From Poor in Spirit to PeacemakersThe Beatitudes take us on an amazing journey.  The entry point is a humble heart.  This is the door to grace.  Jesus meets us at the bottom.  Jesus comes to us when we have nothing to offer and nothing to claim.  The...

The love of Christ is real, redemptive and life changing.  The pages of the Bible are filled with stories of people whose lives have been rescued and transformed by the power and love of Christ.  But that's not the end of the story.  Jesus is still at...

Rescue and RenewalThe Gospel (good news) of the "kingdom" is that the power of God's grace is present right here andright now. It is present in Jesus Christ – to grant us forgiveness, to heal, to bind up our brokenhearts, to set captives free. This is...

The Sermon on the Mount RevisitedTwo weeks ago I shared a message from Matthew 7, the parable of the wise and foolish builders.  In that message I gave a short overview of the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  I did this because in His...

A Difficult Call to Forgiveness Throughout our series on the parables of Jesus we've learned that Christ's teachings always do two things. First, Jesus' parables are meant to grab our attention—which explains why the parables of Christ are chalk full...

Why so Intense?In our study of the parables we have been exposed to a steady stream of intensity!  The parables are not intended to be casual "suggestions for living."  The parables are not "spirituality-lite."  Quite the contrary, the parables...

The Parable of the Talents contributes to a much larger discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 in which Jesus instructs His followers how to live while they wait for His second coming.  Jesus has warned them that His return will be unexpected (Matt...

Dear River West Family,

On the first Sunday of January we started our year together with this sentence, "In 2010 God is going to do amazing things in and through our lives – if we pray."  Then, we stepped out in faith and began our year in prayer. ...