Exodus: The City Of God

Comment

Exodus: The City Of God

Exodus helps us understand the nature of salvation. But it doesn’t just leave it there. Not only does it show us how God saves. It shows us why. In fact, it shows us that God saves people in order to give them a whole new purpose in life. And everyone longs for purpose. If you have it, you feel empowered and energized. But if you feel like your life lacks purpose, it’s one of the most crushing things that can happen to someone. What is God’s purpose for your life? Listen in, and find out. 

Comment

Comment

Exodus: Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Life very often doesn’t go the way we want it to. It frequently feels like the world is against us. In fact, sometimes it even feels like God himself is against us. What do we do when it feels like God is being unfair? If we’re honest with ourselves, a lot of the time we get angry with God. If that’s ever happened to you, this is one of the best passages to look for guidance and help. Join us for this week’s installment in our series on the book of Exodus.

Comment

Comment

Exodus: Crossing Over

The Bible refers to the Exodus story in many places to describe the significance of Jesus and his work on the cross. That means that the Exodus gives us a paradigm for understanding salvation. There is no event more paradigmatic of the Exodus, and therefore no event more significant for us to understand, than the crossing of the Red Sea. When we look closely, we see that it is about getting free. But what exactly are we getting free from? And how does that happen? This passage helps us understand. Join us as we explore it more deeply. 

Comment

Comment

Exodus: The Lamb of God

One of the deepest impulses in humanity is that the way to connect to God is by being a good person. While the Bible affirms that as true, it also tells us that is not what is at the heart of what it means to have faith in God (at least this God). This famous passage helps us understand why this God is so different from every other God, every other religion, and every other approach to life. Because this passage shows us that it’s not about being a good person, it’s really all about the Lamb. What does that mean? Join us this week as we explore this life-changing passage. 

Comment

Comment

Exodus: Who Is The Lord?

In the Bible, to “know” someone or something is much more than just knowing about someone. It means personal, relational knowledge. This week’s selection of passages are about an event commonly known as the plagues of Egypt. But we will not understand what’s really happening in this event if we don’t understand what it means to know God, to truly know him and worship him, or to oppose him and defy him. 


Comment

Comment

Exodus: The Call of God

Every human being longs for significance. We long to know that our lives matter, and that we have worth and value. The problem is that our significance in this world is completely tied to our performance. As long as we’re performing well, we feel good about ourselves. But if we’re insecure about our performance, we’re insecure about ourselves. That means that everyone experiences insecurity at times in life. This passage has a lot to show us about our problem with insecurity, and God’s remedy for it. 

Comment

Comment

Exodus: The God With A Name

Names are important in the Bible. Your name is the public manifestation of your character, essence, and identity. So when God tells us his name in this passage, he’s saying, “This is who I am.” So who is this God? What is he like? This passage shows us. It therefore holds great importance for all people. For non-believers, it helps work through the objection that it’s intolerant and freedom-robbing to say you have the one, true God. But for believers this is just as important, because anytime you have a distorted or deficient understanding of God, it leads to distortions in our lives. Join us as we explore what it means that God has a name. 

Comment

Comment

Exodus: Meeting God

Exodus is one of the best books for our late-modern, pluralistic culture. Even though surveys indicate levels of formal religious participation are down, levels of spirituality are up. Its not that people aren’t looking for God. They’re just looking for God in different places. That makes this passage incredibly relevant for us. Because it shows us what it looks like to encounter absolute spiritual Reality - to meet the real, true, and living God. Join us this week as we see how that happens.

Comment

Comment

Exodus: A Long Obedience In The Same Direction

Have you ever felt like your life is on the slow track? Or on a detour? Or even worse, like you messed it up so badly you can never get it back on track? In this passage from Exodus, Moses was in the same exact place. And yet we find out that his life was not on a detour. He was in God’s school to prepare him for God’s purpose? What does that mean? Join us as we take a look. 

Comment

Comment

Exodus: The Hiddenness of God

It’s often very difficult to see any evidence of God’s work in the world. Especially when we’re confronted with a world full of pain and suffering, trusting that God is doing anything about it is difficult, if not impossible. That’s where the book of Exodus, and particularly this passage help us. This week we continue our journey through the book of Exodus, and we ask the question, “How does Gods’ salvation come into the world?” 

Comment

Comment

Exodus: What Is Salvation?

Every religion or spiritual option has its own version of salvation. Even secular worldviews seek to provide answers to two timeless questions. What’s wrong with the world? And what’s the solution? Your answer to those questions is your theology of salvation. The Bible says the problem is sin, and the solution is salvation. But it’s very hard to get out from underneath all the cultural baggage attached to those words and come to an accurate understanding of what they really mean. Exodus is one of the best places to strip away the baggage. This week we introduce the story by looking at how Exodus helps us to understand what salvation really is.

Comment

Comment

Get Out Of The Ghetto

This week, we welcome guest preacher Rev. Irwyn Ince. Irwyn is the Director of Grace DC Institute for Cross-Cultural Missions, and a passionate teacher and advocate for the reconciling, renewing mission of God to to heal our divided world. In this episode, Irwyn looks at the famous story of the tower of Babel from Genesis 11, and what it teaches us about our biggest problems, and God’s greatest solution.

Comment

Comment

The Holy Spirit: Gifts Of The Spirit

As we finish this series on the Holy Spirit, we come to the topic of spiritual gifts. Whenever conversations about the Hoy Spirit arises, this is the topic that seems to come up most often. Unfortunately, there is either almost an obsessive focus on this subject, while other churches don’t talk about it at all. This passage, however, is one of the best places to look, because it shows us what the gifts are actually for. And in so doing, it shows us what it means to be the church. Welcome to this week’s episode!

Comment

Comment

The Holy Spirit: The Spirit Unites Us To Christ

One of the primary things the Holy Spirit does in our lives is to unite us to Christ. But what exactly does that mean? And what difference does it make in our lives? Join us this week as we look at one of the all-time classic passages in the Bible that help us to understand this life-changing work of the Holy Spirit.

Comment

Comment

The Holy Spirit: Life In 3-D

In week one of our series on the Holy Spirit, we looked at who the Holy Spirit is. This week, we continue by asking the question: What does the Holy Spirit actually do in our lives? We’ll spend the next three weeks answering that question. But we begin by looking at the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration (to use the word the apostle Paul uses here). Guest preacher Tim Page helps us to see three dimensions of the Spirit’s regenerating work in our lives. Thanks for joining us!

Comment

Comment

The Holy Spirit: Who Is The Holy Spirit?

When it comes to the Holy Spirit, few topics generate more questions, or more controversy. But this is arguably one of the most important and central components of the Christian life. So for the next four weeks, we are looking at the subject of the Holy Spirit. This week, we begin by looking at what Jesus himself had to say about who the Spirit is, and what the Spirit does.

Comment

Comment

James: The Antidote for Materialism

Most of us don’t think we have a problem with money. In fact, most of us would rather not talk about it at all. But the fact that we would rather not talk about it is a potential indicator that we desperately need to talk about it. This passage in James helps us understand why money is so spiritually dangerous. But it also gives us a unique and counter-intuitive way to find freedom from materialism and a greater sense of coherence and stability in our lives.

Comment

1 Comment

James: A Community of Grace

Every human being longs for deep, meaningful community with other human beings. But we also know that anytime we get in community, it’s difficult. Unfortunately, this is often especially so in the church. In this passage, James actually addresses this reality head on by calling out the quarreling and fighting in the church. But he also offers us a far deeper diagnosis of where such community breakdown comes from, and the stunning solution that offers us all hope for the restoration of community.

1 Comment

Comment

James: Healing Our Tongue

One of the most challenging areas of our lives, and one of the most painful areas of our lives, is words. It’s challenging because we all have things we regret saying. It’s painful because there are things that have been said to us that have caused damage. Words have incredible impact for good, or harm, in our lives and in our world. Because of that, this is one of the areas of our lives most in need of healing. But how does that happen? This passage in James gives us a powerful answer.

Comment

Comment

James: Faith That Works

One of the most basic thrusts of the gospel message is that we are not saved by our own works, but by the work of Jesus Christ for us on the cross. In other words, the gospel does not say, “God accepts you because you’re a good person.” The gospel says, “God loves and accepts you because Jesus was good on your behalf. You are loved and accepted because of his works, not your own.” This passage, however, seems to conflict with all of that! Is the Bible self-contradictory, as many assert? Or is it possible that we misunderstand what James is saying? Join us this week as we look more deeply at an issue that is essential to the heart of the gospel.

Comment