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Wouldn’t Christianity be better without the church? When I was twenty or twenty-one, I used to meet a friend at a Starbucks on Sunday mornings and we were solving the world’s problems (like you do in your early twenties)— asking the big questions—and that was …
Good morning friends. Merry Christmas to you. That’s right… it’s still Christmas. In the ancient wisdom of the Church’s calendar, today is the fifth day of Christmas. That’s right! After four days of getting birds—a partridge, a couple of doves, some calling birds and chickens—you’re finally …
Good morning friends. We’re finishing up our series on Philippians—this small little ancient letter in what we call the New Testament, because we’re finishing up the letter. We just read the end of it. Paul spends some time thanking the Philippians for their generosity and their …
We have a mountain to climb this morning; the mountain is the meaning of life. And whether we recognize it, climbing this mountain is profoundly practical. Once we’re grasped by the meaning of life, we can stop wasting our lives on living in ways that aren’t …
Good morning, friends. It’s so good to see all of you this morning. We’re in our fourth week of our exploration of Philippians, and we’re finishing up chapter 1 this week. Last week we were camping out in verses 12-26 (some 15 total verses). This week, we’ve …
Good morning friends. This is our third week in our series—Complete Joy—here we’re walking through the letter to the Philippians. And this week, as I was preparing, you know what I kept thinking about? That’s right—The Lord of the Rings. There’s this section of The …
We’re in the middle of a series called Whole Life right now. The subtitle dubs it: “A Series on Integrated Spirituality.” What we’re aiming at is an integrated life. Any kind of spirituality that fractures our lives—instead of putting our lives together—is not a truly …
For the last couples of months, we’ve been looking at little stories called “parables” and asking: What does this story tell us about the kingdom of God? What does this story tell us about living under the rule and reign of heaven? What does it …
We’re starting a new series today—“The Kingdom is Like…” “The Kingdom of Heaven” (or “Kingdom of God”) is the good news according to Jesus. The kingdom is Jesus’ gospel. Not a proclamation of how you can go somewhere else when you die, but a proclamation of …
We’re winding down our series on 1 Samuel (Kingdom and Chaos). Including this week, we have a couple of weeks left, and spoiler alert: David never gets to the throne in 1 Samuel. First Samuel will end (in chapter 31) with David in exile, Saul and …
We’re continuing in our series of 1 Samuel—Kingdom and Chaos—and over the last few weeks the volume has been steadily increasing on the “chaos.” Ultimately the story of Israel told in 1 Samuel is the story of God working to form a people who will …
Who wants to hear a sermon on the judgment of God this morning? Less than enthusiastic, are we? Not how you wanted to spend your Sunday morning? The judgement of God doesn’t exactly sound like an encouraging topic. It doesn’t exactly sound like good news. Well, …
It’s week 5 of our series “Encounters with Jesus” and we’re going to be Luke 22 this morning. As you’re turning there… let’s remember who it is we meet whenever we encounter Jesus. When we encounter Jesus, we’re encountering the truest, deepest nature of God. We’re …
Quick show of hands… Is there anyone in here who always sits through the credits at the end of a movie? When those names start rolling up the screen, most of us check out and leave. But I respect those of you who sit through the credits. …
When you actually stop and consider the various documents that the Bible is composed of, it’s a little surprising… a little strange. We’re reading someone else’s mail. That’s curious. That’s a little odd. Imagine with me for a minute that we all gathered together on a Sunday …