Alabaster Group

Because God is multifaceted, following him closely often puts us in the middle of a tension that can only be resolved when we are intentional about knowing his heart in full. Although God commended Israel for fearing his glory and keeping their distance at Mount Sinai, David dared to go beyond what the law prescribed and seek God more intimately. Keeping the ark and the tabernacle separate from ea...

Some things about God can be understood theoretically, like his justice or the promise that he rewards faithfulness. But his mercy is difficult to understand unless we experience it directly. Without knowing his mercy, we tend to approach God like a boss when we’ve done well and hide from him like Adam when we haven’t. But the tax collector, the Canaanite woman, and a long list of people crying ou...

There is a reason that God chose a physical mountain as his dwelling place on Earth. It is because seeking him requires intentionality, diligence, and ambition, just like climbing a mountain would. The same ambition that gets us into a good school, takes the hardest classes, and works the long hours is what carries us up the mountain of God. We don’t have to treat easy things as the will of God or...

What distinguishes a slave from a king is not just what they possess but how they think. A slave operates from a place of lack; a king operates from a place of abundance. This same paradigm is also what distinguishes us from God. God often asks us to give up what feels like everything, and the reason we think his requests are unreasonable is because we don’t see ourselves as living in the abundanc...

The church at Ephesus, in many regards, was Jesus' best-performing church, with hard work, endurance, and discernment, yet he warned them that he would remove their lampstand because they had lost their first love. Good works without love for him fall short, which is why God keeps his people in a place where they keep going for no reward but only love. Paul did this through beatings, shipwrecks, a...

The narrow gate is hard to recognize because the things that actually matter rarely look impressive in the moment and the things that look impressive rarely last. David's repentance after taking a census of Israel is what led him to buy the altar at Ornan's threshing floor. That same land becomes the site of Solomon's temple and the one thing from David's entire reign still shaping the world today...

The parable of the weeds gives us language for some of the results that we see when doing the work of God. Not every failure in ministry is because of bad soil or bad seed. We have a real enemy in this life, and sometimes he actively works against us in ways that we cannot easily perceive. Despite effective preaching, the new believers in Iconium had their minds poisoned against Paul and Barnabas....

Some acts of obedience are available every day of life, like prayer or giving to the poor, but others exist only in a single moment and missing it means it's gone for good. Mary’s anointing of Jesus could not have happened at any other time. Isaiah’s calling could have only started once King Uzziah died. Recognizing which moments are perpetually open and which ones are gated by a season not yet re...

When reading about the paralyzed man who is lowered through the roof to Jesus, most people expect a healing, yet before anything else, Jesus says, "your sins are forgiven." Healing is easy to depict and dramatic to witness, but forgiveness is subtle and deeply personal, which is why conviction of sin is the rarer, greater gift. What every generation, every city, every person ultimately needs, more...

What binds the people of God is not a family lineage, location, or culture, but a shared commitment to do the Father’s will. Judges 17 shows us that when we lose sight of this, we begin to produce convenient religion that meets the demands of men, yet is oblivious to the desires of God. But those who give their lives wholly to only doing what they see the Father doing are the ones that Jesus is no...

The Shunammite woman is never named, yet Scripture ties her permanently to Elisha's story. She had no special calling upon her life, but she made herself relevant by noticing his needs and meeting them. Her initiative to think outside of herself compelled Elisha to meet her desires and needs even when she could not foresee them. In times of tragedy and distress, she was overtaken by the provision...

Real unity isn't the absence of conflict or bonding over a shared enemy. It's two people choosing to walk together in the same direction. When God calls us to be united with him, it is an invitation to walk the same path that He walks. It requires the unseen, daily practice of aligning every step, until it's no longer clear where your work ends and God's begins. The goal isn't to earn a seat next...

Both poverty and abundance pull the heart away from trusting God. The writer of Proverbs understood this, asking God for neither poverty nor riches but only enough for the day, because either extreme tends to land in the same place: a heart drowning in anxiety. Real peace doesn't come from adjusting the number in the bank account, but from bringing every want and need to God with thanksgiving and...

Being accepted by God should never be taken for granted. Before David was anointed by Samuel, Saul and all seven of David’s brothers were rejected by God. Even David, a man after God’s own heart, was denied the opportunity to build a house for him. When God does accept our offerings, He gives us the privilege of seeing his will prosper in our lives. Like good soil that a seed is planted in, the wo...

Poverty isn't defined by what someone has, but by the size of their dreams. The woman with the issue of blood dared to believe that her ailment was not the end of her story, but Lazarus could not dream of much beyond his next meal. When the gifts that God blesses us with begin to outgrow our dreams, we squander these blessings in pursuit of our small cravings, and this, as the prodigal son teaches...

There's a world of difference between people wanting what you have and people wanting to become who you are. Envy chases another person's stuff, but inspiration moves someone to live the way they live. Jonathan never sought to be admired; his courage to move toward the enemy without a sign or permission simply stirred everyone around him — the soldiers, the defectors, the fearful — to find the cou...

In this session, Heidi and Rolland Baker, along with Rapha and Ana Vaney, answer a series of questions from the Missions Week audience based on their personal experiences on the field. Homeward Missions Week 2026 | Day 7 Morning Service

Our lives are not our own, and there is no bargaining with a God who calls us to obey no matter the cost. Real surrender means yielding when he says to yield, and being stubborn when he says to be stubborn even when it appears strange to everyone around you. When we become this pliable in his hands, we are able to lay hold of what our souls truly long for—his face, his glory. Exodus 33 Homeward Mi...

Money is not scarce, but good places to give it are. Ministries hold something far more valuable than any donor's wallet: the altar where an offering becomes holy. Missionaries should believe that their calling is worth more than the gold being offered to it, since without the altar, the gold has nowhere meaningful to go. The Homeward platform is designed to help donors discover and trust real mis...

A person's worth before God has nothing to do with the size of their crowd, their stadium, or their subscriber count — a lion is a lion whether or not hyenas surround him. The only thing anyone truly possesses in this life is God's opinion of them, and chasing the glory of men will always cost us the glory of God. Amos 3; Jeremiah 28; John 15; Luke 1; John 12; Proverbs 30; 1 Corinthians 1 Homeward...

We are never called to fast Jesus because the world is hungry for more of him, not less, and we can only distribute what we carry. When we offer the fresh bread of his presence, a starving world will always run toward it, no matter how hard a place is said to be. John 6 Homeward Missions Week 2026 | Day 5 Evening Service

The parable of the prodigal son is told in three acts, and the last act is arguably the most important. The older brother’s response to mercy being poured out reveals an underlying bitterness that festers when we feel we have gone unnoticed. Faithful service in the father's house can produce its own brokenness, and the only real cure is trusting that the Father sees us and rewards us, even when it...

Heidi Baker encourages us to persevere when we face trials of various kinds as she shares stories from the missions field of ship wrecks, fire ants, and a miraculous rescue by fishermen. In the face of repeated setbacks, she reminds us that if we hold fast to God, eventually we will catch the next wind of his Spirit and make it out of the storm. Ezekiel 47; John 15 Homeward Missions Week 2026 | Da...

Ahab's downfall at Ramoth Gilead was settled in heaven before the method was, and God still cared which method was chosen. Among many viable paths, He picks one. Jesus required John to baptize Him rather than the reverse, not because John's desire was wrong, but because that path fell short of fulfilling all righteousness. We tend to mistake one true facet of God's will for the whole of it, settli...

The story of Jonah gives us unique insight into the sovereignty of God’s timing. Our foolish and rebellious decisions never catch God by surprise and his plans unfold in ways that account for our cooperation with Him or lack thereof. Nothing that we say or do can delay or expedite God’s will, but how we relate to Him definitely impacts the role that we play in his ultimate story. The challenge as...