Seven Marks Church Messages

In the midst of trials, you can praise God by reflecting on His past acts of deliverance and maintaining hope in His future provision. Psalm 30 illustrates this through David's gratitude for God's healing and restoration, emphasizing that even in times of despair, praising God can renew our sense of hope and joy.

Praise helps us. Without praise our hearts are left to be captured by the struggles of everyday life. In the moments where life may be beating us down, making the decision to praise from a surrendered heart lifts us and restores us.

Psalm 2 highlights the worthlessness of opposing God and emphasizes the importance of taking refuge in Him. The Psalmist underscores that despite the tumultuous defiance of nations and leaders, God's sovereignty and the installation of His anointed King, Jesus, provide ultimate safety and blessing for those who seek refuge in Him.

The Psalms, a collection of 150 poems and songs, serve as a spiritual "playlist" guiding the Israelites in worship, prayer, and understanding God's redemptive story. Psalm 1 introduces the concept of the good life, describing it as a life of joy, contentment, and blessing derived from a right relationship with God, meditating on His word, and avoiding the company of the wicked, ultimately highligh...

Throughout this series, we've seen that people are much better at making promises than keeping them. Jesus, through His life, death, and resurrection, fulfilled all of the previous covenants between God and humanity and brought a new, final covenant to unite all creation with God.

In the Old Testament, Israel thought that the best answer to all their problems was going to be what everyone else in their world had: a king. They were seeking autonomy from God in what they imagined would be a better way. For a moment, an earthly king may solve a problem or two, but their rule doesn't always lead to God. God's idea of a king is one who is in reckless pursuit of Him, being His re...

The Mosaic Covenant, delivered by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, includes the Ten Commandments which the Israelites must follow to receive God's blessings. This covenant invites the Israelites to find their purpose through obedience to God, thus living the life they were created for.

This week, we're exploring the story of Abraham, whom God chooses to father a new nation, establishing a covenant signified by promises of countless descendants. Despite Abraham's old age and childlessness, his belief in God's promise is deemed righteous, with God taking full responsibility for the covenant's fulfillment.

Noah, a righteous man in a sinful world, is chosen by God to build an ark and preserve a remnant through a flood, demonstrating God's justice and faithfulness. Despite human nature remaining flawed, God remains committed to His promises, hinting at the ultimate hope fulfilled in Jesus.

Humanity, as the pinnacle of God's creation, holds a unique role in God's story, symbolized by the Covenant with Creation. Despite humanity's betrayal, leading to separation from God, there remains hope in God's promise to overcome the consequences through a future Savior who will restore the covenants and defeat evil.

When two people come together and say "I promise" to each other and then make it their life's project to fulfill those promises to each other, they can become one. And if two can become one, it gives us an even greater hope: that perhaps heaven and earth were made for each other, and still more, that human beings were made for union with God. And that's what our brand new series, "I Promise," is a...

Fear is universal, manifesting differently in each individual, but pervasive nonetheless in our anxious society. From the fear of wars and terrorism to economic instability and personal uncertainties, it touches every aspect of life, including dreams, relationships, and mortality. Yet, amidst this fear, the message of Jesus to his disciples offers a profound reassurance: His presence brings peace...

Peter was committed to following Jesus to the very end, no matter what. And then…he wasn't. On the night that Jesus was arrested and subjected to an illegal trial, Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times. Peter was not the courageous leader of the disciples he thought himself to be. Undoubtedly, Peter became overwhelmed by guilt and the inevitable shame that filled the cracks in his identity.

Doubt is an uncomfortable topic for most followers of Jesus. It challenges us to reflect on those nagging questions we have no answer to. If the resurrection changes everything, it means that Jesus doesn't just want to show up in our moments of strength and faith. He also shows up amid our uncertainties, hurts, and doubts.

An encounter with Jesus changes everything forever. The first encounter we will be exploring in this series is that of the first person to meet the risen Jesus, Mary, at the garden tomb. Mary was there to process her grief and despair. She was there to grieve her dashed hopes, the inevitable disappointment that settles in on us when death steals our desired future. Can you imagine? Can you relate?

The final chapter of Jonah begins after the surprising revival in the great city of Nineveh. Jonah is as angry with God as he has been at any point in the story. After all that Jonah has been through, seen, and done, he seems not to have learned much at all. It turns out that there were some pretty significant disconnects between what Jonah knew about God and what Jonah wanted from God.

Despite his best efforts, Jonah now stands on the shores of the one place he never wanted to go, Nineveh. Of course, he is not the same man he was when he first tried to run from God. Jonah has changed because God has continued to pursue him. Just as God continues to pursue each of us, he is the God of second chances.

The belly of the great fish, where Jonah has been stripped of everything but hope in God, becomes the unexpected setting for Jonah's renewal. Jonah finds a new platform to praise the living God in a place normally known only for death and despair.

When we first meet Jonah, we are told that God calls him to deliver a message to Nineveh. He is commissioned to share God's message with the enemies of God's people. Jonah's commission becomes an existential crisis. The implications of God's love leads him to hop on the first ship he can find to Tarshish, the farthest place from Nineveh he can get. But even here, God's love cannot be outrun.

No matter where you are in your faith journey: a weathered saint, a skeptical guest, or someone in-between. God wants you to know the ultimate goal of spiritual formation is Christ-likeness. There's nothing else. And Christlikeness is the life of love.

At this stage in the journey, you will find people who have experienced life with God long enough to live with a deep and abiding conviction that they have a role to play in God's story. They have learned how to turn all of life into a formative advantage–drawing deeper into life with God, and love for others than they could have ever imagined when they began the critical journey.

The Wall is a word picture meant to help us understand the sense of discontinuity we sometimes experience in life with God. We will inevitably go through seasons in our lives when we feel that our story and God's story are disconnected, or perhaps in deep conflict. Without warning, the things that used to give us life, nourish our faith, and keep us moving forward just stop working

Many people approaching this stage become aware for the first time that what got them this far won't get them much farther. We suddenly become aware of tensions in our life with God through things like adverse circumstances, unanswered questions, or personal tragedy. Our questions force us to look at God, ourselves, our beliefs, and our community through conflicted eyes.

Those who have been created new in Christ Jesus have been given His Spirit. And one of the most important roles of the Spirit in the life of a follower of Jesus is to empower us to develop and use our unique gifts, abilities, perspectives, and experiences in the life and mission of the church. You have a role to play in God's story.

To successfully make our way into Stage 2 of the critical journey, we need two things: to learn and to belong. We find both in the context of a community. And this community provides, among other things, a space for us to find the things everyone needs in the early years of their faith journey.