2 Timothy 2:20-21 // The honor that we show to and receive from each other will be genuine and real when we are committed together to pursue a life of holiness, cleansed by the grace of God in Christ.

Acts 5:1-11 // A healthy church culture starts not with the modeling of behavior but the heart of honesty, ready to give everything to God.

Psalm 127: 3-5 // Children are gifts entrusted to us by the Lord. The stewardship of parents and of the church is to see our children formed into mature disciples of Jesus Christ, and released into the mission of God in the world. We are striving by the grace of God to see our children live for what matters most and lasts longest.

2 Samuel 6:1-23 // There are two kinds of biblical discipline: 1) Discipline that follows disobedience; 2) Discipline in pursuit of faithfulness. When one increases the other decreases, and vice versa. Discipline that leads to faithfulness results in great joy, both for our lives with Christ and for our parenting.

Devotion to God begins with wondering at God, and wondering of God begins with a commitment by the church to not hide the mystery of the faith from the next generation, but tell of the mighty works of God in the gospel.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-12:14 // The end is coming, whether we would like it to or not. But as the wisdom of Ecclesiastes closes, we learn to embrace the end and strive for holiness. God’s coming judgment of the world is Good News, because of two reasons: 1) in the end, God will expose all the frauds; and 2) in the end, God will remember your obedience.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-11:10 // In Ecclesiastes 11, the Preacher reminds us that life’s uncertainty should not leave us paralyzed and ineffective. Rather, in the face of uncertainty, we are drawn to trust and obey the God who created us and protects us.

Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20 // In this text, the Preacher highlights the absurdity of foolishness. Over and against foolish power, profit, poise, and pleasures, we seek after a heart of wisdom not by learning principles of wisdom, but by cherishing Christ our wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 // The absurdity of enjoyment is that the path towards true enjoyment and fake enjoyment both start in the same place: confronting the certainty of death and the uncertainty of life. Only once we stare death in the face can we embrace the certainty of Jesus who offers us an abundance of life in the present. By learning to enjoy him now, we are able to spend an eternity enjoying him later.

Ecclesiastes 7:23-8:17 // What do we do with life’s biggest mysteries and questions? Often, we try to explain them, control them, and correct them. But only in Jesus can we be free of the responsibility to know everything, have everything, and do everything. In him we see why we can be okay with the reality that God is God and we are not.