When Gabriel tells Mary she is pregnant with Jesus, we usually focus on why this is such good news. And it is. But for Mary, it’s complicated. Mary is young and unmarried, and her baby bump means sure social condemnation and exile. Yet she sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Spirit rejoices in God my savior.” How can she sing such an exuberant song when her future is murky and uncertain?
Something Good Is Going On Inside
At one point Luke describes a group of friends who are willing to cut a hole in the roof of a house where Jesus is staying, just to lower their paralyzed friend through the ceiling to Jesus can heal him. To what lengths would you go to encounter Jesus? Listen as Ryan Tankersley, a pastor from our sister church, New Hope Baptist Church, challenges us to seek God no matter what.
Gratitude: the Antidote to Worry
This year has caused many of us to worry about many things. As our minds this year are drawn to themes of sickness and antidotes, can we find an antidote not to a virus, but to the worry so many of us feel? Terry Shanahan shares how gratitude can transform our attitude and our lives.
The Courage to Wait
Psalm 27 strikes us with an unresolved ending, like a dissonant jazz chord: Wait for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. This morning we explore what it may look like to wait for the Lord, and how remembering his faithfulness in the past gives us courage to wait well.
Freedom and Submission
Several New Testament authors instruct us to submit to government authorities. This is especially difficult in our American culture, which has historical roots in rebellion against authority. And when nearly half of our country is dissatisfied with the results of our election, how can we nevertheless submit? The answer is found in freedom, which is not the opposite of submission, but the prerequisite to submission. You cannot submit, it turns out, unless you are truly free.
Supernatural Civility
Our modern political world seems like a dog-eat-dog world. Kill or be killed. That attitude does not inspire gentleness and civility. Yet Jesus calls us to civility—and greater still, to love. As Christians who want to engage in the political sphere instead of running away, how can we do so with a spirit of civility and love?
Dignity, Responsibility, and Humility
American Christians often struggle to know how to engage politically in our world. On the one hand, withdrawal doesn’t seem like an option, but on the other hand, neither major party can seem all that appealing either. This morning we look at how God calls us to affirm the dignity of all people, the responsibility of all Christians to promote the image of God in all people, and the spirit of humility that ought to leaven all our political engagement.
Christ our King
In a tense election season many Christians find themselves torn. They hear from one side that Christians should vote Republican, from another side that Christians should vote Democrat, and from still another that Christians should somehow avoid politics altogether. How do we make sense of our faith in a turbulent political world?
Appetites and Cravings
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we think about fasting, a practice many of us may prefer to avoid. It is helpful to think about fasting positively, rather than negatively. That is, fasting is not about what we give up, but about how we are filled up.
Babbling Brooks and Lumps of Coal
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we think about weekly gathered worship, a difficult topic when many of us are unable to gather because of the pandemic. Yet weekly, gathered, worship is an indispensible part of our faith practice. Why does God create us with a need for community, and how can we practice the principles of gathered worship when we’re not in the same room?
The Gift of Rest
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we focus on rest and Sabbath. More than an archaic demand to “reserve a day for God,” Sabbath is God’s gift to restore and refresh us spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. So why do we not take advantage of it? Listen as we parse the true ground for Sabbath, obstacles we face to practicing Sabbath, and how Sabbath can refresh us in our modern world.
Marinating Prayer
Spiritual practices are gifts God gives us that help us to know him better and become more like him. This morning we spend some time thinking about prayer. Jesus teaches us, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.” (John 15:7) But we have all asked God for things and not gotten them. What did Jesus mean? What is the true purpose of prayer? And how can we pray better?
A Bigger Story
The Book of Ruth ends with what, to our modern ears, sounds like a boring anti-climax: a list of names we can’t pronounce in a family tree we don’t understand. But when we read through the lens of an original reader and remember what we know about ancient cultures, we find that the author of Ruth makes a meaningful point with this list of names: God is writing a bigger story than you or I could imagine. How will you be a part of God’s cosmic story?
Know the God Who Knows You
In Ruth 3 Naomi instructs Ruth to take a very unusual—and some may say, suspect—series of actions. Though they had the best of intents, we might wonder at the wisdom of their actions. The text is vague enough that we don’t know for certain, but could the story of Ruth 3 still point us to Christ, and perhaps even more effectively, if Ruth turns out to be less savory than we thought?
What's Next?
In Ruth 2 we see two pictures of active faith from two very different perspectives. Naomi and Ruth demonstrate their faith from a position of weakness, while Boaz demonstrates his faith from a position of strength. Does your faith feel weak right now? Strong? Somewhere in between? This morning we ask how a simple question—“What’s next?”—can act like starter fluid for our faith.
Bitter Mercy
The story of Ruth is a story of bitterness and mercy. This morning we ask, “How could Ruth still follow the God who had allowed so much bitterness into her life?”
Jonah: God's Priorities
This is the third and final part of Doran’s study and look into the book of Jonah. Part three focuses on God’s priorities and the final ten verses of the book.
Jonah: God's Compassion
In part 2 of Doran Morford’s 3 part study of the book of Jonah, the third chapter is explored. This time, Jonah listens to God and does what he commands. When Jonah tells the people of Nineveh that their city will be destroyed, they repent, which is exactly what God wanted. Doran helps us to understand why exactly God did this.
Jonah: God's Sovereignty
In Part 1 of Doran Morford’s three part study of the book of Jonah, he explores the first 17 verses of the book and takes a deeper dive into the meaning. Below are two study sheets that were alluded to during service on Sunday.
The Good Samaritan
Most Christians are familiar with Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Most American states even have “good samaritan laws.” This morning we spend some time with a very familiar story, asking the same question as the Jewish expert in the law who talked with Jesus: “What does it mean to love my neighbor?”