It's hard for us to be content in God alone. It's hard to believe that worship is its own reward. We so often fall in love with the gifts more than the gift giver. But what the stories of Simeon and Ana show us is that the Giver is the Greatest Gift.

Luke 2:25-38

We love to be in control. We love to control our future, we love to control how much pain enters into our lives, we love to control how people perceive us. But what we see in our text this morning is that God’s protection is found in God’s direction. What God is going to show us is that he will direct his people through miraculous events in order to protect and preserve his Son for the plan that he has orchestrated long ago. So ultimately, our lack of control is a good thing!

Matthew 2:1-12

Because Jesus is our forever Priest and King, our past is redeemed and our future is secure.

Psalm 110

We crave honor and fear humility. But God humbles the exalted and exalts the humble.

Luke 14:1-11

Our desires are hopelessly divided. When we are afraid we look for security in refuge in so many other things besides God. But Jesus shows compassion, longing to gather us together as a hen gathers her chicks. God desires to be our deepest desire.

Luke 13:31-35

At our worst, we don't believe we deserve to be loved. Who is gracious to someone who continually wrongs them? The answer is God! God moves towards us and adopts us into his family for all of eternity. And as his people, we should see the orphan in their distress and move towards them.

Ephesians 1:3-6

Jesus has some hard words for us this morning: Those who enter the kingdom of God do so with unwavering devotion and urgency, or not at all!

Luke 13:22-30

Legalism is humanity’s default setting. But God’s kingdom spreads through humility and compassion...so, pretty much the opposite of legalism!

Luke 13:10-21

In tragedy, we are tempted to doubt God’s goodness. We ask questions like, God are you even there? How are we to make sense of this? Do you even hear our prayers? How could God be good and allow this? We think maybe God is weak and doesn’t have power to stop this. Maybe there is no God. We can become angry at God, lose faith in his promises, and wonder if it is even worth it.

Luke 13:1-9

Most of us don't really fear hell. Maybe it's because we think a good God simply wouldn't send people to hell. Or maybe we believe we've done enough good to outweigh our bad. We're pretty good people, right?

Well, Jesus warns us that there's a coming judgment, and either we are going to bear the judgment for our sin or he is. Which will it be?

Luke 12:49-59

The American Dream has no category for suffering and trials. In the pursuit of happiness, we consider trials as setbacks. But God graciously sends us trials to grow our faith. And so, followers of Jesus choose joy in trial. Because trials are not setbacks; it’s an opportunity from a loving God curated purposefully for your good and his glory.

James 1:2-4

The American Dream says freedom is found in doing whatever we want whenever we want. But that constant pursuit will always leave our souls weary. True freedom is found in being bound to Christ.

Matthew 11:28-30

The American Dream tells us life is found in getting what we want and keeping what we’ve got. The right to possess and to keep. What I get is mine and no one else’s, and I can do with it what I want, and no one else can tell me what I’m supposed to do with it.

The only problem is, this is profoundly self-centered, and it is not what God has called us to. True life is found in having one, greater possession. Jesus is the greater possession.

Hebrews 10:32-34

What is your ambition? Will it outlive you? As Paul closes his letter to the Romans, he stresses the central ambition of his life: to make Christ known where he is not, to reach the unreached. Is that your ambition, too?

Romans 15:18-24

We all naturally use our freedoms to serve ourselves. But Christian freedom ought to be different. Christian freedom is not freedom to do whatever you want. Instead, it’s a freedom from everything and anything that would stop you from being who God wants you to be. Followers of Jesus sacrifice their freedoms for the sake of the gospel...to win as many as possible by all means.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

We are prone to exalt the Bible to our only source of truth, or diminish it to one among many sources of truth. But it isn't meant to occupy either of those places.

What, then, is its role of the Bible in the life of the believer? Find out this morning, as we discuss Critical Race Theory and the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

We generally think of devotion to God in terms of personal righteousness. But what God shows us through the prophets and the inauguration of Jesus' kingdom is that personal righteousness means nothing without social justice.

Isaiah 58:1-12

We only care about injustice when it affects us. When injustice hits you personally, it is normal, it is human, to feel passionate, and urgent, to right a wrong. But it is Christian to address injustice when it impacts someone else. It is a mark of God’s character to address injustice when it visits someone else.

God shows special concern for the marginalized and so should we.

Psalm 146:1-10

We hear a lot about racism, equality, inclusion, and justice these days. We regularly hear cries for “social justice” to be done in situations where the vulnerable are mistreated or taken advantage of. But what does it mean to “do justice”? Is “social justice” even a biblical concept? Generally the categories of society do not line up exactly with God’s Word. So, what are the differences between the world’s cry for justice and God’s heart for the same?

Matthew 5:2-11

If we're honest, we don’t really believe Jesus is coming back any time soon. Like a package that's "out for delivery" for way longer than we expected, we've given up on him ever showing up.

But Jesus' encouragement to us this morning is to stay confident in his promises because when you’re confident in Christ’s return, you wait watchfully.

Luke 12:15-48