The Kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms, governments or nations of this world. Ordinary kingdoms come by conquest and therefore they are impossible to miss. They are marked by power struggles. They fight with weapons, threats and villainizing...

As Jesus’ notoriety grew, he drew attention from all sorts of people, including the Pharisees. One particular Pharisee had the courage to seek out Jesus and interview him personally. Jesus inverted his understanding of God by explaining that religious...

The first miracle of Jesus was more than a little odd. A bunch of wedding going partiers were in danger of sobering up, so we made over a hundred gallons of wine. Not what you would expect a Messiah to use as his calling card miracle. And most people...

The Sermon on the Mount is the longest sermon of Jesus we have, and he introduces his audience to the purpose of his ministry. He came so that everyone who encountered him would become part of a radical new counter cultural community within the...

A new year is a time to reflect on whether your life is what you want it to be, and if you are fully flourishing or not. Many people will try to adopt some new behaviors to become healthier people. Psalm 1 goes deeper than behaviors. It gives us a key...

It’s easy to get caught up in the holiday bustle, even the things we find draining and crazy about the holiday season. The concerts, the parties, the gift giving and the decorating can leave us rolling our eyes while still agreeing that “It’s the most...

The reason why people lose hope is because we live in a world that gives us many good reasons to lose hope. As long as our hope is in our circumstances, we’ll inevitably become hopeless. But when God promised to send his Son, he decided to deal with...

One of the reasons why people lack hope in their lives is because we view “hope” as an abstract idea. The Christmas story shows us that hope has a name. As we learn to live in relationship with him, it changes us. Hope filled people fill people with...

Worry is like smoke, the closer you get to the source the thicker it gets. Worry shows us what we are looking to as our source of glory and meaning in this life. When we take the good things God created and make them our ultimate source of meaning and...