Northwest Gospel Church - Camas/Washougal

1 John 2:15-27 | Ben Potloff | What does it mean to hate the world? What in the world is an antichrist? As we continue through our journey in his letters, John gets to the heart of a couple very important issues for every Christian to consider. As with the rest of John's first epistle, there is a clear test that every Christian should take, comparing his or her faith with the real thing.

1 John 2:3-14 | Ben Potloff | As we continue in our journey through John's letters, we come to another passage that directs Christians to test their faith against the real thing. This passage gets at the heart of how Christians can be sure that they know and abide in God. Here, we see that to know and abide in God means that you obey Christ's commandments.

1 John 1:5-2:2 | Ben Potloff | What does it mean to walk in the light? The themes of light and darkness saturate the Bible, and they are especially important in the writings of John. Additionally, how does the reality of Christ's death on the cross connect with how Christians are called to walk in the light? Here, we see that Christ is where these themes, their importance, and their fulfillment meet.

1 John 1:1-4 | Ben Potloff | What does it mean to have fellowship with God? How can joy be made complete when the gospel is shared? These questions ring in the ears of those who read 1 John's opening verses. Here, we see the joy of sharing and experiencing the gospel.

Psalm 134 | Ben Potloff | "Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord." Our summer in the psalms of Ascent comes to a close as the psalmist triumphantly points us to the worship of the Lord and closes with a statement of blessing from Zion. Here, we see that blessing comes from the Lord to those whose worship is aimed to the Lord.

Psalm 133 | Max Janusch | "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" Unity, harmony, and community are all universally understood to be good things, but we often see our world marked more clearly by division, strife, and isolation. King David pens this psalm with the purpose of revealing God's will for life to be lived in brotherly unity. Here, we see that where the Lord rules, unity reigns.

Psalm 132 | Gavin Hesse | "For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place." Our zeal to obey and our desire to remember God’s covenant are low. We often only focus on the potential rewards–on ideas of “love”–and forget the part of that covenant that requires obedience. Here, we see that the promised King is found by those seeking him.

Psalm 131 | Ben Potloff | "O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high." Humans are tempted to exalt ourselves and presume to know things, thinking in this we will find what our souls long for. But the opposite is true: humble yourself, admit your finitude, and find hope and rest. Here, in Psalm 131, we see that true rest and hope are found in realizing God is God, and we are not.

Psalm 130 | Ben Potloff | "Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!"

Psalm 129 | Ben Potloff | "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth..." Scripture clearly teaches that there are two kinds of people: friends of God and enemies of God. Psalm 129 is the corporate song of a people familiar with affliction and more familiar with the character of the God who has promised to punish the wicked. Here, we see that to oppose God and his people is to be removed from the blessings offered by God.