In 1 Corinthians 10:1-6 Paul helps us understand that membership in God’s covenant people does not guarantee final salvation.

When the New Testament authors seek to shape our understanding of baptism, they shape it around the stories, patterns, and redemptive events of the Old Testament in a way that sheds a great deal of light on the meaning and administration of baptism. If baptism corresponds to Noah’s family being saved from the flood (1 Peter 3:18-22), the circumcision of infants (Colossians 2:9-12), and the Exodus (1 Corinthians 10:1-6), then baptism is a family affair that lives inside of God’s “to you and your children” pattern of redemption.

Matthew 28 teaches us that belonging precedes maturity. Baptism is God’s way of welcoming people into His family. He places His name on us, ensuring that we belong, and then that belonging shapes us into mature disciples over time. God doesn’t make us pass a doctrinal examination before He claims us as His own. Baptism marks the beginning of the life of a disciple of Jesus, it is not a graduation into a higher level of the program. This baptismal truth underscores God’s generosity and big-hearted desire to bring all people into His family, hence the presence of this teaching at the heart of the Great Commission. Baptism is a wide open front door to the Kingdom of God, not a hurdle that’s hard to clear.

Psalm 150 is a snapshot of the end of history inviting us into the future of heavenly praise that will one day fill up the whole earth.

Psalm 122 shows us a people gladly ordering their lives around worship as they travel to Jerusalem—the city where God dwells, His people gather, and His King rules. This sermon considers what Jerusalem teaches us about worship, work, culture, and the Church, and how the blessings once found in the city of God ultimately come to us in Christ.

Psalm 116 teaches us to respond to God’s tangible acts of deliverance with tangible acts of thanksgiving. In Israel, thanksgiving wasn’t just an inward feeling, it could become a public event involving sacrifice, food, celebration, and a gathering of God’s people. God gives us practices of thanksgiving because giving thanks forms us into thankful people.

Psalm 131 is a prayer that helps us remember that we can trust God to grow us up and make us more like Him in every circumstance.

Psalm 58 reminds us that there are times when evil grows so large that we have no lawful power to stop it ourselves. Rather than encouraging personal vengeance or vigilanteism, God gives His people prayers that entrust justice to Him.

David’s psalm of confession reminds us that no matter how great our sin, God’s love is greater.

In Psalm 13 David asks God some candid questions that, without context may seem disrespectful or entitled—they aren’t. David’s prayers are responses to and reminders of God’s promises. David isn’t making demands, he is reminding God of His own plans and asking Him to bring them to fruition. This Psalm invites us to interact with God the same way—grab onto God’s promises and don’t let them go.