The church of Christ on McDermott Road

The word “kingdom” is not just another word for the church. And the kingdom of God is not referring to the place people go when they die. The kingdom is God’s uncontested rule and reign over the world. When Jesus defined the kingdom of God he did so using parables. He said the kingdom was like a grain […]

One of the most difficult portions of Hebrews 11 is the author’s mention of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. These were hardly exemplary religious men. They did some pretty horrible things. So, why would the Hebrew writer mention them alongside people like Abraham, Moses, and David? Perhaps it is because each of them—in spite of their sins—had moments when […]

Sometimes being loving God and being loyal to him means being willing to suffer mistreatment and persecution. Moses gave up the palace to suffer with the his Hebrew brothers and sisters. He chose loyalty over luxury. When we are called to give up comfort, wealth, freedom, safety, or security for the sake of our commitment to King Jesus, […]

Abraham was promised a son, a son through whom God would bring blessings to all the nations of the world. However, Abraham was told to kill that son and offer him as a sacrifice to God. Abraham’s loyalty was being tested. Would he be loyal to God, even when it seemed he would have to give up […]

The work the medical missionaries with us this Sunday are doing relates closely with our text for this Sunday, leaving home and going to a foreign place because of loyalty to God. We will talk about Abraham’s willingness to leave home and go to a foreign land simply because he was committed to YHWH. We should all share […]

When we read the phrase, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” we often take it to mean that faith is believing in something without evidence. This is a really poor understanding of faith. The Hebrew writer is saying that faith is being unshakably committed to a God you can’t see. […]

We will discuss how grace teaches and trains us to, “Renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.” When we truly understand God’s saving grace we are motivated to grow and be transformed. (Scripture: Titus 2:11-14)

When the infant Jesus was presented in the temple, his family met a man and a woman who had been waiting patiently for the Lord’s arrival. Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that would not die until he saw the Messiah. Also, Anna, an elderly prophetess, had been waiting in the temple, “Worshiping with fasting and […]

When the Lord arrived in Bethlehem, his arrival was not announced to the Sanhedrin or in Herod’s palace, it was announced in a field of shepherds. To these humble shepherds, the Lord sent an angel and a whole host of heavenly beings to announce the Good News. Throughout Jesus’ life, it was people like these shepherds who were […]

Zechariah prophesied about what would become of his son, John. He said his son would prepare the way of the Lord. The coming of the Lord would be like a “sunrise” that would “visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” Throughout the book of Luke, […]

One of the most beautiful, and paradigm-shifting passages, in the Bible is Mary’s “Magnificat.” Mary rejoices that the coming of the Lord will scatter the proud, bring down the mighty, and send the rich away empty. The humble, however, are those who are prepared for the Day of the Lord. The humble will be exalted when he arrives. […]

One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the Holy Spirit. He dwells within us to strengthen us in our inner being, so that Christ can dwell in our hearts through faith. So that, being rooted and grounded in love, we may have strength to comprehend the love of Christ and be filled […]

Prior to the fall, human beings were at peace with God and with one another. When sin entered the world, humanity was exiled from God and we all began to experience hostility with one another. The Gospel is all about reconciliation and peace. Because of Jesus, Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled to God, but also reconciled to […]

“You were dead…but God…made us alive.” What an amazing way to understand the Gospel. We did not earn this resurrection from the dead. We were given life as an unmerited gift, because of who God is and what he has done for us through Christ. The concepts of God’s grace, mercy, and love should be the foundation of […]

There is so much “meat” packed into the opening verses of Ephesians. In this short passage, Paul speaks of being blessed, chosen, holy, blameless, predestined, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven. We will talk about what these terms mean, how they should fill us with overwhelming sense of gratitude, and how they should shape the way we think about God […]

Guilt and shame can eat us alive. It can be very easy to fall into that rut of guilt and shame, but very difficult to break free from it. When we do something wrong, how can we avoid internalizing guilt and shame. And once we have fallen into this rut, how can we get out? In this lesson […]

Christians are called to engage in faith-filled conversations. John 15 tells us that we are to “Abide in Jesus.” The image in this passage is of a vine and its branches… How does this image relate to our discipleship making efforts? A disciple’s relationship with Jesus is the essential catalyst for engaging with others in […]

In his book, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, Tyler Staton said, “A maturing community is a confessing community – not a church without sin, but a church without secrets.” In order to be renewed, not only do we need to reflect on our lives, we need to verbally confess the sins we find there. We need to […]

(Scripture: Romans 5:1-8)

Around the time of Nehemiah, the Jewish people had been back in Jerusalem for over 140 years. The temple had been rebuilt decades earlier. Worship ceremonies, rituals, and routines had been reestablished. But God was sick and tired of it all. The worship and the sacrifices that were being offered were an insult and disgrace. As we […]

Many of the Jewish people had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. They started to rebuild the temple, but allowed opposition to stop them. So, for many years, the house of God was lying “in ruins.” Meanwhile, the people rebuilt their own houses and were enriching themselves, but neglecting God’s house. How can we apply the lessons from Haggai […]

God sent Amos to prophesy during a period of wealth and prosperity. The rich and powerful felt that everything was going well. They were well-fed, lazy, and content. But Amos was a farmer who was called to prophesy to the elites, telling them to wake up and take care of their responsibilities. Are we being like the people […]

God used the marriage of Hosea to try to get Israel’s attention. He told Hosea to marry a prostitute and experience the pain of being married to a serial adulterer. God did this so that Israel could see how their unfaithfulness felt to God; how it disappointed, pained, and angered him. However, in spite of their unfaithfulness, […]

In this story, Jesus compares the prayers of two Jewish men, a Pharisee and a tax collector.  When Jesus’ first century Jewish audience heard, “Pharisee,” they would have pictured a religious man who was passionate about obeying God and keeping God’s commandments. They would have assumed the Pharisee was going to be the good guy in the […]