The Christian Life

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)

Sunday, March 24, 2019: How You Walk out of Church Matters

March 21, 2019 // 0 Comments

Let us press on to know the LORD…What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. (Hosea 6:3–4) Living in a world of constant distraction, we often lack resolve to press on toward knowing Jesus more. Twentieth-century preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones referred to this lack of resolve as (Read More)

Sunday, March 17, 2019: A Church That Will Never Be Moved

March 13, 2019 // 0 Comments

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; (Read More)

Sunday, March 10, 2019: Two Reasons Why “Acoustic Sets” Are a Gift to Our Church

March 6, 2019 // 0 Comments

I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. (Psalm 40:9–10) This (Read More)

Sunday, March 03, 2019: Don’t Just Sing in Church, Sing Daily!

February 25, 2019 // 0 Comments

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16) Over and over again, the Bible commands us to sing. It is an important practice for every Christian regardless of their vocal skill level. How (Read More)

Sunday, February 24, 2019: What Shapes Your Expectations for Gathered Worship?

February 21, 2019 // 0 Comments

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration (Read More)

Sunday, February 17, 2019: To Be Seen or Not to Be Seen—That is the Question

February 14, 2019 // 0 Comments

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14–16) But when (Read More)

Sunday, February 10, 2019: Gathered Worship is an Act of Confrontation

February 6, 2019 // 0 Comments

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9) I don’t like confrontation. I try to avoid it, and when it cannot be avoided, it agonize over it. Which is funny to me, because, as a worship leader, I think of gathered worship largely as an act of confrontation. I agree with author (Read More)

Sunday, February 03, 2019: God is Jealous But Not Insecure

January 30, 2019 // 0 Comments

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? (James 4:4–5) Much of the time, as far as human beings are (Read More)