[display_podcast] Friends Tell the Truth Telling someone the truth is one of the most loving things we can do.  The people who love us the most are willing to tell us the truth.  Genuine and deep friendships are built on truth-telling.  I’m not talking about truth spoken in a condemning way, in a “I’m better than you” kind of way, but truth spoken with love.  The people who’ve loved me the most have told me the truth about me.  We’re drawn to deep relationships with these kinds of people [...]

[display_podcast] Seeing More of God’s Power I said two weeks ago that part of what it means to be a Christian is wanting more of God.  Wanting to know him more, enjoy him more, and see him more.  There is always more of him to see and understand.  This is why Paul prays the way he does in Ephesians 1:16-18.  Paul is praying that God would give these Christians a bigger and better sight of God.  That God would “open the eyes of their hearts” (v. 18) and that [...]

[display_podcast] Wanting More is Sometimes Good Sometimes wanting more is a bad thing.  Gideon loves carbs.  He loves bread and noodles.  When we had chili last week, all he’d eat was cornbread.  He wanted more and more and more of it and wouldn’t eat the chili to save his life.  We wanted him to stop wanting cornbread and start wanting chili.  After a week of eating chili, I was ready to stop eating chili too! Sometimes wanting more is a really good thing.  You might want to exercise more [...]

[display_podcast] We All Love a Good Plan We all love a good plan.  Good plans give us peace and hope and purpose.  When we have something we’re aiming at we tend to shoot straighter.  Our fears and anxieties are eased when we have a good plan.  When you’re in debt and you seek the counsel of a financial coach in order to come up with a plan on how to pay it off, you gain a peace that you didn’t have before.  When you’re thinking about building or creating [...]

[display_podcast] As I mentioned last week, I want us to push pause on Ephesians for a week and consider the doctrine of divine election.  Our text last week forced us to consider the ultimate reason why we’re Christians and how we became Christians.  Ephesians 1:4-6, “(God) chose us in him before the foundation of the world…In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.”  This text says plainly that a Christian is a [...]

[display_podcast] Why and How Are We Christians? Why are you a Christian?  How did you become a Christian?  These are usually questions we answer from our point of view, from the street-level existence of our lives.  We say that we’re Christians because we accepted Jesus.  We say that we became a Christian when we prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, got baptized, or made a commitment to live a new life.  How would God answer these questions?  Why are we Christians according to God’s point of view?  How did we [...]

[display_podcast] Why Study Ephesians? This morning we’re beginning a study of Ephesians.  We’ll spend thirty weeks this year going through this letter.  We’ve spent the bulk of the last two years on Sunday mornings covering large portions of Scripture, going through Matthew and Acts one chapter a week.  It’s important to study large portions of Scripture in order to see the overarching scope of what God is saying.  But it’s also important to study smaller bits in order to see the precious gems that make up each paragraph and sentence [...]