Text: Mark 14:36; Galatians 4:4-7 | Listen to Message The Wonder of Adoption It almost goes without saying that we humans are not God’s blood relatives. We are not His literal offspring. And yet, the Bible makes this stunning claim that we can become children of God through faith in Jesus. For example, John 1:12 says, “But to all who did receive him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” The right to become children. We have a word for that: adoption. Adoption lies at the heart of Galatians 4:4-7: “But when...
Text: Matthew 1:21 | Listen to Message 6 Ways Jesus Saves JESUS SAVES. We hear it all the time. We see those two words scrawled on street corners and plastered on posterboards everywhere. The message is practically ubiquitous. It’s ever-present. It’s overly familiar. But what does it even mean? Here are six simple illustrations or metaphors of salvation: Sin is a separation, and Jesus reconciles. Sin obstructs and wrecks our relationship with God. It alienates and estranges. It creates hostility. But Colossians 1:20 says Jesus made peace between God and sinners by the blood of his cross. This is no temporary truce or...
Text: Exodus 33; Matthew 1:23 | Listen to Message God With Us We often hear the name Immanuel (Emmanuel) around Christmastime in connection with the birth of Jesus. And that’s perfectly fitting because Jesus is Immanuel – “God with us.” But God began revealing the character of Immanuel long before Matthew chapter 1; He began in Genesis 1, in fact. See, you were made for life with God. God created you to know Him, love Him, enjoy Him, and find your satisfaction in Him. That’s Genesis 1-2. But then Genesis 3 happens and sin ruins everything. Sin obstructs and wrecks our relationship with God....
Text: Psalm 86; Psalm 110:1 | Listen to Message Everyone Has A Master We like to think we’re independent, autonomous, self-determining individuals. The spirit of our age is that we are free – and nobody can tell us what to do. But the simple fact is we all have a master. We all have a lord. We all have something that controls us. Some people are controlled by money or possessions or the pursuit of “The American Dream.” Some are controlled by power or success. Some are controlled by pleasure or comfort. Some are controlled by the opinions of the peer group they’re...
Text: Exodus 3:1-15; 6:1-8 | Listen to Message I AM Who I AM When God chose to reveal His name to Moses, He said, “I AM Who I AM…I am Yahweh…This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:14-15). But what exactly did God mean, “I AM Who I AM”? His people Israel were suffering through generations of brutal slavery in Egypt and they were convinced God had forgotten them. Did God really think what they needed was some vague, philosophical or ontological statement of being? Of course not! But at the very least,...
Text: Psalm 91:1, 9-10; Isaiah 40:28-31 | Listen to Message How Strong Is Your God? In the Old Testament, the word “God” is actually the name Elohim, which literally translates to something like “Strong God” or “Mighty God.” Elohim is the God who created the entire universe out of nothing. Elohim is the God who rules every moment of every day and every atom everywhere. Elohim is the God whose promises are certain, even if they’re impossible. And Elohim is the God who saves. The Bible states all of these things as objective facts. So what difference does this...
Text: Mark 12:41-44 | Listen to Message Hope For Moms (And Others) Motherhood involves a lot of little, routine, monotonous tasks and moments that happen over and over and over again: cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, doing laundry, reading stories, playing games, wiping away tears, transporting, … repeat. Often these little things seem insignificant, trivial, and even pointless. As soon as you’ve done them once, you’re starting them all over again. And for what? What difference are you really making anyway? And here’s the danger: when moms feel that what they’re doing is insignificant, it’s natural for them to conclude...
Text: Acts 28:11-31 | Listen to Message You’re Part Of The Story The book of Acts ends somewhat abruptly with lots of loose ends and no real conclusion – and that’s because Luke intends for his story “to be continued…” The Church’s mission, in every generation, is to advance the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. Having inherited this mission ourselves, we have the opportunity to write new chapters of this story through our own witness to Christ today. To that end, here are a few pieces of encouragement: First, remember that the Good News of Jesus is...
Text: Acts 28:1-10 | Listen to Message Get Some Perspective The Apostle Paul was snakebit. Literally. Just moments after surviving a catastrophic shipwreck off the coast of Malta, he crawled up onto the beach, only to be struck on the hand by a poisonous viper. But Paul not only survived the venomous snakebite without harm, he went on to heal many others also – most certainly preaching the Gospel as he went. He wasn’t about let his life be ruled by self-pity, bitterness, or despair when he knew he was a servant of the Lord with unfinished business. The...
Text: Acts 27:1-44 | Listen to Message The Storms of Life Given what the Bible says about the love and sovereignty of God, it’s hard to understand why He doesn’t rescue us from our storms. It’s not that we expect smooth sailing all the time. We understand that storms are a part of life in a broken world; but why do they have to be such a big part? And why do they have to last so long, and be so painful, and take so much from us? Here are 5 simple principles to consider from Acts 27: 1....
