Capital Church Messages

Psalm 31 bridges two genres as both a psalm of lament and a psalm of trust. The psalm brings together the pleas & protests of our present circumstances with a rugged commitment to believe. Psalm 31 is the prayer of someone who’s suffering, but at the same time defiantly clinging to hope. Maybe David’s prayer can teach you how to pray through your problems. Maybe it can help you shift your per...

Your whole life is one waiting period after another: Will you get into your first-choice school? Will you get that promotion? Will she marry you? Will the loan get approved? Will the cancer take him from you sooner rather than later? Like it or not, you’re going to have to wait. So, challenge yourself to learn to wait well. Wait with  hope . Not blind optimism, or naïveté, and not hope  for  a spe...

God’s desire is for all of humanity—and for you—to have a personal relationship with Him. And like the stars for the magi at the birth of Jesus, God sends signals in personal ways to point you to Jesus. Don’t short-change yourself by dismissing these signs and missing out on God’s love. Jesus, who sustains all of life, came to serve you and to save you. He will reveal himself to anyone who is will...

Money may make the world go round, but the  love of  money sure does create a lot of problems. The Proverbs are rich with teachings on money—how to earn it, how to spend it, how to save it, how to give it away. Above all, the Proverbs advise that we put money in its rightful place, trusting in God as our ultimate source. Everything we have comes from Him, and we are but stewards. When we live acco...

In a life full of fear—chaos, natural disasters, war, pandemics—where can you turn? In Psalm 46, and throughout the Bible, God’s command is to not be afraid and to trust in Him. You may not be able to control the chaos around you, but even in the midst of the fear, God invites you to drop everything, be still, and focus on him. God, who created the universe, wants to do great things in your life p...

When we say “our world needs great leaders,” we often aren’t thinking small enough. Most of our lives are shaped most significantly by the leaders right around us—parents, pastors, managers; teachers and principals; friends and mentors who speak into our lives. And we often miss the distinction between  great  leaders and  good  leaders. Greatness is about talent; goodness is about character. And...

Proverbs 6 gives us a non-exhaustive list of a few things God despises—haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a wicked heart, evil feet, and a false witness. The list makes clear that God cares about what we do with our bodies, with our minds, with our words, and with our relationships. There’s not a single part of our lives that God doesn’t care about! Why is that? Because...

The Proverbs talk a lot about conflict. The greedy stir up conflict, angry people stir up conflict, hatred stirs up conflict, a perverse person stirs up conflict. As Christians, we’re called to the opposite—instead of stirring up conflict, what if you stirred up peace? In the angry, contentious, politically divisive season we’re living in today, being a peacemaker may not be easy. Too often, when...

Do you ever feel pummeled on all sides? Like you’re being crushed by the cumulative effect of multiple minor crises? What do you do when you’re feeling this way? In 1 Samuel 30, when David finds himself in his own time of crisis, he found strength in God to get through. If you’re facing a time of trial, follow David’s example. Trust in him with your whole heart and distrust your own perspective on...

As you read the Proverbs, you’ll find that one of its most important topics is the subject of friendship.  Wise  people forge & foster deep spiritual friendship. Friendship—even at its best—is never perfect. Friends disappoint us, exasperate us, and can wound us. Even still, friendship is worth fighting for! Spiritual friends are rare—they are faithful, discerning, forgiving, and candid. They...

Many of us live in a seemingly constant state of comparison and evaluation of ourselves and our efforts. Is my photo good enough for Instagram? Are my thoughts good enough to speak up in my Small Group? Am I good enough for her to go out with me or for him to marry me? Am I working hard enough, saying enough of the right words at the right time? Am I getting good enough grades? Is my work good eno...

You’ve probably heard the common axioms, “we work to live” or “we live to work”. Looking into what the Proverbs has to say about work, we can see that both of these philosophies are false. Work is not merely a means to live—it’s a way for you to reflect the image of God that’s in you. To work is to use your God-given time, talents, and opportunities to contribute and show the world God’s love. But...

As disciples of Jesus, we’ve got to prepare ourselves for the inevitable unanswered questions—and we can’t assume the questions we’re left asking will be easy to sit with. If we’re going to follow Jesus with any hope of peace, we need to get used to doing discipleship in the times we’re heartbroken, disappointed, and left in the dark. God invites us to sit in our uncertainty with hope—a hope that...

Fear of the Lord is absolutely central to understanding the book of Proverbs—it is the source of all wisdom, impacts how we respond to God’s teaching, and helps us process suffering. It brings us comfort in the face of grief or anguish we can’t comprehend and reminds us that God is bigger than we think he is. And there’s a sense in which the fear of the Lord is putting Jesus at the center of every...

What if you could find a different way to live? What if you could learn to do the right thing at the right time and in the right way? What if you learned to keep your lips closed and listen? How different would your life look? The book of Proverbs overflows with practical wisdom—the book is intended to direct us in making Godly decisions. Through counsel and sound judgement, you receive insight wh...

Throughout church history, God has continually surprised his people by doing some of his best work in some of the most difficult circumstances. We can see one example in the early disciples in the church of Antioch in Acts 11. These early Christians were physically scattered, facing a famine, and experiencing economic uncertainty and a general sense of unknown. Despite these challenges, the church...

In John 16:33, Jesus declares “In this world you will have trouble.” It’s perhaps an unwelcome promise for us as Christians. Jesus came to set the world right-side up; he came to bring heaven on earth; he came to redeem the world. How is it that we experience problems so steep that they shake our faith? The second part of the verse reads, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus asks us...

Have you been so concerned with your crisis you’ve forgotten about your creator? Just in case you forgot or you haven’t spent time in the Word like you used to, or in case you’ve begun to wonder if prayer is useless, be reminded today that when you know the God you’re praying to, you know he’s going to see you through. When you know the God you’re praying to, even though you’re going through it, i...

Gardens don’t grow by accident. When you are in a season of spiritual “meh…”, the analogy from Hosea 10:12-13 may be a helpful guide to help you get unstuck. Like unplowed soil, the hard patches of your soul may need to be tilled and broken up so that you can receive the abundant shower of God’s righteousness and grace. This passage teaches the important lesson that when it comes to getting right...

In John 15, Jesus teaches an important lesson about how to respond when people hate us because of our discipleship to Jesus. We are to respond not with retribution, not with anger, not with hatred—we are to respond with love. As disciples of Jesus, we are at war. But we’re not at war with the media, not with special interest groups we don’t like, not with the government, and certainly not with peo...

The Old Testament books of the law are full of stories of God’s people rejecting him and running from him. But no matter what, God remains faithful to them. In the New Testament, we see God coming down from heaven onto Earth, stepping between the broken pieces of our wounded, sinful hearts as he walks right to the cross to die for people he knows will never hold up their end of the bargain. God is...

In John 15 Jesus says, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Remaining in Christ is to center your life around the reality of God’s presence. Remaining in Christ is to allow yourself to be pruned and refined by his instruction. Remaining in Christ is what empowers you to obey his command to love one...

In the “Farewell Discourse”—the final three and a half chapters from John’s Gospel, John leaves his readers with some of the most intimate and important teachings of Jesus. One of these themes is that of the Holy Spirit, and the role of the Spirit in our everyday journey through life. The Holy Spirit is what makes it possible to be present with God. Unlike in Jesus’ day, when people fought over ti...

In John chapter 14, Jesus makes a number of bold declarations that may lead us to push back in disbelief or to downplay, or even write off the important message Jesus wants us to hear. When other religions say, “let me tell you how to get to God,” Christianity says through the bible, and the Gospel of John in particular, “let me tell you about the God who came to get to you!” Even as humanity push...

Often in our discouragement with the world and our circumstances, we assume there’s nothing we can do to become encouraged. In the opening verses of John chapter 14, Jesus gives an example of encouraging thinking to his disciples as he describes eternal life. Looking elsewhere in the bible, we see that eternal life—heaven—is described first and foremost by the ever-present, unhidden, tangible pres...