Text: Psalm 37:4 | Listen to Message It’s one of the favorite verses of the Prosperity Gospel crowd: “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Think of all the desires you have! Think of all the things you want! Just believe in God, and he’ll make all of your wildest dreams come true! I dunno, sounds more like a “Vote for Pedro” t-shirt than a sound interpretation of Psalm 37. If your prayers treat God like a Magical Sky Genie or a Cosmic Vending Machine, if your religion makes life all about God...
Text: 2 Chronicles 7:14 | Listen to Message It’s the verse of choice for the National Day of Prayer: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” What a hopeful verse! We should just call on God and step back and watch as he fixes everything wrong with our country! “God bless America!” Well, sort of. See, 2 Chronicles 7:14 isn’t about America. It’s about Israel. God is speaking to King...
Text: Matthew 9:9-13 | Listen to Message When’s the last time someone accused you of having serious character flaws because of the type of people you spend time with? Jesus had to deal with this. The religious didn’t. See, religious people avoid “sinners.” And, by “sinners,” they mean people who do the bad things on the naughty list. People who sin the sins they’d never think of sinning (and they’d never admit it if they did). The religious make two piles of people: “sinners” and us. They separate from sinners and condemn them. On the other hand, Jesus gravitated toward sinners...
Text: Psalm 126 | Listen to Message Everyone wants to be joyful. But wanting and experiencing joy are two different things – especially when you consider that many of our instincts and intuitions ultimately undermine the very joy we seek. God wants us to be joyful. In fact, he commands us to be joyful! But God knows better than anyone that the journey to joy requires the right perspectives on our past, our present, and our future 1. Remember the past. Psalm 126:1-3 – When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth...
