleventh time that a valuable lesson begins to sink in for us. And if you’ve ever experienced that, take heart! You’re in good company, because the same could be said of Jesus’ own disciples. In reality, we all have a shared collective need for divine intervention in order for us to truly begin to see and to “get it” when it comes to understanding who Jesus really is, what he came to do, and what that means for all of us.
Repetition can be a really effective teacher because sometimes, frankly, we don’t “get it” the first time (or sometimes even the second or third time). In fact, it may not be until, say, the tenth or eleventh time that a valuable lesson begins to sink in for us. And if you’ve ever experienced that, take heart! You’re in good company, because the same could be said of Jesus’ own disciples. In reality, we all have a shared collective need for divine intervention in order for us to truly begin to see and to “get it” when it comes to understanding who Jesus really is, what he came to do, and what that means for all of us.
Sometimes it feels like we run to Jesus in desperation. Other times it feels like Jesus shows up in our lives totally unannounced and unexpected. Either way, there is only one thing we need to have—nothing at all.
Mark 7:1-23 points us to a really hard reality—namely, that it is entirely possible to have all of the outward trappings of religion, to have others commend you for your spiritual example, and for your life to be going well, and yet still lack a genuine love for God and desire to do His will. Like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, we too are quite capable of hypocrisy and of going through the motions of religion externally, while being completely blind to our condition, prioritizing the wrong things, and being out of step with God internally.
How can we avoid falling into this dangerous trap? Join us for this week’s message from the Gospel of Mark.
While probably none of us look forward to the storms of life, every single one of us will need to face them. The disciples, of course, were no different…except for the fact that when they faced their storms, Jesus was physically present with them. This week, we will study what it means for Jesus to be present with us during our seasons of fear and uncertainty and how He really does make all the difference.
One of the most consistent traits of Jesus that we see throughout the book of Mark is His pattern to meet people exactly where they are. This week, we see Jesus meet people in their various needs and respond with compassion and care. As we will learn, it’s the same response He has for each one of us—no matter how desperate our need.
Jesus’ plan for His disciples was not simply for them to listen and learn forever. Eventually, they needed to step out and represent Him to the world. This week, we’ll look at the moment when the disciples turned from listeners to doers and see that Jesus has a similar plan for each of us.
In this Sunday’s message, we will be taking a 1-week break from our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark in order to focus our attention on the very important issue of abortion and the sanctity of life. What does God’s Word have to say about what it really means to be “pro-life”? How does Scripture direct us as Christ-followers to think and to act about this matter? How should we speak about this admittedly-polarizing issue today to those in our culture—and in the church—who have questions or objections? And how can we not only speak up on behalf of the unborn, but also use our freedoms to truly love our neighbors and to extend tangible support to mothers and families and to any and all who are vulnerable in our world today?
While many people loved, followed, and even worshiped Jesus, there were those who did not. For some, Jesus was just too offensive to trust. This week we’ll look at what made it so hard for some people to accept Jesus and, at the same time, we'll see that His offense actually meets our greatest need.
Most of us naturally find it much easier to affirm God’s goodness and to express trust in Him at a general level, and when life is predictable and going well, than it is to keep trusting Him when troubles and uncertainty begin to come our way and fear and anxiety grip our hearts.
The fact is that there will be times when we won’t know how God will provide. Plans will fall through. People will disappoint us. Things will go wrong. There will be moments or even seasons of uncertainty and desperation, when hope seems distant, and God seems to be ignoring our plight and our prayers. What then?
Demon possession. Not something that the Western world talks about very often outside of horror films. But what if the many other cultures who recognize the existence of such evil have picked up on something that we have missed? What would we need to know about it? How would we recognize it? And how could we get free? This week, we study the longest passage in Scripture describing a demon possession and the liberation that Jesus brings.
Many of us would like to experience more growth in our spiritual lives. Even those of us who have been Christians for many years look forward to what God has for us next. But how does spiritual growth actually work? What is our role? What is God’s role? In our passage this week, Jesus compares spiritual growth to the organic growth of seeds, and we’ll see our growth isn’t for us alone, but is actually for the whole world.
Many people didn't know quite what to do with Jesus. Some seemed to be embarrassed by Him. Others believed Him to be evil. But then, some saw Him for who He was, and it changed everything for them. This week, we'll look at these competing claims, and see what makes the difference between choosing one over the others.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there was never any shortage of controversies, accusations, and objections. This was due to the revolutionary nature of his teachings and actions, because they introduced a completely new paradigm, upending people’s expectations and calling for a complete reversal of old habits of living and thinking.
When you stop to think about it, not much has changed since then. For many, Jesus still disappoints and offends and confuses. So, join us this week as we continue to read through the Gospel of Mark and wrestle with the surprising message of what Jesus has to say about who is and who is not righteous before God, about the relationship between the Old Testament law and Jesus’ ministry in the New Testament, and why these things matter for us today.
Many of us are naturally curious about the type of people who will be welcomed by God, and many of us probably have our own assumptions regarding who might be “in” and who might be “out.” The people in the first century weren’t any different. They, like us, drew circles of inclusion and exclusion, but what we will see this week is that Jesus completely turned their assumptions on their heads. To the surprise of everyone, Jesus included even the most unlikely of characters into His Kingdom.
When Jesus came to earth, it marked the beginning of a new kingdom. A kingdom where evil would be conquered, suffering would be eliminated, and people could live in unity with one another. This week, we’ll study the first advances of this new kingdom and the differences it made in the lives of those who experienced it.
Every journey has a beginning—a moment when we leave what was and step toward what’s next. Those moments are often filled with anticipation of where the path will lead us. This week, we will study the beginning of Jesus’ journey, where He is heading, and what we need in order to follow.
Many of us have heard the phrase, “speak the truth in love,” but what does it mean? And why does Paul in his letter to the Ephesians emphasize it as what we must do to grow spiritually? This week, we’ll study the critical role of speaking into one another’s lives, and the wondrous blessing that it is.
Whenever there is some type of national or global tragedy, where there is shock and grief, we want to point fingers, assign blame, and offer solutions. And some of this is, of course, appropriate. However, Scripture reveals that one of our first responsibilities to each other is to carry each other’s burdens. Carrying one another’s burdens is one of the greatest privileges we have as Jesus-followers. But it’s also one of the biggest challenges as well. Find out why and what we can do about it in this week’s message.
When you think about a weekly gathering of the church, your image of a service will no doubt include music, most of which involves congregational singing. But why do we sing in church? Is it simply a long-standing tradition, or does Scripture give us direction on what our gathering time should look like (or better yet, sound like)? This week we will take a look at why singing together as a church is a gift and a blessing to all who participate.
Often, to get where we are going in life, we need some help. We need some counsel. And we definitely need correction. As it turns out, our spiritual development isn't that much different from any other type of progress. We need some help. We need some counsel. And we definitely need correction. One of the blessings of church is that God has built into the very structure of the organization the means for us to develop as Christians. This week, we'll study the blessing of elders, why they are necessary, and how they help us move forward in our relationship with God.
Have you ever noticed how uniquely adapted each animal seems to be to its particular environment and way of life? On land, a duck waddles along ungainly on its webbed feet, while in the water, it glides along smooth as glass. Or a rabbit can run with ease, using great bursts of speed, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one swimming laps.
What's true of animals is also true of Christians. God has not made us all the same. He never intended to. He deliberately planned that there would be differences, variations, and even supernatural capabilities (referred to in the Bible as spiritual gifts) distributed throughout the Body of Christ. So join us for this week’s message as we consider how these unique and divinely-given gifts, when properly discovered and developed, honor God while also bringing everlasting good to the Church and to the entire world.
There are certain advantages of in-person relationships that just cannot be attained any other way. While many of us only became acutely aware of the advantages we were missing during the pandemic, humans have been built to be physically present with one another from the beginning. This week we will study the need we have to be together and the blessing that comes when we are.
It’s common at this time of year to think about a fresh start – a new beginning or a restart in the new year. Yet because of past unkept resolutions, some might think, “Why bother?” This Sunday’s New Year’s Day message will focus on a fresh start that seemed unlikely, but played out 2,500 years ago, and the learning is still relevant today.
Christmas is when we celebrate the miracle of God coming to be with us--of God coming to be with humanity who has run away from Him and broken His world. But Christmas tells us more than God wants to be with us, it tells us that God wants to restore and redeem. This week, we will see God's desire to save even the most unlikely of places and amongst the most unlikely of people.
Many of us know how it feels not only to wait on God, but to wait on God for a long time to move in our lives. Believe it or not, this type of expectant waiting is a common experience among God’s people throughout the Scriptures. In fact, it is so common that the ancient scribes who arranged the order of the Old Testament books did so in a way that heightened the reader's expectation and longing for God to move. As we conclude our series of Jesus in Every Genre, we will see that He is the final and complete fulfillment of the bursting expectation of the Old Testament.
Throughout Scripture, we see God's heart to provide a wonderful home for humanity, and even though we often break the goodness that He creates, God is not deterred in His mission. He will provide a wonderful home for His children. This week, we will see how Jesus brings that home to us, and what it means for our future.
We don’t often think about it, but the theme of “exile” is one of the biggest themes in all of the Bible. And the reason why it is so helpful to consider the various Old Testament stories of Israel when they were in exile, taken from their homes and immersed into a new culture that was hostile to God and to their faith, is because it helps us to think about the question: How do I live out my Christian faith today, while residing in a fragmented culture that is frequently indifferent or even hostile to my faith, and that does not sustain and support the deepest needs of my heart?
Join us for this week’s message, as we explore practical principles for living a believing life in a largely unbelieving world.
When the Israelites asked for a king, they were asking for more than a political leader. They were asking for peace and security from some source other than God. This week, we’ll look at the disappointments we will always encounter when searching for peace and security outside of God, and God’s surprising response to our rejection of Him.
This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in America. And while Thanksgiving is a day specifically dedicated to gratitude, the fact is that giving thanks each and every day ought to be a way of life for the people of God, not just a once-a-year occurrence. So, whether you’re in a season where giving thanks to God has been easy and consistent, or whether you’ve been finding that your “gratitude tank” has been running pretty low lately, this week’s Scripture message will remind us how giving thanks to God daily -- even in the most challenging of circumstances -- can transform our lives and draw us closer to Him.
For many of us, reading about God’s wrath in the Old Testament is more than a little unsettling. It seems strange to us that a God of love could cause so much destruction, and we certainly don’t turn to those passages when we need to be comforted. But what if God intended those passages for our comfort? What if we have missed something important? What if those passages are meant to tell us about Jesus? This week, we’ll see how even the wrath in the Old Testament can fill us with hope and captivate us with Jesus.
We’ve probably all wanted God to show up and speak with us during a season of suffering. We’ve wanted answers or just a sense of His presence. This week, we’ll look at when God showed up and spoke with Job. While none of Job’s questions were answered, he did find all that he ever needed—and it changed everything.
One of the reasons that the book of Job is in the Bible (not the primary reason, but an important reason nonetheless) is to explore the question of how to best relate to friends and loved ones who are hurting. So, how should we respond -- and how should we not respond -- when a Job inevitably comes across our path? That’s the focus of this week’s message.
All of us have known or will know great suffering. We come to learn through experience that sad situations don’t always get better, and life’s problems don’t always get solved. And when those moments inevitably arrive on our doorstep, and when explanations or quick solutions don’t seem to appear on the horizon, few things can be more freeing than to know that God understands, that our frustrations and questions and struggles and doubts do not fluster Him, and that He even invites us to come and to air our grievances before Him in trust.
Join us for this week’s message as we continue our sermon series from the life of Job, and discover the important role that biblical lament can play in helping us to process pain and walk through seasons of grief and sorrow.
When life presses us, we've all asked the question, "Why?" We wonder: why me, why now, what did I do to deserve this, what purpose could this possibly serve, and how long will it last? Job had those exact same questions, and he posed them to God. As we study Job's questions this week, we'll see more of ourselves than we might expect, and we may learn a clue to the "why" behind our own suffering.
We've all seen people handle difficulty and tragedy in ways that amazed and inspired us. We've also seen people respond in ways that made everything worse for everyone. What makes the difference? Why are some people refined by the fire and...
Few people seem to question or object whenever people suffer due to their own evil or foolish choices and decisions. If we do wrong, the reasoning goes, then we must pay the consequences. That’s just how it works. At the same time, though, we...
The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a book of stories that together tell one incredible story, that God wants everyone to know and be changed by. This life-giving story is our focus this Sunday. If you like pictures and stories that are...
The resurrection. Perhaps the most well known single event to ever take place in history. It meant death’s reign of terror was over. It meant God was intervening to restore a broken world. It meant we could live with hope instead of despair....
We all look to something to make us feel complete. Wealth, acceptance, recognition, achievement…something. But for some of us, we’ve also noticed a problem. The thing we hope will make us feel complete never quite does--at least not for long....
Friendship is certainly not unique to Christianity. Every nation, tribe, and tongue enjoys the common grace of being close to others. However, Christianity does offer unique resources that enable us to develop deep relationships–even with people...
We all want to spend our lives doing something that matters. None of us wants to feel like our efforts are pointless. Yet, when we think it through, we sense the futility of trying to create something that lasts beyond a brief moment. What are we...
We all want to spend our lives doing something that matters. None of us wants to feel like our efforts are pointless. Yet, when we think it through, we sense the futility of trying to create something that lasts beyond a brief moment. What are we...
As big as God is, we might think He wouldn’t be concerned about people as small as us. Surely, He has more important matters to which He should give His attention. But time and time again in Scripture, we see God intimately involving Himself...
Jesus possessed unlimited power and could order the world around Him however He wished. But what He did with that power was utterly new and unheard of in human history. This week, we’ll examine the godly use of power, how it meets our needs, and...
Most of us don’t enjoy being told what to do. We’d rather keep our options open, make our own decisions, and shape our own future through our own choices. If you can relate at all to that feeling, then the Bible has some very good news for...
Most of us don’t enjoy being told what to do. We’d rather keep our options open, make our own decisions, and shape our own future through our own choices. If you can relate at all to that feeling, then the Bible has some very good news for...
We’re accustomed to asking God for all kinds of things. From health to prosperity to comfort, we have no problem with asking. Our question comes more so with “finding.” Our difficulty increases when Jesus claims that if we ask, we will...
One thing is for sure, we live in a culture of judgment. News headlines brag that one controversial figure was “destroyed” by another one, and people are canceled, roasted, or shamed in seemingly every arena of life. But Jesus calls His...
One thing is for sure, we live in a culture of judgment. News headlines brag that one controversial figure was “destroyed” by another one, and people are canceled, roasted, or shamed in seemingly every arena of life. But Jesus calls His...
Most of us probably realize anxiety doesn’t help us. If we could shut it off, we would. The problem, of course, is we don’t know how to shut it off. We want to, but it seems to have more power over us than we have over it. In this passage,...
Most of us probably realize anxiety doesn’t help us. If we could shut it off, we would. The problem, of course, is we don’t know how to shut it off. We want to, but it seems to have more power over us than we have over it. In this passage,...
When you make an investment, you’re typically doing so for the long term. The daily ups and downs of the market may cause you lots of anxiety, but financial planners will almost always advise you to focus on what the investment will look like...
When you make an investment, you’re typically doing so for the long term. The daily ups and downs of the market may cause you lots of anxiety, but financial planners will almost always advise you to focus on what the investment will look like...
The Lord’s Prayer. Many of us could recite it by heart, but how many of us actually pray the way that Jesus instructed? This week, rather than looking at the Lord’s Prayer as a rigid rubric that we recite in a specific order, we’ll look at...
The Lord’s Prayer. Many of us could recite it by heart, but how many of us actually pray the way that Jesus instructed? This week, rather than looking at the Lord’s Prayer as a rigid rubric that we recite in a specific order, we’ll look at...
Jesus assumes everyone will help those in need. Good people. Bad people. Everyone. So the question isn't if we will help, but why will we help. And the answer to that "why" question reveals more about us than we might like to know. However, as...
Jesus assumes everyone will help those in need. Good people. Bad people. Everyone. So the question isn't if we will help, but why will we help. And the answer to that "why" question reveals more about us than we might like to know. However, as...
A new year on the calendar is often accompanied by optimism, but it’s also often accompanied by a certain degree of uncertainty and fear. We want to know where the provision is going to come from. We want to know if things are going to turn out...
A new year on the calendar is often accompanied by optimism, but it’s also often accompanied by a certain degree of uncertainty and fear. We want to know where the provision is going to come from. We want to know if things are going to turn out...
It’s common for two or more people to see the same thing, but not see the same thing. That could be due to our varying likes, dislikes, opinions, preferences, or feelings. Or it could be that we are fixated on lesser things that block our view...
It’s common for two or more people to see the same thing, but not see the same thing. That could be due to our varying likes, dislikes, opinions, preferences, or feelings. Or it could be that we are fixated on lesser things that block our view...
Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. These phrases are so commonplace in our culture, we might forget their significance or who first spoke them. However, in Jesus' day, these weren't just trite cliches. These instructions were utterly...
Turn the other cheek. Go the extra mile. These phrases are so commonplace in our culture, we might forget their significance or who first spoke them. However, in Jesus' day, these weren't just trite cliches. These instructions were utterly...
This week's message will be addressing some sensitive topics (particularly from Matthew 5:27-30). Parents of younger kids and teens should consider these topics before encouraging your child to listen.
There is a lot more...
This week's message will be addressing some sensitive topics (particularly from Matthew 5:27-30). Parents of younger kids and teens should consider these topics before encouraging your child to listen.
There is a lot more...
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there was never any shortage of controversies, accusations, and objections. This was due, in large part, to the radical and revolutionary nature of Jesus’ teachings, particularly those found in the Sermon on the...
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there was never any shortage of controversies, accusations, and objections. This was due, in large part, to the radical and revolutionary nature of Jesus’ teachings, particularly those found in the Sermon on the...
In a dark world that lacks goodness, Jesus says “you” are the answer. He commissions us to be salt and light, desiring for us to contribute to our communities in specific ways. This week, we’ll study our place in the world, the risks of that...
In a dark world that lacks goodness, Jesus says “you” are the answer. He commissions us to be salt and light, desiring for us to contribute to our communities in specific ways. This week, we’ll study our place in the world, the risks of that...
This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in America. And while Thanksgiving is a day specifically dedicated to gratitude, the fact is that giving thanks each and every day ought to be a way of life for the people of God, not just a once-a-year...
This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in America. And while Thanksgiving is a day specifically dedicated to gratitude, the fact is that giving thanks each and every day ought to be a way of life for the people of God, not just a once-a-year...
If you hadn't noticed, our world is pretty divided. Tensions. Clashing between ideologies, families, and friends. Jesus came into a similar world--a world divided into "us and them." But the message that Jesus spoke began to change that world,...
If you hadn't noticed, our world is pretty divided. Tensions. Clashing between ideologies, families, and friends. Jesus came into a similar world--a world divided into "us and them." But the message that Jesus spoke began to change that world,...
Just about everyone has some type of personal agenda. People have plans, programs, things they want to accomplish, and specific ways they want to accomplish them. So they make lists, set goals, and try to reach them.
God is no stranger to...
Just about everyone has some type of personal agenda. People have plans, programs, things they want to accomplish, and specific ways they want to accomplish them. So they make lists, set goals, and try to reach them.
God is no stranger to...
Devoted. The word brings to mind serious effort over the long haul. We can be devoted to a diet, a career, a sports team, or our family, among other possibilities. But what about fellowship? What would it look like to be devoted to fellowship? And...
Devoted. The word brings to mind serious effort over the long haul. We can be devoted to a diet, a career, a sports team, or our family, among other possibilities. But what about fellowship? What would it look like to be devoted to fellowship? And...
Everyone would love to be part of a forgiving community. But no one would want to be part of a community where members acted in whatever way they wished with no accountability. So which should we choose? Forgiveness or accountability? This week,...
Acceptance. If we're honest, we all need it. We need to be seen, wanted, and included as part of the group. To our astonishment, God Himself, through Christ, has fully accepted us. Even when we deserved rejection, Christ paid for our sin, bore...
Acceptance, affection, appreciation, approval, attention, comfort, encouragement, amity, respect, and support. How often do we receive these gifts from others out in the world? What if there were a place we could experience all of these in...
We need each other. Not in some squishy romantic sense or in unhealthy codependency, but humans were not meant to live in isolation. Modern medical research has determined how detrimental loneliness is to our wellbeing, and after the last 18...
As we begin another year of ministry at Bridges Community Church, now is a perfect time to remind ourselves of our mission as a church. What are we about? What is most important? As we ask those questions this week, we'll see that our mission...
Richard Lew preaches from Ephesians 2:1-10 on salvation from our fallen human nature that is curved in upon ourselves
Richard Lew preaches from Matthew 2:1-12, how Jesus is the true and good king God intended as a fulfillment of the promises to Abraham
Michael Gregory preaches from 1 Pet 2:9-10 on the nation that was promised to Abraham, fulfilled in Christ
Richard Lew preaches from Matt 16:13-19 on the first week of Advent, how Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of God to Abraham
Ordination of Richard Lew in the Presbyterian Church in America. Paul Kim gives the charge to Richard Lew and the congregation.
Richard Lew preaches from Genesis 3 and Rom 1, about male and female being made in God's image and the result of sin, with a specific discussion of sex and homosexuality.
Michael Gregory preaches from Genesis 1 and 2 about being made in God's image, male and female, equal in dignity and worth but with different roles by God's design
Michael Gregory preaches from Revelation 22, and why the promise "I am coming soon" is our great hope.
Richard Lew preaches on Revelation 21 on the new heaven and new earth. Also note Bridges 1 year anniversary.
Richard Lew preaches from Revelation chp 17 on the Great Prostitute, called Babylon the Great, and the illusory appeal of worldliness
Richard Lew preaches from Revelation chp 13, about the great deceiver, Satan and two allies, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the land
Richard Lew preaches from Rev 1:1-18. Revelation is not a puzzle requiring a secret knowledge to unlock, but God showing a spiritual reality we are not always aware of that changes everything
Richard Lew preaches on John 21 about shame, the mercy of Jesus, and a worth that is found only in him
Continuing our series on the Gospel of John, Richard Lew preaches on Jesus's response to death.
We are called to live in community. What do we see about the early church in Acts that informs and empowers us to do so?