From the Pulpit

Speaker: Dr. Jim Rennie

Key Passage: Selected passages from Daniel

Speaker: Lew Worrad

Hope is a powerful thing. It's the hope of getting a driver's license that motivates repetitive practice. It's the hope of graduation that promotes the diligence of tedious study – even when we don't feel like it. The hope of an approaching wedding day brings joyful anticipation. The hope of the arrival of a child, or the eventual independence of said child, prompts excitement. The hope of a promotion activates loyalty and long hours. The hope of retirement allows for peaceful endurance and optimism in the things ahead. The hope of being able to see one another again 3D inspires joy and fortitude. If it is true generally that hope is a powerful thing, then how much more so should it be for followers of Jesus Christ – who are each promised an incredible, unfading, untarnished, and everlasting future in the presence of God himself? Join Pastor Josiah Boyd as he teaches from the final chapter in our series on 2 Peter. 

Key Passage: 2 Peter 3:1–18

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

Peter's clear: False teachers are not only coming, they're here! How  God’s people respond depends on how we identify the wolves, how  seriously we take the threat, and what plan of action we have in place  to deal with their knocking.

Key Passage: 2 Peter 2:1-22

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

In light of recent events, we wanted to take a few moments to talk about fear, anxiety and worry. For many, when those topics are mentioned, our minds immediately go to Philippians 4. Pastor Josiah walks through verses 6 to 9 of this chapter, discussing how we can prepare a Planned Biblical Response for fear, anxiety and worry. 

Want to go deeper? Listen to Pastor Josiah and Pastor Andrew Longmire discuss the sermon in the first episode of our Word Processing podcast: Five P's in a Peaceful Pod.

Key Passage: Philippians 4:6-9

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

If you have ever spent significant time  around children you’ve probably, at one time or another, been caught in  the time-stopping vortex of unrelenting questions: Why? Why? How? What? Why? When? Oh, and Why? While this dizzying spiral can be overwhelming, it can simultaneously  serve as a wonderful indicator of a developing young mind and a curious  spirit. In the first half of the opening chapter of Second Peter, the  Apostle called for his audience to move from spiritual childhood to  spiritual maturity by pointing out that God has provided the resources  to use, has prescribed the route to take, and has promised the results  to anticipate should they comply. Arriving now at the second half of  that same chapter, we find Peter anticipating some follow-up questions  from these growing-but-still-immature spiritual infants, inquiries the  Apostle sets out to preemptively address.

Key Passage: 2 Peter 1:12–21

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

We  rightly expect children to grow up. We expect them to develop at a  particular rate, along an expected and proven trajectory, and with  predictable and visible results. So anticipatory is their maturation, in  fact, that, when it fails to occur, there’s often sadness,  disappointment, or concern. As Christians, we need to understand that  what we expect for our physical children God likewise expects for his spiritual children. To this end, the Bible contains multiple calls to spiritual  growth and development (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 13:11; 14:20;  Hebrews 5:12–13). Once an individual is saved and adopted into the  household of God by means of trusting Jesus Christ for eternal life they  are then expected to begin the lifelong process of God-dependant,  God-equipped spiritual maturation. And, as Peter begins his second  letter, this is exactly the topic he tackles.

Key Passage: 2 Peter 1:1-11

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

Every faithful Christian church is comprised of believers who are called  to engage the culture in which they have been providentially placed for  the glorious purposes of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord himself  said, “Let your light shine before others” (Matt 5:16), “Go and make  disciples” (Matt 28:19), and “you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). As  individual Christians, we are to go, witness, and proclaim the beautiful  and saving message of the gospel. But as we go, we do so knowing  dangers await—some seen, some unseen—and we need to prepare ourselves to  endure with conviction and trust. The question is, How do we do that?  How can we be faithful to our divine directives in spite of opposition?  In the closing chapter of his first letter, the Apostle Peter is going  to provide us some guidance, guidance that leads us into the protective  borders of a godly church family.

Key Passage: 1 Peter 5:1-14

Speaker: Josiah Boyd

Our world and our lives can be difficult, often filled with suffering, grief, persecution, and confusion. We need a source of strength and comfort to get us through. David, one who was not a stranger to suffering, penned Psalm 27. It takes us on the journey of his mental and spiritual process, trusting in God, seeking His presence; and yet still calling out to Him in times of fear and difficulty. We're going to follow on David's poetic journey looking at six C's as we progress through the Psalm.

Key Passage: Psalm 27

Speaker: Andrew Longmire

Speaker: Dr. Jim Rennie