Capital Church Messages

Matthew 2:13-23 is the often untold “second chapter” of the Christmas story. It’s the part where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus flee to Egypt to avoid Jesus’s execution at the hand of a power-hungry King… The calm & bright of the Christmas story is shattered by the chaos of life, and the hope and promise of the manger feels forever away. The story reassures that Jesus’s experience is the human experience...

The circumstances of the first Christmas were not too dissimilar from the circumstances many of us may face today… The world was chaotic. The Israelites faced political and social oppression. Life wasn’t always easy. Right in the middle of the hopelessness, chaos, and helplessness, God sent Jesus—a savior for humankind, God with us, Emmanuel. This gift of Jesus spans across time for you today, too...

Romans 12 calls you to bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. It is a dangerous decision to take matters into your own hands by responding to evil with evil—in the moment, the fight seems so right. But when you respond with anything but love, the war will escalate, and the evil will continue. We’re called to break the cycle of retaliation, break the cycle of reaction, break the cyc...

In Romans 12:15, we read two of them most overlooked and disregarded commands in the Bible. They’re perhaps two of the best ways we can love another human being. “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” Empathy is visibly and verbally joining someone in their situation, walking in their shoes, and sharing in their emotions. It takes a lot of work and even more time—but it is w...

In Romans 12:11, Paul invites you to never be lacking in zeal, and to maintain your spiritual fervor. Maintaining your fire for Jesus isn’t always exciting—it takes work and intentionality—but is critically important. You need to maintain your passion and fire for Jesus so that you’ve always got something to draw from when you need it; but it’s not just for you. God sets you on fire so that you ca...

Have you found yourself crying or cussing a lot more these days? Maybe you’re asking God "why" as you take stock of the circumstances around you. Jesus doesn’t promise a problem-free existence. And when the troubles come, Romans 12:12 may be a helpful guide to set your mind right through the trial. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” The end of your story is already wri...

Romans 12:13 gives a practical picture of what love does. And it’s a counter-cultural call for us when it can be too easy to fall into patterns of this world… the pattern of being too busy that we cannot see beyond our calendars; too managed we can’t risk interruption; too threatened we can’t relate; or too right we can’t hear. Practicing hospitality is a powerful way to love the stranger, and you...

What if we could be a church where everyone—no matter their appearance, no matter their accent—knew that they were fiercely welcomed by Jesus, because they were fiercely loved by his people? Expanding this beyond Capital’s four walls, what if your coworkers, the strangers in the grocery line, and your family around the Thanksgiving table also felt this love? Your fierce love can change people’s he...

The Kingdom of God is a diverse community comprised of people in all tax brackets, from all walks of life, who occupy all different occupations—if you can name it, the Church has got it. Whatever gifts and circumstances you bring to the table, the creator of the universe hand-wired you to be the answer to Jesus’s prayer of “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Collec...

Romans 12:2 tells us not to conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It implores you to not allow the world to dictate how you act and how you feel. What if you could be free from the mentality that you’re worthless, or that things are hopeless? What if you could be free from your bad habit or your anger? What if you could change the way you think...

If our lives are not defined by sacrifice, we’re not living lives that look like and love like Jesus. An angry, broken, and hopeless world is listening and watching—how we react to struggles; how we handle being treated unfairly; how we navigate emotionally charged conversations. As followers of Jesus, we’re called to live lives where everything we do is worship to God, and every trial is a chance...

If you were to make a list of all the things you could ever imagine asking God to do, it wouldn’t come close to challenging the God who’s reading that list. Ephesians 3:20 and Isaiah 40 remind us of this point—God is able to do  immeasurably  more than all we ask or imagine. There is nothing is too big for God to handle or too small for him to care about. Don’t let your doubt, your disappointment,...

Society is often quick to assign labels to people—you’ve surely acquired some kind of label yourself. No matter what the label is, you’ve probably been limited by that label. Maybe you’re labeled “successful” or “perfectionist”, and now your sleep, peace, and relationships are limited because you constantly feel the need to outperform yourself. Maybe your label is a source of shame: “ruthless”, “u...

What’s your favorite love song? From power ballads of the 80s to contemporary love songs, the experience of love has resulted in some of the most passionate poetry & literature our world has ever seen. Believe it or not, the bible is a tale of the experience of true love between God and humanity. The truth is, you are already loved more than you can fathom, and Paul’s prayer for you in Ephesians 3...

In short, strength is the ability to do what needs doing. If life hurls challenges at you, strength is the ability to overcome them. If life pummels you with pain and problems, strength is the capacity to power through. Sometimes, you might not feel very strong—perhaps you’re battling chronic pain; perhaps you’re on the last string of a tattering marriage; perhaps you’re not sure you can handle an...

The story of the first Palm Sunday in Matthew 21, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, teaches us lessons that transcend time and space to be as relevant today as they were then. Now, just as then, is a time to affirm the Lord of history and eternity. Now is a time to ask ourselves if we know the real Jesus—not an idea of Jesus that’s conveniently aligned with our desires or expectations. The story sho...

Maybe you’re in a season of waiting right now—waiting and striving for a new job with no success, waiting on God to heal your body, but it hasn’t happened; waiting and begging God to restore your marriage, but the arguments keep getting louder… If you find yourself feeling miserable and abandoned in God’s waiting room, Psalm 130 is a Psalm that can teach you how to wait well as you comprehend and...

God doesn’t promise a life absent of trouble, but he promises that he’ll take us through the trouble. Psalm 121 is meant to be sung as a reminder of God’s character and faithfulness—it delivers confidence that God’s vigilant and caring competence is trustworthy. You can trust him with your eternal life and with your day-to-day. You can trust him when you experience things that are out of control;...

Temptation and sin are deceptive and powerful. Sin convinces you that you can’t be helped; sin convinces you that it is the best way to help; sin convinces you that it’s not even sin. It over-promises and under-delivers. Sin lies. David wrote Psalm 51 in the aftermath of incredible and heavy sin (2 Samuel 11 & 12). In giving into sin, David didn’t become an atheist; he didn’t stop believing in God...

Psalm 131 reminds us to put our hope in God at all times. You probably don’t need to be reminded to put your hope in God when you’re battling depression, facing chronic pain, or the loss of a job or a loved one. But what about when the depression lifts; when you get the promotion; and when everything seems to be going right? If you depend on yourself alone, and play the role of God in your life, y...

It is one thing to know the facts of creation and to have a conceptual idea of the power of God. From the start of the universe, to the creation of man, to the intricate design of every unique snowflake on earth, God is the all-powerful, ultimate creator. But can you trust him with your addiction? Can you trust him with your struggling marriage? Is he with you in your finances? Can you lean on him...

Psalm 73 is a lament in which the Psalmist looks at the world around him and concludes that something is not right. While the psalm writer does his part in being faithful to God and checks all the right boxes to live righteously, God doesn’t seem to show up how we might expect. Perhaps you can relate to this feeling… Have you felt like God didn’t show up when you needed him most? Psalm 73 can serv...

When David wrote “ taste and see that the Lord is good ” in Psalm 34, he wanted the world to know and experience the abundant life he had found in God. He desperately wanted to share what he had found in God’s faithfulness. But, importantly, David’s plea to his reader didn’t come because his circumstances warranted a good mood, or because he was simply experiencing a short-lived feeling of happine...

The entire book of Psalms ends with 6 short verses all about praising the Lord. Praise isn’t just a mode of happiness because we feel good, or we’ve gotten through some storm. We praise because we know that lament isn’t the end of the story. We praise because there is restoration, redemption, and reconciliation in Christ. We are safe to have high expectations of God, and our praise can be anticipa...

David wrote Psalm 27 during a difficult and dark season—he was going through the unimaginable. Can you relate? Have you had a time in your life when it seemed like you were being pummeled on all sides? On top of the global challenges that we all face, maybe you’ve experienced your own unrelenting, pain-filled season. No matter what you face—be it cancer, unemployment, an impossible decision, a dif...