The Christian Life

Sunday, August 11, 2019: We Come to Church Because We Need to Die

August 7, 2019 // 0 Comments

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I (Read More)

Sunday, August 04, 2019: Gathered Worship Confirms Our Place in God’s Purpose

August 1, 2019 // 0 Comments

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. (Read More)

Sunday, June 16, 2019: Participation in Gathered Worship Renews Your Mind

June 12, 2019 // 0 Comments

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Read More)

Sunday, June 09, 2019: Gathered Worship Has a Way of Bringing Us to Our Senses

June 6, 2019 // 0 Comments

“But when I sought to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” (Psalm 73:16-17) Psalm 73 is the cry of a heart on the threshold of despair. The psalmist looks on as the faithless mock God and get away with it, the violent succeed at harming the vulnerable, (Read More)

Sunday, June 02, 2019: When God’s Word Breaks Through

May 30, 2019 // 0 Comments

“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember the deeds of the LORD; (Read More)

Sunday, May 12, 2019: Are You Ever Tired After Church?

May 9, 2019 // 0 Comments

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) J. Oswald Sanders once said, “Mediocrity is the result of never getting tired.” Yet you cannot follow Jesus without getting tired. Therefore discipleship to Him and mediocrity cannot co-exist. Why? Because (Read More)

Sunday, May 05, 2019: The Archenemy of Life with God

May 2, 2019 // 0 Comments

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8) The goal of life with God is more—more of His presence, more of His love, more of Him. The antithesis of this goal is double-mindedness. At the heart of a double-minded person is a fragmented self—a self that (Read More)

Sunday, April 28, 2019: Jesus Changes How We See the World

April 25, 2019 // 0 Comments

And when [Jesus] drew near and saw the city, he wept over it… (Luke 19:41) Following His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus saw the city and wept, saying of its inhabitants, “…you did not know the time of your visitation” (v. 44). Jesus lamented when He saw Jerusalem because He knew that ultimately the people would not (Read More)

Sunday, April 07, 2019: The Surprising Thing About God’s Glory

April 4, 2019 // 0 Comments

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the (Read More)

Sunday, March 31, 2019: Why Do We Confess Our Sin in Gathered Worship?

March 28, 2019 // 1 Comment

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up…And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from (Read More)