You can’t be a Lone Ranger Christian and be spiritually healthy. If you want God to work in your life, you have to be a part of the church, because when you are connected to the church, you are connected to God’s power. Pastor J.D. continues in this message to show how God works in your life not just through your spiritual gifts but also the spiritual gifts of others.

In this message from 1 Corinthians, Pastor J.D. takes a look at the topic of spiritual gifts. According to the Apostle Paul, God didn’t establish his church as a collection of individuals, but as an interconnected body. I need you; you need me. Where do we see that interconnectedness most? In our spiritual gifts. None of us—and none of our brothers or sisters—can truly flourish until we know and exercise our gifts. In God’s community, everybody has a special role to play. Every. Body. Including you.

When the apostle Paul was completely exasperated by the divisions in the Corinthian church, he laid out a theology of communion, because remembering the gospel cuts through all the noise of the chaos in the church. Pastor J.D. continues to teach the three words that, when believed and applied to communion, will cure so many of our social divisions.

In this message from 1 Corinthians 11, Pastor J.D. picks up the most fundamental element of Christian worship—the bread and the cup of communion. When we share this meal together, we aren’t merely remembering Jesus’ last meal. We are entering into his presence. Come to this table. There is no place for religious pride here. No place for classism. No place for racial division. But there is a place for you.

It’s easy to look at difficult topics in the Bible, like “male headship,” and write them off as a cultural accommodation for an archaic society. But Pastor J.D. wants you to see how difficult topics demonstrate created order and the gospel. In this message, Pastor J.D. continues to look at what this passage in 1 Corinthians 11 communicates to us today.

In this message from our “Cutting Through the Noise” series, Pastor J.D. walks through one of the most confusing and misinterpreted passages in the entire New Testament. Along the way, we’ll learn just how relevant first-century head coverings are for the hot button questions about gender (and gender identity) in the twenty-first. And we’ll see that in Christ’s service, every brother and sister finds unimaginable grace, inestimable value, and eternal purpose.

The primary battle for your soul comes down to this: What are you going to worship? In this message, Pastor J.D. helps you understand what competes with God for first place in your life so that you can get rid of your idols, put God first, and surrender to and serve him. The only way to overcome idolatry is to lean in to God’s presence and faithfulness!

The primary battle for your soul comes down to this: What are you going to worship? In this message, Pastor J.D. helps you understand what competes with God for first place in your life so that you can get rid of your idols, put God first, and surrender to and serve him. The only way to overcome idolatry is to lean in to God’s presence and faithfulness!

If athletes train like they do for crowns that perish and names in rafters that fade into oblivion, how much more should we be willing to discipline our lives for the souls of people that last forever? Pastor J.D. explains in this message how to order your life when the crown you are striving for is the soul of your neighbor, coworker, or family member.

In this message Pastor J.D. picks up the analogy Paul uses in chapter 9—of an athlete in training—and asks us, “How can we run like disciplined athletes in pursuit of the race God has set before us?” Athletes are ruthless, eliminating everything that stands in the way of winning. And we should be the same. Whether we’re looking at our personal preferences, our worship services, our political decisions, even our ethnic identity … we lay it all on the line for the sake of the gospel—that we might save some.