Providence Church

Betrayal is dark, one of the worst things we can imagine, a deliberate act of disloyalty. But even in the face of that darkness, the light of Jesus shines through.

The disciples often argued about who was the greatest among them. Jesus taught them over and over that true greatness is about humility, sacrifice, and service to others, but they never seemed to understand. It was by a shocking display of humility that shows us why Jesus is truly great, why we are not, and how we can be.

The Upper Room Discourse has been called “a window into the heart of Jesus.” Here in the first few verses, we get an inside look at the knowledge of Jesus and the love of Jesus. These two things not only establish the context of the upper room, they shape the entire discourse.

Jesus invites us to come and see who He is and what life with God is like. It is also an invitation to be seen and changed, so that we can see even greater things as we follow Him.

In this final Servant Song, Isaiah tells us that the Servant himself is the powerful arm of the LORD come to save. But who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

The third servant song asks us to behold the obedience of the Servant. His obedience is born out of his intimacy with God, endures in the face of suffering, and is sustained through his trust in God's help. We are invited into that same kind of beautiful trust through Jesus, the Obedient One!

The second servant song is the Servant’s testimony about himself. He makes an announcement about himself to the whole world, because he came to do something for the whole world. And we are the beneficiaries of this good news!

The Servant Songs set before us the real Jesus, who he is and what he came to do. The first song is about the His mission to bring forth justice. What does that mean? And how does he do it?

Paul wraps up Romans 5-8 with the strongest language possible to convince us that we are totally secure in Christ. We’re secure because God is for us, because God justifies us, and because God loves us. These life-changing truths are not only for us to believe in, but to revel in and rest in.

We think we will be happy when we are in control or when we get what we want. Paul lifts our eyes to the joy of knowing that God is in control and trusting that his plans are so much better than ours.

This passage sets present suffering and future glory right alongside each other. We live in the tension between the two: we live in the already, looking forward to the not yet. So even though we groan, we have great hope!

Romans 8 tells us that the Christian life is life in the Spirit. And in verses 12-17, the Apostle Paul points to two aspects of life in the Spirit. Those who are in Christ have been given both a new obligation and a new identity.

The Christian life is life in the Spirit. He sets us free from sin and gives us power to live for God. It is supernatural, but it is also normal for everyone who is in Christ.

Romans 7:12 says the law is holy, righteous, and good. But the law has no power to make me holy, righteous, and good because I have no ability to keep the law and no power over my own sin. The end of Romans 7 is the apostle Paul throwing up his hands and saying, “Why is it so hard to obey God?! If I’ve been made new in Christ, then why does it feel like I can never change?”

If we are "not under law but under grace" (6:14), then what is the purpose of the law? That is the question behind Romans 7. The law leads us to Jesus by showing us the depth of our sin and weakness. Jesus releases us from the law and brings us under grace so that we can truly walk in Gods ways by the power of His Spirit.

Are we free to sin now that we're no longer under law but under grace? Paul’s answer is, “No way! Because we are freed to serve a better master."

 If grace abounds when sin abounds, then shouldn’t we just keep on sinning so we can get more grace? Paul’s answer is, “No way! Because that not who you are anymore."

We live in a world where everyone is trying to find or create an identity. Romans 5 says there are two fundamental identities: in Adam and in Christ. That is breaking news in a culture like ours. The bad news is, by nature, everyone is in Adam. The good news is, by faith, anyone can be in Christ. 

How confident are you in your standing with God? And what is your confidence (or lack of confidence) based on? We can have total confidence in where we stand with God, but the basis of that confidence is not what you might think.

We don’t move on from the gospel. We go deeper into it. Romans 1-4 is about the doctrine of justification by faith. In Romans 5, Paul takes us deeper into what it means for us now. We have peace with God. We stand in grace. We rejoice in hope. We know all of this is real because God has poured out his love into our hearts.

We live in a noisy, anxious, restless world. In spite of that, this psalm tells us that we can be quiet on the inside. But how? David shares the secret.

We have a way of seeing things, a story we are living in, but that story is largely shaped by cultural narratives. Genesis 1-11 introduces us to the true story of the world and invites us to see God, ourselves, and the world in new ways.

Babel is the prototypical city of man: rebellious, prideful, exalting itself against God, and pursuing autonomy and self-sufficiency apart from him. Instead of filling the earth as God commanded, the Babelites settle in one place and try to make a name for themselves. We have capacity to do the exact same thing.

Noah was an incredible man of faith, a true hero. If ever there was hope for things to go differently after the flood, it would be with Noah. This story in Genesis 9 shows us what happens when humanity gets a fresh start.

After the flood, God's purpose for humanity had not changed— He remained relentlessly committed to establishing His kingdom on earth through human beings made in His own image. God commissioned Noah to fill the earth and through Noah, established a covenant of grace with the new world and new humanity to come. Of course, this covenant points us to the greater covenant we have in Jesus.