Good News is for Everyone: Calling the Ordinary to Experience the Extraordinary
Luke 5:1-11 — The Good News isn’t just for people who have it all together; it meets us where we are, in our fears, our failures, and our everyday lives. Jesus shows us that His kingdom welcomes outsiders, restores the hurting, and calls us to follow Him fully. Hearing the Good News means more than admiring Jesus from the sidelines; it’s about leaving the nets we cling to, stepping into obedience, and letting our lives reflect God’s mercy and love.…
Good News of Great Joy
Although Luke only wrote two of the New Testament’s books (Luke and Acts), his pair occupy as much space as Paul’s thirteen letters. A good reason motivates the volume of Luke’s writing; consider the purpose driving his composition: Luke 1:1-4 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good…
Looking Back and Forward
1 Chronicles 12:32 — 1 Chronicles 12 lists those who joined David while he was being pursued by King Saul (1 Chronicles 12:1). That list includes 200 chiefs from the tribe of Issachar, noted, not for their military accomplishments, but instead for their “understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do”(1 Chronicles 12:32). Wise council carries an obvious advantage. However, the Bible offers a different definition of “wisdom” than the one’s commonly embraced by the world – the…
I am Thankful the Church is my Family
Ephesians 4:11-16 — Considering this month’s celebration of Thanksgiving, we have been using our Sunday mornings to explore what we should be thankful for. However, more than mere opportunism motivates this series; we are using the holiday as an occasion to focus on thankfulness because it occupies an essential place in our Christian identity (cf. Philippians 4:6; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Therefore, this lesson explores a final reason motivating our thankfulness: I am thankful for the church, my family.
I am Thankful that the Spirit is my Helper
Romans 8:26-30– Considering our celebration of Thanksgiving later this week, we are using our Sunday morningsthis month to explore things for which we should be thankful. However, more than mereopportunism motivates this series; we are using the holiday as an occasion to focus onthankfulness because it occupies an essential place in our Christian identity (cf. Philippians 4:6;Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Therefore, this lesson explores another reason motivatingour thankfulness: I am thankful for the Spirit, my helper.
I am Thankful for Creation
Colossians 1:15-20 — When we say we are thankful for creation, we’re saying more than “I love sunsets and mountains.” We’re declaring faith in a God who made all things good, who entered His own creation through Christ to redeem it, and who even now sustains it by His power. Creation is not random or disposable; it’s sacred and filled with God’s presence. Thankfulness opens our eyes to see the world through new eyes: to live humbly, to care deeply,…
I am Thankful that Jesus is my brother
Romans 8:18-29 — Considering our upcoming celebration of Thanksgiving, we are using some of our Sunday mornings this month to explore things for which we should be thankful. However, more than mere opportunism motivates this series; we are using the holiday as an occasion to focus on thankfulness because it occupies an essential place in our Christian identity (cf.Philippians 4:6; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Therefore, this lesson explores another reason motivating our thankfulness: I am thankful for Jesus, our brother.
I am Thankful that God is my Father
Luke 15:11-31 — Our Thanksgiving holiday possesses a complicated history that moves backward to our nation’s original colonies before retracing the colonists’ path across the ocean and disappearing in England’s long history. George Washington, our nation’s first president, drew on that history when he proclaimed an annual nationwide Thanksgiving celebration in America, beginning on November 26, 1789. He called the celebration “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours…
We Love the World
John 3:16-17 — In a letter addressed to Christians for whom he felt a spiritual and paternal bond (1 John 2:1), John wrote: 1 John 4:7-8 (ESV) 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. John’s message offers an unsurprising command – he wrote to people he loved and provided instruction consistent with…
We Love One Another
John 13:31-35 — Love is the defining mark of God’s people; not just spoken or felt, but lived. From the cross to the towel to the quiet presence beside the brokenhearted, Jesus showed us that real love always takes shape in action. It sacrifices, it serves, it shows up. Scripture calls us to reflect that same love: the love that gives before it’s asked, that stoops low to lift others, that enters the mess instead of avoiding it. This is…
We Love God
Matthew 22:34-38– We have one word for “love” that we liberally employ – I love cycling; I love good quality paper; I love my boys; I love my wife; I love God. I do not love all those things equally or even in the same way, yet I use the same word to describe my varied relationships with them. We understand that love comes in degrees, ranging from casual to deep, from disposable to essential. However, sometimes we make a…
God Loves the World
John 3:16-17 — For a long time, I have heard anecdotal stories about the popularity of John 3:16. However, the increasing prevalence of online Bibles has enabled researchers to examine passages searched around the world. A 2022 examination of that data by World Vision revealed that, while some variety exists between regions and nations, the “most popular Bible verse in the world is John 3:16, which is searched over two million times each month across the globe.” We can understand the…
God Works Through Me When I Share the Good News
1 Peter 2:9 –Throughout the Bible, God commissions people to be His spokespersons. Those individuals, typically identified as prophets, announced God’s will and actions in both the present and the future. For example, consider Moses. God commissioned Moses to represent Him before Pharaoh, delivering His demand to release the Israelites from their slavery (Exodus 3-15). Moses’ role also involved delivering the terms of God’s covenant with Israel and mediating between God and the nation when they rebelled against Him (Exodus…
The Ministry of the Middle
1 Timothy 2:1-6 — Last week, we explored what it means to ‘love your neighbor as yourself,’ learning that this kind of love is neither passive nor easy. Today, we’re going to take that a step further and see what this love looks like in action. True love steps into the spaces where people are hurting, broken, or overlooked. It stands in the gap, carries burdens that aren’t our own, and allows God’s heart to flow through us to others.…
God Works through Me When I Love my Neighbor
Luke 10:25-37 — God consistently chooses to work through humans. While He sometimes works through people who are either unaware or resistant to Him (cf. Genesis 50:20), He prefers working through people who willingly submit themselves to Him (cf. Exodus 19:5-6). This lesson begins a series exploring how we can prepare ourselves for God’s use by considering the connection between God’s activity in our lives and our relationships with our neighbors.
GOD WORKS THROUGH HUMANS: Paul and Silas
Acts 16:25-34 — This year, we have been exploring a theme chosen by several of our deacons – “connecting the 151st church family to Jesus, to one another, and its community.” Last month, we started developing the third part of that theme, our connection to our community. We began by working through the ‘good news’ of the Bible’s story – God sent Jesus to administer His rule in a rebellious world by acting righteously and justly, mediating the reestablishment of the…
Too Good to Keep Quiet
2 Kings 6:24-30 — We continue our focus on connecting to the community as God’s people. Scripture shows us that living as a priestly family means more than just belonging to one another; it means stepping into the world as representatives of God’s presence, grace, and truth. Today, we will turn to a story from 2 Kings that begins in the middle of deep despair and hopelessness. In this moment of crisis, God works in an unexpected way, using unlikely…
God Works Through Humans
Galatians 2:11-14 Few figures in the New Testament occupy a place more prominent than Peter. He was one of Jesus’ hand-picked apostles and Jesus entrusted to him a special leadership role among the early Christians (cf. Matthew 4:18-22; 16:13-19; John 21:15-17). Despite those distinctions, Paul wrote that he “opposed him to his face”1 in Galatians 2:11. The confrontation between the two men reveals that Peter, facing pressure from a group of Jewish Christians, acted hypocritically towards Gentile Christians and led…
GOD WORKS THROUGH HUMANS
Exodus 32:7-14 – The Bible begins and ends in a familiar way… Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning…” Revelation 22:5: “…they will reign forever and ever.” While God’s Bible narrates a single story focused on His Jesus-centered plan to (re)establish a relationship with humanity, He populates it with smaller stories of individuals through whom He works. Those stories offer insights into the ways we can partner with God, representing Him and His larger plan through our everyday lives. In this lesson, we…
GOD WORKS THROUGH HUMANS
1 Kings 10:1-9 – This year, we have been exploring a theme chosen by several of our deacons – “connecting the 151st church family to Jesus, to one another, and its community.” Last month, we started developing the third part of that theme, our connection to our community. We began by working through the ‘good news’ of the Bible’s story – God sent Jesus to administer His rule in a rebellious world by acting righteously and justly, mediating the reestablishment of the…