Lake Murray BC Podcast

In this passage, we see two characters, Simeon and Anna, who have been waiting for the Messiah.  God's people wait on mission and rejoice at the coming of Jesus as he redeems them from the law and brings salvation.

In this passage, the angels are sent to announce Jesus' arrival.  Surprisingly, they do not go to the temple, the palace, or Rome, but they appear instead to lowly shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem. What can the angels' announcement to the shepherds and the shepherds' response  teach us about the true message of Christmas?

When we study scripture, we see that the birth of Jesus was long expected , that Old Testament prophecy foretold of the day when a Messiah would be born.  However, when Jesus is born, it happens in the most unexpected way. Everyone experiences the unexpected and the narrative of the birth of Jesus can help us to know how we should respond in these moments of life.

Mary’s song of praise is infused with joy and thanksgiving. But it also operates as a study of the character of God and the gracious ways that he provides for his children.  What can we learn from Mary’s song today? Why do we, like Mary, also have reason to sing songs of praise? How can we apply the truth of this song to our own lives this Christmas?

In today's text, we’ll look at the next passage in Luke’s gospel where Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. What can this meeting of two pregnant mothers, one an old woman, the other a young virgin, teach us about where true joy and blessing comes from this Christmas?

Almost all of us are familiar with the Christmas Story: Mary and Joseph, the journey to Bethlehem, and the baby born in a manger. But has our familiarity caused us to lose our wonder at this impossible work of God? As we begin our Christmas series, God With Us, pray that God would recapture the awe of our hearts.

As we reach the conclusion of the Farewell Discourse, we see a recurring theme of unity.  A unified church has a common relationship, a common love, and a common mission.

At the end of the Farewell Discourse, Jesus does something important: he prays.  The prayer ofJesus is important in that it both gives us insight into how Jesus views his impending death and his hopes for his disciples after his crucifixion. As followers of Jesus today, we can learn essential truth to the Christian life through studying John 17.

The cross is necessary for our salvation and for our sanctification. When Jesus goes, he does so for his disciple’s benefit—that they might possess gifts and resources they otherwise could not possess. The same is true for those of us who are followers of Jesus today. What did the cross secure for us? And how might we take advantage of those gifts of God’s grace today?

There is a great deal of confusion in the world, and even in the church, about the Holy Spirit. He is the most misunderstood and overlooked member of the Trinity. Yet what we believe about and how we experience the Holy Spirit has vast implications for our spiritual life.  In this passage, Jesus addresses the Holy Spirit, the Helper, who will come after Jesus has gone, and make sense of all that h...

In today's text, Jesus wants to warn his disciples about the reality of following him in a world that has been broken by sin.  If we are going to love Jesus and follow his commands, he says that we should expect stern opposition from the world.  How then should we respond when we face opposition for following Jesus? How might God use it to draw us closer to himself?

In this passage, Jesus wants to build on the vine and branches metaphor by teaching his disciples more specifically about the kind of fruit that is revealed in a life that has truly been united to Christ.  What does that fruit look like? How do we evaluate our lives for it?

Union with Christ is the heartbeat of the Christian life. We are united to him by faith, filled with his Spirit, raised to new life in him, and commissioned to proclaim his glory in our worship and our work through obedience to his commands. As we move on to John 15 in our Take Heart series, we see that Jesus is helping his disciples to understand what it means to be united to him.

In these last few verses of John 14, Jesus' words serve to encourage the believer in the face of fear.

This morning in John 14:15-24, we see that Jesus is about to depart from his disciples. As he does, he gives them promises to reassure them, that they might love him and keep his word.

In John 13, Jesus foretells the very troubling events that will occur in the coming hours.  In John 14, he then commands his disciples to "let not their hearts be troubled."  This seemingly paradoxical command points us to the heart of the gospel.  Because Jesus was troubled, his disciples, both then and now, don’t need to be.  He has born our anxieties, fears, cares, and worries on hims...

Today we begin a new series in a selection of the Gospel of John known as the "Farewell Discourse".  In these chapters,  Jesus predicts his impending death and resurrection, promises to send the Holy Spirit, and prays that his disciples would be unified in love for God and one another.  John 13 is an important chapter in the Farewell Discourse, not just because it sets the context of Jes...

The Great Commission, the call to make disciples, was not just given to a select few, but to every disciple. Today we'll consider the Great Commission from the gospel of Luke. It was always God’s plan for salvation to go to all people through the person and work of Jesus—and we have a continuing part to play in that work.

Today we'll look at our second core value: Commit.  What does a church committed to Christ look like? What do they value?  We'll study Paul's letter to the Romans to see how the gospel forms and shapes the church.

In Mark 12, Jesus gives the Great Commandment, declaring that the most important thing in the Christian life is to love God and love others.  This is why our first value at LMBC is connection —both  with God and with those he's placed around us.

Each year, we take a few Sundays to be reminded about who we are as a church in a series that we call "Vision & Values".  We'll begin our 2023 edition of this series in John 6 by answering the questions:  What is the foundation of our church?  What is the fruit of faith?  What is the greatest danger to our mission?

We come across warnings almost every day.  These warnings are meant to keep us from endangering ourselves or doing something that could haunt us later in life. In Proverbs 6, God gives us practical warnings to bless us and shape our hearts to love Him. 

All of us desire to live a life that is blessed or happy. Often, the way the world pursues happiness is the exact opposite of how the Scriptures call us to pursue it. How can we walk in wisdom to experience the blessing of God in our lives? To answer this question, we must understand the value of wisdom.

Proverbs 3 is a wonderful reminder to the wise to continue to pursue the blessing of God through faithfulness to his word; and it is only the gospel of Jesus that enables us to do this.

Proverbs challenges us to think deeply about the challenges and realities of life in our world. Chapter 2 is an invitation to all believers to learn how we grow in our sanctification and how God uses wisdom to shape, form, and grow us.