Munger Place Church - Dallas, Texas

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus paints a picture of two people; one, a rich egotistical Pharisee and the other a humble tax collector. One has status, wealth, and power and the other a humble heart. Jesus obviously, prefers the latter but a hidden question in the parable is what if the two were combined? What would a blessed, gifted, generous woman or man with a humble heart open to God look like? In my mi...

We all know what it is to either be lost or to be looking for someone or something dear to us. The feeling is not good. Urgency, anxiety, fear, and other emotions take us over until the moment where what we are looking for is found. Jesus, as uncomfortable as it sounds, started the Church to be a place of church and rescue. So we bring these emotions and more with us to worship, and when someone i...

Sometimes we are so accustomed to being worried that we worry about being at peace when we are not worried. It is almost as if we are addicted to being frantic. Jesus teaches us the value of calm. Be at peace. Know the Lord is with you. All will be well. It may sound too easy, but for Jesus pursuing calm is truly the only way to live.  

Do the right thing. It sounds so easy, and it should be - but the truth is we often talk ourselves out of doing the right thing and sometimes for ‘religious’ reasons. The Priest and Levite ‘know’ you help your neighbor in need but they don’t. This week we focus on what it takes to stay focused - to do the next right thing. Scripture, prayer, humility, awareness - these and more all play a role. Be...

In the Bible, taking matters into our own hands is a bad idea. When we ‘do life our way’ there is a temptation to be filled with ego, pride, arrogance, and a host of other toxic forces that catapult us into believing in our own importance. In the Luke 8:42-48, however, a woman takes matters into her own hands and Jesus blesses her. Take a look at the passage and ask, ‘Why????’. See you Sunday :) P...

In life, we occasionally receive something from someone we do not expect. We might get a call, a text, a gift, an invitation from someone who is a little off our radar and it blesses us by surprise. While it’s hard to imagine Jesus being ‘surprised’, Jesus clearly comes across something he likes in the Roman Centurion in Luke 7. All of us would do well to model the example the Centurion sets!

We all know that sinking feeling. We are in over are head. We have taken on too much. We realize that the job at hand is going to take more than we thought, and now we are getting a real glimpse of what is required. Simon (later called Peter) is right there with us, and to be honest he would feel that sinking feeling more than once. Come find out how Simon makes it through, and how we can learn fr...

If you were asked, 'Would you tell me about your family?' My guess is you would begin to talk about a spouse, children, parents and/or maybe grandparents. When we think of 'family' we think those physically closest to us. When Jesus thought about family the circle expanded. God the Father is family to Jesus, Mary and Joseph are as well as brothers and sisters, and Jesus would even say ``Anyone who...

The truth is the mission chooses us. As we step into the Gospel of Luke we meet Mary and Joseph who have no idea what is about to happen. God  chooses  Mary and Joseph.  Christians are people on a mission, but the mission is the one Jesus has in mind for us, not ours. Come see why putting ourselves in God's plan benefits not just us, but everyone. Preacher: Rev Andy Nixon

Jesus asks us to give our best, and then helps us achieve it together. Preacher: Rev Andy Nixon

My time at Munger has been life changing and a ton of fun. I'm not perfect and haven't always done the best job. Despite all of that, I only have one regret as I look back on the last ten years. Scripture:  James 4:1-10

Two people walk into church: one wearing a Rolex, the other in rags. Who do you say hello to first?   James warns us of the danger lurking behind our hidden bias for the powerful and put together. Here at Munger, where a real estate developer from University Park and a homeless man from Garrett Park grab donuts from the same box, this isn’t a hypothetical question. It’s real life.   “East Dallas L...

What do you do when life gets hard, when you're put to the test? James, the half-brother of Jesus, urged the people of God, scattered around the world, to consider it pure JOY when they are tested. Joy? Seriously?! That's the paradox of the Gospel: life from death, joy in trials; but how? Hidden inside each test is the seed for something great. Do you know what it is? Will you pass the Test?

For my last sermon at Munger, I want us to look at the last chapter in the Gospel of John—my favorite chapter in scripture. It’s funny, poignant, earthy, and very very moving. And I think what John has to tell us is just perfect. See, each of us has a different mission from God. And, what matters is not what someone else’s call is, what matters is what I do with what the Lord is calling me to do....

The verse to always remember

The most important habit you can have: Never Miss a Sunday. Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: John 12:1-9 References: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/does-an-unknown-extraordinarily-ancient-civilisation-lie-buried-under-eastern-turkey-?utm_source=ayjay&utm_medium=email

I’m like a broken record: The most important thing you can do every day is spend your first 15 minutes in silence, prayer, and scripture. Try it tomorrow. Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: John 15:1-9

Yes, it's true that Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings. But guess what? That's irrelevant. It's irrelevant because Feelings Don't Care About Your Facts. That's just how people are. And Jesus shows us the way forward: Love Goes First. Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: John 4:1-39 [The Woman at the Well]

Want to know that the water-into-wine miracle means? It means that God is Good(er). Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: John 2:1-11; Isaiah 25:6-7 References: “BUT IDEAS AND IMAGES are also a primary stronghold of evil in the human self and in society. They determine how we ‘take’ the things and events of ordinary life. They control the meanings we assign to what we deal with, and they can even bl...

Mark tells us that the women came to the tomb that first Easter morning, saw that it was empty, heard from the angel, and *still* left bewildered and afraid. Why? It’s because their categories couldn’t fit what God had just done. We think our outlook depends on our circumstances, but what happens when our circumstances give us no reason to be optimistic? This is where Easter Hope begins, a Hope th...

Change is inevitable, because God is moving history towards its goal. This is not to say that all change is good—it’s not—but rather that all change can be used by God. In fact, God works all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Jesus knows this, which is why he enters Jerusalem in such a provocative way that first Palm Sunday. Jesus knows that things mus...

These days everything is binary: either one or zero; black or white; good or evil, etc. Unfortunately, life doesn’t actually work like that. Fortunately, neither does the Bible. In fact, there is a beautiful sentence in Mark’s Gospel from a desperate father that got me thinking about “both/and” in place of “either/or.” And I’ve come up with a four word phrase that sums this up for me. I’ve found i...

It’s one of the most profound things Jesus ever says in Mark’s Gospel. But because it’s sandwiched between some amazing miracle stories, and because it’s not part of a memorable parable, it’s easy to overlook its importance. Which is a shame, because it not only explains why Jesus does what he does, it also helps us understand the entire story arc of the Bible. In context, Jesus is questioned by t...

What if what we mean by “faith" and what the Bible means by “faith” have almost completely opposite meanings? When Jesus can’t do any miracles in his hometown because of his neighbors’ lack of faith, we think it means that if they simply believed more, then miracles would happen. But that kind of thinking reduces faith to a personal quality, like a power meter in a video game—plus it makes faith a...