Hold Up The Book

Ezekiel 34 is a heart-rending passage about how miserably the leaders of God's people have failed to care for them. And yet, the same passage is full of hope as God promises that  he  will shepherd his people and care for them in place of their failed human leaders. Promises like these make us love God all the more.

In this message, we simply work our way through Acts 16's account of the conversion of the Philippian jailer (vv. 16-34). The passage is a great place to look to observe the necessity of baptism for salvation by faith, and the urgency of it. The outline of keywords through the story is as follows: Prayer (v. 16) Power (v. 17-18) Problems (vv. 19-22) Prison (vv. 23-24) Praise (vv. 19-25) Prote...

When Christ was born, his family followed Old Testament law and took him into the Temple to be dedicated to God. There, the baby Jesus met an old man named Simeon who celebrated God's gift to humanity that He was giving through this infant. Simeon's love for God on this occasion is a powerful reminder for us about the joy that we can have in believing God's promises.

The story of Daniel in the lions' den is typically taught to young as a moral example of faithfully standing up to persecution, but its allusions to the Gospel are strong. It, like so many other Old Testament accounts, foreshadows many elements of Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

Who and what determines who we are? Do we each determine our identity ourselves? Or does our identity come from someone outside of us? The Christian perspective is obvious: that each of our identities are inherent to our being created by God, in his image. This message is very  counter-cultural in our current cultural moment, and that's what it makes it that much more important.

In Romans 1-3, the Holy Spirit shows how Gentile, Jew, and everyone are contaminated by sin and lost without God's righteousness. Basically, we're all doomed but for the grace of God. This message is part of our church theme for the year: "Standing In Grace." We'll be periodically adding another lesson in the series as we spend the year studying through the book of Romans.

Part of basic Christian morality is: "Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." (Rom. 12:13) This message reminds us simply how this is needed and what positive effects it can have.

Romans 14 is a passage to which we frequently appeal when making determinations about issues that divide God's people. But if we're using this passage as a determination of  division , then we are actually seeing its purpose as exactly the opposite of what the Spirit meant from it. This message shows how Romans 14 (and the first several verses of chapter 15) are all about UNITY among the...

When the Coast Guard are called out for an S.O.S., what's the most important element of a successful rescue effort? Speed? Hurry? Haste? No, actually. The most important element is skill —the ability and knowledge to actually get the job done. Sometimes, Christians are too hasty to show someone the truth about salvation accurately, so this message attempts to take the necessary amount of time...

How is it that Christians can have peaceful minds & hearts when we face trials and struggles in life? It all comes down to whether we truly  trust  God's promises.

Married life definitely has its challenges. When two people, both flawed and facing their own individual inner struggles, bring their lives together in such an intimate way, there is bound to be friction. This message addresses some fundamental principles of marriage that will help us navigate the challenges in spiritually healthy ways.

Once we start down the path of Christian living, it's important that we never leave it. Our discipleship to Jesus Christ is meant to be, as Eugene Peterson said, "A long obedience in the same direction." This message encourages us to set our minds on reaching the end of that long road, increasing in our faith every day that we travel on it.

Once a person steps onto the path of faith, it's imperative that each of us stay committed to following him all the way through life. It's a conscious, deliberate, daily decision to follow Christ all the way to the end of life and the beginning of eternity.

Romans is the apostle Paul's magnum opus—the writing that brings together more of God's truth in one place than anything else that he wrote. The Spirit's work through Paul guides the churches in Rome to a greater knowledge and especially greater appreciation of God's plan to save us. The letter will be the focus of our 2023 theme, so this message is the intro to the theme serie...

One of the most powerful features of the Gospel message is its ability to bring people together from all walks of life, from all different ethnicities, from all different languages, and from all different religious backgrounds. Sometimes, however, we get led into thinking too much about what divides us from other believers... and so in this message, we try to bring that discussion into the light a...

You're preaching about preaching? Yep. Faithful Christians understand the importance of gospel preaching. This message breaks down Titus chapter 2 and reminds us of the transcendent importance true preaching, relevant preaching, Christ-centered preaching, hopeful preaching, and prayerful preaching. It's a message for preachers and for all of God's people as it helps us remember the...

Christians live differently in the world. In fact, the Gospel message turns some things about our worldview completely upside-down because it helps us to see the truth that we were living upside-down anyway and needed God to shows us how things really are. In this message, we talk about some ways that the Gospel—the message the "turned the world upside-down" in the book of Acts— still do...

In the Law of Moses, only one passage—Deuteronomy 17:14-20—addresses the way that God would have the kings of his people behave when, in Israel's future, they would eventually be ruled by kings. And in that passage, we find a reminder of the great importance of knowing God's word, by reading it (and sometimes even by writing it) all the days of our lives.

Christ's message about being "born again thru water and the Spirit" (John 3:8) is full of joy and hope for those who are getting saved from sin.

At the beginning of a new year, as we determine to make some life improvements, there are several pieces of Bible wisdom that can help us make resolutions to be better disciples. These ideas will help us as we strive to be all that God calls us to be.

This message, taking its title from a book by Wilson Adams & David Lanphear , offers encouragement to those who suffer the pain of grief for lost loved ones. Especially around the holiday season when the pain of loss can be most acute, this message offers a great deal of hope.

In this message, we explore some of the Bible's reminders that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ has a place in his church. There is a seat for  everyone  whose faith and life are all about Jesus.

If the church is going to be oriented toward life and Heaven as God would have us (and we should be after all, since our whole identity is found in our allegiance to him), then these are some of the defining hallmarks that we need to be aware of in setting ourselves aright to seek Him. This is part 2 of a two-part series.

In Philippians 2:1-11, the apostle Paul lays out his case for the kind of unity that should ideally characterize God's people — unity that is built on selflessness and humility... Humility like Jesus, the one who left Heaven and became a servant who was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

If the church is going to be oriented toward life and Heaven as God would have us (and we should be after all, since our whole identity is found in our allegiance to him), then these are some of the defining hallmarks that we need to be aware of in setting ourselves aright to seek Him. This is a 2-part series. We'll post the second part for next week's TBT.