Storyline Church (Video): Recent Episodes
Storyline Church
These are video messages from Storyline Church. We seek to encounter God, grow together and serve the world. For more information, check us out at www.storyline.church.
The series finale! In our final installment we see Jacob broken (literally) and remade as God’s covenant man. On his way home, while fearing Esau, another encouraging encounter with Yahweh, like the one at Bethel, solidifies his calling and identity as Abraham and Issac’s heir to the great promise of land and descendants. And following Jacob’s night of intense combat, Israel is born! Jacob’s story is not over, but he is, at last, God’s man!
Jacob finds himself, freshly encouraged by the promises of Yahweh, arriving in the land of the eastern people. Things start well enough, but quickly take an unexpected turn for the worse. Jacob the deceiver finds himself on the receiving end of a cruel deception. Of course, we’ve all been lied to and we’ve all lied, so, once again, there’s a great deal here to learn and apply for us.
We’ve all heard the saying, “between a rock and a hard place.” More than just hearing it, we’ve all been there! Jacob was also there, big time. In fact, his situation was so dark and difficult that he had to use a rock for a pillow! Here’s another well-known saying that applies well to this part of Jacob’s story, “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” In the darkest part of Jacob’s story, Yahweh shows up in a profoundly revelatory way. The story of “Jacob’s ladder” is actually the story of “Jesus’ ladder,” as we will see in this presentation.
Jacob’s life contains many of the best-known stories in all of Scripture, and this study looks at one of them: Jacob’s deception of his aging and visually-imparied father, Isaac, under the enthusiastic advisement of his mother, Rebekah. Jacob’s choice to trick his father and deceitfully secure the coveted blessing will change his life forever. For the modern reader, there’s a great deal to learn and personally apply from this ancient story.
Two brothers, two personalities, two nations, one pot of stew. In this well-known story of conflict, Jacob secures the long-treasured birthright from his elder brother, but has he really obtained it? Does he even understand it? The Bible says that, “Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34). This is true, but as we’ll see in this study, so did Jacob!
Of all the patriarchs in Genesis, Jacob’s life was characterized by conflict and struggle. In this eight-part series we’ll take an in-depth look at the conflicts and struggles of Jacob’s long, and often sad, life. Though it is an ancient story, there is so much here for us, its modern readers. We will be inspired, encouraged, challenged, and warned. Like Jacob himself, we will not leave these experiences unchanged. The series begins… and so does the struggle…
If you take a deep dive into Galatians 3, you’ll discover some stunning truths: the gospel has always been more about God’s promises to us and less about our promises to Him; Jesus is the hero of the story; and, through Jesus becoming “a curse,” the whole world has been reconciled. Every nation, tribe, and people have a seat at God’s table.
Many imagine the judgment as God on a massive throne with a big red button He pushes to send people to hell. But there’s actually beauty in the judgment. We don’t have to be afraid: God isn’t waiting to pounce on us. He respects our free will. We can rejoice in the judgment because it means God is righting wrongs on our behalf. Lastly, the judgment isn’t fair, because it is rigged in our favor.
Augustine said, “Love God and do as you please.” Is that idea heresy or truth? The answer is found in Paul’s story of the woman in Romans 7. When we are drawn to Christ out of love, we will do as we please and it will be glorious obedience in Christ.
Explore the background of one of the most famous Bible promises: Galatians 2:20. The account of Paul rebuking Peter for refusing to eat with the gentiles teaches us that the law—back then and now—can’t save us. We can’t even rely on our own faith to save us but only on the faithfulness of Jesus.
The crucifixion was a dark event, but the resurrection, with all its joy and glory, contains a beautiful truism: God didn’t raise Jesus from the dead simply because He’s God and He could. Sin causes death and love gives life. Jesus died with God’s love fully intact, so the resurrection was inevitable. The good news is that you can receive resurrection life too, right now.
One of the most profound truths in the universe is the fact that God is all powerful and all knowing, but He can still suffer, cry, and even sob uncontrollably. In the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, He identified Himself with the sin and shame of the world. Because Jesus chose to suffer as we suffer, we are brought closer to God than angels will ever be.
Is it good news that there is a God? You might be tempted to say yes right away, but the truth is that it depends. What kind of a God are we talking about? Jesus deliberately made choices to publicly love people when it was not politically, religiously, or socially wise to do so. So, is it good news that there is a God? Yes, because He looks like Jesus.
Can God try something new? God became a man when God had never been a man before. Our familiarity with the incarnation often robs us of the wonder we can and should feel for such a mysterious event. When we take a deep dive into the meaning of God becoming flesh, we find we have a Savior who breathes stars and also weeps. He is literally like us for eternity.
Going to a library might lead you to believe there are millions of stories in the world, but perhaps there’s really only one story being told by human history. It’s called the myth of redemptive violence: to win in life, you must be stronger, fight harder, and move faster. Good guys conquer bad guys with more force and violence. But then Jesus comes along and tells a completely different story: the way to move up in the world is to go down, the way to lead is to serve, and the way to conquer is through sacrifice.
We tend to think of righteousness in terms of personal, moral piety, but that’s not how the biblical authors understood it. Righteousness toward God means healed social relations and righting wrongs with people. The story of Cornelius and Peter illustrates that, for the church to embrace God’s covenant, we must participate in the breaking down of social, political, and racial walls.
Father Abraham had many sons, but why do we care? The biblical authors were obsessed with the story of Abraham and his family. In fact, you can’t really understand what’s happening in the New Testament if you don’t understand the story of Abraham. When we study his story, we find God’s call for Abraham (and for us today) was never regional or exclusive but always global and inclusive—for everyone.
The Bible is all about...babies? God’s original plan for humans centered on us growing, flourishing, and populating the world. But Adam and Eve sinned, and it was both a moral and governmental fall. God’s answer? He promised to send a Baby—the Baby—who would grow up to become a Man and win back the world, not as God but as God in man, to give it back to man.
Imagine a jar positioned directly under a waterfall. What happens? The jar is continually filling and overflowing at the same time. This is the rich image communicated in the Greek word perisseuo. Jesus is the waterfall and you are the jar.
Are you alive? “Of course I am, or else I wouldn’t be reading this.” OK, yes, you are biologically alive. But are you alive on all levels of your being—emotionally, spiritually, morally, relationally? It’s not merely biological life Jesus offers, it’s zoe life, which is so much more.
The Greek word pistis, from which we get the English word faith, means far more than simply believing something to be factually true. It means . . . well, you’ll just have to tune in for this message to explore with us what it means.
Jesus came to “save” us. But what does that mean? Going to heaven rather than hell when we die? The Greek word for salvation is sozo, and it has far more to do with our present experience in this world than what happens after this life is over.
Our culture is obsessed with “love.” But often what the world calls “love” is little more than temporary attraction. What does the New Testament mean when it says, “God is love”? The answer lies in the Greek word agape.
Peter thought he was done. He had failed the greatest test of discipleship. Jesus invites him on a walk by the beach, and back to himself.
The call to discipleship is a call to community. In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus calls us to see ourselves as a community of wounded healers.
Jesus said to Nicodemus that to see The Kingdom, he must be born again. What did Jesus mean, and how do we experience this new birth as modern day disciples?
Jesus made no qualms about the cost of discipleship. He made sure his listeners understood it would cost them everything to follow, even their lives. With such a seemingly high cost, what makes following Jesus worth it?
When Jesus called His first Disciples to follow Him, he made them a promise. This promise involved more than professions. It was a call to redefine their identity.
What is discipleship? It is a term that is used often to describe the Christian life, but do we truly understand what Jesus had in mind when He called His disciples, and by extension us, to this Journey? Or do we need a paradigm shift?
Through four stories about bread, we glimpse God’s welcome extended to all nations. This story culminates with something better than a return to Eden.
Through the ministry of Jesus, the presence of God was once again available—”God with us!” In Jesus, we witness the restoration of all God has planned for us from the beginning.
God called Moses into His presence at Mount Sinai. In this remarkable story, we glimpse God's plan for all of us to enjoy His presence.
When our first parents tragically misused their freedom, alienation replaced intimacy. Humanity rejected their created purpose and was driven east of Eden. With Abraham, God set in motion His plan to welcome humanity back into His presence.
Planet earth was originally created by God as a sanctuary to host His presence with humanity. The garden Eden was the place where heaven and earth met and God’s presence flowed out to the world.
Not only are we joint heirs with Christ of “all things” and invited to rule and reign with Him over the entire universe, He has asked us to be His eternal bride. We are invited into the most beautiful love imaginable.
An actual human being is seated upon the throne of the universe at the right hand of God. His name is Jesus and He is our eternal brother in the flesh. Just as He occupies throne status with the Father, He has invited us to occupy throne status with Him.
You are an heir, according to the gospel, and your inheritance is mind boggling. As if being eternally saved isn’t amazing enough, God has promised to give “all things” to His redeemed children.
God tells us to stand in awe of Him. And this is right, for He is God, the illimitable, unfathomable Creator and Sustainer of all that is. Worshiping Him, we take a shape for which He ingeniously designed us, availing ourselves of the global health benefits of syncing with that design. This message will shine a light on the awesomeness of awe.
Loneliness is pandemic. Even when surrounded by people we can fail to connect in meaningful ways. This message shows not only the blessings wrapped up in human connection, but the choices that lead to it.
Everyone’s talking about trauma these days. The increased understanding of its impact upon human functioning has been largely helpful, with one caveat–it can sometimes leave us feeling permanently damaged. This is why in this message we will turn to a body of biblical and scientific data showing the benefits that can come through trauma. Bitter or better? The choice is ours.
God really does want us to be happy. But there’s a rub. If He prioritized our temporal happiness over all else, He could never address the big-picture exigencies of the cosmic conflict. This message will help us reset our priorities to align with God’s purposes and promises.
Can we live conscientious, careful lives without being bogged down with overwhelming guilt and shame? Yes, we can. God gave us the conscience as a blessing, not a curse. The point of the gospel is that God's grace takes away our sin. Who, then is rubbing our faces in it? Certainly not Him!
We want to live by principle, so we regard emotions as obstacles to righteousness. But could our feelings be reframed? How about raw power to be channeled, and colorful experiences to be appreciated? This message helps us rediscover the wonder of being made in the image of a deep-feeling God.
We want to be cheerful, but not delusional. Are positive feelings in the midst of human brokenness warranted? Is there a positivity that is fully grounded in reality? This message walks us through the biblical reasons for joy.
Jesus closes His Sermon on the Mount with a parable that encapsulates the contrast between the two structures of life we can build. The wise man built his house on the rock and the fool on sand. What are these two foundations? And which one am I building on?
The straight path and the narrow gate of which Jesus speaks, according to His own context, is the way of non-judgmental love, non-violent response to evil, love of neighbor, and love of enemy.
According to Jesus, judging people is a bad thing. But why is it bad? Well, according to Jesus, judging others is bad because it blinds us to our own condition and prevents us from engaging in spiritual growth. In the end, all judgment backfires on ourselves.
Jesus talked a lot about money, but not in the way many religious leaders talk about money. Jesus wasn't trying to get people to give Him money but rather to get people to understand that the way they handle money reveals what's going on in their hearts. As a general rule, your life will follow the trajectory of your financial pursuits.
Jesus acknowledged the presence of evil as real, but He didn’t see it as a depersonalized force or balancing principle of the universe, running alongside goodness. He prayed that we would be delivered from the evil one. Evil, suffering, and temptation do not come from God, Jesus taught, but are traceable to a satanic being, the devil. We are promised though that one day, God will resolve evil and suffering for good, for His is “the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Jesus warns His followers away from pretentious and performative religion, which He says is motivated by a desire to be “seen by men.” True righteousness, He insists, is motivated by love and springs from “the heart.”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reenacted the giving of the Law by Moses on Mount Sinai. The religious leaders imagined He was destroying the Law, but the fact is they were destroying the Law by reducing it to a legalistic list of rules that must be kept to earn God’s favor. Jesus came to “fulfill” the Law by showing that it applies to the inner motives as well as the outer deeds, which means all of us are guilty, even those who imagine they are keeping the Law by obeying it outwardly. Therefore, we all need God’s mercy.
Our world is characterized by retaliatory violence. If you do something evil to me, I’m going to do something evil to you. Jesus comes along and completely overturns retaliatory violence in favor of a far superior relational ethic: respond to evil with good and love your enemies.
With the beatitudes, Jesus pronounced His covenant blessing upon the most unlikely people. Those who found themselves on the outside of the religious system looking in suddenly found themselves invited to the front row. Suddenly and unexpectedly, those at the lowest level of the social hierarchy were acknowledged by none other than God Himself as the very ones who would turn the world upside down with the gospel.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a one-off sermon, one topic in a lineup of topics, an interesting subject among other subjects. No, it is the announcement of a revolutionary new kingdom. In Christ, the whole history of Israel was reenacted with covenantal faithfulness and the Sermon on the Mount is the entire message of the Old Testament restated.
The Bible says our life is short, like a mist that passes through the air and vanishes away. Then what? In this session we will allow the Bible to paint the most beautiful picture imaginable of the new heavens and new earth that God has planned for us.
Some people believe that millions if not billions of people will be tortured in flames for all eternity. Does this idea line up with the idea that “God is love”? In this session we will discover what the Bible teaches regarding hell and make the surprising discovery that even this topic persuades us that God is good and beautiful.
Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear about some horrifically evil thing happening in the world. If God is good, why does evil exist in the first place? In this session we will explore the origin of evil and in the process discover that a lot more is going on in the world than meets the eye.
Sin at first looks like freedom but gradually leads to greater and greater restriction. God’s law at first looks like restriction and gradually leads to greater and greater freedom. What does the Bible actually teach us about these two important topics?
When you hear the word, “God,” what do you think? What do you feel? Are they positive thoughts and feelings or negative ones? We will discover that the one true God is radically different than popular religion has made God out to be, and radically beautiful, too.
Paul foretold that Christianity would undergo a “great falling away”—an apostasy—from the pure gospel of Christ. John foretold that the church would prostitute itself to the state and use the power of the state to force its will on the world. History reveals that this is exactly what happened. It is vital then, to distinguish between Christ and Christianity.
In Christ, a new creation has been set in motion. All who find their identity in the love of Christ will also find that they are crucified to the world. They are no longer in harmony with the general value system that defines fallen humanity. Forgiveness, generosity, and goodness is their new way of living.
Paul explains that Christ has already accomplished the salvation of humanity apart from anything we might do to earn His favor. Now it’s just a matter of believing and living that reality. You are free, so live free.
Legalism drives exclusion, division, and hostility. The gospel of Christ is all about inclusion, unity, and love. The world operates in ways that create polarized groups. The gospel invites everyone into a new shared identity in Christ.
Everyone who identifies with Christ by faith is a child of Abraham and an heir of all that was promised to Abraham. Paul wants us to understand that the law excludes nobody because the Messiah has embraced everybody. So, then, what purpose does the law serve? Paul answers the question with absolute clarity.
Paul says Jesus bore “the curse of the law” for us. What does this mean? In this session, we explore God's covenant relationship with Abraham, and through Abraham with humanity and the difference between a penal curse and a covenant curse.
According to Paul, justification by faith is not merely about me and my personal salvation. It’s about us and our covenantal status in fellowship with one another.
It is a sad truth that wherever Jesus is setting people free with God's unconditional love, there will always be individuals who feel it is their God-ordained mission to pull them back into bondage. Paul says you can identify these “false brethren” by the fact that they seek to “compel” others with their views.
Are You Kidding Me?
As Paul opens his letter to the Galatians, it is evident that he is fired up, even angry. Something terrible is happening to people he loves dearly and has led to Christ, and he hits the issue head-on. Along the way, he reminds them that Christ, by His death, launched a new Exodus for the whole world and it is utter foolishness to turn back.
Is God a Control Freak?
If there’s one thing Almighty God does not want, it’s control. Within the biblical narrative, NO only exists for the sake of YES. All of God's prohibitions are actually promises pointing to better things.
Let’s not pretend there aren’t hard things in the Old Testament. What’s with God telling the Israelites to conquer the Canaanites and kill everything that breathes? Some have interpreted this as genocide. Is that really what’s going on here?
Is God a Sadistic Monster?
We all know that torture is wrong. We regard a person as evil if they deliberately inflict physical pain on another human being. And yet, the popular Christian doctrine of Hell claims God subjects countless people to torture for all eternity. In this message we discover that the Bible teaches no such thing.
Is God an Arbitrary Tyrant? The answer, according to popular Christian doctrine is, Yes. It is not surprising that so many thinking and feeling people have turned away from Christianity. The horrific combination of predestination and eternal torment has driven many people straight in to atheism.
Often, the first thing that comes to a person’s mind when they think of God is “power,” by which they usually mean extreme force of might. Yes, God is powerful. But almost all bad theology begins with power as the main thing about God. Jesus came into the world to completely reframe the power of God.
Why does God tell us to worship Him, praise Him, exalt Him? Seriously, what’s that all about? Is God insecure? Does He have a fragile ego? Does He need to be told how great He is for His sake? Or is there something deeper going on here?
In our third and final part the Life and Death series we see that the line that separates the living from the dead is blurrier than it at first appears. Incredibly, according to Scripture, there are those that are alive and yet are already dead; too, there are those that appear to be dead, but whom God regards as quite alive! A little confused? Watch this concluding sermon and you won’t be.
In this second installment of our three-part Life and Death series we turn our attention to the resurrection. We take a look at what the gospel is and how it reverses the twin problems of sin and death. Once again, our title is taken from Paul’s words to young Timothy: “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”
In this new three-part series we take a look at the biblical perspective of life and, especially, death. Part one addresses the looming reality that is death. Coming face to face with our own mortality can be disorienting. The apostle Paul wrote to his young friend and student Timothy: "I am ready to be poured out like a drink offering" and "my time is at hand." In this first presentation we use this passage from 2Timothy 4 to begin our exploration of death from a biblical perspective.
Are you a fruit lover? Well, guess who else is. God! Jesus Himself said it this way: “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father” (John 15:8, NLT).
This presentation is all about identity. Did you know that there are 60,000 different species of tree in the world? What lessons are there for us contained in this incredible variety? Is there such a thing as an “average” tree? Or an “average” person? This presentation will definitely have you thinking in a new and encouraging way!
The roots of a tree or a plant serve several essential functions. In this presentation, we take a closer look at two of those functions: anchoring and absorbing.
Your soil is where your planted and what your planted in. That is, your environment. In our opening message we take a look at aspects of our environment—our soil—that we do and do not have control over.
According to Paul, we live in a world that is under attack from demonic "rulers and authorities" that operate on the spiritual plane of reality. Our world is a territory under dispute. Every city, home, and individual person is claimed by Satan and counterclaimed by God.
We live in a world defined by the abuse of power. Each human being possesses power, and the foundational question of life is, how will we use it?
In Christ a new human identity has been created. We see in him exactly what we were always meant to be. There are two yous: the old you defined by sin and guilt vs the new you defined by righteousness and innocence. The gospel intends to grow us up into the mastery of love-motivated relational dynamics.
You loving God and God loving you is not the full Christian experience. God actually wants you to change the way you relate to other people. In part 6 of our series, Power Dynamics, a study through Ephesians, we look at Paul's explanation of the practical implications of God's love. How should this love change our relationships?
If God is all powerful, why doesn't He just crush evil instantaneously the moment it raises its ugly head? Well, because God is aiming for something superior to control. Rather, He is working out the long game of love, taking wise steps to ensure that all who say yes to Him do so voluntarily and to make certain sin never rises up again for all eternity future.
Your future is a present reality, which sounds weird, but it's true. And it's a pretty amazing future. Will you identify with all Christ has already achieved for you? That's the crucial question.
When I was seven, everybody in my class was chosen to be on one of the two teams, except me. When I was 13, the prettiest girl in the room chose me to dance with her. According to Paul, you've been chosen by God because He wants you. And the reason He wants you, is because He loves you.
The single most important issue of life is identity. If you don't know who you are, you don't know what to do with yourself or how to relate to others. But the moment your identity is clearly defined, everything changes.
The resurrection of Christ isn't just a historical event, it is the triumph of the principle of self-sacrificing love over selfishness.
We humans were moving along creating technology and then, at some point along the way, our technology began creating us. And our moral maturity is no match for the monster we've made.
In today's simple message we look at four threes that tell that central story of Scripture. What? "Four threes," you say? Well, listen and find out! I/We think you'll love it.
Harry and Meghan have shocked the world with their revelations about the royal family. And Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, long ago explained that God doesn't like monarchies to begin with.
Jordan Peterson is one of the most controversial figures of our time. People hate him and others love him. Regardless of what you think of his political perspectives, maybe God is trying to get his attention, as well as yours and mine.
The Gospel tribe is made up of all tribes. We live in increasingly fragmented and polarized times. Fortunately, the gospel shows us the way forward.
God calls you out of the world into His church in order to immerse your life in a powerful three-fold experience. The church is an identity incubator, a fellowship of love, and a theater of grace.
What does it mean to receive the seal of God in our foreheads, as described in the book of Revelation? Modern neuroscience holds insights that help us answer the question.
After all the politicians told us how much they hate each other after they engaged in all their debates perfectly calculated to cut one another down with words, after all their angry rhetoric and arrogant pontificating about how great they are compared to all the other options, finally comes the poet. And the poet, Amanda Gorman, pointed us to Scripture.
Password anxiety is a thing. A high percentage of people experience it. Religious anxiety is a thing, too, and it afflicts even more people. But any picture of God that puts your nerves on edge, isn’t an accurate picture of God.
What does the Bible mean when it says, “God is love.“ Is it merely a pretty idea or a theological proposition? In this message, we discover four beautiful dimensions of God‘s love that apply to our actual lives.
As we launch into 2021, we are faced with the exponential rise of artificial intelligence and robotic technologies. And the implications are very serious. What’s next for the human race?
What can we learn about the mission of Jesus from the superheroes of the DC and Marvel universe? This message will challenge you to the very core of your value system.
No matter who you are, we all know what it’s like for life to not go as planned. Your dream job turns out to be your worst nightmare. You think you’re gonna grow old with your childhood sweetheart and then they tell you they don’t want to be with you anymore. What do we do when that happens? How can we grow when life doesn’t go according to script?
Between 70 and 93% of all communication is nonverbal. Your posture, your attitude, your tone of voice, the look in your eyes, all communicate. Words are actually the smaller part of communication and love is the universal language nobody can refute.
Social media is built to force you into an isolating echo chamber of your own thinking. You click and click and click until the worst version of yourself becomes the only version of yourself. Here’s an alternative way to form your opinions.
The words we speak have the power to open and close doors to good and evil forces. Demons preside over gossip.
What does the world think when they look at the church? How would they define what they see? Are we open to even hearing their honest critique?
God is not the source of your suffering, but He does recycle your suffering into beautiful new things.
When Jesus commands His followers to “forgive,” He’s not telling them to feel something, He’s telling them to do something. You can literally call the police on someone, press charges, put them in prison, while simultaneously forgiving them.
It is a law of reality that the truth always floats to the surface of human consciousness. With Rolling Stone Magazine naming Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” the greatest album of all time, the gospel and the Second Coming of Christ are unexpectedly brought to prominence.
Jesus was a politician. Yes, you read that right. Now brace yourself and process the implications in this message.
Benjamin Lundquist shares a powerful message on our need to lay down excuses, embrace disruptions, and step forward into God’s call for our life.
Are you the kind of person who wants to know the truth even if it hurts? Or do you prefer to be lied to in order to maintain your comfort? In this message, you’ll find yourself face-to-face with the hardest truth in the Bible. Good luck.
The Bible is the story of two distinct human identities. The first is defined by deception, broken trust, and shame, the second by truth, trust, and innocence.
The only way to break the power of sin on the behavioral level is to break the power of shame on the subconscious level.
What’s going on in Lucifer’s mind? What is his agenda, his MO, his endgame? In this message, we will psychoanalyze the devil with the aid of Scripture. We will also discover the key factor in his defeat.
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglas, escaped slave and abolitionist, asked an audience of freedom-loving white Americans, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” The history that followed answered the question. It is an answer that requires sober reflection and has profound implications for our understanding of the gospel. Israel’s liberation from slavery is the Old Testament story from which the New Testament idea of salvation is derived. From the crucible of black slavery in America, “liberation theology” emerged.
Bible prophecy foretold that a demon-possessed Christianity would generate massive wealth for the nations by making merchandise of humans and thereby bring upon itself violent retribution. Jesus is the original non-violent protester. His death on the cross conquered the violence of both the oppressor and the oppressed.
The Bible clearly teaches that evil manifests itself through structures and systems, as well as through individuals. Demonic forces work through earthly institutions. Bible prophecy foretold that the United States as a nation and Christianity as an institution would be the vehicle through which Satan would establish the evil of chattel slavery.
We are currently witnessing a perfect societal storm composed of three primary elements. Whenever wrongs are committed by the few who are in power against the many who are on the downside of power, it is inevitable that all hell will eventually break loose. In this message, we seek to understand the social factors that produce the perfect storm.
Noise is a weapon the archenemy users to worm his way into our heads and destroy our souls. The most effective way to fight the noise is with silence because in the silence we hear the voice of God.
In 1963 an experiment was conducted that revealed one of the most powerful insights ever discovered. But 2000 years ago the apostle Paul understood this profound reality.
The prophet Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would be blind. But when Jesus came to our world, He wasn’t blind. Or was he?
The world is not the way it should be, and we know it. In a recent viral children’s story, a young British poet suggests that the coronavirus may bring the world to “The Great Realisation” that greed and selfishness are destroying the world, and that people are meant for relationships, not consumption and materialism. He’s right, and the Bible tells the same story.
The mantra of our time is, “If you don’t feel it, don’t do it.” Countless people in our feelings-obsessed culture follow their feelings straight into divorce. But the fact is, feelings follow actions wherever actions lead. Actions of love will produce feelings of love.
We are fragile creatures with infinite power at our disposal. In this message, we explore three things that can take us down for the count, but we also discover where the victory lies.
People get high. All of us do, on something, and the options are many. Believe it or not, the God of the universe invites us to get high in the best way imaginable. And once you get high on what God has to offer, you will never want to come down.
Modern scientists are discovering that love is the underlying law of life, but they don’t know why. The biblical storyline claims to know why: God is love and God made humanity in His own image. When Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life,” He laid claim to life itself as His domain. He is the author of the love that makes life worth living. Life centered in Jesus is life centered in love.
We’ve all heard that one of the most important things we can do to defeat the coronavirus is to strengthen our immune system with good food, moderate exercise, and sounds sleep. In this message, we discover a fourth and even more powerful boost for our immune systems.
As the current pandemic requires that we go into isolation, it is inevitable that we will come face-to-face with ourselves in ways that we are accustomed to repressing or evading. Like an itch that won’t stop, all of us are possessed by a deep nagging suspicion that something essential and fundamental is missing from our lives.
The coronavirus pandemic is bad for sure. But, believe it or not, there’s another pandemic that is even more pervasive and more deadly. But unlike coronavirus, there is a cure for this pandemic.
With coronavirus taking the world by storm, people are afraid. That’s understandable. But Jesus said that we can have peace because He has overcome the world. In the light of His love, here are some practical ways to navigate the anxiety of our times.
We humans are experiencing a major identity crisis. All kinds of voices are coming at us all the time trying to dictate what and who we ought to be. The Bible is an identity narrative. It reveals who God created us to be, how we've missed the mark of our true identity, and God's plan for restoring us to our true selves in Christ.
In Matthew 24, Jesus warned that as the end of human history approaches a number of signs will increase in frequency and intensity. The spread of contagious diseases is in His list. The coronavirus it's pretty scary for a lot of people, but according to Jesus there is something even scarier than the coronavirus. What is the sign of the end of the world that we should be most concerned about?
When we provide environments/space for people to heal and ultimately flourish we are providing one of the purest expressions of love.
To understand love and be able to extend it to the ones we love we must enter a sacred space with our creator where we are willing to explore ourselves with grace and compassion. This act of thoughtful deconstruction ultimately leads to an acceptance of how well we are loved by our Creator and allows us to transform ourselves and our relationships.
The best marriages are those in which each one's freedom and individuality are cherished. The surest way to kill love is to try to control it. The husband’s number one job is to protect the wife from his control, and the wife’s number one job is to protect the husband from her control.
“Religion” is not a word that has a good ring to it, because so much bad religion has owned it. But the Bible tells us exactly that good religion is, by telling us what it does. And what it does is the most beautiful thing ever: it cares for the needs of the most vulnerable people in the world—parentless children.
Broken trust—by means of wrongdoing on the part of those who are in political, financial, and religious power—will lead to the complete collapse of the world system. Bible prophecy warns that the consolidation of power and wealth will inevitably lead to the backlash of revolution and violence.
On April 4, 1968, a shot was fired in Memphis, Tennessee, and a prophet of God was killed. In this message we remember Martin Luther King Jr by revisiting the horrific history that led up to the Civil Rights movement and we identify what made Dr. King such a powerful figure in the movement: a singular combination of prophetic clarity and nonviolent love.
How do we cope with life when the unexpected happens and why does life with God often turn out differently than we first hoped? It may be the case that God doesn’t live up to your expectations, but who said that was a bad thing?
The Christ Child was born to die. It was inevitable that His character and principles would pose a threat to the powers that be. And yet, even as they crucified Him, they were unwittingly crowning Him the rightful king of the world. His death was the victory they did not see coming.
As soon and the Christ Child was born, the powers of evil flew into a murderous rage and sought to end Him before He even got started. They failed and He proceeded to launch a kingdom unlike any the world has ever known.
The Christ Child was born to our world, not to make sure people get to go to heaven, but to overturn all coercion-based empires and launch a new government based on justice for the establishment of eternal peace.
“God is dead, and we have killed him,” declared Friedrich Nietzsche, the famed German philosopher. Western civilization has murdered the idea of God. Atheism is on the rise. And yet, we can’t escape our longing for a love that transcends all this world has to offer. People are running from religion and returning to God by the droves.
Our sexual utopia has gradually become a sexual dystopia. By detaching sex from love, we have reduced it to a mere animal act. As a result, we are witnessing the apocalypse of human sexuality. Objectification has given way to commodification, which is now giving way to depersonalization. But you are more than your sexuality. Much more!
Marriage can be a medium through which we can grow and experience God’s love, but only when husband and wife are both submitted to Christ.
Money isn’t good or bad of itself. It’s a neutral medium. But the love of money is the root of all evil. Those who love it, horde it to the disadvantage and hurt of others rather than use it to lift others up. Right now the eight richest men in the world possess more wealth than half the human race, many of who work for them and can’t even afford rent. We are currently witnessing the fulfillment of the prophecy that in the last days “men will be lovers of money” and amass their wealth by refusing to “pay their workers” what they deserve. Hopefully, this sermon will upset you...in a good way.
Idolatry of Nation is the most dangerous force in world history and the most serious threat to the mission of the church.
Many Christians shy away from wealth because they associate it with excess and evil. Society spends wealth as fast as it can. On the whole, the West has had an obsession with poverty. Not only does God not condemn wealth, He wants us to have wealth to expand His kingdom. But how do we avoid the pitfalls of false piety and materialism?
There are three primary means by which human beings are dehumanized: power, money and sex. These are the three great idols of our world. In the kingdom of God, power, money and sex are subordinate to love.
God created us to experience pleasure. What happens when we put the gifts of God in the place of God in our lives.
It’s easy to get caught up in the idolatry of becoming the "best" and being focused on building your own legacy. If we are not careful, we will become the center of our own universe.
If I worship the idols of our celebrity culture, I am worshiping myself vicariously through the image they project.
In the dark fiction of vampire legend, there are those who are known as “The Originals.” These are those who first transitioned from humans to vampires. Yeah, it's fiction. But every fiction contains elements of truth.
Our culture is obsessed with personal happiness. But what if there is no such thing. What if the only actual happiness available is in direct relation to the happiness of others?
What we say is only as believable as what we do. Love alone gives credibility to our witness for Christ. The church’s street cred is lost when our loyalties are given to hurtful political agendas.
The genius is not a special kind of person, rather each person is a special kind of genius. Each member of the church is gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve the needs of others and advance the good news of God’s love to the world.
The church is an incubator for the development of healthy human beings. The traumas of life shut us down. The love of God opens us up. The church exists to communicate God’s healing love.
Apostolic Christianity was devoted to habitualizing God’s love by means of four specific practices: study, prayer, fellowship, and hospitality.
Jesus is the most dangerous person in history because He threatens the destruction of this world’s self-serving systems. The most dangerous people in the world are those who actually believe His message.
The church should be the safest place in the world. But it is only safe to the degree that it can embrace people, without judgement, no matter where they are in their life journey.
Ontologically and culturally, God relocated to where we are. The church should do the same with the world. We should get as close to the world as we can without sinning or apostatizing.
Our world is divided. Tribalism, nationalism, and denominationalism define humanity. The church is called to be a table where strangers meet and find common ground.
One of the greatest illusions of the human mind is that “I am here and you are over there.” The truth is, we’re all connected. “Us vs them” is a patently false construct of reality.
Both capitalism and socialism have pros and cons, but both systems are prone to corruption and ultimately unsustainable. The church is called to operate by an alternative economic system defined by the positive elements of both.
Planting a church in any location on earth constitutes a strategic territorial claim for the kingdom of God. We are saying, “This city was purchased by the blood of Christ, it belongs to Him, and we are here to take it for Him, person by person, home by home.
“Get out!” With those words, God launched His church with an ancient man named Abram, and the movement to “get out” continues today. Real Christianity is a cycle-breaking enterprise of revolutionary proportions.
If the church is merely an extension of the world's value system of greed and political power-mongering, then the church is unnecessary.