Have you ever wondered how you would respond if you were forced to make the choice between your life and your obedience to God? That's the choice that three Jewish exiles, named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, have to make in Daniel 3. It's a well-known story about these three men choosing to face the fire of a furnace that was designed to smelt gold, rather than bow to a ...

Have you ever tried to keeptrack of how many times you think about yourself in a day? If you haven't, trykeeping count today. It won't be a pretty result. Our text for Palm Sunday will be Philippians 2:1-11. In it, Paul instructs us to do nothing (NOTHING!) from selfish ambition or conceit, but instead, count others' interests as more significant than our own. It's a chal...

John Calvin once called the Psalms an anatomy of the soul. All aspects of our human experience are, in some way, mirrored in what we see in the psalms. Last week we heard how God's Word offers the only path to the great blessing of knowing God himself. This week, we'll be in Psalm 119:81-96, where we'll see God's Word play a different role in the psalmist's life as he gra...

Have you ever started out a new year with the goal of reading, or memorizing, or studying God's Word in a more intentional way (Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statues!Ps 119:5), and then found it difficult to maintain your pace throughout the year? Life inevitably grows more full, or a long genealogy comes round in your plan again. That difficulty to stay...

If you've ever wondered what happened to Jesus' disciples after the book of Acts, it's a pretty wild picture. This is according to church historians (so, not inspired Scripture), but from what we know: Thomas was stabbed to death with a spear in India, Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross. Jude was beaten to death. James was beheaded by Herod, Bartholomew was either f...