The lifelong covenant of marriage is like a greenhouse that allows sexual expression to flourish and bear fruit. Meanwhile, adultery is a blight to the one-faith union, telling lies about the gospel. And lust is adultery in seed form. Listen to Pastor Zach’s exhortation on the Seventh Commandment to learn why our sexual behavior matters to God.
As we grieve, lament, and question the pervasive presence of death in this world, our perspective is that of Mary and Martha: we wait between the promise of resurrection and its possession. But we do not wait in vain. Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, and his resurrection guarantees both the resurrection of all believers and the triumph of God’s kingdom. Listen to Pastor David’s sermon on I Corinthians 15:20-28 for more.
Omitting the resurrection from a presentation of the gospel is to leave the work of Christ without effect. There is no salvation if Christ is not raised. And that’s the claim we make by believing—or functioning as though—we all will not be raised. Listen to Pastor Brett’s sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:11-19 for more.
Jesus intensifies the Sixth Commandment when he says any who are angry are liable to judgment. Murder begins at the heart and overflows from there. Its root is the disease of anger that can only be remedied by One who was so filled with love there was no room for anger. Listen to Michael Urch’s exhortation for more.
The command to honor your father and mother is one to be obeyed throughout your life, not just when you are a child. This is because this commandment serves as a training ground for honoring the LORD who is the one to grant the promise associated with the command. Have you maximally honored your parents? Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for more.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. One may think 1 Corinthians 15 marks a turn to a great exposition of the significance of the resurrection. It is, but Paul does so because the Corinthians do not merely have a church problem, they have a gospel problem. This gospel problem threatens to reveal that they believed in vain. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 for more.
Whether addressing little children, middle schoolers, or a legislative body, rules are responses. The stem from a particular situation to not be repeated or are a proactive attempt to steer the desired direction. The Apostle Paul provides gracious guidelines in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 to direct churches to walk according to God's design of gatherings being decent and orderly. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon for more.
The Sabbath command has caused no little disagreement over its present day observation. But at the heart, the command to remember the Sabbath is a command to remember who it is that we rely on for our provision. Who is it that you are really trusting in? Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation to remember the Sabbath.
Who gathers to talk about death—your own death? In contemporary culture, death has been pushed to the margin. Meanwhile, 150,000 people die every single day. Psalm 90:12 says we gain heart of wisdom when we learn to number our days. Listen to Pastor Zach's homily from the Memento Mori service.
Tools have a clear design and purpose. You can use a tool for an undesigned purpose, but using the right tool for the right job works far better. The same is true in our zeal and desire for spiritual things. Rather than fixate on all receiving the same gift all the time—like how some Christians have regarded the gift of tongues—we ought to desire any gift that the Spirit deems best for the building up of the common good. Listen to Pastor Brett's second sermon on 1 Corinthians 14:1-25 for more on...
A family will exhibit characteristics that give shape and definition to what it means to be a member of that family. The clearest example of this is a common last name. When a child is adopted, the last name is taken on. And this is what the Lord calls us to in bearing his name. Listen to Toby Phillips' exhortation to bear the name not in vain for more.
If you believe Jesus of Nazareth is God who became man and rose from the dead after being professionally executed, why can it feel like such a stretch to believe that God can lead a Christian to communicate in a way suited for the encouragement of others? The "flaw of the excluded middle" helps explain our hesitation to especially desire that we would prophesy. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 14:1-25 for more.
In the incident with the golden calf, we see the difference between the First and Second Commandments. God is not only concerned with who we worship but how we worship. Our God is rightly jealous for the worship that is due to him alone. Listen to Pastor Zach's exhortation to make no idol for more.
Like the Corinthians, we think too highly of our gifts and ourselves and too little of one another—and certainly too little of glory. The gifts of the Spirit, they are partial and will give way to the perfect, to completion. So, we need our gaze drawn upward to that world of love that it would flow back upstream into our experience together here and now. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:8-13.
The absence of love divests spiritual gifts of their value. Love is imperative, but what is it? It's not defined by the one who wields it. If we are going to be governed by love, we need to understand its source, beauty, and practice. Listen to Pastor David's sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 for more.
You are standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes, grumbling to yourself about the overcooked chicken. The murmuring multiplies, fixating on the mess, the laundry, the homework. In that moment, you're not thinking about the majesty, awe, and glory of our great God. Is there any point when you are most tempted to sin where you are in that moment thinking more of God? Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation to think more of God.
Our varied roles and positions will not be enough to save us, and we will have no hope if our focus is on preserving our own lives. Rather, God must be our treasure. Christ will have your whole heart or have you in Hell. What things in this world do you cling to most? Listen to Gabe Johnson's exhortation to remember Lot's wife for more.
There is a stage of parenting where if dad says, “Kids, it’s eight o’clock. Time to go!,” there is a high probability that he will hear the reply, “No, it’s 7:57, Dad.” “Ok. That’s not the point. Get in the car!” The Apostle Paul may have a similar response to how 1 Corinthians 13 is regarded today—quoted at so many weddings as "The Love Chapter." But is that the point? Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 for more.
Many have experienced or known someone who has wrestled deeply with doubt. It has even led some to reject Christianity altogether. Doubt is not a good place to remain—it is an unstable double-mindedness. We need not hide our doubt nor flaunt it. And when we find it, we ought to look to Jesus to find the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Listen to Pastor Zach's exhortation for more.
We face threats from without and from within. One internal threat is disunity. It starts innocuously, a preference for that person or this style. But sprinkle in some gossip with a helping of pride and marinade that in some bitterness, and a church can be divided into camps. Add in the elevation of certain personalities to the marginalization of others, and you get Corinthian confusion. Paul undermines disunity within a local church by applying a gospel solution in God's sovereign, wise, and goo...
When the Spirit works in someone to profess, "Jesus is Lord," that requires obeying him. Our hearts are prone to wander, and we must repent when they do. Where have you done in disobedience to the Lord Jesus? What have you left undone that he would have you do? Listen to Pastor David's exhortation to obey the Lord Jesus for more.
Fire shows up in the in two dramatic ways for Israel after leaving Egypt: the pillar of fire in the wilderness imparting God's preserving presence and the "strange fire" that Nadab and Abihu offered resulting in judgment. When we consider the gifts of the Spirit and their place today, which kind of fire are they more like? Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 for more.
There are many settings where fear's voice is loud, saying something you value is under threat. Fear has a voice but should never make your choice. Listen to Pastor Zach's exhortation to listen to God's voice, not Fear's.
You have need of endurance. That's the overarching message for a passage that is focused on for its secondary implications. Paul doesn't want us led astray from Christ, being helped by the Spirit's gifts. Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 for more.
Churches can laugh off arriving late as something akin to operating by "Westview Time" or individuals saying they are not a morning person. And while coming late to public worship is much more to be desired than not coming at all, there are distinct benefits to not only arriving on time but coming early. Listen to Pastor Brett's exhortation for seven motives to come early to public worship.
Scripture and prayer going together. Reading Scripture without praying is the road to dead orthodoxy, and praying without reading the Bible is the road to paganism. Jesus is eager for us to pray and not lose heart that we would be ready for his return and overcome worldliness. Persevering prayer is a privilege in accomplishing God's mission. Listen to Pastor David's sermon on Luke 18:1-8 for more.
The use and allocation of our time is the substance of our faith. Peter says the time that is passes suffices for all manner of sin, and Paul exhorts us to make the best use of the time because the days are evil. At this point in the year, reassess your use of time. Listen to Pastor David's exhortation to do so and give it careful consideration.
A particular glory of winter are the earlier hours when the stars are visible. Can you fathom your life depending on navigating by them? As we turn the calendar to a new year, it is good to take our bearings from the firmament of God's Word and make the necessary course corrections. We cannot follow our hearts into judgment but must flee to the teaching and to the testimony! Listen to Pastor Brett's sermon on Isaiah 8:16-22 for more.
The incarnation we celebrate at Christmas was the act of Jesus whereby our poverty became his, and his riches became ours. This great exchange was initiated when Christ conveyed grace in becoming poor though he was rich so that we—all who look by faith for the long-expected Jesus—we become rich in the communion of untainted fellowship with God himself. Listen to Pastor Brett's Christmas Eve homily on 2 Corinthians 8:9 for more.
It's good to take an old phrase every now and then and dust it off. Would you ever tell a man paralyzed, a group fearful of a fierce storm, or those facing persecution, "Be of good cheer!"? Yet there is nothing like a Christian of good cheer. Listen to Michael's exhortation for more.
