99 CHURCH

Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking faith and certainty are the same thing. But there's a kind of certainty that becomes the opposite of faith, even a sin. It's the kind of certainty that needs to desperately hold onto our pre-conceived beliefs about God, rather than being open to what God is doing or saying. This week, we continue exploring doubt, as we talk about the sin of certainty.

Many people who enter seasons of doubt often feel like they're outgrowing faith. But what if you're not outgrowing faith, but growing out of one stage of faith into another? This week, we explore Brian McLaren's "Four Stages Of Faith Development," as we try to make sense of our journey through faith and doubt.

We don’t talk much about doubt in the church. Yet, the reality is, many followers of Jesus wrestle with doubt every single day. Doubt is often seen as the opposite of faith, but what if it’s actually a key component of faith? What if doubt isn’t an enemy of faith, but a companion of faith? This week, we begin a new collection of teachings exploring doubt, and how it can actually teach us more abou...

Ephesians 6:10-24 We conclude our journey through the book of Ephesians by wrapping up our exploration of the Armor of God. How do we stand firm in the face of life’s circumstances? How do we defend ourselves against the attacks of the enemy?

Ephesians 6:10-24 Have you ever found yourself unprepared? Paul closes his letter to the church in Ephesus with an exhortation to be prepared, standing firm against the schemes of the enemy by putting on the armor of God. This week, we explore the significance of these pieces of armor and what they represent in our lives of faith.

Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-9 This week, we explore the passage in Ephesians about submission, slavery, and patriarchy. If there was any passage in the New Testament that looks like a walking red flag, this is it. But what might we find if we look past the surface? Is there a way of understanding this text within its context that helps breathe life into our lives today?

Ephesians 4:25, 29-31; 5:6 In 2016, Christian alternative band King's Kaleidoscope released a song that stirred up controversy among Christians, leaving fans divided. On the song "A Prayer," the F-word was used two times. Christians were outraged and it sparked an interesting conversation in the church about language. Is cussing a sin? What does Scripture say about profanity? Or on a deeper level,...

Ephesians 4:26-27 Anger is a something we all experience, yet rarely talk about. Especially in the church. We think that Christians aren't supposed to get angry, so we end up suppressing our anger in the name of Jesus. But anger untreated, almost always causes us to make a mess in our lives, leaving a trail of destruction and casualties along the way. How do we deal with anger in a healthy, mature...

Ephesians 4:17-32, 5:1-20 As we walk through life, how often do we find ourselves reverting back to our old selves, living as who we were before we were made new in Christ? In today's passage, Paul exhorts us no longer walk in our former identity, caught up in the ways of the world. But how do we put on the new self? How do we allow resurrection life to flow through us?

Ephesians 4:11-16 When we think of the word “ministry,” we tend to think of it as something reserved only for those work in the church. We see the calling of pastors, missionaries, and worship leaders, as more sacred and holy than the calling of baristas, coders, and artists. But all of it is sacred and holy to God. Ministry is the birthright of the entire body of Christ, which includes all of God...

Ephesians 4:1-16 How do we grow up in faith? How do we mature into Christlikeness? In today’s passage, Paul drives home the point that you can’t be spiritually mature alone. God’s answer for our immaturity is the body of Christ. But how do we cultivate spiritual friendships that help us grow? This week, we talk about the types of friendships we need in order to mature.

Ephesians 3:14-21 One of the core questions we must ask ourselves on our journey of faith is: How do we get what we know about God in our heads down into our hearts? In today's passage, Paul models for us a way to pray that helps us not just get the Gospel known, but get it lived.

Ephesians 2:11-3:13 The world today is just as divided as ever before. We create ism's and phobia's that categorize people as the "others" to be avoided. But the Gospel calls us to something different, something more. Paul makes the case to the church in Ephesus that Jesus' finished work on the cross has destroyed every wall of hostility that divided us, from Jew to Gentile and beyond. This week,...

Continuing the theme of spiritual maturity, Dan Fang reflects this week on some of the biggest barriers we might face in our spiritual growth. Especially if we’ve been Christian for many years and notice that we still seem to be “stuck” in the same place, or still drinking the spiritual milk referenced in Hebrews 5, it may be worth evaluating whether any of the following barriers to spiritual matu...

Ephesians 2:10 Have you ever found yourself asking: "God, what is your will for my life?" Some of us hear that God has a plan for our lives and it doesn't feel like a blessing, it feels like a burden. We live anxiously because we're afraid that we'll make a wrong turn and veer off of the will of God. But God doesn't call us to live that way. This week, we explore God's will for our lives and what...

Ephesians 2:1-10 When we talk about living, what we’re often talking about is existence. But when God talks about living, He's talking about something so much more, an abundant life. But there are three enemies of the soul that keep us from the life God promised us: the devil, the flesh, and the world. How do we overcome these enemies to truly live? And perhaps more importantly, what has Jesus don...

Ephesians 1:15-23 Paul continues His letter to the church in Ephesus with a prayer. He prays that as follower of Jesus, we would know these four things: to know Him, to know the hope to which we were called, to know the riches of His glorious inheritance, and to know the immeasurable greatness of His power. What would our lives look like if we truly knew these things? How different would we walked...

Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus opens with an epic prayer. It’s a prayer that celebrates the bigger story within which every one of our stories is a part of. We come to find that this story is not so much about what we have to do to get into God's good graces, and more about what God has done to welcome us into His blessing.

Ephesians 1:1-2 We begin a new collection of teachings on the book of Ephesians. Ephesians opens our imaginations to what growing up and maturing in Christ could look like. While the church in Ephesus got off to a powerful start, we later read in Revelation that they had lost their first love along the way. We seem to know far too much about how love starts, and very little about how it might cont...

Can you think of a time in your life, when someone showed up to give you the strength you needed to carry on? When the early Church gathered, their time together was marked by a supernatural encouragement. People walked away strengthened and filled with the courage to live into their destinies. What would it look like to be a community that embodies encouragement? Recorded live from Belong Retreat...