BOOK OF JUDGES The Unraveling of a Nation 6.29.25 Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. When people abandon the ways of God and reject His authority, the inevitable result is moral confusion, injustice, and chaos. A society that abandons God’s ways will soon turn its back on people, forgetting that every person is created in His image and worthy of dignity and honor. A society that abandons God’s ways will lose its moral compass, the...
Jun 29, 2025
BOOK OF JUDGES Strength Without Surrender 6.22.25 Judges 13:1-5 ESV “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a s...
Jun 22, 2025
BOOK OF JUDGES Wounded Leaders 6.15.25 Judges 11:1-3 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 And Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephtha...
Jun 15, 2025
Pentecost Sunday 2025 6-8-25 "The work of the Spirit is to impart life, to implant hope, to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to guide us to all truth, to teach us all things, to comfort the believer, and to convict the world of sin.” D.L. Moody Acts 1:4-8 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized withwater, but in a few days you will be...
Jun 08, 2025
BOOK OF JUDGES Part 2: The Weak Made Strong Judges 6:1-10 (ESV) 1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against the...
Jun 01, 2025
BOOK OF JUDGES Stuck in the Cycle 5.25.25 Judges 17:6, 21:25 They did what was right in their own eyes…. The book of Judges shows us the consequences of spiritual compromise, the danger of doing what seems right in our own eyes, and the relentless mercy of God. Judges 2:10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Forgetting God rarely starts with rebellion – it starts with distraction, ...
May 25, 2025
A Farewell Interview with Pastor Jim
May 18, 2025
A Farewell Interview with Pastor Jim
May 11, 2025
Thirsty Souls, Empty Wells 4.27.25 John 4:10-15 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Ev...
Apr 27, 2025
EASTER The Death of Death 4.20.25 GOOD FRIDAY is the day of death. HOLY SATURDAY is the day of waiting. EASTER SUNDAY is the day of resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Peter 3:18-19 Christ suffered once for sins…being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. If the cross has reminded us that God does not bypass suffering, Hi...
Apr 20, 2025
KALEIDOSCOPE OF THE CROSS Palm Sunday: Barabbas or Jesus? 4.13.25 Palm Sunday and the journey to the cross always confronts our assumptions and challenges our unmet expectations. When we worship a version of Jesus that doesn’t exist, unmet expectations can turn our adoration into rejection. Matthew 27:17, 20-21 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” But the chief priests and the elders p...
Apr 13, 2025
The Center That Holds Talk Notes 4-6-25 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." Colossions 1:1-20 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created:things in heaven and on earth, visible...
Apr 06, 2025
KALEIDOSCOPE OF THE CROSS The Cross as Reconciliation 3.30.25 The cross reconciles humanity to God (vertical), people to one another (horizontal), and all of creation to its Creator. Colossians 1:19-23 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your ev...
Mar 30, 2025
KALEIDOSCOPE OF THE CROSS Our Enduring Model of Discipleship Matthew 16:24 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:22-24 NIV “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wan...
Mar 23, 2025
KALEIDOSCOPE OF THE CROSS The Lamb on the Throne 3.16.25 John 1:29 Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 19:14 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. Revelation 5:1-14 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I...
Mar 16, 2025
KALEIDOSCOPE OF THE CROSS God Revealed 3.9.25 Since the beginning of human history, the primary question humanity has asked is: What is God really like? John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation o...
Mar 09, 2025
DEVOTED Devoted to a Common Mission 3.2.25 Acts 2:42-47 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate t...
Mar 02, 2025
Devoted to Life Together 2-23-2025 "Recognition is the first human quest.” Andy Crouch God's Vision from the beginning: • We were created for uninterrupted relationship with God • We were created for relationship with others Human flourishing is inescapably connected to both God and others. Ephesians 2:14-19 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, tha...
Feb 23, 2025
DEVOTED Devoted to Hospitality & Generosity 2.16.25 Acts 2:42-45 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. The miracle of the Spirit is seen in people breaking from the power money holds over them, forming...
Feb 16, 2025
Feb. 9th, 2025 Devoted to Prayer Self-reliance is often celebrated as a mark of success and maturity in our culture today Acts 2:42-44 The Believers Form a Community 42All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 43A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything the...
Feb 09, 2025
DEVOTED Devoted to the Gospel 2.2.25 Acts 2:41-42 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Willie James Jennings, Commentary on Acts… The church was being carried forward by the incredible power of the Holy Spirit, but now they had to commit themselves to the daily transforming practices of the Spirit. Just like the winds ...
Feb 02, 2025
DEVOTED Vision Sunday 1.26.25 “The danger is not that the church becomes irrelevant to the world; it’s that the church becomes indistinguishable from the world.” – Mark Sayers, Reappearing Church Force #1: A society that has become increasingly individualistic • The Enlightenment (17th-18th century) • Protestant Reformation (16th century) • Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution • Urbanization and Modernization • Postmodernism and Secularization (20th century) • Technological advancements, Hum...
Jan 26, 2025
Pyramid Scheme Part 2 1-19-25 Practices create the space where transformation can take place. The Sabbath and the 4th commandment is an act of trust in the subversive, exodus-causing God of the first commandment, an act of submission to the restful God of commandments one, two, and three. Sabbath is a practical divestment so that neighborly engagement, rather than production and consumption, defines our lives. Walter Brueggemann Sabbath is countercultural. Sabbath is an act of resistance. Sabbat...
Jan 19, 2025
PYRAMID SCHEME Part 1 1.12.25 What does it look like for us to live in such a way that our daily and weekly rhythms lead us to a transformed life? Genesis 1:31-2:3 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh da...
Jan 12, 2025
HYMNS OF JOY Joy to the World 12.21.24 Advent is the realization that things are not perfect but Christ breaks into our broken world and brings hope, peace, joy, and love. 1. Jesus brings the promise of joy Luke 2:8-11 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for be...
Dec 22, 2024
Hope & Fears For All The Years 12.15.25 Talk Notes 1 Corinthians 13:13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. Job 8:11-13 Those who forget God have no hope 3 Pictures of Hope: 1. Wishful Hope 2. Expectant Hope 3. Certain Hope Hebrews 6:13-15 (God’s Promises Bring Hope) For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will mu...
Dec 15, 2024•39 min
HYMNS OF JOY The Weary World Rejoices 12.8.24 1) Tamar (Genesis 38 - Matthew 1:3) · In the story of Tamar, we learn God's plan for salvation is not thwarted by sin but God works through the brokenness of humanity to accomplish His purposes. 2) Rahab (Joshua 2 - Matthew 1:5) · In the story of Rahab, we learn nobody is beyond God's reach. He redeems those society deems unworthy. 3) Ruth (Book of Ruth - Matthew 1:15) · In the story of Ruth, we learn how God brings hope and redemption, even in forei...
Dec 08, 2024
Talk Notes O Come Let Us Adore Him Advent 2024 What is Advent? Formed from a Latin word meaning “coming” or “arrival”. Advent is the traditional celebration of the first advent of Jesus (the Christmas story) and the anxious awaiting of His second advent in glory. In Advent we are ushered into a time of waiting where we are connected again with our longing for God. "A society that denies the supernatural, usually ends up elevating the natural to supernatural status" Phillip Yancy - Rumors of Anot...
Dec 01, 2024
LITURGY FOR THE MOMENT: Part 7 A LITURGY FOR THOSE BATTLING ANXIETY Prince of Peace, we come with restless hearts and racing thoughts. The weight of worry presses down, and we are consumed by what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. As the deer pants for streams of water so our souls thirst for You, the living God.You are the God who calms the storm, The Shepherd who leads us beside quiet waters. Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls Let waves of grace break over me.Teach us to cast our ca...
Nov 24, 2024
Message from City University on November 21, 2024
Nov 21, 2024
