King's Cross Church South Bay

This week our series in the Psalms hits the keynote: worship itself. We look to God's Word to know how to relate to Him, and specifically how to respond to his love and beauty. So we are turning to one of the most famous Psalms on the topic of worship. When you read Psalm 95, it sounds much more like what we are hearing from World Cup stadiums than what we may expect from church services - the joy...

This week we begin a new series in Psalms: the Book of Worship. Humanity was created to participate in the greatest joy there is - worship. How do we get more of that joy in our lives? How can it be something practical that is a part of our daily routines? We're going to take the summer to soak on the history of how God's people look to His Word to draw near to him in worship - what worship means...

At long last! We come to the end of our series in Amos, and finally we get really good news. If you want to be encouraged today, take a moment and read our passage. After all of the harsh challenges Amos has given God's people, he ends with the incredible hope of how God can restore even wayward people. Despite being prone to wander, how is God answering the true longings of our hearts? What does...

We have come to the last chapter of Amos, and the prophet is pressing home his final challenge to God's people. The Lord stands at the altar and says something incredibly jarring, "I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." The Lion is on the hunt. And he is not pursuing merely as a parent playing hide-and-seek, but as a predator to eviscerate his prey. What is his prey? The self-rig...

This Sunday we come to Amos 8. We near the end of the book. (Did I hear a hallelujah?) Yes, Amos has been pressing us hard. Good news is finally coming in the next chapter, but this week we have... a basket of fruit. Ripe fruit. It is an image that judgment is near. I imagine many of you are thinking, "Again with this? When will Amos let up?" It's exactly what Israel was thinking. So I want to tak...

This week in our study in the book of Amos, there is a change of tone. If you’re like me, Amos has been wearing me out by pressing so hard. Yet in Amos 7 you can tell he also feels it, because even the messenger begins to say “please God, relent!” Like seeing a toddler on the playground being barreled over by bigger children, Amos literally says: “How will Jacob survive? He’s so small!” There’s so...

Thomas Merton said, "Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy." But who wants to face despair? Part of aging is moving away from roller coasters and bungee jumping to seek out serene vacations and the quiet confidence of financial independence. We mitigate against all such risks. But that is precisely Merton's point. The illusion of self-attained security de...

There's an old saying, "out of the frying pan and into the fire." It may be how some of you are feeling about the Book of Amos at this point. So imagine how his original hearers felt. As we come to Amos 5, he presses his same themes with new vehemence. Faithful Israelites looked forward to the Day of the Lord as a day when God would right the wrongs, heal injustices, etc. But Amos warns them that...

As we continue our series in Amos, we come to the famous 'cows of Bashan' passage... (on Mother's Day, no less! I promise I did not plan that.) It was an unflattering image then just as it is today. Amos is fully pressing his assault on Israel's hollow religiosity, one that longs for being comfortable more than being close to God. So why does he take aim at that image of wealthy women ordering the...

This week in our series in Amos, we come to a court summons. Amos is prosecuting his case against the people of God. And I mean that quite literally. There's a summons, a judgment, and a sentence. And it's clear that Amos expects that only scraps will be left. Two leg bones or a piece of an ear, he says. What has God so ferociously angry with his own people? And how could that anger actually be he...

Last week we introduced our new series in Amos. This week we come to the meat of his first rebuke to Israel. Yet this is not just a history lesson. In many ways, we see precursors for the New Testament Church in how God deals with his people in the Old Testament. Amos is showing us what his people were meant to be and how we've gotten off track. Ever felt like churches have lost their way? Not onl...

This Sunday we begin a series in the book of Amos. The series title ("the Lion roars") is taken directly from the opening verses, but it would be a mistake to envision the lion of MGM, announcing coming entertainment. God is roaring - not at the other nations, not at his people's enemies, but directly at his people. Why? For their injustices and hypocrisies. Buckle up. This is a hard book, but one...

Anne Lamott famously summarized prayer with these words: “Help. Thanks. Wow.” It is not always just those three things, but it serves as a good reminder and overview of what we often lay before Him. What do we usually pray about? How do we frame our prayers? What do we expect in our prayers? We ended our Parable Series last Sunday at our wonderful and amazing Easter service, and before we start ou...

We end our series in the Parables on Easter Sunday with an unusually terse passage for the resurrection. Jesus tells the story of a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus who end up in very different scenarios after death - but they can see and hear each other. The rich man was comfortable in life yet is the opposite in death. Meanwhile, Lazarus had suffered greatly but now finds comfort with Fathe...

Parades often showcase an event like the Annual Rose Parade in Pasadena or celebrate a great achievement like the Dodgers winning the World Series. But rarely does a parade lead to a devastating or tragic ending. We will be taking a break from our Parable series this Sunday to look at a different parade, when Jesus enters Jerusalem during Passover week. On the outside, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem...

Gentle Jesus saved his harshest words primarily for one group -- elder brother types. A quick read of the Gospels demonstrates how often Jesus debates, rebukes and even roasts this group. Smug, self-righteous, holier-than-thou people do not tend to find Jesus very likeable. Yet there's at least one place where he publicly and genuinely appeals to them. He tells a parable that ends with a father pl...

We are nearing the end of series on the Parables, and I've saved my favorites for last. For the next two weeks, we will study the Parable of the Prodigal Son and Elder Brother. This week we will focus on the younger brother's part in the parable, especially his desire to get out from underneath his dad's rules so he can really enjoy life. He's convinced that life is a party which his father is kee...

Sometimes it is the simplest things. Jesus is at a party and watches how people choose where to sit. And from that, he tells a parable. He encourages his followers to take the worst seats. Why? So we'll be asked to move up into better seats and look good in the process? Isn't this just social maneuvering and manipulation? If we read him that way, it sounds like some bad Hollywood "how-to-promote-y...

This Sunday we come to the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Many of us have gotten used to the term "Good Samaritan," yet it struck me this week that Jesus intended this label to shock his hearers. They did not regard any Samaritans as good. It might be more like hearing the phrase "good terrorist" or "good enemy" today. It is a master class from Jesus on breaking down our prejudices. A man wants to...

This week we come to the famous Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Jesus appeals to the image of sheep and goats returning from daily grazing, intermingled. As they come in, a shepherd separates them on his right and left. So will he separate us, he says. Sheep go to heaven. Goats go to hell. And suddenly that serene image gets loud in our minds. Gentle, pastoral Jesus... the Judge who separates....

There are six words every Christian longs to hear from Jesus. This Sunday, we come to the parable that says it repeatedly. But why? Some rich man invests in three different people. The first two guys double their resources, so they get affirmed and rewarded with even more. But the guy who doesn't... weeping and gnashing... outer darkness. It's hard not to project American capitalism onto the Parab...

"Watch out. Be ready. No one knows when it will happen." Jesus said these kinds of things a lot... 2000 years ago. What do we make of this? It sounds more like our ratings-driven news cycle than eternal wisdom, so many intellectually-inclined Christians just sort of set it aside and ignore it. Meanwhile skeptics see it as a false prophecy on the lips of Jesus. But both of those interpretations are...

This week we come to the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. It is hard to think of a more practical parable, because almost everyone hears it and winces a bit. Forgiving and being forgiven is painful and all too real. And at the heart of it: patience. "Long-suffering." Forgiving is not "wait a bit" and see if there's change. It requires the willingness to wait a long time before getting angry. And...

his week as we continue our series in the Parables, Jesus begins with "a man had two sons..." This is not the famous Prodigal Son parable, which also begins that way. Instead, here a father comes asking his sons to work in the vineyard. The first says yes, but doesn't do it. The second says no, but changes his mind and goes. Jesus presses his hearers: so who did what his father wanted? Everyone ag...

Hanlon's razor: 'never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.' In other words, don't assign enemy status to someone who just made a dumb mistake. But why would Hanlon think to say this? Something about our own insecurities leads us to see enemies where there are none - simply an error in judgment or a different point of view. (And it's common enough for Hanlon to feel...