A WORD FOR YOUR WEEK

Philippians 1:18-26 || Sunday, October 11 It was a joy to worship with you this week! On Sunday morning, I announced that we would begin an intentional six-week period of corporate prayer and fasting to focus our hearts on the Lord and pursue His guidance during this season of transition. In all the doing of life and ministry, it is easy to become distracted from seeking the Lord. But God has given prayer and fasting as two precious spiritual disciplines to draw us into deepe

Philippians 1:12-18 || Sunday, October 4 What is God up to in the midst of our trials? This is one of the toughest, most persistent questions we face as believers. We know that as we follow Jesus we will encounter trials of various kinds (James 1:2), but when we actually find ourselves in the fire, we often ask, "Why, Lord? What good could this be doing? What's your plan here?" As Paul was sitting under house-arrest in Rome, he could have easily viewed his trial as a sign tha

Philippians 1:7-11 || Sunday, September 27 Do you ever stop and wonder about how God's grace goes to work in our lives? We know that we're saved by grace, of course. Like Lydia by the riverside, our hearts have been opened to understand and believe in Jesus as our savior. Because of him, we stand accepted by God—cleared of a debt we could never afford and given a gift we could never deserve. But what comes next in this "good work" that God is doing in each of our lives? This

Philippians 1:1-6 || Sunday, September 20 This week, we kicked off our study of the book of Philippians, which contains some of the most memorable (and often-memorized) verses in all of Paul’s letters. One of those verses, which anchored our message on Sunday, is Philippians 1:6, where Paul writes, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” This verse has been a personal encouragement more times than I

Revelation 2:8-11 || Sunday, August 30 Last Sunday, we looked at the Church of Smyrna. This church had been through great hardships. John writes that they have experienced “Tribulation, poverty, slander, and some are about to be thrown into prison.” Despite all this, Jesus says, “They are rich.” How could Jesus say, in light of everything, that this church is rich? Because of their union with Christ, this church is blessed in many ways, but John highlights two things that sho

Revelation 2:1-7 || Sunday, August 23 We looked at the first of the Seven Churches of Asia: Ephesus. What gripped my heart was that we could have everything right written on paper, seek to live a life of holiness, and still have hearts cold to Christ. The Lord commands the church to repent and return to where it fell from. I can assure you this did not happen overnight, and I can also assure you no one intended it. This is a slow fade: trying to make the dish look good on the

Revelation 1 || Sunday, August 16 One of my favorite quotes is from Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “For every one look at self, take ten looks at Christ.” This runs counter to my flesh and yours. We live in a culture that tells us if we could just become a better version of ourselves, we would finally be whole and at peace. But in reality, the best version of ourselves is crucified. What we truly need is not to look deeper within ourselves, but to look outside ourselves to Christ.