You may feel hopeless, or insecure, or in pain. It's not a bad place to be. God likes to work against the odds—He likes to use the weak and the underdogs to confound the strong. This is always something to keep in mind when things seem hopeless and when you feel like you don’t have what it takes—that’s exactly the kind of person and situation God is always looking for.
The parable is called “The Prodigal Son.” Prodigal isn’t a word we use much anymore—it means “spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.” The younger son is definitely the prodigal son. It could also be called the prodigal father, though—accepting the lost son back home, the best robe, the gold ring, the fatted calf—that all seems pretty extravagant, too. But the world isn’t full of Prodigal Fathers, it’s full of sons who grew up to be ManBoys.
Jesus spent a lot of time hanging out with the wrong kind of people, partying with sinners, eating and drinking with the kind of bad company that good people shouldn’t associate with. Are Christians more known for eating and drinking with sinners? Or for standing off to the side casting judgement on people? I think most of the modern church doesn’t get what we’re supposed to be doing.
We can deal with just about anything if we have hope.
Kemper closes out the "Nurture" series by looking at how relationships are modeled by the Trinity, and how Father, Son Holy Spirit is a picture of Husband, Wife, Child in a family dynamic.
How can we nurture our relationships? What if we looked at our whole life like a giant improv comedy sketch? How can we get along with people and even repair relationships that are struggling? Frank has some ideas.
It’s scary to be a mom. Everything about bringing a child into the world is this delicate balance of terror, pain and unbelievable joy. A look at Motherhood through the lens of God’s Word and find some things that He wants us to think about this morning concerning honoring our moms and nurturing our loved ones. No mom is perfect, but sometimes you can do better—other times you can’t and that’s why there’s forgiveness in Jesus.
When we’re asleep, we don’t know we’re asleep. What would it take to wake us up from the lies and illusions that we’re so desperately holding on to? To overthrow the tyranny that we are born into as slaves, hypnotized by presuppositions and distractions. Today we’re gonna look at how Jesus recruited one of the nastiest self-righteous anti-Christians to become the second most influential man in the world.
James, the brother of the Lord, was the leader of the early church. The road from unbelief to believe must have been an interesting one. This is a message about forgiveness—the heart of the Gospel.
Further tales about the risen Jesus during His 40 days after the resurrection. This week we meet Rocky The Blurter—it's never too late to start again.
What really happened on the first Easter? Why do we believe Jesus rose from the dead?
Singing from the cross—a short reflection on Psalm 22. This was part of a joint worship service of NewChurch and Oikos Church.
How to get a black-belt in Christianity. They devoted themselves to fellowship and breaking bread. This is the fourth and final episode in the Kung Fu series on spiritual disciplines.
How to get a black belt in Christianity. Prayer is spiritual endurance training. Find ways to build prayer into your daily life. It’s the invisible daily disciplines—especially prayer—that’s gonna make the biggest difference when we’re really put to the test.
It's all about follow-through.
How the impossible becomes possible.
Flirting With Jesus
Our job is just to show up and enjoy the wine, then bring our friends.
First Sunday Morning
How to walk in blessing.
What does it mean to bless and live a blessed life?
Fighting Temptation Like Jesus
Do you have to go to church to go to heaven?
How should Christians looks at New Years?