Anthem Church

The great news of Easter Sunday is not just that Jesus is alive, but that in him we get to live with God all the days of our life.

This week marks the turn: Heavy judgment produces hope and healing in the lives of God's faithful people. This has always been God's pattern, which means you and I have hope in the here and now. God's refining judgement produces goodness in the lives of those who love Him.  

Zephaniah is a book that is equal parts hope and sorrow—joy and pain. Our tendency is often to skip to the good part. But there is no hope without sorrow, no joy without repentance. Hope is coming, so let’s do everything we can right now to be ready for it. It’s time to return to the Lord.

What would it be like to be fully, completely, and perfectly known and loved? God sees, hears, and knows all, even our imperfections and our failures. And yet, he is, without doubt or compromise, the God who loves, deeply and fiercely.

God's anger and desire for us to turn from sin is more about what we love than what we do. How do we know our repentance is genuine?

What if God's love, which both comforts and refines, is far deeper than we know?

The book of Zephaniah starts from a place of strong condemnation for the people of God. Why is God so angry with Israel and what can we learn about idolatry as the people of God today?

What is communion and why is it important? Listen in as we discuss this sacrament, explain what it means, and show why it matters in the life of the church.

What is baptism and why is it important? Listen in as we discuss this sacrament, explain what it means, and show why it matters in the life of the church.

The story of Jonah shares a primary message: God is full of grace and he gives it freely, even to those of us who don't deserve it. 

This chapter helps us understand the grace of God. His grace for us in Jesus is unending; will we let this grace change us from the inside out?

Jonah has run as far as humanly possible from the presence of God. But where can man go to escape the Lord who is King even of life and death? Jonah prays to the Lord from a place of death and despair and we modern readers get to see God's sovereignty over all things on full display.  

Since the garden of Eden, people have been hiding from God. What can Jonah's attempted escape teach us about our own tendency to hide from the God who made, loves, and refines us?

Our lives, by necessity, need work and watching. A struggle free-existence is an impossibility - so how would God have us live? This psalm reminds us to live and labor with our eyes to heaven, remembering that he does not reward with anxiety, but deep, abundant rest.

The ending of an old year and the beginning of a new year afford us an opportunity for reflection, prayer, and a clinging to the promises of God. This liturgy is intended to posture our hearts towards our Heavenly Father as we begin a new year.

What would it mean for the Son of God to come to us? What does his arrival mean for us today? Beneath everything we long and war for, we need grace. The good news of Christmas is that in Jesus we have received grace upon grace.

Our best laid plans, many times and despite our efforts, don't work out. What if, however, we saw God working in this disruption? What if the disruption is a blessing? The advent of Christ interrupted Josephs plans, but his response to God's plan changed his life forever.

Even in his earliest years of life, the arrival of Jesus rippled powerfully in the lives of those around him. This week we see how he drew in the curious and provoked the proud. He does the same today - how will we respond to his love, truth, and power?

In our passage today, we see that just by virtue of being born, Jesus turns the world on its head. He upsets expectations, reorders priorities and demolishes the social structure of the day. Real Jesus brings real change, even for us today.  

What is God's plan for your life? Mary, the mother of Jesus, provides a beautiful example that shows us God will use all of us where we are, as we are. The real Jesus meets real people.   

As we conclude our series on growth, we look forward to what growth is intended for: more of God for us and for those around us. We are not just growing to be individually mature people, we are to be contributing agents of the kingdom that God is building through the church. This is our great assignment and joy as God's creation and as his church.

Generosity is both a means and a measure of growth in Jesus. What does it look like to not just be financially generous but spiritually free in our daily lives?

One of the greatest joys of following Jesus is that of the community that is formed along the way. What makes this community distinct from other groups? What does this distinction mean for us and for those around us?

Often seen by our culture as a phrase of hate or intolerance, we desire to reclaim and accurately frame the concept of repentance. Repentance is one of the keys to growth and freedom in Christ, but we must understand what we are turning from, who we are turning towards, and what this turning looks like.

The flip side of meditation is the self control that makes meditation both possible and useful long term. Discipline is difficult but necessary; and ultimately, praise God, worth it.