Munger Place Church - Dallas, Texas

What do we do when we have lost our dreams? When what we always hoped seems to have completely faded away?   This weeks message is about rediscovering our dreams, and changing our perspective to see the life Jesus has made for us. He is our story author. Paul the Apostle knew this on his road to Rome. He made it but not the way he expected.

This week marks a year of life with the pandemic—and all that has come with it. If nothing else this past year has reminded us that this life is so fragile. How do you find joy when some much of the good in life proves time and time again to be so fleeting?

Elaine and I are definitely the Unexperts when it comes to marriage.  So, why should anyone listen to us?   You shouldn’t.  We don’t know anything, which is why we are the Unexperts.  Though I guess I should say that we have had the privilege of knowing thousands of couples over the last 11 years at Munger, so it’s possible that we've learned a thing or two about successful marriages….  Plus we lo...

If you’ve had a happy life, chances are there was a point somewhere, sometime when someone reached out and took a risk on you. Those moments of grace will change a life forever. In the early church, there was a man named Joseph Barnabas who TWICE took a risk and reached out to two different, talented men, and those actions literally changed world history. Let’s talk about it.

We’ve had a difficult week here in Texas—record low temperatures, power outages, water shortages—but Jesus told us to expect storms. Are you prepared for the next one? Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: Matthew 7:24-26

NOTE: Because a snowstorm caused the cancellation of Munger’s Sunday services on Valentine’s Day 2021 (2/14/21), our pastor the Rev. Andrew Forrest taught a live online Bible study instead.  This is a recording of that study. What if the pandemic is preparation? There is a ten year period in which the Apostle Paul drops out of history following his encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus and...

Have you ever read a story and thought that it was written about you? After many years of God working His plan of redemption throughout history, the question finally came up about who salvation was meant for.   Was it meant for Jews? Was it meant for those who were circumcised? Was it meant for everyone?   Those who were far off were finally being brought near and the story would finally say with...

He’s the most important person in the New Testament (aside from Jesus, of course), but many modern Christians have almost no understanding of the early life and motivation of the man who became the Apostle Paul. So, here are 20 minutes about Paul, and then a closing question. Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scriptiure: Acts 9:1-9, 19-22

The pandemic has forced many changes and forced many of us to change directions in big and small ways. What if God has purposely closed off some opportunities to get us to move in a different direction? Maybe it’s time to stop banging on closed doors and to start asking, “What does this now make possible?” In fact, this is exactly the pattern we see in the Book of Acts: God uses larger circumstanc...

Let’s talk about how to kill the church from the inside. In the previous sermon in this series, we talked about why we can be hopeful about the future of the church, because the church is antifragile, that is, it gains from difficulty. Like the early church, we too can learn to become antifragile. But following up on that, we need to hear a warning, a warning that comes from the early church as we...

Something fragile is hurt by stress and difficultly. Something ANTIFRAGILE becomes stronger through stress and difficulty.                 • A candle in the wind is quickly snuffed out;                 • A fire in the wind gets stronger. If ever there were a time to learn how to get stronger through difficulty, now is that time. Now is the time to become ANTIFRAGILE. The early church in Acts faced...

We begin our series on the Book of Acts looking at the final words of Jesus to the apostles. Jesus has a specific task for his church, a task that is ours to take up today. In a violent, turbulent world, what if this is the only thing that will actually work?    

What I find fascinating about Matthew’s account of the visit of the Magi is that *no one else in Jerusalem made the short trip to Bethlehem to see the Christ child for himself or herself*.   Things haven’t changed.  How many of us are too busy or otherwise distracted to actually show up to see God at work?   How many of us permit our schedules to keep us from what’s most significant?   This leads...

Think back over the last 365 days, since last Christmas.  Think of all the things that have happened: a global pandemic, civic unrest, a presidential election, etc.   How do you know you were paying attention to what really mattered?   It’s easy to be distracted by what the world considers important: politics and war and wealth and the like.   But, what if God is up to something else entirely?  Wh...

Joseph finds out Mary is pregnant before he hears from the angel. Thanks be to God Joseph decided to act mercifully toward Mary. To whom can you show mercy—unmerited favor—today?

There are 2 basic ways of looking at the world:   The Abundance mindset and the Scarcity mindset.   People like King Herod see the world through a scarcity mindset—I had better get mine before you do.   The birth of Jesus offers another way, a way of abundance—there is plenty for all.   Which way are you going?   Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

You have absolutely no idea what’s hanging on your obedience.   Like Mary, obedience opens up opportunities that cannot come any other way.   What is it that you’re resisting?  What might be waiting on the other side?

If you know how something you're going through will end, you know how to order your life while you are going through it. The end of Revelation is a good end, and it tells us something important: our actions in this life matter.

Questions: What is the Ratpure? Who is the “John” mentioned in Revelation? What is signified by the great prostitute if Babylon in Revelation 17-18?

This week we are going to look at the beast of Revelation, the mark of the beast, and the famous number of 666.     Do we need to be afraid?     What are primary weapons of the beast?     Is the beast of Revelation on earth now, in 2020?     ————     There are two things people get wrong about the beast of Revelation.  One is that they don’t know what to look for, and the second is that they don’t...

I can’t be the only one who wonders, “Lord, what are you up to?” What is God’s plan?  God, what are you doing?  Jesus has already been resurrected, so Lord, what are you waiting for?  Why do you allow the world to keep on going its miserable way? To answer this question, the Lord gave John what we call the book of Revelation. It turns out that God’s secret plan for history involves the church and...

The reason Revelation is so scary is not because it tells of cataclysmic judgments unleashed on the earth; the reason Revelation is so scary is because, despite the cataclysmic judgments, no one repents!   What does God have to do to get our attention?   Revelation is filled with judgments on a rebellious humanity, but these judgments—though terrifying--do not provoke repentance. Let’s look at som...

John’s vision proper begins as he is taken in the Spirit to the heavenly throne room.   What he sees there (chapters 4-5) is the key to understanding the entire book, and can be summed up in just 4 words.   Preacher: Andrew Forrest Scripture: Revelation 4-5

We all know the kind of things that do NOT count (on their own) for how well life is going:   How much money you have is not a good indication in itself for how well your life is going; How much sex you have is not a good indication in itself for how well your life is going; How fast you can run a mile is not a good indication in itself for how well you life is going; Etc.   See:   I know lots of...

We begin our study of the Book of Revelation by looking at the end.