Life is awkward. It’s full of gross and embarrassing moments. We all have a story, and when we’re in the middle of it, it’s pretty hard to see where it’s going. It’s pretty hard to know where we are. The thing is, God has a really great story for you to live. But, sometimes
Read MoreWhat is marriage? When is divorce okay? Who gets to decide gender?
Where does Jesus answer these questions?
We live in a society that seems to be unable to agree about any of those ideas. As we continue in our message series "The Teaching of Jesus," we are going to find that He solved these "riddles" a long time ago.
Read MoreAmerica’s favorite pastime—it’s not baseball, or football, or Nascar. It’s not movies or TV or music. It seems to be porn. Jesus says if you look at a person with lust then you have already committed adultery in your heart. The 6th Commandment. God doesn’t tell us what to do and what not to do to make us miserable—He’s protecting us from ourselves.
Read MoreAnger’s a really important emotion. We’re not supposed to ignore it, but we’re also not supposed to let it control us. We're to be Slow to speak. Quick to listen. Slow to anger. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Anger needs to point us in the direction of resolving conflict, not escalating it, not ignoring it. Jesus says trying to harm people with words is as bad as murder. Matthew 5:21-26
Read MoreSo how does Jesus relate to the Old Testament? And what about us? Now that we have the New Testament, what are we supposed to think about it? God didn’t send Jesus into the world so we wouldn’t do what He wants. He sent Jesus into the world so it would be possible for us to do the right things for the right reasons. God still wants us to live good lives, do good things, live holy lives. Matthew 5:17-20
Read MoreWe have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for, we also have some serious challenges we’re facing. We know that God has led us here and He will see us through. He’s not done with us, He hasn’t abandoned us, He’s gonna finish what He started. God is faithful. God is good, and God is in control.
Read MoreWe all want to change the world but we don’t want to change. Jesus says you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. You know all those things you think are wrong with the world? Draw a circle around your feet and start making those changes inside the circle. Let your good works shine to lead people through the darkness—so that they will praise your heavenly Father. To salt the earth—live the extraordinary lives of normal people, uncorrupted by all the impurities of the world. You've got to be the difference you want to see in the world.
Read MoreJesus takes an interesting turn on the last Beatitude—in the previous eight blessings He said “Blessed are the poor, the meek, the pure in heart—for THEY shall see God, THEY shall be called the sons of God, for THEIRS is the kingdom of heaven. They. Theirs. The ninth Beatitude is different—This just got personal.
Read MoreThe Beatitudes are the doorway to understanding Jesus’ teaching. If we get them wrong, we get everything wrong. It’s a question of how we see the world: Are we trying to do something so God will bless us? Or are we responding to God’s blessing in how we live our lives?
Read MoreThe Gospel isn’t supposed to be an unused gift card.
We’re not supposed to put the gift in a drawer and forget about it.
We gotta go straight to awkward. Not to prove anything but to …
Read MoreSeveral years ago I was listening to the author Leonard Sweet talk about how the modern church has forgotten what it means to be the people of God. The first thing he said when he walked on stage was, “Good morning sinners.” He waited a moment and said…
Read MoreWe can’t survive without something to believe in. We can’t live without hope,
and we can’t create our own meaning,
Thanks be to God He’s already given us what we need:
something to believe in, something to do with our life,
and a bunch of great people to do it with.
I think people are just looking for something real.
There's enough fake news and phony people trying to sell us something everywhere we go. It's enough to turn many of us into jaded cynics—we tend to be skeptical of anyone offering us something that sounds too good to be true. Most of us would call this approach to life "wisdom," right?
It makes finding a…
God has chosen some very ordinary elements and procedures for applying His work of salvation to us. They are so simple, you might even make the mistake of thinking they have no truly effective power—like they’re merely a symbolic cure, a placebo—but that would be a grave error. These are the most powerful mediums on earth. They are: God’s proclaimed Word, Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper.
Read MoreIf you are a Christian, you need to be in your local church every week—your brothers and sisters need you, you need them, because the world needs Jesus.
The church is a sprinkler system in the desert. The church is a full moon in a dark sky. The church is an embassy of the kingdom of heaven on earth. The church is you.
Read MoreAlthough we Christians have been adopted into a holy, royal family—we can’t even pretend to behave good enough to fit it. it’s only by the grace of God that any of us are welcome to be here. We’re orphans. Beggars. Goats at a sheep party.
Read MorePeople have many reasons for why they doubt God exists, here are five that I think are silly:
1. Christians are hypocrites—Christians say one thing and do another. Although this is absolutely true...
Everyone says they want the Sunday church experience to be joyful, and a meaningful part of their life. No one wants church to be boring, awkward, or devoid of practical relevance. People have lots of opinions about how to make this happen—about everything from the music, the seating, the length of the sermon and whether or not the Bible is read from the king's English.
All of those things probably matter to some degree or other but I'm gonna propose something that I think is far more important to the life of the church than any of those things...
Read MoreStaring at the brightly wrapped gifts under the plastic tree, "which one of these boxes could be the Johnny West Covered Wagon I circled in the JC Penny Toy Catalogue?" Standing in our Christmas socks wondering what could be hidden in all these paper mysteries. "It's still three days until Christmas—it feels like...
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