All of the anticipation and excitement of recent weeks culminated in the coming of Christmas. The traditions, meals, and the gifts—can’t forget the gifts! But what if it never comes? What if the day and hour of Christ’s return to usher in his kingdom is today? Jesus’ two parables in Matthew 13:44-46 point us to see the value of his kingdom that our joy may be in it. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon for more.
Holiday gatherings, too often, are marked by family discord and tension. How might we engage in a way that sets us apart as Christians? 1 Peter 3:13-17 is a needful exhortation that we would be ready with hope. Listen to Pastor Zach’s exhortation for more.
As one reads through the storyline of redemption, coming to John’s Gospel is full of anticipation. That expectation is increased as John refers back to the beginning. Who is this Word, Life, and Light John speaks of? Listen to Pastor Brett’s Christmas Eve sermon for more.
Do not despise small beginnings. Like a mustard seed and the leaven in bread, Christ’s saving kingdom starts small and hidden, but the way of the Cross leads to massive growth: death gives way to life, sinners become saints, and the people of God are transformed into Christ’s image. For more, listen to Pastor Zach’s sermon on Matthew 13:31-35.
If your sorrow feels out of place during this Christmas and Advent season, you’re not alone. Times of celebration can highlight the brokenness in our lives, and December’s long nights remind us of the darkness of our sinful state. We are a people in need of comfort. Listen as Pastor Brian exhorts us to set our hope fully on the Messiah who dispels the darkness and brings us comfort.
December is full of sentimental moments and memories. Such sentimentalizing even infects use of the Bible in greeting cards and carols. But Jesus’ parables of the kingdom aren’t quaint, nice stories. He’s telling us eternity is at stake. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on Matthew 13:24-50 for more.
A historic struggle for Christians is how to describe the person of Jesus in light of his two natures as the God-Man. That can find expression in our lives by emphasizing one nature over the other. We can guard against such error by singing, “Hail! The Incarnate Word made flesh!” Listen to Pastor Brett’s exhortation for more.
Cultivate a yearning for Christ this Advent and put to death a dreary boredom with the things of Christ. Don't merely pep yourself up with or be distracted by a few festive weeks. Rather, plead with your heart, "Dear Savior, come to tired earth / And bring the grace of dawn / Dispel the night with Thy face / Come Messiah come!". Listen as Pastor Brett exhorts us to Flee Acedia in Advent.
What is the central theme of Christ’s teaching? We could suggest a number of themes—love, humble service, faith—but all of these are encompassed in the overarching theme of the coming kingdom of God. When Christ proclaimed the coming kingdom during his earthly ministry, he shattered his hearers’ expectations of what that kingdom would look like. Listen to Pastor David’s sermon on Matthew 13:1-23 to see the mystery of the kingdom of God in the Parable of the Sower.
The Most High God deals with us in anger for our sins while remembering mercy. Genesis 2:17 reveals such anger, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” The story of the beginning ends with death. Jacob’s death. Joseph’s death. The final word is ... death. But does death really have the final word? Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Genesis 50 for more.
Sin tempts us to turn away from following our savior, Jesus Christ. Every week we receive an exhortation so that we will turn back, confess, and repent. What is it ultimately that leads you to repent? God's kindness. It is the kindness of our God that is meant to lead you to repentance. Listen as Pastor Zach exhorts us to let God's kindness lead us to repentance.
We are fascinated by the last words. While the living delude themselves with many things, none of us will ultimately escape the reality of death, and the words that overflow from the heart of a dying person reveal where they have set their hope. As Jacob enters his final hours, he blesses his sons and shows us how a sinful yet faithful man faces death. Listen to Aaron White’s sermon on Genesis 47:27-49:33 to see God’s promise of blessing as the foundation of the believer’s hope in life and death...
Jesus set about the work of his earthly ministry with “nowhere to lay his head,” but despite his lack of a home, he models generous hospitality for his followers—specifically, the hospitality of a gracious and selfless guest. Listen as Pastor Brett exhorts us to pursue the greater flourishing of giving rather than receiving when we are the guest of another.
When the people of Israel fought against Amalek, God allowed Israel to prevail as long as Moses lifted up his hands overlooking the battle, but Moses’ steadfast leadership depended on the physical support of Aaron and Hur. Similarly, our prayers hold up the hands of our pastors so they can continue to carry out their sacred responsibility to lift up the Word of God. For more, listen as Pastor Zach exhorts us to pray for our pastors.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” This comment exposes its recipient’s lack of belonging, whether in an unfamiliar culture, a new life stage, or a new academic or professional challenge. We should embrace that feeling of not belonging when it’s stirred up—because we don’t belong. God’s people are out-of-place sojourners meant for another world. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on Genesis 45-47:26 to see God’s sovereign provision, his abiding presence, and his fulfilled promise displayed thr...
Does a critical spirit mark you? We love to express our discontent through grumbling, but this inclination reveals a lack of faith and gratitude, and it displays a poor testimony to a watching world. Listen as Ben Aurich exhorts us to shine as lights in the world by doing all things without grumbling or disputing.
Before going rock climbing, we naturally want to know that the equipment we’re entrusting with our safety is made of quality substance. In the same way, when Joseph meets his brothers in Egypt, decades after they sold him into slavery, he sets out to discern whether he can trust them. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on Genesis 42-44 to see how Joesph engages with his brothers as a wise ruler, showing that even the worst of sinners can be redeemed.
Humiliation before exaltation is the redemptive refrain of Scripture, and it echoes with particular clarity in the story of Joseph: God interprets dreams to bring about the exaltation of a beloved son, working both evil and good for his good purposes and for the fulfillment of his promises. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on Genesis 40-41 to learn how Joseph’s redemption speaks to our own longing for a better country as we confidently await the exaltation of another beloved Son.
Technology can be an excellent tool, but it’s not a neutral one. Whether scrolling social media or consuming information, we are shaped by our screens. At its worst, a digital life is a disembodied one; our surroundings and our neighbors fade away, and we are oblivious to the needs around us. For more, listen as Pastor Zach exhorts us to resist letting our smartphones disembody us.
When we find ourselves in a place like Joseph, down in the pit, we can do what is right. We can hunger and thirst for righteousness because of God's presence. So, when sin looks normal all around us, how do we remove the strangeness of righteousness? Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Genesis 37-39 to learn more about the righteousness of God as we see it in the life of Joseph.
In a world of increasing lawlessness, the love of Christ fuels the love of God’s people. We’ve been privileged to fan the flames of our brothers’ and sisters’ love by encouraging each other to endure. Listen as David Stabley exhorts us to stir one another up to love and good works so that our love might not grow cold.
Just as Moses pointed to his slowness of speech to avoid delivering God’s message to Pharaoh, we can be tempted to see personality as the immutable core of who we are and to use our personality traits to rationalize disobedience. Listen as Pastor Zach exhorts us to not find our identity in personality, and to avoid using the natural tendencies of our personalities as an excuse to sin.
Genesis 34-36 shows the chaos of people controlled by their own sinful purposes and lusts and twisting God’s plans into sin instead of submitting to his promises. We also see death coming to Jacob’s family, and rapid multiplication to Esau’s. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon to learn how confidence in the blood of Christ frees us from the lusts of our former ignorance to look to Christ, not to our present circumstances, for evidence of God’s good and true promises.
How many of us press through? How many of us are willing to go through the night in the struggle to weep, seek, pray, ask, and knock? Do you overextend your piety in prayer to the point where when you feel anxiety and fear, you don't go to your father but hold on to it yourself? Cast your anxiety instead on the Lord, for He cares for you. Listen to David's sermon on Genesis 32-33 as he examines the relentless effort of Jacob as he pressed on and struggled through the night to get the blessing of...
What is God's will for you? As you walk through each day and each week, you are confronted with thousands of decisions you must make. And in each of these decisions, there is a question we should ask - What is God's will in this decision? How do you know the Will of God in your life for each of these decisions you must make throughout your life, whether big or small? Listen to Pastor Brian's exhortation on discerning the good, acceptable, and perfect Will of God for your life.
“The Bible is boring,” says no one who has read Genesis 29-31. This account of Jacob’s growing family and his exile puts God’s promises on display in narrative form. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon to hear how the same brokenness on display in Jacob’s story besets us all, and how the same greater story—of God’s fulfilling his promises through his Son—brings us peace.
In Genesis 28:10-22, Jacob dreams of a ladder to Heaven and encounters the Lord, who reminds Jacob of the covenant love he has promised to the line of Abraham. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon to learn how Jacob’s finding grace in an unexpected place prompts us to look to Jesus, the Ladder, to find God, and how it is good to commemorate this saving grace.
God’s love for Jacob and hatred for Esau grates against our modern sensibilities. His purposes of election undermine our pride, our scheming, and our striving to receive favor based on our own merit. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on Genesis 26:1-28:9 to see how our hope is in a God who is faithful, not in our ability to be faithful to his covenant.
The blessing of God—coming by the promise of God, because of the purpose of God—is the banner that flows over all the patriarch narratives. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on Genesis 25:12-35 to see the mystery and goodness of God’s election on display as he advances his plans and keeps his promises through the line of Abraham.
In his parable of the soils, Jesus uses the image of seeds sown on a path and devoured by birds to illustrate how Satan delights in devouring the seeds of gospel words. Listen as Pastor Brett exhorts us to beware of the birds of distraction that would pick away at our attention to gospel truth, taking us away from what would nourish our souls. Read more on the source of this exhortation at https:// www.desiringgod.org/articles/beware-of-the-birds....
