Over the next few weeks we will be exploring Psalm 23. This week we will see that because the Lord is our Shepherd, we can find true contentment in Him regardless of our circumstances. While it's right to pray for God's provision and long for good things, our deepest satisfaction comes from His presence, care, and faithfulness. The message encourages believers to trust the Shepherd who pursues, provides, protects, and leads His people, reminding us that our greatest need has already been met in Christ. 

Scripture: Psalm 23

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We feel our need most when our circumstances are difficult. Yet, the kind of prayer we need most is not about our circumstances but a prayer about what’s true about the Lord. This psalm of David shows us by turning up the volume of what’s true about God, and turning down the volume of our circumstances. 

Scripture: Psalm 86

Psalm 126 is a reminder that God is at work to restore all things. It’s a reminder and call to remember all that God has restored, seek his restoration to continue and trust that God will restore, even in suffering and hardship. 

Scripture: Psalm 126

This psalm of David is a reminder that when God is our greatest good, you can rest assured that we have an unshakeable refuge. Even in our brokenness and our suffering, we have an inheritance in Christ which means he doesn’t just hand us the truth and walk away. He walks with us, providing us refuge. 

Scripture: Psalm 16

Psalm 107 is a case study of how God's love works in the lives of his people. He rescues the wanderer, redeems the sinful, saves the fool, and rescues those who are trapped in hard circumstances.

In this psalm, Asaph looks out at the suffering he’s experiencing, looks in at the doubt that ensues, and then looks up to God. Asaph is a great example of someone who when faced with doubts about the goodness of God, he turned those to honest prayer withs God. He turned towards God, even in the doubt, to have faith in the goodness of God.

Scripture: Psalm 73

As we close the letters of John, we look back on the joy that John so frequently points to. We rightly long for joy, but we fail in our search for joy when we try to find joy based on circumstances, because joy points to something else. True joy points to the one who holds all of our circumstances, and all of us. Therefore when you see joy as a signpost, not a destination, you’ll find joy in God himself. 

Scripture: 1–3 John

In the last letter of John, we see two different lives: one self-centered, one other-centered. While pieces of both men live inside us all, the antidote to a selfish heart isn't white-knuckled effort, but locking our eyes onto Jesus—the ultimate King who emptied Himself to serve and save us. When Christ becomes our greatest joy, our lives naturally transform into beautiful expressions of generosity and discipleship that build up the family of God.

Scripture: 3 John 1:1–12

In a world full of theological disagreement, how do we hold truth and love together? Should our respons be the same in every kind of disagreement? 2 John helps us see truth in love means having an others-centered, Christ-exalting agenda behind the sharing of truth.

Scripture: 2 John

The story of Peter is a reminder of how Jesus calls each of us out of the life of sin and shame that we find ourselves, and into is a better one; a life that rests in our identity in Christ, our trust in Christ, obedience, and God’s sanctifying work in us to change us more into the image of Christ. 

Scripture: John 21: 4–19