Sundays at Cumberland

Prayer is a pursuit. All of our hopes, needs, and desires long to be satisfied. And prayer is the option we choose to allow God to do just that. But more than all the wonderful things that we may expect to receive from the Lord, what we really need is, simply, Him. Prayer is an entrance into His presence, where we find so much more than just a helping hand. This is the real value of prayer: an ope...

As believers, we are promised the most extraordinary gifts through our relationship with Jesus. Any complaints that we hold about this fallen world, or even our own brokenness, are offset by the grace that God gives to live in a way that is pleasing to Him. As scripture affirms, we are without excuse. And the reason for this confidence is tied to the most powerful tool of all: access to God throug...

The success of a seed is not measured by the size of the tree. It’s determined by the presence of fruit. Likewise, people won’t truly know the type of seed we have until they experience the type of fruit we bear. This is our appointment in Christ: to lead faithful lives characterized by abundant fruit. Jesus revisits this expectation with His disciples one final time before heading to the cross. F...

A flower can be an appropriate object for our appreciation of beauty, but it's SO MUCH MORE than just an aesthetic accessory. It's a signal of what's to come... abundant fruit...

The oak tree is an iconic biblical symbol of strength and stability. Through the cultivation of your faith, you can grow into a mighty oak - fully anchored in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Exponential productivity - it's what best characterizes the Lord’s ultimate plans for His people. As God is our eternal source, we shouldn’t shy away from an expectation in Him of perpetual good. We see a practical picture of His intentions in the life cycle of a seed - following its progression towards multiplication, as an abundant harvest of fruit. In the same way, there’s a process by which Go...

What if some lights are meant to shine EVERY DAY?

Jesus came to give us the most important gift of all - Himself! The fact that a holy God would choose to dwell with an undeserving humanity is absolutely remarkable. And embedded in His arrival is the most important Christmas reminder of all - that PRESENTS can never take the place of PRESENCE.

It’s always appropriate to respond to God’s generosity with some version of our own. That’s why the best way to celebrate Christmas is by giving. But the reality is that commercialism is always poised to hijack the season, transforming our opportunity to be generous into a recurring sense of entitlement. Sadly, the opportunity to give descends into an expectation to trade. 😕 Such darkness calls f...

Embedded in the announcement of the birth of Christ is a miracle that’s often overlooked. The greatest news the world ever received becomes even more intriguing when you consider the audience who received it first. The angels didn’t appear to Roman royalty, the wealthy and educated, or even the religious circles of the day. Instead, the news was brought first to the most unlikely class of people: ...

Many people boast of experiencing God’s favor - without really understanding the true nature of it. We compare our good days to another person’s bad days, which leads to a firm belief that God is smiling in our direction. But what if God’s favor is about more than just our sense of personal benefit? What if God’s best for us turns out to be the least convenient to us? If we affirm ourselves on the...

Nothing brightens up the holiday season like decorative lights. Every year, beautiful lights begin to take their rightful place within the seasonal landscape. From trees, to homes, to city walkways… it seems like everyone makes the same commitment to brighten up the darkness by simply hanging a few lights. It’s a tradition that poses an interesting dynamic for believers, because unfortunately, we...

Judgment… The book of Revelation includes it for a reason. And we should pay close attention to what unfolds. All that the world values must be eliminated, so that only what God desires will remain. John’s vision includes a picture of this societal transformation - orchestrated by none other than the Lamb who was slain. Of course, this vision was given long ago, and it may not be fulfilled until f...

There IS a solution. But we’ll never find it without first coming to grips with the *actual* problem. What if the real issue is not the challenges we face, but rather the type of victory we desire? In many ways, we’ve grown too accustomed to fighting fire with fire, which only fuels the problem we’re trying to solve. Even when our intentions are good, our ways are still worldly, and they never see...

Many people believe that earthly power in the hands of Godly people is the real key to transforming our nation. Surprisingly, this argument is the same on both sides of the aisle, even though people may part ways on who they think actually qualifies as a “godly” candidate. But now that the election is over, we can turn our attention back to what matters most. The pathway to true victory is never f...

With another election cycle underway, it’s hard to not be affected by the polarizing discourse that follows. Competing positions and arguments across the aisle hold the potential to leave our country in a state that is somewhat less than “united.” It seems everyone is digging their heels in on answers that seem right for themselves, and not necessarily anyone else. Unfortunately, at times, the Chu...

If I’m expected to “give to God” in church, then how exactly does God get that giving? What happens to the offering after I give? Whenever the topic of money arises in church, questions usually follow. For various reasons, many find it difficult to trust their giving to a church. Fingers continue to point in both directions, only serving to increase the skepticism that often exists between church...

The cost of EVERYTHING continues to rise. It’s frustrating and absolutely exhausting to discover that the more we do, the less we’re able to accomplish. But maybe there’s GOOD NEWS in it… somewhere…

To lead a life on mission:  1. Build trust with others by admitting the truth about myself. 2. Be ready to serve - whenever, however, and wherever God opens a door. 3. Expect hardship, and respond to it with perseverance.

Whenever we choose to trust God, we usually bring unspoken expectations along with us. We carry fear about how bad life can get. But we also carry hope about how good things can be. And maybe the most telling part of our faith is the expectation we have about the actual time it takes for God to move us from one extreme to the other. All while God is relating to us, we are reacting to Him - about w...

The greatest obstacle to our mission of transforming the world is our tendency to conform to it.

Whatever we do with our time is what we are doing with our life. Unfortunately, we live in a world filled with acceptable distractions, so we find ourselves wasting time without even realizing it. And as the world’s pursuit of pleasure and convenience continues to expand our options, it becomes even more important to focus our attention on things that really matter. Time is a limited resource, and...

Money can be a pretty polarizing topic. But Jesus didn’t seem to shy away from the conversation. And in our current culture, we could use His opinion more than ever. It may be hard to believe, but we currently live in one of the wealthiest societies that the world has ever known. That means that whenever scripture has something to say about “the rich,” it’s not just talking about billionaires. Jes...

It may be difficult to admit - but even our desires are broken. We can’t climb out of our fallen condition in life, because we want the wrong things from it. Interestingly enough, our persistence in trying to satisfy our own thirst IS actually the very thing that makes us thirsty. This dilemma is what it means to live “according to the flesh.” It’s a hopeless cycle, but somehow we still believe th...

God doesn't start anything that He doesn't intend to finish. So the question is... can you see the difference He's making along the way?