Providence Church

Psalm 63 is David praying in the wilderness. And the amazing thing is how he prays. He doesn’t ask God to get him out of the wilderness, but he simply seeks God himself. And David ends up finding satisfaction and security right there in the wilderness. What if we made this our prayer for the new year? What if it was our prayer for all of life?

Psalm 62 calls us to trust in God alone—resting in his character and relying on him at all times. Though we often place our trust in ourselves, others, or wealth, Jesus perfectly trusted the Father and delivers us from self-reliance.

In this Advent sermon from John 18:33–38, Jesus declares the purpose of his birth: to bear witness to it. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises and the truth that stands over every moment of our lives.

What happened on that very first Christmas gave us more than a heartwarming story. What happened on that first Christmas changed the world. Because Jesus came to accomplish the very will of God for the world.

Jesus came as light because the world is in darkness. Humanity is in hiding in rebellion against God, but the light has come. Darkness is not inevitable. Cynicism is not final. Anyone who believes in Jesus is rescued from darkness.

Advent is season celebrating the coming of Jesus and longing for him to come again. And we learn a lot about why Jesus came from what he reveals about himself. In this passage, he tells us who he is, what he came to do, and how he did it.

We are all capable of drifting from God and community, so we must watch out for one another. We are all responsible to bring back the wanderer. When we do this, we join the work of the good Shepherd who leaves the 99 to go after the one. 

As James closes his letter, the number one thing on his mind is prayer. Which makes sense, because prayer might be the main application of everything he’s been writing. True faith expresses itself through prayer.

James calls us to be  long-suffering —to endure injustice, pain, and grief without losing hope. That kind of patience doesn’t come from calm apps or techniques; it comes from knowing how the story ends.  When you know the end of the story—that Jesus will return to make all things new, to bring justice and flourishing—you can live differently in the midst of sorrow. You can endure. The gospel story...

Money is persuasive. It can be used for tremendous good, but it can also misused. This warning about hoarding, withholding, and indulging points us to the joy of giving.

James confronts a sin that is so common that we don’t even notice it in our lives. It’s the sin of presumptuousness: Living life and making plans without any reference to God.

When we say something that negatively shades how people see someone, that is in the realm of slander. The problem is more common and more egregious than we think, but the gospel can change us. Mercy triumphs over judgement. 

We tend to focus on the surface reality of conflicts. But the answer to why we fight (and the solution to our fights) can’t be found on the surface. We have to look deeper.

Would you call yourself wise? According to James, wisdom is less about what you know, and more about your life and what you love. Ultimately, true wisdom is a gift from God: It comes down from above, producing peace and good fruit. 

A sermon from James 3:1-12 in our True Faith is Lived series, given by Will Walker.

On the surface, James seems to contradict Paul regarding the role of faith in salvation. But he’s really answering the question, “What is true, saving faith?"

To favor people because of appearances is so common that it feels normal. But James tells us that partiality is incompatible with faith in Jesus. God gives us the capacity to see people as he sees them, and to love them as he loves them.

Just as we were given new life by the word of God (James 1:18), so we grow in that new life by living according to the word of God. And that involves two things: Hearing the word and doing the word. James holds those two things together, not to be separated.

In the first 12 verses of James, he's been talking about trials. Now, in verse 13, he switches the topic to temptation. Perhaps better than any other passage in the NT, James lays out a process for how temptation and sin work in our lives.

It’s okay to ask God to take away our trials. But in our waiting, we can also ask him to give us what we need to be faithful and fruitful in our trials. This is the wisdom from above, and it is available to all who ask. 

If you had to pick one word to describe the end of the Kings story, it would be “exile.” Exile is the unhappy but just judgment on the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But is exile the end of the story?

Josiah’s life shows us the beauty of renewal: hearing God’s Word, grieving over sin, tearing down false worship, and turning fully to the living God. Yet even this unparalleled king couldn’t rescue his people from God’s coming judgment. Why? Because sin runs deeper than our best efforts—it clings to us in guilt and shame, and no amount of personal reform can remove it. The good news is that Jesus...

Manasseh was a wicked king, yet God showed him grace. Still, the effects of his sin lingered on. Ultimately, Jesus is the only one who can fix what sin has broken and make all things new.

The story of “pride goes before the fall” is so common that it has become cliche. And yet, it keeps happening. King  Uzziah's story teaches us about true success, the anatomy of pride, and our hope in Jesus.

Do we have a category in our minds for the fury of God? For the vengeance and judgment of God? The story of Jehu shows us the faithful judgment of God; the certainty of it, the severity of it, and our only hope in light of it.