Psalm 25:13-22

As you prepare for the service, consider reading Psalm 25:1-11 in advance for the first portion of a two-part message exploring this Psalm, which contains our previous week's memory verse. David's song focuses on hope. We all need that.

In the midst of so many uncertainties and changes, God is surely still at work.

Jesus says, in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world." How desperately we need to remember, reflect on, and apply that truth in today's world against the backdrop of what seems like relentless darkness. Among other realities, Jesus' statement assures us Light will win the day.

Last week, we considered the statement made by Jesus that he is the great "I am" who was disclosed to Moses way back in Exodus 3. That is both a claim about who he is in his essence (that fancy phrase "ontological reality") as well as who he can be experientially for those who embrace that claim. He is a difference maker. The other "I am" statements show exactly what kind of a difference he makes. This week, we hear him say, "I am the bread of life" multiple times in John 6.

As we walk through the book of Colossians, this week we are diving into Colossians 1:9-14, where Paul encourages us to live "A Worthy Life." Listen now to what this passage means for our lives today!

This week, we took a break from our series Christ Above All Else through the book of Colossians to address the current Coronavirus pandemic. It elicits a lot of unknowns and with that comes the fear of what could be. Psalm 46 reminds us that even when that chaos is breaking around us, we can find peace and not fear because we know who God is. For the psalmist, the invitation is to see God as a refuge. He is not just a place of safety but a place of strength! Join us as we explore this passage and learn how to apply it to our lives today.

Paul and Timothy co-write the letter to the Colossians, and it is known primarily for its rich Christology, a theological term describing the study of Jesus' person and work. Paul is rightly consumed with Christ, who is "the image of the invisible God and the firstborn over all creation," and in whom "all things hold together." That is staggering. And it has immensely practical implications, as we will discover. Our starting text is Colossians 1:1-8, where Paul and Timothy offer greetings as well as a reminder that Christ brings a "Gospel for Everyone." Let's pray this book inspires us toward a larger view of, and appreciation for, our Savior!

Our final installment of the Seven Deadly Sins series is Vainglory, which suggests to us that "Image Matters Most." Vainglory is the empty and excessive pursuit of approval and praise from others. You can imagine how our contemporary milieu plays on this vice with the proliferation of social media, but of course the desert fathers did not have access to Snapchat and yet struggled with its gravity. Vainglory is all about where we get our sense of value and worth - our identity. If who we are is based strictly on what others think about us, it is a quick pathway to misery and bondage. In contrast, the Gospel offers us the remarkable and glorious freedom of an identity found in what God says about us. Those who rest in the finished work in Christ discover the unbridled joy as sons and daughters whose status is secure. Let's pray together we can throw off the shackles of vainglory and grow in our appreciation for, and application of, Christ's work on our behalf.

In this message, we will tackle the most challenging deadly sin to discuss in a public setting: lust. It tends to be a private discussion because it is associated with, well, privacy. In this sense, lust might be described as (per our title): "Reservation for a Party of One." It can be the inordinate and excessive desire for anything, but in particular the Bible addresses it within the context of sexual desire. We will do the best we can to handle the topic with a measure of delicacy without ignoring the Scripture's frank treatment of the matter. Read 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 in advance to gauge how appropriate the message might be for you or those in your family.

Say the word, "sloth," and it conjures up images of adorable little animals that move at the speed of molasses. They are a picture of laziness. Like all of the other seven deadly sins, however, sloth is much more complex than sleeping in until noon (or later!) every day. The sermon title, "Who Cares?", highlights the apathy underneath it: an attitude that is tired of caring or trying, and bored to death about the things that ought to matter the most. Who cares about worship? Who cares about integrity? Who cares about injustice? Who cares about poverty? At its worst, sloth is mired in despair that leads to a violation of the greatest commandments: loving God, and loving others. After all, sloth wonders, what the point of it all anyway? Sloth gives up. On God. On others. On self. Perhaps you can see its dangers? We will use Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents, as a launching point, and hopefully we can avoid sloth's pitfalls and pursue the better way together.