Beltway Weekend Services (Video)

God doesn’t just save us from but saves us for. Most of us desire to live a life that matters, yet because of sin, we have settled for the expectation of an average American life misunderstanding that God created and intended us for greatness. Jesus tells His disciples that He came to redeem them with an outstretched arm (Exodus 6:6). He will redeem them (us) not only to save us from sin, but to restore us to our original design, original purpose and great level of significance.

God wants us to be free. Free from bondage, sin, insecurity, comparison, and spiritual death. Yet, despite having Jesus and receiving salvation, many of us still live as though we are slaves to our sin and flesh. The Israelites had this very problem...

God wants us to be free. Free from bondage, sin, insecurity, comparison, and spiritual death. Yet, despite having Jesus and receiving salvation, many of us still live as though we are slaves to our sin and flesh. The Israelites had this very problem. They were enslaved to Egypt for 430 years! But God, being rich in mercy, delivered them from their physical bondage in order that they might live freely. However, the Israelites, while circumstantially were no longer slaves, still maintained the thought-pattern and behavior of slaves. The Lord wants to not only save us, but to deliver us—to set us free—in order to walk in fullness of life and purpose.

God desires that we be sanctified, set apart for what is best. In the Passover meal the day before His death on the cross, Jesus held up a cup with His disciples – the cup of sanctification – showing how our Heavenly Father wants us to have abundant...

God desires that we be sanctified, set apart for what is best. In the Passover meal the day before His death on the cross, Jesus held up a cup with His disciples – the cup of sanctification – showing how our Heavenly Father wants us to have abundant life (John 10:10). The cup of sanctification is the first of four cups within the Jewish liturgy for celebrating Passover and Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt. Jesus would have been following that liturgy and tradition that night, which is taken from Exodus 6:6-7. The cup of sanctification is tied to the first promise of God in these verses that He will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Through Jesus, we can be set apart – sanctified and brought out from under our burdens – to a place of abundant life.

Our faith grows and develops as we hear the truth of God’s Word. However, it’s possible to hear but not really hear. Not only is it possible, it is highly probable that we often hear with our ears instead of our hearts. When Jesus says, “He who has...

Our faith grows and develops as we hear the truth of God’s Word. However, it’s possible to hear but not really hear. Not only is it possible, it is highly probable that we often hear with our ears instead of our hearts. When Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him hear” He is not simply meaning to listen with the ears, but with the heart. Many can hear and know God’s Word but still be unchanged by the life and truth it contains. As Jesus taught in the Parable of the Sower, God’s Word can fall on various conditions of the heart (i.e. soils).

Rest comes as we replace lies with truth in our spirit. In our culture, we rarely find the time to truly rest. In scripture, however, we see that we are heavily encouraged to rest in the Lord (Hebrews 4:11-12; Matthew 11:28-29) for in Him authentic rest is found—i.e. not the kind that comes with extra sleep. But in order to rest in the purest form possible, we have to know and trust His word to break down any lies that the enemy may use to confuse us or draw us away from our Father.

Rest comes as we replace lies with truth in our spirit. In our culture, we rarely find the time to truly rest. In scripture, however, we see that we are heavily encouraged to rest in the Lord (Hebrews 4:11-12; Matthew 11:28-29) for in Him authentic...

We are all in a spiritual battle, and we should prepare now for when that battle intensifies. In other words, don’t wait until you need it to try and get it. The way we prepare now for the battle is by putting on our spiritual armor and taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:10-17). We arm ourselves with the sword of the Spirit by getting into the Word and getting the Word in us, which takes time, practice, and investment. Taking up the sword of the Spirit is a growth process – developing a long-term lifestyle of engaging the Word – that requires grace and patience. It is a journey into learning how to use the truth of scripture as a weapon and when to deploy that weapon effectively.