This is the message from our 2013 RUF Lessons and Carols service.

The church isn't merely an afterthought or 'take it or leave it' epilogue to God's Story. Not at all! The church is woven through God's Story from beginning to end. And so, we are made to be "church people." Only inside the church--the people of God...

All of our lives are driven by deeper stories and loves. Our allegiance to these other stories and loves often causes us to silence God's story or turn the volume down on it. But Jesus sends his transformed people out into all the corners of the world...

Christians don't just "walk with Jesus" or "follow him". It's much more than that; we are one with him... united to him... attached to him like a branch abides in a vine. Only by abiding in Jesus can we be fruitful. God longs for our fruitfulness, i...

If we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit we're defensive people who like to argue. But what exactly are we defending when we argue and justify our actions? Paul says in Romans 3 that we are all little 'lawyers'--arguing for our righteousness...

The Christian doesn't battle temptation on his or her own. We battle them (losing some and winning some) in light of Jesus' victorious battle against temptation. The result? We are free to struggle; not struggling to be free! And it means we have a...

The Christmas story is not as tranquil as our carols make it out to be. Jesus didn't land into a world wiped clean of suffering and chaos. Instead, he landed right into the middle of real life with all its sharp and sad edges. But he came to interrup...

Of all the pieces of God's story in Scripture, perhaps the most misunderstood and misapplied pieces is the Ten Commandments. Few of us know how they fit in his story or especially how they fit into our stories as Christians. But they fit beautifully...

The devil turned God's world upside down through the woman, Eve... but God promises to turn everything in his world right-side-up again through the woman's seed (or offspring). A rescuer will come from her lineage, he says. And the rest of the Bible f...

The world was utterly different before the fall and after sin turned everything upside down. And so, everything broke. And everyone broke. Everyone but God. And he is a God who doesn't turn away when his world goes to hell in a hand basket. He make...