Blessed are… (Luke 6:20-26)
Jesus begins orienting his disciples to the expectations of Kingdom life. Jesus’ first sermon in Luke is packed with some very counter-cultural and subversive truths that ought to be deeply challenging. Blessed (soul-happy) are those impoverished, hungry, aware of sin, and persecuted but woe (warning of disaster) to those who are rich with satisfied appetites when…
By His Wounds We Are Healed (Luke 6:17-19)
The crowds gather and he heals all their diseases and infirmities. But Jesus doesn’t just heal physical ailments. Through the cross Jesus comes to bring the full soul-healing from sin and death for those who trust in Him.
Living in Dependence on the Father through Prayer (Luke 6:12-16)
We are each utterly dependent on God for all things. Even each breath we take is held within the hand of the Father. We ought to live as though we are dependent on God by living in communion with God through active, ongoing, present prayer. Our life of mission and obedience is dependent on our…
The Nature of Genuine, Spiritual Christianity (Luke 5:33-6:11)
In this passage, we see Jesus rebuke the Pharisees for their insistence on placing tradition and cultural religion above a true, spiritual relationship with the Living God. There is much false, cultural Christianity among us and there is a need to discern what is truly genuine Christianity. The…
The Nature of Audacious Faith (Luke 5:12-32)
In this passage, we see that coming to Jesus via faith requires audacity without presumption. Faith isn’t just believing certain facts about Jesus but believing that Jesus is worth coming to and entrusting our entire life to Him.
The Good News (Luke 4:14-30)
Freedom from Slavery (1 Kings 20:1-21)
In this story from 1 Kings, we see how God’s preposterous grace set the wicked King Ahab free from his far superior enemy, Ben-hadad. In this war, when King Ahab faces the utter and complete desolation at the hand of over 100,000 Syrian warriors, God comes near to Ahab and delivers him with the most unlikely people, 232 youth-in-training. We see a similar victory…
Elijah’s Truth Wager (1 Kings 18:19-24)
The Sovereignty of the (real) King (1 Kings 18:1-2, 17-19)
In this passage, we see that Yahweh is the God of life, not the false idols we create in our own lives. Baal (the rain god of life) had no power to actually make it rain and sustain people. Yahweh, on the other had, is fully capable of bringing and sustaining life, physical and spiritual, and does…
The Mark of a Righteous and Faithful Servant (1 Kings 18:2-16)
In this message, we see Obadiah, a faithful and righteous servant of God, who also happened to be the head of Ahab’s household, the most wicked king Israel had seen. Rather than resign his position, Obadiah shows us what faithful and righteous service to God looks like. In the midst of a…
