Guest speaker John Horning takes us to Ephesians 6:5-8 to encourage us to take seriously our calling to honor God by obeying our "earthly masters".

Jesus wraps up his teaching on anxiety (Matthew 6:25-34) by calling attention to what should replace our anxious thoughts - that is, a preoccupation with "seek(ing) first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." It's a call to higher ambitions.

Continuing through Matthew 6:25-34, we see four more reasons Jesus gives for us to cast our anxieties on our Heavenly Father.

We carry on our focus on a biblical response to anxiety by listening to Jesus in Matthew 6. He addresses us with a series of arguments for why the children of God should not worry.

We turn to 1 Peter 5:6-7 to see that humility casts anxiety on God, and so the first step toward God's "perfect peace" is to repent of the pride which obscures our willingness to let God have the spotlight.

With Ephesians 4 as our guide, we see that every fully mature disciple/imitator of Jesus will focus on spiritual maturity so that they can invest in the spiritual maturity of others.

Few instructions on Christian "imitation" are as clear - nor as challenging - as John's reminder in 1 John 3:16 that we should lay down our lives for each other as Christ did for us.

What is it about the Holy Spirit, that two of his most important titles are the "Comforter" and the "Spirit of Truth"? We dive into John 16 to better understand what the Spirit considers paramount, and why it should matter for us.

Ben opens up 1 Peter 4:7-11 to remind us of our call and privilege to serve one another fervently.

In John 14, Jesus promises the ultimate comfort to his troubled disciples - and also emphasizes that obedience is the mark of those who will receive this gift.