Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church

Daniel’s rescue from the lion’s den is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible – and also one of the most misunderstood. To read it correctly we must expose two common lies about lions: That God always rescues us from them, and that the reason he rescues us is our own goodness. Daniel actually shows that God often does rescue us in this life, but he always rescues us in the life to come –...

The sad story of Belshazzar both comforts those who have been wronged by the sins of others, and also warns us not to follow in the folly of his footsteps. Though he wanted many good things, he pursued them apart from God, effectively opposing God. The Gospel of grace redirects our own "wantings" through God himself, transforming the malediction on the wall into a banner of benediction over us.

Nebuchadnezzar illustrates both the toxic power of pride and the persistent love of God to rescue the prideful and exalt them to new glory. True humility that God alone rules the world, and whatever corner of it we may be ruling now is always a gift.

We don't talk about the ascension very much. But it turns out, the ascension is essential for Jesus' story and for your thriving. It's essential because Jesus has old promises to keep and new work to do.

Often we can become casual in our Christian walks, however 1 John reminds us that being called a child of God means something. In this call, just like children, we should be confident in the assurance of our Father’s relationship and work to imitate Him in all that He does.

Trusting God will always put you outside of some important group of people in the world, and all you have to do to get back in is deny his supremacy. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were able to resist that temptation, even if God didn’t deliver them, because they had ample reasons to believe he was THE God of the universe; his presence with them in the furnace just gave them one more. Christians t...

God reveals mysteries to people who trust him, primarily through opening up his Word, the Bible. When we study it in community and dependence on the Holy Spirit, he uses it to disclose not only the "thoughts and intentions of our hearts," but the scope and sweep of human history. Most important, God reveals the mystery of the Gospel of grace that pivots around the person and work of Jesus Christ....

Daniel and his friends excelled in exile because they trusted in the God of losers: a God so committed to their flourishing in relationship with him that he was willing to oppose their nation when it strayed from him. In this way they foreshadowed Jesus, who endured suffering and death to give us new life. When God’s discipline placed them in a climate hostile to their faith, they chose the simple...

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Isaiah is brought into the holy presence of Jesus, the Lord of Hosts, sitting on the throne. He is awestruck by the holiness and glory he witnesses, and he recognizes his sin. Out of his sincere repentance, the Lord forgives Isaiah and makes him holy. With a heart renewed, Isaiah is eager to share the message of the Lord.

The rich fool’s problem wasn’t that he was rich, or that he saved for the future, or that he died like everyone else. His problem was that his life revolved around himself, not God. As a result, he wrongly thought that he earned his riches, rather than receiving them as a gift of God’s grace. This led him to ignore other people, failing both to learn from their wisdom and to share God’s blessings...

Christians are meant not only to profess faith in Christ, but to practice it. This encouragement includes a sober warning: that no one might delude us with plausible arguments (v. 6) or take us captive by philosophy and empty deceit (v. 8). Paul doesn’t say exactly how we are in danger, but he offers one clear remedy: to center every truth around the person and work of Christ. And if we pay attent...

We often find ourselves attempting to control time and the seasons that come and go in our lives. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that life is full of varied seasons and none of us can predict or control the seasons that come and go. We do not happen to time, time happens to us. God alone stands beyond time and only what he does in the world and in and through us will endure. The call of E...

Peter’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus shows us how his grace works. Rather than punishing Peter for denying him three times, Jesus cooks him breakfast, gently leads him to face his sin, and challenges him to love – also three times! In the same way, Jesus continues to show merciful compassion toward all who believe in his death and resurrection, entrusting us with his supreme calling to lov...

Everyone wants a king: someone or something we willingly allow to tell us what to do, because we believe they will make our lives better. Jesus’ triumphal entry confirmed that we do indeed need a king, just not the kind we think. We want a king who gathers all the most impressive people, but Jesus seeks helpless people who need their hands held even to believe. We want a king who promises to fix o...

Although we usually think of Judas as the evil villain in the Jesus story, this scene provides a different picture. If the disciples were uncertain—more like shocked—about which one of the twelve would betray Jesus, that tells us that Judas looked just like the rest of the disciples. It turns out, Judas was a good person. But being a good person doesn’t save you, no matter how impressive your spir...

Jesus gives a blind man both physical and spiritual sight, while a group of Pharisees grows increasingly spiritually blind. At the same time, the man’s neighbors and even his own parents struggle to grasp the reality of what’s happening. John frames the account this way to helps us see, believe in, and worship Jesus. Like he did with the blind man, Jesus is writing our stories long before we were...

Jesus makes an exclusive claim of being “the light of the world.” To argue with Him, as the Pharisees tried to do, would be to question His authority and the truthfulness of His claim. As the Pharisees argued and wrestled with Jesus in His imposing truth, we also must wrestle with Jesus’s imposing truth in our lives; the hard truths and the good.

This scene, which contrasts two sisters in relationship to Jesus, is easily misinterpreted. Jesus is not saying that active physical service is bad and passive spiritual contemplation is good; both of them are. He’s not saying that Mary is a special exception to the general rule that women belong in the kitchen; both men and women do. And he’s not saying that the only thing women should do is list...

Jesus says in v. 35 that “wisdom is justified by all her children” – in other words, that truth is validated by its outworking in human lives. He taught a related principle in Luke 6:43-45: a tree is known by its fruit. The life of John the Baptist raises three challenging questions for applying this principle: 1) What if following Jesus causes us to suffer? 2) What defines a truly great person? a...

Jesus loves us just as we are, but he loves us too much to let us stay that way. Here he hand-picks one invalid man out of a crowd of sick people, apart from any evidence of faith – a beautiful picture of the Gospel! Later on he pursues the man again, challenging him to “sin no more” – yet another picture of the Gospel! Sadly, both the healed man and the Jewish leaders suffer from the same basic p...

Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus reveals an essential teaching of the Christian faith: No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he or she is born again – or more accurately, born from above. Theologians call this regeneration: the gracious and mysterious act of God’s Spirit that makes us alive to God and able to trust him by faith. But why would Jesus emphasize this truth to Nicodemus, a scrupulous...

Jesus’ healing of the paralytic demonstrates that our greatest need is for forgiveness from our sins. By forgiving a paralytic – someone whose was clearly a sufferer with no obvious sin in his life – reminds us that every human being sins, rebelling against God’s loving rule in big and small ways. The Pharisees and teachers of the law also illustrate the pernicious nature of self- righteousness th...

In the face of impossible demands, Jesus needed to withdraw regularly to find strength and guidance from his Father. This practice was all the more essential in light of the power he possessed and the mission he was committed to fulfill: to preach the good news of the kingdom of God and then inaugurate it through is death and resurrection. Because Jesus was faithful to that mission, we can now fol...

John’s sparse account of Jesus’ first miraculous sign raises all sorts of fascinating questions: How did he really feel about marriage? What was his relationship with his mother? Why did she care about the wine supply? Why did he create enough wine that could make people drunk – and why put it in ceremonial purification jars? All answers revolve around v. 11. Consistent with the purpose of John’s...