Everyday Church Sunday Messages

As followers of Jesus it can be difficult to know how to approach the evil and injustice that we see in the world. On one hand we may feel a righteous anger when confronted with issues of injustice, but on the other, Jesus, in Matthew 5, seems to say that we should not resist evil people. What do we do with that? Understanding the cultural context of Jesus' examples of injustice will help us realize that he is not telling us to be doormats, but encouraging us to resit evil in creative ways, rather than responding in kind.

Today contracts and legal agreements are everywhere—so much so that we regularly sign our lives away without even reading what it is that we are agreeing to! But in Jesus' day an agreement was not bound by a pair of signatures on a piece of paper (or a Docusign link), but by the word of the parties involved. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses the way that people had come to use oaths and vows as a way to manipulate one another using the reputation of God. Today we may not use oaths and vows in the same manner, but the underlying wisdom of God in this command speaks to an issue that we definitely face today—the way we use words to manipulate others and get our own way.

As John Mark Comer writes in the opening to his book, "Loveology", “In the beginning God created Adam. Then he made Eve and ever since we’ve been picking up the pieces.” There is so much beauty in the relationships between men and women, but there is also so much brokenness. One of the most obvious ways that this brokenness is seen is through the betrayal of an affair, but, as Jesus will show us, the underlying wisdom of the Torah command to not commit adultery involves bringing our hearts, minds, and bodies back into alignment with God's original vision for male and female relationships.

An inmate on death row. An abusive husband. A middle school bully. All examples of people who have struggled to get a grip on the human emotion we call anger. But of course we know there is a vast difference between murder and name calling... or is there? According to Jesus, those who are angry with someone else will be subject to the same judgment as those who take the life of another, but how can that be? How is anger the same as murder?

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you went to great lengths to get it? Jesus wants us to feel that way about righteousness — that we would hunger and thirst for it. Righteousness is a confusing word, but in the context of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount it simply means living in right relationship; doing right by God and by others. This was the way of life that Israel was supposed model to the watching world — being both salt and light — but where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded and invites his followers to join him in a new way to be righteous.

Early on in the history of the church, fasting was tied to what Jesus and the early Christians called “almsgiving” — a practice that combined generosity, serving, and justice. On fasting days, Christians would take the food or money they would have spent on food and give it to the poor. Often, they would also give the time they would have spent cooking, eating, and cleaning up to serving the poor. This simple practice of giving away the money we would have spent on ourselves has the potential to transform not only the lives of the poor, but our own lives and communities as well.FastingFasting is one of the most essential and powerful of all the practices of Jesus and, arguably, the single most neglected one in the modern, Western church. Fasting is a way that we can integrate our whole body into life with God.

Fasting and prayer go together. Like two wings of a bird, together they take flight. You can pray without fasting, and you can fast without praying, but when you combine the two, there’s a noticeable amplification of our prayer before God. This comes as no surprise, since fasting is a kind of praying with our bodies. When the requests of our hearts are coupled with the yearnings of our bodies, something mysterious happens. Prayer is an umbrella term for the ways in which communicate and commune with God. Prayer involves both speaking and listening, fasting can play a key role in both.FastingFasting is one of the most essential and powerful of all the practices of Jesus and, arguably, the single most neglected one in the modern, Western church. Fasting is a way that we can integrate our whole body into life with God.

Our culture conditions us to long for, and even expect a comfortable life. But in the words of one elderly monk, "God sits at the summit of hunger, thirst, and suffering; the devil sits at the summit of the comfortable life." Jesus himself said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Deep down we know that self-denial is the way we grow in every sphere of life — making uncomfortable choices in the short term that lead to long term transformation — but there is a battle raging within us between the part of us that wants to do the will of God and the part that wants to indulge our own selfish desires. Fasting is a powerful and practical weapon in this fight to grow in holiness.FastingFasting is one of the most essential and powerful of all the practices of Jesus and, arguably, the single most neglected one in the modern, Western church. Fasting is a way that we can integrate our whole body into life with God.

In the modern world, you are more likely to hear about fasting from a Muslim, Buddhist, nutrition expert, or fitness guru than from a serious disciple of Jesus. Most followers of Jesus in the West no longer fast; if they do, it’s rarely on a weekly basis, despite the fact that it was the common practice of the church for well over a millennium and a half to do so. Yet in his teaching on fasting in Matthew 6:16, Jesus said, “When you fast ….” Not “If you fast ….” He assumed his apprentices would follow his example by fasting. What if we are missing out on one of the most essential and powerful of all the practices of Jesus?FastingFasting is one of the most essential and powerful of all the practices of Jesus and, arguably, the single most neglected one in the modern, Western church. Fasting is a way that we can integrate our whole body into life with God.

Stories are hardwired into our brains — they are how we make sense of the world around us and our experiences within it. From ancient cave paintings and oral histories, to classic novels and plays, to blockbuster movies and TV shows, our culture is both understood and shaped by stories.It should come as no surprise then that Jesus came as a master storyteller. God created us as narrative beings and so stories are the perfect way for us to understanding the Kingdom of God.

Most people spend their lives pursuing, but coming up short on finding happiness. The whole entertainment industry in the West has been built upon this pursuit, but this search leaves so many feeling feeling unfulfilled because we are hardwired by our creator for a similar but yet deeper experience that scriptures call "joy".Advent 2025The build up to Christmas is a time of intense preparations, but we get so busy preparing our homes that we forget about preparing our hearts. Culturally we are more conditioned to prepare for the arrival of Santa than we are Jesus! But that's why for hundreds of years the church has embraced the season of Advent — an invitation to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus afresh in our lives again at Christmastime.

Instead of being simply the absence of conflict, the biblical idea of peace runs so much deeper. Peace is wholeness and completeness — it is the opposite of brokenness. There is so much brokenness in our lives and the world at large, but at Advent we look forward to Jesus' coming and return — the Prince of Peace who will one day heal brokenness at every level of society once and for all.Advent 2025The build up to Christmas is a time of intense preparations, but we get so busy preparing our homes that we forget about preparing our hearts. Culturally we are more conditioned to prepare for the arrival of Santa than we are Jesus! But that's why for hundreds of years the church has embraced the season of Advent — an invitation to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus afresh in our lives again at Christmastime.

If you want to see the power of hope in operation, just take a look at a child as they long for the day that they get to find an unwrap the perfect gift under the Christmas tree. Hope can sustain us, but the flip side of hope is waiting, and we aren't very good at waiting. Waiting reminds us that we are not in control of our lives — it's an affront to our pride — but it's in the waiting that God does his work.Advent 2025The build up to Christmas is a time of intense preparations, but we get so busy preparing our homes that we forget about preparing our hearts. Culturally we are more conditioned to prepare for the arrival of Santa than we are Jesus! But that's why for hundreds of years the church has embraced the season of Advent — an invitation to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus afresh in our lives again at Christmastime.

Even the most die-hard lovers of the holiday season would admit feeling stressed at some point at this time of year. Taking our already busy lives and adding an additional layer of shopping, parties, school performances, and food preparation often pushes us over from busyness (having a lot to do) into hurry (having too much to do). If we want to experience this time of year as the season of hope, peace, joy, and love that it was always meant to be, it's going to require us to take some steps to slow down, and become more present to those who are closest to us.

Stories are hardwired into our brains — they are how we make sense of the world around us and our experiences within it. From ancient cave paintings and oral histories, to classic novels and plays, to blockbuster movies and TV shows, our culture is both understood and shaped by stories.It should come as no surprise then that Jesus came as a master storyteller. God created us as narrative beings and so stories are the perfect way for us to understanding the Kingdom of God.

Everyone has the own idea about what the "good life" is and how to find it. It's what every advertisement is trying to sell us, but the good life can't be found in a new car or phone. Jesus' take on the good life shocked his first hearers. He taught that the good news of the coming kingdom of God is that the subjects of the kingdom get to experience the good life, but that it wouldn't look anything like they imagined...

Everyone has the own idea about what the "good life" is and how to find it. It's what every advertisement is trying to sell us, but the good life can't be found in a new car or phone. Jesus' take on the good life shocked his first hearers. He taught that the good news of the coming kingdom of God is that the subjects of the kingdom get to experience the good life, but that it wouldn't look anything like they imagined...

The idea of miraculous healing provokes so many different reactions among people. Some believe in it, some don't. Some run after it, some are afraid of it. Some want to experience it but are not sure where to start, and some are tired of praying for it with little to show for it. Join us for a conversation about this complex topic as we share stories of both healing and suffering, and get real about the joy and the pain of going after divine healing in our church community.

With so much pain and suffering in the world it's easy to wonder if God even cares. And if he does care, why he doesn't do something about it? The Bible's answer is that God does care, and that he has done something about it—he sent his Son, Jesus, not just to save the world, but to heal it. Healing is a sign of the now, but not yet kingdom of heaven—a preview of new creation in the present age.

Just like many of our favorite TV shows have a story arc that weaves its way through multiple episodes, so the first four chapters of Matthew's Gospel have an overarching meta narrative. It's easy to miss because we rarely read large chunks of scripture at a time and many of us are not that familiar with the Old Testament, but if we look closely we can see that Jesus is retelling and recreating of the story of Israel through his own life.