Grace Church Waco: Recent Episodes
Grace Church
Listen to the latest sermons from Grace Church in Waco, Tx. For more information about Grace Church, visit gracewaco.com
Romans 12:9-13; 15:7 // The mission of Grace Church is to Make Jesus Known, and we believe that the leading edge of that mission is hospitality. Gospel centered hospitality is grounded in honesty and honor. In Gospel centered hospitality we not only see others for who they are as God’s image bearers, but we extend the very mercy of God and the welcome of God in Christ to those around us.
Romans 12:10; 16:1-16 // In the gospel, Jesus not only clears us of our guilt and offers forgiveness for sin, but wipes away our shame by honoring and glorifying us with his position in the family. In response, we are called to build a counterculture of honor and familial love where misplaced shame has no place.
1 John 1:5-10 // When we hide our sin from God and others, we commit a practical heresy: denying the truth we profess to belief, lying about ourselves and God, and breaking fellowship with God and others. But when we confess our sins, Christ takes our bitterness and turns it sweet.
Job 42 // The gospel of Jesus is a comedy, not a tragedy. For righteous sufferers, the outcome is always restoration: of worship, of ministry, and of heavenly fortunes and dreams.
Job 38-41 // Finally, God speaks to us in our suffering, and we learn that he 1) answers the cries of the righteous; 2) orders the chaos of the world; and 3) triumphs over the evil of the ages.
Job 32:1-37:24 // Finding comfort in suffering is more than simply knowing things about God. Elihu's "youthful wisdom" inadvertently reveals our true need: For God himself to draw near. In Christ, God does draw near to us and assures us that we are both his friends and participants in the Holy Spirit together.
Job 29:1-31:40 // As Job gives his final lament and defense, we experience with him the loss of what was and what is—but with stubborn faith believe that in Christ we will never lose what will be.
Job 4:1-27:23 // We must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking of ourselves too highly, as if we have all the answers to suffering. These chapters provide insight into the complex issue of why a good God allows tragedy, and yet does not cancel other biblical truths such as sowing and reaping.
Job 2:11-3:26 // As we come to Job’s lament in chapter three we realize that deep suffering is always accompanied by deep anguish. Lament gives voice to the depth of our anguish in suffering, and it reckons with the gravity of our suffering and reconciles it to the sovereignty of God. In this way, even and deepest and most difficult lamenting is an expression of faith and hope in God.
Job 1:1-2:10 // Sometimes we suffer for the sake of our sin, as a means of God's discipline, bringing us to repentance. Sometimes we suffer for the sake of our sanctification, so God can grow us in righteous fruit. But in the book of Job, we find the story of a righteous man, not in need of any lesson from God. When he suffers through the sovereign hand of God, we have to ask "what gives"? The answer is that sometimes we suffer simply for the sake of God, that he might be Lord in our life.
Luke 9:18-27 // To correctly identify the mission and identity of Jesus is to follow him into it. Take up again your cross, following Jesus Christ, and save your life.
Luke 9:10-17 // In this famous passage, we are invited by Jesus himself to feast in the kingdom of God. We learn about his invitation, his provision, and how we can partake in this feast with him.
Luke 9:1-9 // Jesus calls his disciples to share his mission; Jesus empowers his disciples for the mission; Jesus instructs his disciples concerning the mission; Jesus sends his disciples into his mission.
2 Timothy 2:8a // The most important advice we can receive in a world of suffering and blood might be the simplest: remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.
Luke 8:40-56 // King Jesus has life in himself, King Jesus has power over death, King Jesus has come to save us.
Luke 8:26-39 // There is no storm of your heart that cannot be calmed by the power of Jesus, no undignified act or thought that cannot be rehumanized.
Luke 8:22-25 // As disciples of Jesus, to rightly answer the question, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him,” is to commit ourselves to total trust and obedience to Jesus, even in the midst of the storm.
Luke 8:16-21 // In our cultural moment of distraction, Jesus is calling us to learn to listen. Following the sower of the seed of faith, we respond by listening expectantly, humbly, and actively.
Luke 8:4-15 // The selective secrecy of Jesus is surprising, but not without purpose. In Luke 8:4-15, Christ shows us why he will sometimes hide himself from us - so that we would persist in drawing near to him. Like the seed in the soil, we see a Savior who hides himself in death to sprout forth with new life, a life that is given to those with "ears to hear". Though he speaks in whispers now, one day his glory will be revealed to all. Until that day, our task is simple: persist in the Word.
Luke 7:36-8:3 // In this text there are two different examples of how to approach or welcome Jesus: you can approach Jesus with an intellectual curiosity to speak at your dinner, or you can approach Jesus with a desperate faith to weep at his feet. One brings rebuke and distance from Jesus, and the other affirmation and intimacy with Jesus. The way to intimacy with Jesus is through a greater understanding of our sin, and a greater experience of his grace.
Luke 7:18-35 // Doubt is not unbelief, but an opportunity to trust Jesus. In this passage, we find Jesus offer himself as the solution for doubters as the greater grace that they need to find assurance and certainty.
Luke 7:1-17 // After receiving Jesus' teaching, how can we be certain we can believe him? How do we know he is who he says he is? These two miracles show us what to expect from a visit from the true Jesus: superlative power used in a surprisingly personal way.
Luke 6:39-49 // Jesus calls us to humbly learn from him as Lord of our lives. Jesus is not
only our master teacher but also the master builder of our faith and life. May we seek him to
shape our hearts with humility, and to produce a treasure of good words, good fruit, and good
works.
Luke 6:27-38 // Jesus has an unqualified command for those who walk in his way: love your enemies. The way towards love is not against the way of justice, but is through the means of mercy and forgiveness that flows like a river from the work of Christ to love his own enemies.
Luke 5:27-39 // Most Christians are bad at feasting—part of our excessive binging culture—but Jesus wasn't. He came eating and drinking to show that the gospel is that we are invited to dine with God himself. Through Jesus' example, we learn 1) Who Jesus invites to feast with him; 2) What Jesus’ feast is like; and 3) How we feast with him.
2 Peter 3:14-18 // Peter's second epistle has been teaching us to wait well for the second advent of Christ. While we do, we must learn to be diligent, remember, keep our feet, and grow up.
2 Peter 3:1-13 // Peter leads us to remember what God has done while we anticipate what he has promised to do. We look forward with confidence that God will fulfill all of his promises because he always has. People scoff, but we wait for the promise of his coming. The day of the Lord will come with judgement for the unrepentant, and it will come with purification of the creation. Right now we live in flesh corrupted by sin in a world corrupted by sin, but we wait patiently for that day with our minds set on the new earth where there will be no sin.
2 Peter 2 // In the second chapter of 2 Peter, the apostle warns the church that as sure as there were false prophets in the past there are false teachers among them in the present. As disciples who are faithful to Christ and who anticipate the return of the Lord we can prepare for the second advent by being aware of and avoiding false teachers, by steadying our souls and grounding our freedom in Christ, and by trusting the rescue of the Lord and looking to his coming.
Due to an error, the first section of this sermon is missing from the recording. See the manuscript for the whole sermon.
2 Peter 1 // Advent is a time of preparation for Jesus' second coming as we look to his first. To prepare, we must pay careful attention to the Word of God, which through the power of promise can develop our imagination to know and participate in the holiness and happiness of Jesus. //
Luke 5:12-26 // In these two stories Jesus shows that he is willing and able to heal with compassion, authority, and to the uttermost. Jesus meets a leper and a paralytic at the point of their desperation and he heals them in a way that not only restores their bodies, but meets their deepest needs. We can have the utmost confidence in coming to Jesus with our deepest needs - the forgiveness of our sins and total restoration of our bodies.
Luke 5:1-11 // In Jesus' call to Peter we see how he calls us to follow him, what the call of Jesus is, and what kind of people he calls.
Luke 4:31-44 // Jesus Christ is the Word in the Dark -- as he begins his ministry he shows beyond the shadow of doubt that he has all authority over all darkness, especially the darkness in you.
Luke 4:15-30 // In this passage, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and reveals that he is the Spirit-empowered Servant of God from Isaiah 61 who will bring liberty, healing, and the favor of God to those who trust in him. The reaction of the people of Nazareth shows us that we should not let the Jesus we are comfortable and familiar with hold the real Jesus in contempt. The grace of God in Christ is expansive and his mission cannot be hindered.
Luke 4:1-14 // In the wilderness, Jesus succeeds where everyone else has failed. Jesus overcomes the diabolic temptations of the devil by the power of the Spirit and by the word of God, but he is more than an example for us to follow, he is the Son of God and Savior of the world.
Luke 3 // It's the everyday prerogative for a Christian to have a heart ready and open for Christ. A ready heart is a repentant heart, a baptized heart, and a beloved heart.
Luke 2:22-52 // Jesus prepares himself in the house of God so that he might become the home of God, his very temple, and we might find our eternal home with God in him.
Luke 2:1-21 // Reentering a familiar story, we find a political drama with four characters, three announcements, two realties, and one gospel truth.
Luke 1:56-80 // God uses silence to help us notice and proclaim his redemptive power. We need to learn to listen by tuning into the Spirit and focusing on Jesus.
Luke 1:26-55 // In this story Luke demonstrates Mary's faithful response to God as one who has apprehended both what God can do, and what God is going to do. As we grow as disciples we should follow Mary's example in believing God and surrendering to him as his servant, and magnifying God and rejoicing in his faithfulness and salvation.
Luke 1:5-25 // We are naturally prone to mistrust the timing of God and given to impatience with his promises. But in God's impeccable timing, he always answers our prayers and silences our doubt, precisely when he means to.
Luke 1:1-4 // The gospel of Luke is written for the sake of our certainty. We all bring in skepticism to Jesus: we feel too much like outsiders, questioners, insiders, or sinners for his gospel to be for us. The promise of the gospel of Luke is that in reading and seeking Jesus, we will find him - a personal living relationship with the living God - the answer to our insecurities and doubts.
Matthew 9:35-38; Acts 13:1-3 // The church exists to make disciples and send them out into the kingdom-building work of God.
Psalm 134 // We were created to tell the truth about God, to bless God by honoring and praising him for his perfect blessedness. The Gospel of Jesus answers all of our objections to this great purpose, and brings us into the Great blessings of God for us.
Psalm 133 // In Psalm 133 we learn that the unity of God's people comes down from God as a gift of his grace. Unity is the resting pulse of the Church as each of us has been joined to Christ as sons and daughters, and to one another as brothers and sisters, by faith. The unity of the church is not the accomplishment of the church, but a revelation of God's anointing and life giving grace.
Psalm 132 // On our journey to God, how do we know our zeal to come and worship God will not be met with disappointments or rejection? Because we stand on the work and promises of Jesus, the son of David.
Psalm 131 // The psalm is short enough to put on a coffee mug or commit to memory. But if we are really going to put it to practice, we need to understand two actions: embracing limitation as a gift from God, and unburdening our cares before God.
Psalm 129 // A key marker of our identity as pilgrim followers of Jesus is our association with Jesus in persecution and opposition. When we understand God's righteousness and mercy towards us, we see that persecution is not the worst the worst thing. The worst thing that could happen to us is being cursed by God, and it already happened to Jesus so that we could be blessed.
Psalm 127 & 128 // Satisfying and lasting work is not linear—working towards an end goal where we cease working—but cyclical, cultivating and enjoying the fruit of our labor. None of it can be done without God's help, which means the blessing of work only comes through throwing aside the chains of self-importance and depending on God for our value in work. In the gospel, we know our work is not in vain, because Jesus died and rose to build us into God's house and give us purpose and welcome in his kingdom.
Psalm 126 // When we face trials and difficulties, often the first thing to go is our confidence in God. But Psalm 126 directs us to trust in the faithfulness of God despite our circumstances. With his help, God leads us to recall his faithfulness, count on his faithfulness, and take part in his faithfulness.
Psalm 122 // In Psalm 122 David shows us that a sense of arrival on the journey to God is marked by anticipation and zeal for the worship of the Lord… “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” We see from the Psalm that our journey is one that is shared - so even though it is deeply personal it’s not privatized. We see that the Lord has set a place for worship that is characterized by the unity present among God’s people as an overflow of their worship and thanksgiving to the Lord. We also learn that our worship leads us to seek God’s peace and God’s good for the community of faith, and for those outside of the peace of God to be invited in.
Psalm 121, 123 // On our pilgrim journey to God we all need help. We are regularly beset by weaknesses, obstacles, temptations, frustrations, and more. Where we turn for help in our time of need and where we fix our eyes in the days of our journeying shows us who we are and who we trust. In Psalm 121 & 123 the psalmist shows us through songs of honest lament and honest confidence that we look to the Lord, who has made the heavens and the earth and who is enthroned in the heavens, for our help. The Lord tirelessly keeps watch over his people, protects his people in his mercy, and delivers his people safely to himself now and forever.
Psalm 120:1-7 // The first psalm of ascent is challenging to our ears and hearts because we would likely not sing it very often. God gives us songs of lament like Psalm 120 to make sense of the deceptive and violent world around us so that, in our distress, we might cry out to him for deliverance; lamenting the realities of sin sets our longing hopes on the coming reign of Jesus. Until his return, we mourn the realities of sin with hope, knowing that God hears us and salvation is coming soon.
John 14:16-20 // The Spirit of Jesus is presently intimate with all those who follow Jesus, which means 1) you are never alone; and 2) you are always seen.
Psalm 143 // Prayer is our spirit reaching out to God's Spirit for life. We pray in the Spirit when we are surrounded, guilty, spiritually thirsty, in need of wisdom, and full of hope. Prayer in the Spirit looks like crying out to God like a child for his help, and calling on God to be true to his character through faith in Jesus.
Judges 6:11-24 // You have a Spirit-given call and purpose, and the Spirit gives you everything you need to fulfill your call and purpose.
Genesis 1:1-2, 2:4-9 // The Holy Spirit is present and active in creation, new creation, and in your life.
Hebrews 13:20-25 // At the end of Hebrews, we find a prayer that an exclamatory truth (Jesus lives!) leads to an exclamatory result (you can please God!) and an exclamatory response (Praise Jesus, forever Amen!).
Hebrews 13:1-6 // If we are the inheritors of an unshakable kingdom—what are the ethics of that kingdom? With brotherly, familial love, which leads to hospitality for those outside the kingdom, a concern for the justice of the oppressed, a high regard for the glory of marriage, a freedom from love of money, and a confidence in God's help.
Hebrews 12:18-29 // All throughout Hebrews, we have seen two ways to come to God. In this passage, the two ways are represented by Sinai (the shakable way) and Zion (the unshakable way). What are the markers of trying to come to God by way of Sinai, and why is the way of Zion so much better?
Hebrews 12:3-17 // God’s great comfort to us—the evidence that he is for us and working in us to make sure we make it to the end and achieve our prize of life with him—is his discipline. We can endure and even rejoice in his discipline because it teaches us to trust him as Father, it shapes us to share in his holiness, and it prepares us to make it to the end together.
Hebrews 12:1-2 // Life is a race—but not just any race—it's an agonizing struggle. In order to make it to the end to see God, we need endurance, but our problem is our fragility, our natural inclination to blame-shift, heap-on, and quick-fix. If we are going to run well, we must fix our eyes on the ultimate goal of life: Jesus Christ who has gone before.
2 Samuel 7:1-22 // God's gifts to us prepare us to give back to God, and our gifts to God prepare us to receive even more gifts from God.
Hebrews 11 // Faith is the common ground we all stand on, Faith precedes outcomes, Faith is our contribution to God’s redeeming story, and Faith endures us through difficulty and suffering.
Hebrews 1:1-6 // What is faith? The writer to the Hebrews gives the church a two-old response, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1) Faith is forward and future, it gives substance to our hope. Faith is why Christian hope is more than wishful thinking on a cosmic scale. Faith is also holistic and demonstrative. Faith pulls events of the witnessed (testified) past through to the unseen events that belong to God’s promised future. Faith in this way is living in this moment between God’s faithful past, and his promised future.
Hebrews 10:26-39 // The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint, and we are in need of endurance. This text shows us three necessary steps for endurance in Christ to the end: 1) know the stakes; 2) recall the race; 3) trust the righteous one.
Hebrews 10:19-25 // In Christ, we have both access to God directly, and a great Advocate to help us in our time of need. Knowing this, we can be confident to draw near to God by faith, hold fast our hope in the gospel, and stir one another up towards love and good works.
Hebrews 10:1-18 // Far, far too many of us, far too often, live in constant remembrance of our sins. As we approach God's presence, we can live with a greater remembrance: the perfectly efficacious work of Jesus Christ, wherein God "remembers" our sins no more.
Hebrews 9:23-28 // In the face of the certainty of our death and the judgement to come, we can eagerly await the return of Jesus. Why? Because in his death he has already judged your sin once for all—when he returns it won't be to condemn us, but to save us totally.
Malachi 3:1-18 // The coming day of the Lord, Christ's second Advent, will be terrible and awe inspiring, as God promises to purify and cleanse the world of unrighteousness like a refining fire or bleaching solution. But for those who turn to God in faith, the day of the Lord will be full of grace, a relief of suffering, a cleansing of sin, and a final positive answer to the question: "has God forgotten us"?
Malachi 1:1-14 // We all have asked the question: "Am I Truly Loved"? To know the answer, we must trust the love of God—which means honoring him and worshiping him rightly, in awe of his sovereign grace for all nations.
Hebrews 8:1-13 // Only through Jesus, and through the superiority of his new covenant, can we move from the shadow of God’s blessing to the substance of it. Jesus came to bring us into a whole new relationship with God, infinitely better than the old, where the blessing of the presence of God goes from black and white to color.
Hebrews 7:1-28 // There are all sorts of priests we turn to deal with the weight of our sin—like blame, penance, or apathy—but only Jesus Christ is the perfect priest of a different tribe, who due to his eternal intercession can deal with our sin fully and finally.
Hebrews 6:13-20 // Do you trust God? In his kindness, God has given us surety that all of his promises can be trusted by faith. He never changes, he has sworn by himself, and in Jesus he has anchored us to Heaven.
Hebrews 5:1-10 // We have an essentially universal desire for the ministry of a high priest - to be represented faithfully before God, and therefore to be known by God. Within that desire we can recognize that we desire a high priest who is like us; one who understands our life and situation because he has similar experience. At the same time, one who is not like us; one who has been clearly called and set apart by God for the specific work of offering gifts and sacrifices for sin. Jesus uniquely and perfectly fulfills the qualifications required in any high priest, and the desire we have for a high priest. The path to his appointment as high priest lay not along the way of lineage, but along the way of suffering. Although a Son, he learned obedience and perfectly completed that obedience in his suffering and death on the cross. Through his death he became the source of eternal salvation and was appointed by God “a priest forever.” Jesus Christ is our forever-priest who has secured for us a forever-salvation.
Hebrews 5:14-16 // We have an advocate, a great high priest - Jesus, the Son of God. As we have come to experience in the book of Hebrews, we see in 4:14-16 that Jesus is not a high priest like any other. Just as Jesus is declared to be better than angels, and better than Moses, the author begins to show us that Jesus is better than the Aaronic high priests of the OT. He is a great high priest. As our great high priest, Jesus has both the position and the qualification to be our advocate to the greatest degree. This is our confidence and confession - we have a great high priest, Jesus, the Son of God, and in him we receive mercy and grace.
Hebrews 4:1-13 // Where do we find true heart rest in the midst of the storm? True rest looks like trusting in the future promises of God, trusting in the presently finished work of Christ, and trusting our insecurities to our faithful high priest.
Hebrews 3:7-19 // Finding true rest is all about the heart. If we cannot soften our hearts before God, we will not enter into his rest now or in eternity. The good news of the gospel is that in Christ God has softened and is softening our hearts through his warnings, his church, and through simple faith.
Hebrews 3:1-6 // There are many faithful earthly leaders, but only the faithful leadership of Christ can satisfy our longings for a lasting leader of a lasting kingdom. As the one who brings us to God, who rules over his house, and who calls us into his home, Jesus is shown to be greater than Moses, and greater than any leader, as the apostle, intercessor, builder, and son of an eternal heavenly kingdom. We are thus called to consider Jesus and hold tight to our confidence and boasting in him as the sufficient leader over all things in a kingdom that will never end.
Hebrews 2:5-18 // Besides the temptation to "de-deify" Jesus, we also suffer from the tendency to dehumanize him. The humanity of Jesus is amazingly good news because through Jesus, we can be truly human again: fulfilling our greatest purpose, facing our greatest enemy, and throwing off our greatest shame.
Hebrews 2:1-5 // The drift away from the gospel and the glory of Christ is real, and it's consequences are incredibly dangerous. The solution to our tendency to drift is the surety of Christ himself, because Jesus is the very glory of the gospel.
Hebrews 1:5-14 // In contrast to angels or any other spiritual authority we can drum up, the only thing that will spiritually satisfy is to bow before the Son and cling to the Son.
Hebrews 1:1-14 // The book of Hebrews calls us to consider the finality of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus has the final word, the final authority, and the final action in all of time and reality.
Colossians 1:24-29 // The riches of Christ in the gospel enable the church to live out Kingdom-multiplying mission through proclaiming the message of the gospel to all people and suffering for sake of the gospel, and for those who have yet to hear.
2 Samuel 9 // What is Christ-Centered Community? It is a community of mutual need, a community of honor in the gospel, and a community bound together by covenant.
Song of Songs 8:1-14 // In the face of time, death, and sin, the love of Jesus Christ is an everlasting love.
Song of Songs 6:13-7:13 // Through the work of Christ, we are made lovely, lovable, and loving.
Song of Songs 6:4-12 // In our repentance, God will always assure us with his holistic, reminding, and unique love in Christ.
Song of Songs 5:2-6:3 // There are times when Jesus comes knocking, ready to meet us and show us the joy of his love… and we just aren’t in the mood. When that happens, we are taught by example to meditate on his matchless worth and fall back on his covenant.
Psalm 67 // We are all created to image God as his missionaries on earth. Our purpose is to make Jesus known, our plan is to cover the earth with his praise, and our promise is that he will bless us.
Song of Songs 4:1-5:1 // How does God feel about me in Christ? Through the picture of the consummation of marriage, we hear his words: "you are altogether beautiful... you have have captivated my heart." What would change about our life if we could accept God's delight in us?
Song of Songs 3:1-11 // When we feel God is absent, we must pursue him, because He will bring us to Himself with joy.
Song of Songs 2:1-17 // You are made to powerfully desire the Beloved, the Beloved is calling you to save yourself for him, and the Beloved is coming soon to take you away as his.
Song of Songs 1:5-17 // True love is not blind. True love, which is God’s love in Christ, sees and answers your deepest insecurities, and opens up your heart to love back.
Song of Songs 1:1-4 // Through the lens of idealized human marriage, the Song of Songs pushes us to consider the perfection of the love of God in Christ. In this text, we long for the Beloved's exhilarating embrace, attractive anointing, and celebratory character.
Jonah 1-4 // God’s loving call is greater than the sins of the world, God’s loving mercy is greater than the disobedience of His servants, God’s loving plan is greater than our efforts and ability, and God's loving grace is greater than our anger.
Philemon 1:17-25 // There will be times that our new spiritual family members will let us down. But because of the gospel, we can have supernatural confidence and trust with one another, anticipating genuine love and concern from the church.
Philemon 8-17 // What are the attitudes and actions required to truly welcome and receive one another as Christ has received us? In Philemon 8-16, we get a picture. The relational activity of gospel welcome is 1) Compelling Deference; 2) Emotional Boldness; and 3) Eternal Perspective.
Isaiah 40:1-8 // The resurrection of Jesus is crying out to us: comfort is coming, you can't stop it, and it will have the last say!
Revelation 21:1-22:5 // When we follow Jesus, the King of Peace, out of the wilderness, we anticipate our arrival in the new heavens and earth and the new city Jerusalem—the place where God dwells with man and our faith becomes sight.
Matthew 4:1-11 // All the hurts, pains, needs, and suffering of the wilderness world you feel? Jesus felt it too. Not only that, but he shows us the way out.
Jeremiah 8:18-9:26 // Lament is a part of the Christian experience as we traverse the wilderness of this world. The goal of lament isn’t to dwell on our situation but to draw us close to God as we seek him to answer our prayers.
Exodus 16:1-36 // When we face need in the wilderness of life, we are prone to grumbling, where we forget God's faithful past, distort our true need, place the blame on others, and mistrust God's instructions. But through Christ, God provides by hearing us in our sin, meeting our daily need, teaching us to rest, and holding our future forever.
Genesis 12:1-9 // Before we can get too comfortable in the city of idolatry, God calls us to journey with him into the wilderness to the promise of blessing and home. His call comes from sovereign grace, requires costly faith, and only comes in the promised son Jesus Christ.
Genesis 3 // The wilderness is a canvas for God's glory, man's rebellion results in exile and wandering, and God promises to make things right.
Ephesians 6:10-24 // We are headed for a world of blessing, but not there yet. So for all of us who bear the weary weight of the world, this is the final encouragement of Ephesians: be strong. Know the tactic and the enemy, take from the armory of God, and receive the blessing of strength from Christ.
Ephesians 6:1-9 // In different times of life, we all find ourselves under authority. Although the cross has not yet fully leveled the physical playing field, it has leveled the spiritual. In Christ, we can submit to one another as an overflow of the gospel and the obedience of Christ.
Ephesians 5:22-33 // Marriage is a mysterious unveiling of the glory of God through the union of Christ and church, but it's also a dance: a story of how both husbands and wives, as head and help, can showcase the beauty of the gospel together.
Ephesians 5:15-21 // What is the will of God? To be filled with the Spirit and walk carefully in the world, embracing a heart of thanksgiving, worship, and submission to one another.
Ephesians 5:1-14 // Living in the darkness of lust and impurity is insanity for the people of God, since at the end of impurity is spiritual poverty. By God's grace, we can wake up in the resurrection of Christ, expose the darkness, and walk in the light.
Ephesians 4:17-24 // In Christ, God has freed you from your old futility, clothed you in true holiness, and is teaching you how to get used to it.
Ephesians 4:1-16 // As a church, how do we make sure our ministry is worthy of the great calling we have received in Christ? We ground it in the unity of God, we practice ministering words received from a victorious Christ, and we work towards maturity in Christ together.
Isaiah 12:1-6 // Why is Christmas so compelling? It's because we all desire for what is transcendent to feel immanent. The true reality of Christmas is that through a personal clearing of guilt, a corporate dive into joy, and a proclamation of the gospel, what is transcendent has become immanent: the Holy one of Israel has come to dwell in our midst.
Ruth 4:1-22 // At the end of this idyllic story, we find that God works in the tension of our life to reveal his sovereign purposes, and ultimately to bring gospel, good news closure to his plan of covenant redemption.
Ruth 3:1-18 // God's covenant love is shown through 1) Strategic Concern; 2) Faithful Risk-Taking; and 3) Determined Promise Keeping.
Ruth 2:1-23 // God shows up in the life of Ruth and Naomi through the providential care of Boaz, and he shows up in our stories by rooting our hope in his sovereign hand through the kindness of his people, the Church.
Ephesians 3:1-13 // We need to see what’s above the clouds of mystery and confusion—to the mystery of the gospel revealed to the least of the saints and the protective care of our Great Shepherd, both now and for eternity.
Ephesians 2:8-10 // Your great salvation, from beginning to end, is the result of God’s free grace and not your own working, and therefore your only confidence and boast is in his work.
Ephesians 2:1-7 // We are all on a journey of "self-discovery. Two realities of identity become clear for the Christian in this text. First, you were dead in sin, a disciple of Satan and his world. Second, you are alive, raised and seated with Christ by the kind grace of God. What a reversal!
Ephesians 1:15-23 // Our continual prayer together is for an increase in the heart of our knowledge of God, for "God-Thoughts" of the hope of our calling, the glory of our inheritance, and the immeasurable power of God filling all things in Christ through the church.
Ephesians 1:11-14 // How can we trust that the spiritual blessings afforded to us in Christ are really ours? Because we have been chosen as God's portion and sealed with God's Spirit himself now and forever.
Ephesians 1:7-10 // The second spiritual blessing we find in Christ is redemption—both from sin and into forgiveness by the blood of Christ, and also from darkness to the wisdom of God's plan to bring all things together in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3-6 // How do we handle the ups and downs of our life in this world? We hold fast to the solid spiritual blessings afforded to us in Christ, starting with this: God the Father chose us from eternity past to be his holy sons.
Acts 13:1-3, 14:1-28 // God is in the business of calling the church to "Antioch Moments" where his Spirit moves to empower the mission of the gospel. This mission is marked by Bold Proclamation in the Midst of Opposition, Contextualization in the Midst of Cultural Diversity, and Courageous Realism in the face of Suffering and Tribulation.
1 Corinthians 12:12-26 // Our second value is Christ-Centered Community. The community of the church is a body because of Christ's work in uniting us in our diversity. We cannot "unbody" ourselves, no matter how much we feel like we don't belong, and we cannot "unbody" anyone else, no matter how much we feel like they don't belong.
2 Timothy 1:3-14 // As a church committed to making Jesus known, we value Biblical, Historic, Christianity. In 2 Timothy 1:3-14, we learn that we are not the first ones to do this, we didn't make any of it up, and it's more about whom we believe that what we believe.
Lady Wisdom is calling out from her high place, inviting us to a feast of life. Lady Folly calls out too, full of chaos and enticing promises. Choosing the right path is a matter of embracing the upward call of God in Christ.
Proverbs 6:20-8:34 // Chapters 7-8 of Proverbs present two startling figures. One, Lady Folly, points us to the pervasiveness of sin in the present. The other, Lady Wisdom, pulls us back to the past wisdom of Eden. Only Christ can give us hope for wisdom in the future.
Proverbs 6:1-19 // It's often the "respectable" sins that sneak up and ensnare us, like gullibility, idleness, and divisiveness. The wisdom of the Son of God, however, presents a better way.
Proverbs 5:1-23 // In his kindness, God is calling out a word of warning to us before it's too late. Do not be enticed by the lust of the flesh and in sin commit adultery before God. In his warning he also provides a way out: in Christ, he has given us a cistern of living water that is more worthwhile than any temptation.
Proverbs 3:1-35 // The Good Life we seek is found in the commands and discipline of God, and is given to us when we become sons and daughters of God in Christ.
Proverbs 1:1-33 // To get wisdom, we must first learn to tremble before God as Redeemer and listen to his beloved Son, King Jesus.
Luke 12:13-21 // Covetousness blinds us to our need before God and redefines our purpose towards selfish gain. But the gospel is good news for the anxious coveter and the jealous coveter. In the gospel, Christ opens our eyes to our need of him and gives us purpose in his kingdom.
1 John 3:11-24 // We know we abide in God when we keep his command to love one another. When we succeed and when we fail to love one another, God has given us confidence by loving us in Christ by the Spirit.
Luke 4:16-30 // Jesus reveals to us our sin, and offers us salvation. He asserts his authority as our God and savior, but we reject it. Despite rejecting Jesus, God pursues our salvation.
1 Samuel 31:1-13 // We can summarize the tragedy of Saul with these two observations: 1) self-autonomy brings self-destruction and 2) self-preservation brings idolatry. It's not too late to see the tragedy and bow the knee to the true king.
1 Samuel 29:1-30:31 // God's story in bringing his anointed king out of the wilderness comes to a close, and we see three gospel lenses: The Understated Gospel (For The Stuck), The Relentless Gospel (For the Overwhelmed), and The Extravagant Gospel (For The Weary).
1 Samuel 28:1-25 // Saul's tragic story shows us that God does not answer those who will not listen. The good news is that in the gospel, God in Christ unplugs our ears.
1 Samuel 25:1-44 // At every moment, God’s sovereign grace is holding back the tide of sin and evil, and it is his providence that chooses the time and place to release the tide and bring it back in. But if we are safe in Jesus Christ, the great mercy of God, he will never let the tide sweep us away.
1 Samuel 24:1-22 // God Tests Our Heart of Peace-filled Submission, God Trains Our Heart of Persevering-Faith; and God Transforms Our Heart to Trust in Divine Providential Protection.
1 Samuel 23:1-29 // In the wilderness of earth, God sustains the life of his people with confidence, community, and worship.
Jude 1-25 // The book of Jude teaches us to contend against false teachers, for the sake of the keeping of our faith, all the while knowing we are kept securely for Jesus Christ.
Matthew 20:1-16 // In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, Jesus shows us that comparison leads to assumptions and grumbling against God. God, however, is a good master who always keeps his promises, shown in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus himself, and has the right to do with his creation as he sees fit.
1 Samuel 22:6-23 // In the evil genocide of King Saul we see an anti-type of our enemy Satan. But we also see the futility of evil—we understand Satan's ploys, we know his end, and we know his enemy Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel 21:1-22:5 // In the wilderness of earth, the needy are given provision, the desperate are given deliverance, and Jesus Christ, the lowly in heart, draws the needy and desperate to him for protection and purpose.
1 Samuel 20:1-42 // In Christ, we receive the same blessings of covenant love that David and Jonathan received from one another: trust in the midst of doubt, boldness in the midst of temptation, and peace in the midst of uncertainty.
1 Samuel 19:1-24 // God has and will protect you for his purpose. Even when the spears of life and sin seem to come from every side, God is still working for his purpose in your life, and he will protect through others, through his people themselves, and through inexplicable divine deliverance.
1 Samuel 17:1-58 // The story of David and Goliath isn't primarily about how we should be like David. It's about how God provides a champion to fight for his people when they are cowering in fear from sin, death, and Satan.
1 Samuel 16:1-23 // The narrative of 1 Samuel contrasts the way we see the world with the way God does. We are shortsighted by fearing the unknown, failing to see spiritual realities, and dismissing the grace of God when it is right in front of us. Through his anointed king, God rearranges our sight to look directly at Christ.
Matthew 5:21-26 // Jesus took your anger, insults, and stereotypes—so you don't have to dish them out. Jesus reconciled you to God—so you can be reconciled with those you have wronged and those who have wronged you.
Deuteronomy 6:4-25 // The people of God are called into family discipleship by passing on right doctrine, right living, and gospel history to the next generation.
1 Corinthians 7:1-40 // The gospel of Jesus Christ impacts our marriage and singleness by teaching us that whether through the restrictions of marriage or the freedom of singleness, we are not our own, but belong to Christ.
Matthew 25:14-30 // The gospel of Jesus Christ impacts our work and vocation by showing us that the grace of God is vast, active, and wonderful in the work we have been given.
Luke 2:22-40 // We all need comfort, and Christmas is the story of that consolation. In Christ the working are put to rest, the waiting find peace, and the sufferers receive justice.
Luke 1:39-80 // Advent is a time of longing, but for what exactly? The coming of Christ into the world brings about the revolution of the gospel: the barren are the blessers, the lowly are the lifted, and the failures get a voice. Come quickly, Lord!
Luke 1:5-38 // An angel visits a old man and a young woman. Two babies are promised: one miraculous, one mind-boggling. One baby will point to the other, ultimately showing the long waited time has come: Christ is coming.
1 Samuel 15:1-34 // When our presumptions of God's actions and God's character don't fit our selfish motives, how will we respond? Christ, the obedient one, offers a bloody paradigm-shattering salvation: will we come his way?
1 Samuel 14:1-52 // In our text week we see two examples: the foolishness of Saul, and the confidence of Jonathan. In the gospel, Jesus Christ frees us from the foolishness of dead religion to live lives of confident faith for the Kingdom.
In 1 Samuel 13, we see both the weight and the consequences of refusing to submit to God. When we seek to use God rather than be used, the result is eternal separation from God, but God has provided a better king than Saul or ourselves. In Jesus, when we repent of our failure to submit rather than defend it, there is salvation forevermore.
1 Samuel 12:1-25 // Samuel's address at Gilgal teaches us the importance of covenant renewal. We haven't upheld our end of the deal, but the gospel teaches us that in Christ, God has upheld his end, and ours too.
1 Samuel 11:1-15 // Even when we see success and salvation, it all ultimately comes from the Lord.
1 Samuel 10:1-27 // How does God work providentially to set up his authority in our lives? And more importantly, why does he use imperfect kings to bring about his perfect ways?
1 Samuel 8:1-22 // In our stubbornness, we always want our own way and sometimes God grants it. But our text shows us that God always gets his own way, ultimately using even our failure towards his glory in Christ.
1 Samuel 7:3-17 // When we whole-heartedly return to the Lord in repentance, he will always respond in deliverance. In Christ we have a great Ebenezer, a Rock of help, who points us to the freedom of repentance.
1 Samuel 5:1-7:2 // God doesn't need your help. He is more than powerful enough to accomplish his purposes on his own, which is ultimately very good news for needy people like us.
1 Samuel 4:11-22 // The consequences of empty religious actions is death and despair, and bargaining with God with more empty action is not enough to bring God back to our side. Only Jesus can pay the penalty dead religion deserves and ensure his presence with us now and forever.
1 Samuel 3:1-21 // Into the darkness, God speaks with the light of his word. His word is patient and persistent, worth bearing even when it's weighty, and brings blessing to those who listen.
1 Samuel 2:12-36 // How does God respond when he is dishonored? He leaves no sin unnoticed, he quietly honors those who honor him, and he intervenes with merciful judgement.
1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 // The story of Hannah is a journey from barrenness to blessedness. Like Hannah, as we journey in God's kingdom, he calls us to exhibit Catalytic Fortitude that paves the way for Christ the true king.
John 17:20-23 // Q: “how do we make Jesus known in our city and world?” A: “we do it through our unity.”
Romans 14:1-15:7 // When we serve God with our secondary convictions, and are willing to lay down our convictions for the sake of one another, we welcome our diversity as Christ has welcomed us.
Psalm 132 // This psalm of ascent pulls us back to remember God's faithfulness to David and ultimately points us to God's eternal promises fulfilled for us in Jesus Christ the son of David.
Psalm 118 // This psalm has stood the test of time as a brace for the hearts of believers, to not only survive but thrive in times of trouble. In all these trials God is our refuge and strength to survive as he sustains us with his steadfast love in Christ. The bad times are temporary as this life, but our existence with God is not.
Psalm 107 // In Christ we are enveloped in God's story: a story of Redemption. We have been redeemed from wandering, from imprisonment to sin, from foolish self-destruction, and from the storms of the world, all so that we can glorify and praise God with our story. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
Psalm 96 // From this call to worship the Lord, we see three commands on how we are to worship God together. We are instructed to sing of the Lord's glory and salvation, we are instructed to ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, and we are instructed to get out of the way. We let creation itself praise God, humbling ourselves and reminding us that we praise God because he has made us righteous in Christ, and therefore rejoice.
Psalm 90 // From the corporate prayer of Moses we learn that our home is with eternal God, but because of our fleeting, futile, and failing life, we can't get home on our own. The gospel new is that in Christ, our destination changes, and we gain wisdom and perspective for the road home.
Psalm 73 // What is the point of following Jesus in holiness, when the bad guys always seem to win? This psalm teaches that when we see the prosperity of the wicked in the world, we gain eternal perspective on the goodness of God by remembering that God himself is our portion in Christ.
Psalm 72 // Christ is not only our savior, but also our one true King. In this psalm, we see that only Jesus, the promised king of the line of David, rules with perfect justice, perfect compassion, and perfectly blesses his kingdom. Because of this, we delight in his reign and desire it to spread to all people and every area of our life.
Psalm 42 // Spiritual depression is a feeling that every Christian experiences at some point in their life. Often it is defined by the apathy of the desert or the anxiety of the waves. In both scenarios, the remedy is to take our souls to the refrain of the gospel promises of God in Christ.
Psalm 24 // How do we get to creator God? This is the question Psalm 24 answers: only with clean hands and pure hearts open wide to the King of Glory.
Psalm 19 // When we wonder "What does God say about ___", we find that he reveals himself generally in creation and specifically in Scripture. Ultimately God's revelation points us to Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, and leads us to confession and petition in response.
Psalms 1-2 // We see two ways, two paths before us. One is the path of foolish individualism and self-rule. The other path is the path of God’s instruction and God’s rule and reign. If we choose the path of heeding God’s way and God’s reign, then we head toward eternal happiness, and that choice makes all the difference.
Isaiah 66:1-4 // God, in His perfect love and mercy, reveals Himself to be worthy of our worship, a worship that extends into every area of our lives. Everything we do is directly or indirectly a response to His character. He then invites us to worship Him and see Him as He is and in doing so we are able to receive eternal life through Jesus sacrifice at the Cross. We also see that false worship leads to self idolatry and eventually destruction. When we worship that which is not worthy we paving the way for our fear.
Revelation 7:9-17 // Ministry resident Chase Strickland unpacks the picture of our eternal future. In the midst of our Christian suffering, our hope is that God will redeem and restore his people.
Lamentations 5 // After the initial pain of sorrow passes, the effects often linger. How does lament teach us to wait and long for total restoration?
Lamentations 3 // Lament Ask, Sees, and Cries, but ultimately it Hopes. Biblical lament becomes transformative for the Christian when it takes sorrow and transitions carefully and purposefully towards hope in the covenant love of God.
Lamentations 1-2 // The book of Lamentations is a series of poems that teaches us the Biblical art of suffering. Biblical lament asks the hard questions, sees the world and God rightly, and cries out to God in the night with the gospel of Jesus Christ in view.
Acts 2:22-41 // We have a serious problem: we killed the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth. But the one we killed could never stay dead, and in his resurrection is proven to be both Lord and Christ. This gospel news is the key to unlocking both forgiveness and new life.
2 Corinthians 13:1-14 // In Paul's final exhortation to the Corinthians, he gives a warning, a test, a charge, and ends with a Trinitarian gospel blessing to prepare them for his return. Through our time in 2 Corinthians, are we better prepared for Christ's return?
2 Corinthians 12:11-21 // As he prepares to come back to visit the Corinthians, Paul reminds them of three aspects of the paradox of weakness: 1) it is essentially apparent, 2) it is for your upbuilding, not your burden, 3) it is meant for unity and repentance.
2 Corinthians 12:1-10 // The very part of you that is most humiliating may just be your greatest gift to glorify God. Your hidden, normal life, and your constant, remaining thorns: that is the power of Christ in you.
2 Corinthians 11:16-33 // Paul begins his satirical "Fool's Speech", teaching us the foolishness of self-boasting and the glory of suffering, weakness, and dependence on Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:1-15 // In our natural state, we are inclined towards a slow slide into deception and loss of trust in the true Jesus. Listen as Paul gives us two warnings to keep our devotion to Jesus pure and sincere.
2 Corinthians 10:1-18 // Following Paul's example as he follows Christ, we are called to take every thought captive and to act with humble boldness in our obedience to Jesus, all the while seeing the gospel go out though our partnerships and planning.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 // When we give sacrificially of our resources and our lives, we are sowing into a harvest of righteousness where God provides sufficiently for his people and receives glory and thanksgiving from his people.
2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5 // While the first half of 2 Corinthians 8 helped us understand why we give, this passage shows us how we give. Paul helps the Corinthians understand that true Christian giving happens not in isolation, but in community, producing integrity and accountability with money for our good and to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 8:1-15 // Christian generosity uniquely models the person and work of Jesus through sacrifice and joy as communities of Jesus followers care for one another's needs.
One of the primary ways that God gives his people joy in every circumstance is through fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. When honest community is paired with godly grief, comfort multiplies to all and results in joy.
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 // The book of 2 Corinthians has all been pointing to this command: do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. What does it mean to desire holiness in a world full of idols?
2 Corinthians 6:1-13 // God appeals and commissions us to work with Jesus in gospel ministry; by his authority, God commends and empowers us to reflect Jesus’s character; and by his love, he commands us to love each other with the love of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:11-21 // By the glorious work of Jesus Christ, God has made a great exchange—our sin for Jesus' righteousness—reconciling us to God and sending us out with a ministry of reconciliation as ambassadors of God.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 // The Scripture teaches that our earthly bodies are like tents: temporary, uncomfortable, and not meant to last. But a future and eternal home is coming, a new body when Christ comes age to bring the final resurrection for his people. As we wait for our future, we live by faith in Jesus Christ that pleases God and will be judged as righteous when Christ returns.
Psalm 45:1-7 // This psalm is a love song to the king. In the incarnation of Christ, the promised king comes to reign and we come to worship him—a king who is excellent, powerful, and eternal.
Isaiah 49:1-6; Luke 2:25-35 // The anointed servant of God showcases us the promise, surety, and glory of salvation, all found in Jesus Christ at the advent of his incarnation.
Isaiah 61:1-11 // The anointed messenger has come from God to proclaim a promise of everlasting joy through freedom, comfort, restoration, faithfulness, and righteousness. At Christmas, we draw our hearts to remember that Jesus Christ is the promised messenger at the proclamation of his birth is the advent of gospel joy into the world.
Zechariah 2:1-13 // God has promised his people that there will be a day where he will dwell in their midst with a personal and protective presence. In the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we find that Jesus is both the promise and the fulfillment of God's presence with his people.
2 Corinthians 4:7-18 // You are a clay jar: fragile, forgettable, and unremarkable. But God has chosen to place his treasure, which is the glory of the new covenant, in all those jars who are in Christ. In this outward weakness and inward glory, we resemble Jesus as we are renewed inwardly everyday in anticipation of the eternal weight of glory coming for us.
Psalm 139 // In this searching Psalm, we are called to accept the reality of our intimacy with God, behold our value before him, and confess our loyalty to him in Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:6 // We've got a glory problem, looking for transcendence in all the wrong places. The good news is the new covenant ministry of Christ removes the veil of from our hearts to see the glory of God, the glory that gives us boldness, transformation, and courage.
2 Corinthians 3:1-11 // Every Christian is called to a ministry of the gospel, based on the new covenant Jesus has instigated by his blood. This new kind of glorious ministry aims for faithful sacrifice that sees hearts changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 2:12-17 // The message of gospel is primarily spread not through the strength of the church, but through weak and redeemed people who have been conquered like Christ and go out with his aroma into the world. Praise God!
2 Corinthians 2:1-11 // When sin shows itself in the body of Christ, we don't hide it but call one another into repentance in love, ready to open wide the doors of forgiveness as we turn from sin together towards Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:12-24 // When we come face to face with the weakness of the plans of man, and when our best intentions fail again and again, it's easy to begin to lose trust in ourselves and one another. Paul reminds us that God always remains faithful to his people in Christ, and we can always trust him and his gospel message.
2 Corinthians 1:3-11 // The example of Paul's suffering shows us three different purposes in our suffering that give us comfort in the midst of any affliction.
2 Corinthians 1:1-2 // The church in Corinth was surrounded by a culture or boasting in self-made worth and self-made status. Into such a culture, the apostle Paul open his letter with two acts of God that introduce us to a paradox: real strength is found in weakness.
Matthew 28:16-20 // The church and of of God's people are redeemed for a specific mission. Jesus clarifies this mission is one of obedience, a mission of commission. He makes it clear in his last word the purpose of our mission, the method of our mission, and the fuel of our mission.
Ephesians 2:11-22 // We have a unifying problem, that before Christ none of us belong, and we love to let each other know it. But we also have a unifying solution, that as we belong to Jesus we also belong to one another. possessing a unifying purpose: we can only get to glory together.
Romans 6:1-11 // The Church of God is organized around two ordinances: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. As we protect and participate in these two ordinances, they act as signs of the New Covenant and our union with Christ, pointing to the seal of the Holy Spirit which grants us assurance of faith and hope together.
Exodus 24:1-11 || When we gather to worship God, we take part in a specific set of rhythms and structure, called liturgy, that is meant to make Jesus known and model to us the importance of worshiping and celebrating God's faithfulness through a covenant meal.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 || God ordained preaching as the way by which his people regularly hear his Word and the gospel of Jesus is rightly revealed. When the word is preached, both saving grace and sanctifying power come with it.
Titus 3:1-15 || The good news of the gospel of grace is our teacher in personal holiness, but it's also our teacher for public holiness. As we embrace right doctrine, it transforms the way with interact with both one another and our cultural moment.
Titus 2:11-15 || The good news of the gospel of grace has appeared in the person and work of Jesus and is the fuel for our entire lives. The gospel is all we have for salvation, godliness, and eternal hope, and being all we have is all we need.
Joel 2:1-27 || Ministry resident Chase Strickland shows from Joel 2 the importance of repentance. The day of the Lord is coming, and our whole life is meant to be a life of repentance and trust in the gospel: the forgiveness and blessing of God in Christ.
Titus 2:1-10 || By clinging to the gospel that brings true godliness, we adorn the right doctrine of Jesus Christ through how we act and how we disciple one another to act.