Easton Bible Church - Messages

When you think of God, what comes to your mind? When you imagine God's view of you, how do you think he sees you? With love? Judgment? Grace? Anger? Disappointment? Compassion? A.W. Tozer wrote that the most important thing about anyone is what comes into their mind when they think about God. Sadly, many people run from God because their understanding of God is wrongly shaped by people who've done...

Have you ever wondered if God was really there? Or maybe you've felt discouraged or afraid because you couldn't see God at work in the world. In this week's parables from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus explains that the kingdom of God is present, but it doesn't look like what we often expect. To our eyes, it may seem unimpressive, unspectacular, even mundane. And yet, Jesus says, it has a hidden power...

If you were a type of soil, what kind would you be? In Jesus' parable about a farmer (or sower) who tosses seed on the ground, Jesus describes four different kinds of soil: hard, rocky, thorn-infested, and fertile soils. Each soil receives the seed in different ways with different results. Jesus' implicit challenge to each of us is, how do you receive God's word in your life? Because what you do w...

It's one thing to know what to do to have a healthier soul. The real question is whether we do what we know to do. Knowing the four steps won't help your soul to thrive without the self-discipline to make them part of our lives. In this week's passage from 1 Corinthians 9, Paul explains how the Christian life requires us to train our souls, to practice self-mastery, so that we can run our best rac...

Imagine your own personal bit of heaven... maybe it's a favorite vacation spot or your hometown. Maybe it's where you meet up with friends or get alone. Now, imagine you wanted to share that place with someone else, but they'd never been before. How could you convince them to come with you? When Jesus gives his famous Sermon on the Mount, he begins with the Beatitudes, a list of blessings describi...

How do you measure greatness? Like a violinist who makes first chair in the orchestra, a lawyer who makes partner in their firm, or a politician who is elected to a higher office, greatness is most often measured by one's status: the higher the rank, the better the pay, the nicer the office, the greater you are. But Jesus redefines greatness as we understand it. Instead of greatness that is measur...

Have you ever had to "go it alone" in life? Despite the fact that we've never been more connected through digital communication, more and more people report feeling isolated and lonely. The UK went so far as to create a Minister for Loneliness in attempt to address the issue. And yet, for many people, finding community and connection has, in many ways, never been more challenging. But none of us w...

Arsene Houssaye famously said, "Tell me what you love, and I will tell you who you are." Who or what we love who or what we give our lives to -shapes who we are and who we are becoming. As humans, we are created by God to love and be loved by him. Therefore, as our love for God grows, we grow more and more into who we're meant to be. More info https://www.ebc.org or call (609.267.4755), email ( of...

Easton Bible Church Easter message for 2023

Towards the end of his letter to the Colossian believers, Paul brings all he's just written about how to treat one another like Jesus (cf. 3:1-17) into the real world, starting with life at home and then moving outward into the public sphere. And in every relationship, Paul makes it clear we should model our lives on Jesus' simple, yet profound example: you before me. Please note that portions of...

What do you wear when you go to church? At Easton Bible Church, for instance, you'll find a mix of clothing choices. Some of us like to wear our "Sunday best" as a sign of respect and honor for God and his church. Others of us find it more comfortable and feel more authentic going more casual. Still others wear whatever helps us to blend in with the crowd! But whatever you choose to wear to church...

There's an old expression about people who are so obsessed with God and their own faith that they become irrelevant for real life: "Heavenly-minded, but of no earthly good."  Perhaps you've even known people who love to talk incessantly about their faith... but no one wants to listen! Paul, however, seems to think that focusing on Jesus-giving him priority in every area of our lives-is the natural...

According to a recent study, almost 80% of teenagers and adults in the U.S. not only believe in a spiritual or supernatural dimension but consider themselves spiritual in some way. People are not becoming less spiritual, even though many are leaving the church. But what does it mean to be "spiritual"? And what does it look like to grow spiritually or to further embrace one's spirituality? In this...

We live in a scary world. Wars and threats of wars, geo-political tensions, fake news and deep fakes, unstable weather patterns that threaten crops and other weather-dependent industries, political factions and division, inflation, housing prices and rising interest rates, sickness and disease, epidemic-levels of depression and anxiety among adults and teens, the disturbing effects of social media...

Paul's warning to the believers is that there are some ideas that sound good, that appeal to our thirst for enlightenment, but ultimately do tremendous damage to us and others. Today we're inundated with competing theories clamoring for our attention and loyalty. It's critical that our pursuit of knowledge be rooted in the One "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," Jesus (...

What makes life significant? How do you know that your life has significance? Or does it? According to this week's passage (Colossians1:15-23), Jesus is at the heart of all existence. If we reject Jesus and try to place ourselves at the center of everything, we're forced (cursed?) to manufacture our own significance out of nothing. It's a burden that at best leads to a shallow and self-manufacture...

Have you ever wondered what kind of life you were meant to live? Or maybe felt like you were living a life you weren't made for? In the opening of his letter to the church in Colosse, Paul powerfully and vividly describes the kind of life we were all created to live, what he calls "a life worthy of the Lord" (v. 10). That is a life you can have. A life not stuck in darkness, but rooted in the ligh...

Have you ever had someone look right past you when you were talking to them? Can you think of a time you've done that to someone else? In the busyness and demands of life, it's easy to look right past people rather than truly care for them, even the people we should care most about. It's happened to all of us, and we've all done it to someone else. Consequently, our relationships suffer, we feel u...

Do you ever feel like you're suffering from a love shortage? As though you only have a small amount of love to go around and it's not enough for the people you have to deal with in your life? In these few verses (1Peter4:7-11), the Apostle Peter describes how our love has to be expansive-stretchy-if we're going to be able to love one another, rather than give way to bitterness or anger. More info...

Do you ever feel isolated, alone? The weight of things holding you down? In the second week of our "Love God Serve People" Series, our dear friend Gary Moody shares what it's like to find Blessings in the Wilderness. Gary shares from Scripture, and his personal journey, that in the midst of those isolated times, God is leading us to find and see hope. That hope begins with faith in the life, death...

Do you tend to see people as a lost cause or a cause worth fighting for? What do you think keeps us from seeing people the way that God sees them? Your perspective - how you look at the world-determines so much about how you live, the decisions you make, who you love, and what you hate. So, how do you see the world? What is the lens through which you look at the people around you? And, even more i...

Have you ever, in the midst of what seemed a hopeful time, seen your hopes vanquished? Your expected hope just didn’t turn out the way you had thought. If that’s happened, how did it effect you? Did you lose hope?….did it lead you to downgrade your hope for the future? In the 4th message of our “Thrill of Hope” series, Pastor Lucas shares that when our hope is based on the mercy and love God has f...

The Magnificat is one of the most beautiful expressions of hope found in all of Scripture. In her song, Mary declares the character of God - His compassion, mercy, power, love, and faithfulness - revealed in His relationship with His people, which fundamentally alters the course of human history. Mary's song invites us to remember God's past faithfulness which gives us hope for the future. But it...

Do you think it's possible to live without hope? What are you hopeful for? Or why do you feel a lack of hope? This week we're looking at Mary's response to Gabriel's announcement that she would be the mother of God's Son, the promised King whose kingdom would have no end (Luke 1:32-33). Faced with possible ostracization and humiliation, potentially even death, Mary's hope in God's plan for her ser...

What is it about the Christmas season that inspires you? Does anything about it bring you down? In the first message of our 2022 Advent series our Pastor of Family Ministries, Luke McAlack, encourages us to see the hope that the coming of Christmas represents. That is, that something great is about to happen. It is the anticipation of Jesus coming into our lives that provides a hope for today and...