Capital Church Messages

People fail all the time. Politicians, public figures, personal friends–but it’s especially disappointing when God’s people fail. Even if the most important people in your life fail you, your faith doesn’t have to fail because you can place that faith in something far more trustworthy than people. If…actually, WHEN God’s people fail you, don’t ever forget that though God’s people fail, God’s love...

Psalm 141 is a prayer of self-correction and refinement. In it, David prays that God would protect him from temptation; he prays that God would make him receptive to correction and difficult truth; essentially, David prays, “God, change my heart to match yours”. God wants to use the people around you—the people who report to you, the people who annoy you—to shape you into a person of character and...

Psalm 44 can feel like a pretty grim work of poetry—it describes a raw and real pain, and registers complaint after complaint to God. And it doesn’t even resolve! The writer is left in brokenness and confusion at why they’ve been seemingly forgotten by God. Yet, it’s a helpful Psalm to reference when you might feel this way yourself. The bible never promises the absence of problems—but it tells us...

God is not in the business of hiding. He doesn’t play hard to get, and he’s not interested in keeping himself from us. On the contrary, God makes himself known in any way he can. It’s hard to miss the ways God reveals himself, and Psalm 19 is chock full of examples. God speaks through nature and the glorious wonder of creation. He speaks through scripture which guides us and protects us from ourse...

Psalm 20 is a psalm for leaders. In it, we find helpful information about how leaders need to pray, and how leaders need to lead. Before you write off this psalm because you don’t think you’re a leader, think again! You don’t have to be leading a country or a company to find application in Psalm 20. If you’re leading a business, leading a department, leading a family, or leading a friend group, ma...

We need Psalm 136 to remind us that even when we fail or get sidetracked by the worries and cares of life, God’s love endures forever. The Psalm interrupts 26 times to assure us that everything—our finances & our relationships, our worry & our shame, and our failures and celebration—its’ all swept up by God’s faithfulness and enduring love. So no matter what is occupying your thoughts today, conti...

Through Psalm 32, David teaches us an important truth about how our soul works—if you bottle something up, you’ll blow up; if you shove your sin under the rug, you’ll just keep tripping over it. When you cover your sin and stuff it out of sight, it sucks the life out of you and robs you of joy and strength. But what if there’s a different way to live? What if you could live with a pervasive sense...

Are you being pummeled by a problem that is utterly out of your control? Do you feel helpless? Powerless? If you’re facing a calamity that’s bigger than you, then Psalm 46 may be a passage for you this season. Psalm 46 is a psalm of trust for people facing overwhelming, life-altering catastrophe—the songwriter reminds us that no matter what, God’s got this. Psalm 46 reassures you that you can let...

Life is filled with flourishing and thriving, but also suffering and dying. You might be unhappy, unmarried, unemployed, or unsatisfied—but what if you didn’t have to wait around for a resolution before praising God? Psalm 103 articulates the essence of God and the expanse of his love for you. In this psalm alone, we see God’s love stretch as high as the heavens, as far as the east is from the wes...

John concludes his gospel saying that there isn’t enough room in the world for the books it would take to catalogue everything Jesus is doing. But God doesn’t need books to tell the story of what he’s doing—he’s got you. Your life is a chronicle that continues to tell the story of Jesus. God views you in the same way that he views the person of Jesus. Just like Jesus in the first century, you—we a...

Do you find yourself looking around at other people’s lives with a little envy? Maybe somebody else has a bigger business, more interesting friends, a healthier physique, better behaved kids, or goes on more lavish vacations… If you constantly long for the life of your neighbor, you’ll live a life of restlessness, writhing in never-ending discontentment and unhappiness. Fixating on someone else’s...

Have you blown it big? Did you make a mistake when you should have known better? Are you living in the shame and regret of your past—whether last night, last year, or a long time ago? Well, the story of Peter’s denial and redemption before and after Easter in the Gospel of John might have a gift for you: God’s love is not just for good people. It’s a love that’s unshakeable, unruly, and untamable....

At the end of John 20, Thomas—unlike Mary and the other disciples—didn’t see the physical evidence of Jesus’s resurrected body on that first Easter morning, and he doubted news was real. But perhaps it’s unfair that we call him “doubting Thomas”… after all, in Thomas’s skepticism, all he wanted was to experience the peace and comfort of the resurrected Jesus physically, just like everyone else got...

It’s easy to show enthusiasm about many things—your favorite sports team, fresh-powder skiing, an amazing restaurant or a great movie—so why do we sometimes freeze when it comes to sharing our faith? Maybe you don’t want to come across as offensive or judgmental; maybe you are afraid to share because you fear you won’t have all the answers. But Jesus didn’t die for us so that we could keep that go...

Mary’s grief at the sight of the empty tomb in John 20 can teach us an important lesson. Even as Jesus was right before her eyes, she didn’t recognize him because she wasn’t looking for him. As you deal with your own frustrations, and try to connect the dots between your disappointments and your dreams, are you truly looking for God? Or have you written him off assuming that he’s failed you? We’re...

In John 20:8, John models a resilient faith that we can all learn from. He sees Jesus’ empty tomb, and tells us simply that “he saw and believed.” John could easily have been overcome with despair, anguish, or fear in seeing the empty tomb, but his faith overcame. Biblical hope like this has the power to change the world, and to change your life. Hope is more potent than mere wishing, and more pow...

Jesus came into the world to tell humanity that the Kingdom of God is available now. And it’s free! But if you want to live in it, you’ve got to give up an old way of living. And the good news is that God’s grace can help. Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners—no matter what you’ve done or who you are, you are exactly the kind of person Jesus came to save.  He’s the God who wants y...

John 19:30 reveals Jesus’s last words as he died on the cross: teleō in Greek, meaning “it is finished.” This is the defining and pivotal moment in history. It’s the moment Jesus declared that whatever has happened to you, whatever sin you carry, and whatever shame you bear—it has been defeated completely by Jesus’ death on the cross. The debt is paid for humanity and for you. Jesus, in his perfec...

People want power. Having power means you can get people to do what you want when you want it. Power brings privilege, pleasure, status, attention, and admiration. But as Jesus gives up his rights and gives up his life, he reveals to us how a true king leads. Almost all of us are handed opportunities to lead every day. Maybe you manage a business, or teach a classroom, or coach a team. Maybe you’r...

There are recurring symptoms of approval addiction: cringing whenever you receive criticism; wearing yourself out trying to manage the perceptions of others; derailing plans when you sense disapproval; losing sleep over the possibility that someone is upset with you. The life of a people pleaser is depressing and draining, and it’s not as selfless as it sounds. Pontius Pilot gives us a lesson abou...

John 18 gives us a glimpse into the complexity, nuance, and multi-dimensionality of Jesus. Jesus is God leaping off the pages of scripture, into humanity and into your struggles and pain. He is the Jesus who falls to the ground and prays for you, and the Jesus who was lifted up on a cross for you. Whether you’ve never taken a look at Jesus for yourself or you’ve been following him for decades, as...

Everybody likes to win. And it’s okay to win, depending on what you mean by “winning”… If your goal is to win the argument with your spouse before you’ve even begun, you’ve already lost. In John 17:20-21, Jesus prays that his disciples would be one. His prayer for our unity is not just so that we would feel good about ourselves, but unity is intended to be a key marker of our identity in Christ. O...

In John 17, Jesus prays that we, his people, would be sanctified; that we’d become holy. Holiness is about being devoted to something; it’s about being set apart for a purpose—God sets us apart not simply to show the world we’re different, but to show the world who God is. God entrusts you with his reputation—your attitude and actions advertise who God is. Are you representing him well? Is God’s h...

John 17 gives us an intimate understanding of Jesus’s love for humanity—for you—as he prays. The God you are invited to know is Love itself. And Jesus wants you to know God so that you can experience his eternal life and love; not just when you die, but right now. If you only knew… that before you ever prayed to Jesus, Jesus prayed for you; that Jesus, the gift of God, considers you a gift from Go...

Paul writes in Philippians, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Whether you’ve been a follower of Jesus for 30 years or 30 days, God has been there with you, and promises to continue working in you now and in the future—what God begins, he completes. So when you think of your failures, your mistakes, and your missed opportunities, trust t...