The Messy Coffee Table

I have grown to really love advent. As a kid, it wasn't really anything more to me than a little calendar filled with chocolates for every day leading up to Christmas in December. These days, having grown and learned so much from the Lord and from my local church, advent has become something really special. Childhood anticipation for Christmas morning treasures under the tree have evolved into a beautiful combination of remembrance and waiting for the coming of the greatest Gift of all. I've especially loved learning how our worship can intentionally illustrate this longing in the weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, with songs and readings that culminate in a glorious receiving of our new born King Jesus. Last year in particular, God keept bringing me back to the same theme over and over as we entered the Advent season: We've all heard the timeless carol, Joy to the World... "let every heart prepare him room..." This phrase stands out to me in a different way no...

Welcome back!  This week we are looking at Hebrews 6:13-20. This passage comes in between an encouragement from the author to believers towards a mature faith, which we talked about last time, and another descriptive identifier of Jesus as the high priest "after the order of Melchizedek," which we'll dive deep into next time. This week I want to zero in on one thing: God's promises. What does He promise us? What does He not promise us? How can we trust that His promises are sure? I hope to get into a little of all that with you today, which is why I've kept this particular chunk of Hebrews so short and sweet compared to weeks previous.   Guaranteed with an Oath The author has just been encouraging the readers of this letter to be "imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Immediately on the heels of this he turns to Abraham as an example. God promised to bless Abraham with a multitude of offspring, and Abraham had t...

Last time we left off in Chapter 4 as the author re-emphasized Jesus as our high priest, who sympathizes with us and is the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. We receive a call to "draw near to the throne of grace" with confidence, because we have Jesus as our High Priest (Hebrews 4:15-16). The author continues this illustration in chapter 5, where we pick up today. Our High Priest, Called & Obedient In chapter 5 the author further expounds on Jesus as our High Priest, and makes a comparison between Him and the high priests "appointed by men": He acts on behalf of men in relation to God, but he himself is also weak (Jesus became "weak" for us). He is called to present offerings and sacrifices for their sins. Furthermore, the role of High Priest is a calling from God, and is not something anyone can take on for themselves just because they want to. I kind of love that. Think on it for a moment...in what ways does God call you into the "royal pr...

The faith-refresher continues! Last week we read Hebrews 1 & 2 with the takeaway that because Jesus is the better sacrifice and the perfect founder of our faith, we should not forget what we've heard or the faith to which we are called. This week, in chapters 3 and 4, we see the author extend this thought using Old Testament history as a warning for this generation of believers to persevere in the faith and not turn from it, so that they may "enter God's rest." Read Hebrews 3 & 4 now and let's unpack this together. Jesus: High Priest and Apostle There's a lot we've been told about Jesus so far in Hebrews: He's the heir of all things, the one through whom God made the world (1:2); the radiance of God's glory and representation of the person of God, the one who sustains the world by his power and sits at God's right hand (1:3). He's better than the angels because he is one with God (1:4), better than Moses and all other prophets...

Have you ever felt like you needed a faith-refresher? Was there ever a season where the weight of doubt, striving and insecurity made you forget why your relationship with Jesus began in the first place? Or have you ever felt a dullness, a numbness to God's work in your life? Every now and then, we need to go back to the place we began. At the time the book of Hebrews was written, the recipients were considering turning away from their new faith in Jesus and back to the old faith practices of Jewish law. Though no specific author or audience is named (some think Paul wrote it, but we can't be sure), it becomes clear that the author is writing to a group of Jewish converts who's faith is wavering. This letter was written to refresh the the faith of these believers by connecting their new Christian faith with all God had promised and revealed throughout the Old Testament scriptures. It was written to illustrate and remind some of these earliest Jewish converts to Christia...

Welcome back to the 6th and final chapter of our Ephesians bible study. It's been a long journey, but we've finally arrived at the culminating lines of Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. We left off in the middle of Paul reminding the Ephesians of what unity in the body of Christ looks like in practical ways. He finishes this thought in the beginning of chapter 6, and then continues on to one of my favorite passages of scripture in verses 10-20. This passage in Ephesians 6 is special to me for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is this sermon below. I've attended the Passion Conference in Atlanta and one year, Priscilla Shirer gave a message on this very passage from Ephesians 6. Honestly there's not much else I want to say except PLEASE WATCH THIS. It's everything I want to say about this passage and then some. So I'm serious. Carve out about 50 minutes, get somewhere comfy and without distractions and listen to her message: YouTube: Priscill...

Welcome back to chapter 5 of our Ephesians study! Let's dig in: Imitators of Christ We're slowly nearing the end of this letter from Paul to the church in Ephesus, and we're definitely getting into the nitty-gritty now of what it looks like practically to walk in the "new life" with Christ and put the "old life" behind us (see my post, Ephesians 2: From Death to Life). The beginning of Ephesians 5 is a call to be imitators of God, as Paul began to describe in chapter 4 (Eph. 4:25-32).  Verse two describes Christ as "a fragrant offering" to God. Back in Genesis 8:20-21, Noah's offering after the flood is described as an aroma pleasing to God, and God responds to this pleasing offering with a promise to never again destroy the Earth because of the evilness of mankind. Christ's death on the cross pleases God in the same way, and he responds with an even greater promise...the forgiveness of sins and new life with Him, despite our broken...