Easton Bible Church - Messages

How much is enough? The general default for most people is that money is a key (if not, the key) to happiness. Sure, there are other things in life that matter, but money tends to dominate more of our lives than any other pursuit. We go to work to make money. We buy what we want and what we need with money. And money, like any other idol, promises to give us what we want and make us happy. This we...

How much is enough? (Did your heart just whisper, a little bit more?) We live in a dog-eat-dog world, where (we’re told) you have to take all you can, or else someone will take yours. Envy drives us to work more so that we’re not missing out, often with little or no concern for how our actions affect others. We’re in it to win it. But what Solomon wants us to discover is that chasing after more on...

Time is a strange thing. Sometimes it feels like it’s stopped, other moments it seems to be passing by at the speed of light. And within every moment of your life, the future becomes the present which becomes the past, never to come again. Being aware of time’s passage is one of the most poignant ways that we feel our mortality. This week we want to look at what the book of Ecclesiastes has to say...

Imagine for a moment that you were smarter, wiser, wealthier, and more powerful than anyone else in the world. Now, imagine that you used your wits, your money, and your power to make yourself happy. How could you fail, right? You’d have it all! Surely, you’d be the happiest and most fulfilled person in the world. This week, we’re looking at the next section in Ecclesiastes, in which Solomon takes...

This week, as we look at the opening to the book of Ecclesiastes, we want to dig into what Solomon calls hevel (“meaningless” or “vanity”), which Solomon spends several verses describing. What exactly does Solomon mean by hevel? In what ways is life characterized by hevel? And how does that truth point us towards the life that God wants for us? More info https://www.ebc.org or call (609.267.4755),...

Jesus is a catalyst, model, and ambassador for what was real. I don't mean that Jesus wasn't a big proponent for virtual reality in the first century AD. However, as we look at Jesus' interaction during his earthly ministry, we see beautiful pictures of authentic love, effective empathy, and perfect understanding leading to conversations and actions bringing about truth in an individual's life. As...

How far would you go to improve you? Taking vitamins? Healthy diet and exercise? Medical procedures or surgeries? What about technology that would keep you alive indefinitely? Or a hard drive that could contain your consciousness, even if your body gave out? Today, the idea of moving past our human limitations, in one way or another, is thought by many to be within our reach. Transhumanism, for ex...

Once upon a time, if you wanted to be famous, you had to be on T.V. (And there were only a handful of channels, which meant very few people ever made it big.) But today, everyone has a social media platform at their disposal, which has generated seemingly countless online celebrities who gain hundreds of thousands, even millions, of followers through clever pranks, crazy antics, song and dance rou...

Living in our technological ecosystem, our lives are shaped by a thousand mostly unconscious tech-driven urges every day, to check our email, post a selfie, or watch another YouTube video. As has been well documented, many technologies like social media, gaming apps, shopping apps, and streaming services are designed to feed addictive urges and appetites that keep us coming back for more. In his l...

Work. It’s not always our favorite thing in the world. In fact, it’s probably tempting to think of work as something to be avoided, even despised. After all, who would work if they didn’t have to? Who wouldn’t rather enjoy a life of ease instead of working for a living? One of the promises of technology is that it will make work easier—maybe even eliminate it altogether—so that we can enjoy not wo...

Never in the history of the world has humankind had more control over life. Technological advances have given us the ability to cure disease, grow crops, produce wealth, build cities, and ease suffering unlike anything the world has ever known. (For which we should be grateful!) But, buried underneath our use of technology is the myth that technology can give us ultimate control over reality itsel...

Do you think God has expectations for you? For your life? In this week's parable, Jesus describes two ways of living: leveraging everything to achieve greater possibilities for the sake of Jesus' kingdom versus playing it safe. Only one will yield the kind of return-the kind of life-that you were created to live. More info https://www.ebc.org or call (609.267.4755), email ( office@ebc.org ), DM us...

Forgiving someone who's hurt you may be the hardest thing you will ever do in your life. Which is why it's much easier to theorize about forgiveness than to do it. But without forgiveness, we'll never be free to pursue a future that is unhindered by the past. The destructive power of unforgiveness is that it convinces us we're somehow punishing our offender by building up walls of resentment and b...

Do you ever feel like God is distant rather than up close and personal? In this week's passage, Jesus' disciples ask him to teach them how to pray. But rather than offering them a treatise or a lecture on the mechanics of prayer or the theological underpinnings of communication with an omniscient and all-powerful God, Jesus paints for them a picture of a caring Father who listens to us and provide...

When you think of God, what comes to your mind? When you imagine God's view of you, how do you think he sees you? With love? Judgment? Grace? Anger? Disappointment? Compassion? A.W. Tozer wrote that the most important thing about anyone is what comes into their mind when they think about God. Sadly, many people run from God because their understanding of God is wrongly shaped by people who've done...

Have you ever wondered if God was really there? Or maybe you've felt discouraged or afraid because you couldn't see God at work in the world. In this week's parables from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus explains that the kingdom of God is present, but it doesn't look like what we often expect. To our eyes, it may seem unimpressive, unspectacular, even mundane. And yet, Jesus says, it has a hidden power...

If you were a type of soil, what kind would you be? In Jesus' parable about a farmer (or sower) who tosses seed on the ground, Jesus describes four different kinds of soil: hard, rocky, thorn-infested, and fertile soils. Each soil receives the seed in different ways with different results. Jesus' implicit challenge to each of us is, how do you receive God's word in your life? Because what you do w...

It's one thing to know what to do to have a healthier soul. The real question is whether we do what we know to do. Knowing the four steps won't help your soul to thrive without the self-discipline to make them part of our lives. In this week's passage from 1 Corinthians 9, Paul explains how the Christian life requires us to train our souls, to practice self-mastery, so that we can run our best rac...

Imagine your own personal bit of heaven... maybe it's a favorite vacation spot or your hometown. Maybe it's where you meet up with friends or get alone. Now, imagine you wanted to share that place with someone else, but they'd never been before. How could you convince them to come with you? When Jesus gives his famous Sermon on the Mount, he begins with the Beatitudes, a list of blessings describi...

How do you measure greatness? Like a violinist who makes first chair in the orchestra, a lawyer who makes partner in their firm, or a politician who is elected to a higher office, greatness is most often measured by one's status: the higher the rank, the better the pay, the nicer the office, the greater you are. But Jesus redefines greatness as we understand it. Instead of greatness that is measur...

Have you ever had to "go it alone" in life? Despite the fact that we've never been more connected through digital communication, more and more people report feeling isolated and lonely. The UK went so far as to create a Minister for Loneliness in attempt to address the issue. And yet, for many people, finding community and connection has, in many ways, never been more challenging. But none of us w...

Arsene Houssaye famously said, "Tell me what you love, and I will tell you who you are." Who or what we love who or what we give our lives to -shapes who we are and who we are becoming. As humans, we are created by God to love and be loved by him. Therefore, as our love for God grows, we grow more and more into who we're meant to be. More info https://www.ebc.org or call (609.267.4755), email ( of...

Easton Bible Church Easter message for 2023

Towards the end of his letter to the Colossian believers, Paul brings all he's just written about how to treat one another like Jesus (cf. 3:1-17) into the real world, starting with life at home and then moving outward into the public sphere. And in every relationship, Paul makes it clear we should model our lives on Jesus' simple, yet profound example: you before me. Please note that portions of...

What do you wear when you go to church? At Easton Bible Church, for instance, you'll find a mix of clothing choices. Some of us like to wear our "Sunday best" as a sign of respect and honor for God and his church. Others of us find it more comfortable and feel more authentic going more casual. Still others wear whatever helps us to blend in with the crowd! But whatever you choose to wear to church...