Text: Psalm 96 | Listen to Message The Psalter has a collection of songs known as “the Royal Psalms” that extol the virtues of a great king. While some of these celebrate a human king like David or Solomon, many of them point to a divine King with ultimate authority. Psalm 96 speaks of such a […]

Text: Psalm 80 | Listen to Message “God, where are you? Are you paying attention? Do you even care?” “How long, O Lord? When are you ever going to do something about this pain?” “God, why are you doing this to me? It’s not fair.” “God, I know you’re not a bully, but it sure feels […]

Text: Psalm 146; Luke 4:16-21 | Listen to Message Apparently there’s some kind of debate in the church over whether or not Christians ought to be involved in social justice. One side seems to be saying the mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel – and engaging in ministries of justice is a distraction […]

Text: Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 | Listen to Message It’s the most oft-repeated summary of a Christian’s relationship with culture: “We are to be in the world but not of it.” On its face, this simple statement implies some level of engagement balanced with some level of separation (or Christian distinctiveness). So far so good. […]

Text: Genesis 1:28; Ephesians 6:5-9 | Listen to Message It’s a common problem experienced by countless Christians: there’s a massive disconnect between our faith and work. We have no idea what the Sunday sacred has to do with the Monday-through-Friday secular grind. We’ve compartmentalized our Christianity to a few nights and weekends, and we live with […]

Text: Romans 12:2 | Listen to Message “I just didn’t have peace about it.” “I felt like God was telling me to.” “Things got hard, so it was pretty clear to me God was closing that door.” “I put out a fleece and God seemed to be saying ‘no.’” “I thought it was the right call […]

Text: Philippians 2:1-11 | Listen to Message It’s the stat that’s been recirculated at seminaries and pastors’ conferences probably since the days of Peter, James, and John: 10% of the people in your churches will do all of the serving, and the other 90% will do nothing. True enough. Some people will never serve the local […]

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:14 | Listen to Message Here’s a case study to give an example of what Gospel-driven counseling might look like in action. I’m choosing the topic of shame because, as I’ve written here and here, I think it’s the #1 thing destroying Christian community right now. Though my case study refers to an […]

Recommended Reading:  Everyday Church, by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis Counsel from The Cross, by Elyse Fitzpatrick & Dennis Johnson Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow, by Nancy Guthrie How People Change, by Timothy Lane Instruments in The Redeemer’s Hands, by Paul David Tripp Side by Side, by Ed Welch   Recommended Apps & Websites: […]

Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:14 | Listen to Message If you’re living in community, there will be plenty of opportunities to observe both sin and suffering in the lives of others. You may even think to yourself, “Someone should do something to help this person! But who?” It’s so easy to excuse ourselves from the responsibility to […]