When I was a kid, staying home from school meant watching The Price is Right . I loved guessing the value of prizes and was often surprised by how different items were valued. Interestingly, 47 other countries have their own versions of the show. If I struggle with prices in the U.S., I can only imagine how lost I’d be trying to guess values in other currencies. This Sunday, as we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:19–34 , we’ll explore how Jesus views wealth, possessions...
Jul 13, 2025•33 min•Season 35Ep. 10
One of the things that has accompanied the rise of the internet and our online connections via social media is an ever-increasing angst over social comparisons – something that has been ringing alarm bells for mental health professionals. The other side of that tends to be the phenomena of “virtue signaling”; expressing opinions or making posts that intimate that a person is deeply concerned and doing something about whatever the latest problem or injustice happens to be (which usually involves ...
Jul 06, 2025•46 min•Season 35Ep. 9
We’re going to be continuing our study in Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount this Sunday – we’ll be reading chapter 5:17-48 . So far, Jesus has been turning popular concepts on their heads, pointing to the stuff we normally try to avoid in life and saying that is where the good life is found. In the text we’ll read this Sunday, Jesus will drive this idea home through a series of contrasts. Jesus begins this next section making it clear that he’s not starting some new religion, and he’s...
Jun 29, 2025•51 min•Season 35Ep. 8
Have you ever looked at someone’s life—on social media or even in real life—and thought, “I wish I had what they have”? Maybe it’s their home, their family, their vacations, or just the way their life seems so perfectly put together. It’s easy to compare, especially when all we’re seeing are the highlight reels. Social media filters out the grey areas, the struggles, and the sadness, leaving us longing for a version of life that’s curated—not complete. I know people have looked at my life before...
Jun 22, 2025•42 min•Season 35Ep. 7
We recently redid our kitchen – well, we hired someone to redo our kitchen. I remember all the planning and sketches Robbie and I did as we thought up our new space. Then the construction began and the project began to take shape – and it’s quite exhilarating to see a project we’d imagined for so long start to take shape in reality. This Sunday we’ll be reading the last part of Matthew chapter 4 , where Jesus begins his public ministry and we begin to see what the Kingdom of God is like in pract...
Jun 15, 2025•38 min•Season 35Ep. 6
We’re coming back to our study in the gospel of Matthew, reading chapter 4:1-11 this Sunday. In stepping into the human experience, Jesus faces temptation to leave God’s intended path for him. In fact, the account of his temptation in the desert is a sweeping overview of the nature of our temptations. Do you ever feel bad for being tempted by things you feel you should have conquered by now? Remember this: Jesus was tempted too . What does that tell us about how we should understand our own temp...
Jun 08, 2025•44 min•Season 35Ep. 5
Remember how, before Hurricane Michael, when the storm season came around we only gave it our mild interest. Post-Michael, I haven’t yet met someone who doesn’t follow Mike’s Spaghetti models with grave intentionality between June and November. Experience and expectation really goes a long way in shaping our responses to the warnings we get from NOAA. As we continue our study in Matthew this week we’ll be reading chapter 3 . We’re going to be introduced to a human GFS model – John the Baptist, w...
Jun 01, 2025•40 min•Season 35Ep. 4
There’s a famous optical illusion drawing that, depending on how a person perceives the image, shows an elderly woman or a young lady with her head turned away from us. You can see it here – and what’s fascinating is while one person may see a young lady and another an older person, the image itself is unchanged – only our perception and interpretation of the image. We’re going to be continuing our study in the Gospel of Matthew this Sunday, and we’ll be reading about some very different reactio...
May 25, 2025•38 min•Season 35Ep. 3
This Sunday, we will be continuing our study in the book of Matthew. Last week, we studied the genealogy of Jesus and learned just how messy family can be. Thankfully, God never seems shocked by the mess, and he certainly is never stopped by it. On Sunday, we will read the account of Mary’s pregnancy from Joseph’s perspective. This is not typically the version we read on Christmas morning, but that doesn’t mean it lacks wisdom and insight. There are several references to the Old Testament in thi...
May 18, 2025•37 min•Season 35Ep. 2
This Sunday we’ll be starting a new series in the Gospel of Matthew. I made the commitment a few years back to regularly revisit the story of Jesus, even though I’ve taught through these gospel accounts before. I just honestly believe that Christians need to spend more time with Jesus – meditating on what he taught, considering his example (and what it means for us), and learning to view life through the lens of God’s Kingdom, as Jesus challenged us to do. Matthew is the first book of the New Te...
May 11, 2025•42 min•Season 35Ep. 1
This Sunday we’ll be looking at our last study in the book of Micah. We’ll be reading ch 7:8-20 . For all of the dire forecasts in this oracle, Micah resolves his prophecy on a pretty hopeful note. There are shades of the Gospel message within these verses – pay attention to the wording and imagine how Jesus could be seen as fulfilling, not just the specifics of the events, but the predicted results as well. How hard is it for you to feel hopeful when life is pretty hard? What sort of things ins...
May 04, 2025•33 min•Season 34Ep. 11
Join us as we continue our study in Micah, now in chapter 7. Click here for a pdf of the slideshow.
May 02, 2025•31 min•Season 34Ep. 10
“What does God want and how does he want us to live?” That’s a pretty common question posed in the theater of most religions, and our study of Micah brings us to God’s answer to that question with stark clarity. And, spoiler, it isn’t outward religious behavior. We’ll be reading Micah chapter 6 this Sunday. The scene begins like a cosmic courtroom where God presents his case against his people, reminding them of how often he had been faithful to them. Remembering the blessings we’ve received fro...
Mar 30, 2025•49 min•Season 34Ep. 9
We all have areas of our lives where we feel pretty secure in our own abilities – places where we feel self-sufficient. There’s certainly nothing wrong with being able to care for ourselves and bear some of our own burdens, in fact, it’s a sign of maturity. That said, the Biblical narrative seems to warn us against assuming we are self-sufficient with the entirety of our lives; especially when it touches the vast areas of life we just can’t control. That’s an issue the prophet Micah addresses in...
Mar 23, 2025•41 min•Season 34Ep. 8
This Sunday we’ll be continuing our study in Micah and we will be reading chapter 5:1-5a . The prophecy in these verses points directly to Jesus and his birth in Bethlehem and paints a beautiful picture of hope and peace. Up to this point, many words have been given by God in desperation and frustration regarding how the Israelites had been ignoring God. The people, the kings, the rich, and even the religious leaders were determined to go their own way and they were cruel in how they treated the...
Mar 16, 2025•48 min•Season 34Ep. 7
This Sunday we’ll be continuing our study in Micah – reading ch 4:6-13. Micah has had some really tough words for God’s people in ancient Israel – but chapter 4 gives respite from that with forecasts of God’s great plan of restoration. In this passage, we’ll read the promise of the end of suffering and pain – a restoration from pain. We’ll also consider God’s restorative work that happens in the midst of our pain – where we find restoration through suffering. We’ll also consider what God can acc...
Mar 09, 2025•37 min•Season 34Ep. 6
This Sunday we’ll be reading Micah 4:1-5 during our Bible study. Micah has been a fairly gloomy book, with a lot of forecasting judgement on God’s unfaithful people – but the first part of chapter 4 presents a sharp and short pivot. Suddenly, the oracle looks to a future where God will set all things right again. As the prophecy begins, the language is reminiscent of what the writer in Hebrews 12 said – indicating that the early Christians saw that Jesus was the fulfillment of this hoped for res...
Mar 02, 2025•36 min•Season 34Ep. 5
In the 21st Century the analysis of power dynamics became more intentional and far more scrutinized. That scrutiny often revealed that there are both overt and covert forms of power that affect our daily lives, which just underlines the importance of critical thinking and awareness of how power is being used if we want to promote an environment where all lives can flourish. The clinical definition of the power we’re talking about here is the ability to influence or direct the actions of others, ...
Feb 23, 2025•33 min•Season 34Ep. 4
The Bible has a unique feature that sets it apart from its contemporaries in ancient literature, in that it tells most of its narrative from the vantage point of poor and oppressed people. That really sets the Bible apart from other ancient documents which largely represent the views and history of the ruling elite. In our study this Sunday we’ll be continuing through Micah, reading Micah chapter 2 . The first 10 verses of this chapter outline the sins of God’s people, specifically the ruling cl...
Feb 16, 2025•39 min•Season 34Ep. 3
This Sunday we’ll be digging into the first chapter of Micah, the Minor Prophet. We’ve stated before that this book, like all the works of the Old Testament Prophets, contains some difficult and harsh words. I will again be reminding us that we must read any of these prophecies through the lens of the revelation of who God is in Jesus. We’ll talk some about how we go about applying these Scriptures as well. As you read through this opening chapter, you’ll notice that great, cosmic imagery is emp...
Feb 09, 2025•50 min•Season 34Ep. 2
This Sunday we’ll begin a new book series, doing an examination of the Minor Prophet, Micah. I recognize that some may start to squirm in their seats at the thought of reading through the thundering pronouncements of an Old Testament prophet on a Sunday morning – but I can assure you we will not be leveraging these writings to try and scare anyone about God. As a matter of fact, I tend to agree with N.T. Wright who asserts that the promotion of a wrathful, vengeful God is a somewhat pagan initia...
Feb 02, 2025•38 min•Season 34Ep. 1
This Sunday we’ll be wrapping up our study through the book of 1 Corinthians – we’ll be reading all of chapter 16 , where Paul closes his letter. We’ll be focusing on his final instructions in v1-4, where he talks to the Corinthians about gathering funds to support the believers in Jerusalem. Part of Paul’s missionary journey through Asia Minor was meant to raise funds for the poor in Jerusalem. We aren’t totally sure why, but it’s likely that the famine mentioned in Acts 11 played a role in tha...
Jan 13, 2025•47 min•Season 33Ep. 26
We’ll be returning to our study of 1 Corinthians after taking two weeks away from it for the holidays. We’ll be reading 1 Cor 15:35-58 – Paul’s concluding thoughts concerning the doctrine of the resurrection. In the first part of chapter 15, Paul was corrective in his discussion about the resurrection – pointing out how intimately Jesus’ resurrection was tied to our own stories. In Paul’s thinking, Jesus’ experience was a model for what God intended to do for all of his people, hence, the genera...
Jan 06, 2025•36 min•Season 33Ep. 25
I know, I know….you’re thinking: “Rob! It’s almost Christmas, not Easter !” I realize that. But I would also argue that the themes of Easter should be something that resonates with followers of Jesus no matter what time of year it is. As we’re going to be reading in our text this Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus is the very heart of our faith and hope. We’ll be continuing our study in 1 Corinthians this Sunday, reading chapter 15, verses 1-34 . I’ll warn you right off, this is a fairly complex ...
Dec 16, 2024•44 min•Season 33Ep. 24
What should we do when we encounter scripture that makes us uncomfortable? Sometimes I’ve read scripture that leaves me squirming in my seat and unsure if I should continue reading or close the book for good. Maybe it’s when God sends a flood to destroy all of humanity except for one family, maybe it’s the violence we are confronted with in the Old Testament, or maybe it’s the verses that Paul writes about slavery and women. When this uncomfortable confrontation happens, and I believe it will ha...
Dec 08, 2024•41 min•Season 33Ep. 23
Join us this week as we continue our study in the book of 1 Corinthians. Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.
Nov 24, 2024•22 sec•Ep. 33
According to an article on Insounder.org , love is the all-time most common theme of song lyrics, followed by life and death. Love is such an elusive concept for so many people, which is probably why it dominates our thoughts. Of all the people in the world, I would think that followers of Jesus would have some pretty important insights into the nature and meaning of love. The Bible talks about love around 750 times, depending on the translation, about 300 of those mentions appear in the New Tes...
Nov 17, 2024•42 min•Season 33Ep. 21
When I was in high school my teacher brought in a local professional to motivate our class. The professional shared about working hard, going to college and building his own business. He encouraged us by saying that we could have the same future if we worked hard and stayed focused. Then, he finished his motivational speech in a way that I’ll never forget. He ended it by saying, “I know I said a lot, but you know we still need plumbers so everyone shouldn’t do what I did.” I remember laughing wh...
Nov 10, 2024•43 min•Season 33Ep. 20
I heard a well-worn story of a little girl who didn’t want to go to kid’s church, but wanted to join her parents for the main service. It happened to be a Communion Sunday, and when they passed the tray of cracker bits and small cup of juice, her mother noticed she was visibly disappointed. When the service was over her mother asked her how she liked the main service, and the little girl said: “I’m going to go back to kid’s church next week. The snacks are better and you get way more juice!” She...
Nov 03, 2024•48 min•Season 33Ep. 19
This Sunday we are going to be doing a deep dive into what is arguably the most puzzling sections of Scripture we find in the New Testament. We’ll be reading 1 Cor 11:2-16 in our continuing study of that book. It’s Paul’s instructions for the Corinthians on how they are practicing their public worship service – but I’m telling you, it sounds really weird to us as 21st Century American Christians. I honestly don’t even know what to write here to lead you through the passage – but please do read i...
Oct 27, 2024•41 min•Season 33Ep. 18
