Worth Reading

Mark 11:11-25

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

Don’t Forget

We all do it, probably every day. It has a much bigger impact than we realize. The scary thing is, we barely recognize that we're doing it.

What is this thing we all tend to do? We forget the generosity of God.

In the busyness and self-centeredness of our lives, we forget how much we have been blessed by grace. The fact that he blesses us when we deserve nothing (except for wrath and punishment) fades from our memories like a song whose lyrics we once knew but now cannot recall.

How to Witness at Work

Every day when you arrive at your workplace, an attitude arrives with you. Our attitudes are like the perfume or cologne we are wearing; we smell the fragrance when we first put it on, but others smell it throughout the day. The fragrance you’re wearing at work, others are picking up.

So what are those around you smelling? The apostle Paul reminds us that as apprentices of Jesus, we have the fragrance of Jesus. The attitudes we wear to our workplaces should remind others of him. The fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—should make up a great deal of our attitudinal fragrance.

What You Should Know About the Syrian Refugee Controversy

Building His Church in a Refugee Crisis

God is building his church — through this refugee crisis — and the very hellishness of ISIS will not prevail against it.

*The inclusion of links to various articles does not mean we endorse everything written by the author or even necessarily agree with everything in the linked article, but we do think it's worth reading and thinking about with discernment.

Worth Reading

The inclusion of links to various articles does not mean we endorse everything written by the author or even necessarily agree with everything in the linked article, but we do think it's worth reading and thinking about with discernment.

Mark 11:1-11

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

What Does It Mean for a Man to Lead His Home?

It is an awareness that God has placed me in his world to play a role that is going to make an impact forever.

I am a father over precious children, someday to be a grandfather. That authority must not be surrendered to the pervasive and corrosive self-doubt of our times. We must accept who God has called us to be and then serve with that authority.

What You Should Say After Every Week Of Work

God delights in His work, one day at a time. As those who reflect His image, shouldn’t we also delight in what we’ve accomplished?

I’ve found that simply pausing and telling myself, “It is good” is one of the best ways I recalibrate my heart, celebrate the work I’ve accomplished, and entrust the results to God’s hands.

Mizzou and a More Excellent Way

I do not know the motivations of Wolfe and the Mizzou administrators. But I do know that God paid an infinitely higher cost to ensure that his own people would love one another, not for their reputation or their school’s reputation, but for his. God crushed his only Son to glorify himself by reconciling man with himself and man with each other. God then enjoins upon his followers to humbly and compassionately work out this reconciliation—to understand and love one another—to put others so much before ourselves that we essentially die to ourselves for each other (1 Pet. 3:8; Phil. 2:3). Christians, in doing so, emulate our Lord who died for us. We stupefy the world, directing their gaze to a glorious God (John 13:35).

Worth Reading

As we continue this weekly series we remind you that the inclusion of links to various articles does not mean we endorse everything written by the author or even necessarily agree with everything in the linked article, but we do think it's worth reading and thinking about with discernment.

Mark 10:32-52

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

How Do I Know that God Loves Me?

How do we know God loves us? Because Jesus died for us. Through his sacrifice sin is paid for and God’s wrath against us came to an end. When we are wondering what God thinks of us as his people, when we are in doubt of God’s affection for us, we look back. God’s love is not seen today in our satisfaction in this life, but yesterday in his own satisfaction in his Son. God’s love is best seen, not in a pleasing providence in our lives, but in divine propitiation in the death of Jesus Christ.

When Routines Become Idols

While routines are a good thing, life doesn’t always fall perfectly into place. Life in a fallen world is often unpredictable. Accidents happen, people get sick, someone in the Body of Christ needs us, and sometimes God simply has a better plan for our day. When it comes to our routines, the wisdom of God’s word tells us that “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). . .

If you find that you cling too tightly to your routines, seek God in repentance. Pray for a heart that desires him above comfort, ease, and predictability. For as Tim Keller wrote, “Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol. That is what will replace your counterfeit gods.”

Let us make our plans and set our routines. But let us hold them loosely and cling instead to our only source of hope and peace, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Putting the Mini in Ministry

Every member, from the youngest to the oldest, is important and needed in the body of Christ, and is gifted by God for the good of the body. Here’s a great list of small things we can all do to make a big difference in our church.

Worth Reading

Today we start what we hope will be a worthwhile weekly feature. Each Friday we plan to post a few links to material that we believe is worth your time to read. Material that in a variety of ways will help us glorify and enjoy God forever and encourage and equip us as we seek to Praise God, Love People, and Proclaim Christ, all while Praying in the Spirit. (As with the quotes included in our Reflection each week, the inclusion of links to various articles does not mean we endorse everything written by the author or even necessarily agree with everything in the linked article, but we do think it's worth reading and thinking about with discernment.)

Mark 10:17-31 

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

Notecard Answers For Why I Believe the Bible

There are many times when our confidence in the Bible can come under attack… Continue to tutor yourself with the reality that God’s Word is in fact God’s Word. Do this in the good times as well as the difficult times. Keep on studying and delighting in this truth that you might be able to properly deal with doubts both from within and from without.

Reignite Your Prayer Life

Why do so many followers of Jesus suffer with such unsatisfying prayer lives..? Donald Whitney offers one possible solution: Pray the Bible. In other words, slowly read a passage of Scripture and pray about all that comes to mind as you read.

Seven Great and Seven Bad Experiences of First-time Church Guests

If you want to make an immediate difference in your church, read these fourteen brief experiences.