Getting lost in the wood is an unsettling experience, especially with a thunderstorm rolling in. All you need to do is get one thing: your cabin. Once there, you have everything you need. Psalm 23 points us to the same reality. All we need is one thing that will provide everything. That one thing is the Shepherd. Listen to Jordan Hecox, lead planter of Gospel Joy Church, for more on this iconic psalm.
A parakeet flying around a workshop might not be so readily caught by hand nor with the aid of a net. But when a bird cage is set out with the door open, by the next morning the bird willfully goes back to captivity. We might readily avoid the marquis sins that try to capture us outright, but what about the subtlety of love of the world? Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.
If you want to see marked improvement in some facet of your life, if you want to succeed at doing hard things, you need to cultivate grit. Merely spending 10,000 hours in practice won’t actually make you an expert in that area. You need to give yourself to "deliberate practice." The same is true in the Christian life as we learn to do good. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Titus 3:8-15 for more.
The different rhythms and pace of a Minnesota summer are a beautiful thing. As many of the things we give ourselves to during the rest of the year are put on pause or slowed down, we don't let off the gas in following Christ in all of life. Listen to Pastor Brett give a quick refresh on how Discipleship Groups are aiming to help us do that well.
As we come upon our second anniversary as a church, it is good to be reminded about what we're doing in public worship and especially during the exhortation portion of our liturgy. We gather to reorient on the gospel, worshiping God. To do so, we must confess and turn from sin. Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.
Paul makes a similar argument in Titus 3:1-7 as he does in 2:1-14—why the repetition? He's pressing the only viable path of godly living, the gospel, out from church life and into all of life. We ought to adorn the doctrine not just among the purified people purchased for his possession but in all spheres of life—don't withdraw from the marketplace or public square. Rather, embrace the eschatological reality that you are heirs. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon for more.
The agave plant grows in the western deserts of North America. It only blossoms once in the final year of its lifespan, which at times can be up to twenty years. When the blossoming stock develops, it shoots up at a rate of a foot per day. The kingdom of God is like an agave plant. It can be a lifetime in the desert, waiting, but glory is coming. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Titus 2:11-15 for more.
In the face of significant suffering, what is it that we think will provide respite? So often we think it is if we knew why or how long, our suffering would be more tolerable. At the greatest experience of suffering, Christ on the cross, no one looking had the understanding of what was happening. In suffering, it is better to trust God rather than know more. Listen to Pastor Zach's exhortation for more.
The iPhone's "portrait mode" focuses on the picture's subject and blurs everything else. We can do the same thing in our lives by focusing on something we don't know if, when, or how it will turn out to the neglect of all the other good things God is doing. There are times when God restricts our knowledge, and we have to trust him that it is good not to know. But do we? Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.
When your wife wears her pearls, they don't make her beautiful or increase her beauty. They accentuate and draw attention to her beauty. They adorn it. Living godly lives, doing good works, likewise doesn't make us Christian or improve upon the gospel—such a life adorns the gospel. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Titus 2:1-10 for more.
With fuel prices soaring, maybe you've looked over at the diesel pump and wondered if it would get you better mileage in your gas engine. It won't. It will ruin your engine. Likewise, if we look to law keeping to grow in godliness rather than the gospel, it won't work. We need the unleaded, high octane gospel to live godly lives. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Titus 1:10-16 for more.
Pentecost Sunday is the Christian holiday that marks the historic day when the Holy Spirit was poured out on God's redeemed people. It's a holiday that is often overlooked, yet Jesus said it is better for him to ascend to the Father so that the Spirit would come. What pride to think otherwise. Listen to Pastor Brian's exhortation for more.
Healthy churches are going to push authority in one of two directions: up or down. Examples abound of wrongdoing when authority is consolidated and centralized in a local church. As a congregational church, authority is in the congregation who responsible to appoint qualified pastors. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Titus 1:5-9 for what those pastors should be like.
At Westview, we aim to be following Christ in all of life. But we do not follow like we follow a workout plan or even a guru. This is because our problem is not mainly that we need to know something to improve. We need a Christ to save us. Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.
As a church, we have summarized our aim is to be following Christ in all of life by pursuing gospel growth, joyful mission, and generous hospitality. However, all of that should be thrown aside if it doesn't align with what the Bible says a church should do and be. Enter: The Letter of Paul to Titus. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Titus 1:1-4 for more.
Boasting is typically something we ought to avoid. It reveals our prideful disposition. And yet Paul commends boasting—boasting in Christ. We ought to glory in Christ. We don't just know things about him but rejoice and exult in who he is. We find him to be our soul's delight. And when we don't, we turn in repentance. Listen to David Stabley's exhortation for more.
When you venture into the wilderness, there are numerous contingencies you need to be ready to handle. However, more often than not, your greatest danger in a remote location is ... yourself. The same is true spiritually—only you commit your sins. Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.
American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley conceived of personal identity in relation to our interactions with others, saying, "I am not who I think I am. I am not who you think I am. I am who I think you think I am." When we come to biblical accounts like Jonah, it's important we consider, "Am I what I think the Bible thinks I am? How am I more like angry Jonah than the repentant Ninevites?" Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Jonah 4 for more.
When a skydiver impacted the ground without a chute only to have landed atop a fire ant hill, it seemed to add insult to injury. When Jonah, or Christians today, speak of God's judgment in addition to sin and holiness, it seems to do the same. However, God's mercy may be on display in an unexpected way through such "insult." Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Jonah 3 for more.
There is a tragic irony that our culture hates motherhood, expressed through a religious devotion to Roe v. Wade, yet wants to esteem mothers at least one special day a year. Recognizing God's design, it is distinctly Christian to celebrate the vocation of motherhood. Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.
A little girl struggling in frustration and cries to buckle a doll into a stroller without asking mom for help is a clearer display of our own efforts to go about our lives absent of reliance on God than most of us would care to admit. It is that kind of self-assertion that we see in Jonah 2. Listen to Pastor Zach's sermon for more.
Elon Musk once described how he came to his current place in life by reading a lot of books and talking with a lot of people. That sounds wise as we hear Proverbs repeatedly call us to listen to wise counselors. Yet do we have a posture like that, that seeks counsel? Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.
Doing hard things the Lord calls us to can be hard for different reasons: the magnitude of the task, the imprecision of the calling, or our own sin. The prophet Jonah is called to a hard thing, but it is complicated by his own sin. It is better, though, to be in uncomfortable obedience to God than to live easily in defiance of him. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Jonah 1:1-16 for more.
A counselor heard the confession of a client about an obsession with eating a particular flavor and brand of ice cream in an unhealthy way. The counselor didn't think it too big of an issue until he happened upon the ice cream and consumed a whole carton himself. When we make opportunity for temptation, we put ourselves in a dangerous position. Listen to Pastor Brian's exhortation to make no provision for the flesh.
"How is it going?" It's a simple question that can also be revealing or comforting depending on the one asking. It can unveil all kinds of issues simmering beneath the surface. However, we a problem that goes far deeper than any well-intentioned questioner can resolve. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Romans 8:1-11 for more.
There is a theme of unbelief as you survey the Gospels. Thomas is the prime example upon his hearing of the resurrection of Jesus. We can look down on him for such unbelief, but what are we afraid of losing that keeps us from walking in faith-filled obedience to Christ? Listen to Pastor Haakon's exhortation for more.
Can it be possible for news to be too good? Romans 3:21-26 sure is as the Apostle Paul details the solution of the millennia-old problem of how sinful people can be made righteous and God remain just, seeing to it that the guilty receive due penalty. The answer is that God the Son made propitiation by his blood. Listen to David Stabley sermon for more.
The tapir is a strange looking animal with its hog-like body, nose like that of an elephant trunk but short and stocky, and oddly shaped feet with pronounced toes. Yet the tapir never feels the need to apologize for its strangeness. Christians are just as strange to this world, yet too often we do feel the need to explain or excuse our strangeness. We do well to consider the tapir and follow suit. Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.
What do you think of when you hear the word "curse"? Perhaps you think of fairy tales where the protagonist is cursed by some evildoer. More than a mere story, we all live under the curse of God because of sin. So how is it then that God's curse on us could be reversed that we would live and not die? Listen to Brian Wiseman's sermon on Galatians 3:10-14 for more.
Jesus spoke most harshly not towards adulterers, prostitutes, or murderers but hypocrites. You may have been shocked when a beloved movie character ends up not being the same as the real life actor. They were playing a part. Doing that same thing in our Christian life is intolerable. Listen to David Stabley's exhortation for more.
