There are certain places the biblical narrative keeps coming back to - a stormy sea, a breathtaking mountaintop, a vast desert, a lush garden. While the significance of these places may be lost on us, the ancient reader would understand their meaning right away. These are places where one would meet God, places of chaos, places of life, and places of solitude, and they are as accessible to us today as they were then. Join Damascus Road for Holy Places, as we turn to these set apart settings of the Bible to discover the deeper meaning of seas, mountains, deserts, and gardens.

Week 4 of Holy Places    

The Bible begins in a garden, reaches its climax in a garden, and ends in a garden. The garden is one of scriptures' most enduring and powerful images. It is the place where God walks in the cool of the morning with man and woman, it is the place where the women first meet the resurrected savior, and it is the image of life with God again into eternity. Gardens are the picture of perfection and the promise of our restoration. Gardens are the place where God restores us.

A lot hinges on the little word if. What if things were different? What if I could change? If only I hadn't done that. If only things were the way they used to be. If I had x, then I could do y. If she hadn't said that, then I wouldn't have done this. What does it mean to live as if what God says about me is true? Join Damascus Road for this 2020 series as we dive into this small word and explore the if's of regret, excuses, purpose, and identity through people in the Bible who brought their big and little if's to God. 

Part 2 of IF  

When we are met with difficulty, hardship, the consequences of sin, or unfavorable circumstances, our first instinct is often to blame. We blame others, we blame ourselves, we blame God. We make excuses for why we can't do this thing or why this is so hard or why we're justified in choosing poor behavior. But choosing blame and excuses invalidates our God-given autonomy and authority for our own choices, no matter what external factors are coming against us.

There are certain places the biblical narrative keeps coming back to - a stormy sea, a breathtaking mountaintop, a vast desert, a lush garden. While the significance of these places may be lost on us, the ancient reader would understand their meaning right away. These are places where one would meet God, places of chaos, places of life, and places of solitude, and they are as accessible to us today as they were then. Join Damascus Road for Holy Places, as we turn to these set apart settings of the Bible to discover the deeper meaning of seas, mountains, deserts, and gardens.

Week 3 of Holy Places    

The desert is not typically a place you want to be. It is hot and dry, full of sharp plants and stinging animals. It is not a place one willingly spends much time, but in the Bible, we see people spending tremendous amounts of time in the desert. The Israelites wander for 40 years in the desert. Jesus fasts for 40 days in the desert. Why? Because they’re about to enter the promised land, and he’s about to begin his ministry. This is the place where God prepares us.

A lot hinges on the little word if. What if things were different? What if I could change? If only I hadn't done that. If only things were the way they used to be. If I had x, then I could do y. If she hadn't said that, then I wouldn't have done this. What does it mean to live as if what God says about me is true? Join Damascus Road for this 2020 series as we dive into this small word and explore the if's of regret, excuses, purpose, and identity through people in the Bible who brought their big and little if's to God. 

Part 1 of IF

When we feel unsatisfied with the present, it can be easy to wish the past had been different. "If only I hadn't taken this job." "If only we hadn't moved." "if only I had pursued this degree instead of that one." "If only my parents had taught me how to handle money." "If only I hadn't made this decision, done that thing, or did this instead." The regrets go on and on. The weight of past regret can be excruciating to bear because no matter how much we cry "if only" we can't change the past.

There are certain places the biblical narrative keeps coming back to - a stormy sea, a breathtaking mountaintop, a vast desert, a lush garden. While the significance of these places may be lost on us, the ancient reader would understand their meaning right away. These are places where one would meet God, places of chaos, places of life, and places of solitude, and they are as accessible to us today as they were then. Join Damascus Road for Holy Places, as we turn to these set apart settings of the Bible to discover the deeper meaning of seas, mountains, deserts, and gardens.

Week 2 of Holy Places    

To the ancients, the mountaintop is a place that is closer to God, literally in cases like the Greeks whose pantheon of gods resided on the nearby Mount Olympus. In Scripture people meet God on the mountaintop. From Mount Sinai to Calvary, mountains are a holy site. Let us turn towards the mountains, the place where God meets us.

There are certain places the biblical narrative keeps coming back to - a stormy sea, a breathtaking mountaintop, a vast desert, a lush garden. While the significance of these places may be lost on us, the ancient reader would understand their meaning right away. These are places where one would meet God, places of chaos, places of life, and places of solitude, and they are as accessible to us today as they were then. Join Damascus Road for Holy Places, as we turn to these set apart settings of the Bible to discover the deeper meaning of seas, mountains, deserts, and gardens.

Week 1 of Holy Places  

In the ancient world, deep water represented chaos and evil. Just look at storms out on the ocean and seas or pictures of rogue waves crashing over ships and it is easy to understand why. In the ancient world, the uncreated state that is uninhabitable to humans is the chaotic watery wilderness. However, in the Bible, God uses this place of chaos to demonstrate God’s power. Not only that, God invites people, us, into those demonstrations of power. God calls Noah to build a great ark that will save his family. In the belly of a great fish, Jonah accepts God’s mission. Out on the waves, Peter steps out of a boat to join his savior.  This place of great chaos and power is the place where God calls us.

Freedom is perhaps the paramount value of the American cultural experiment. But what started as a freedom for the pursuit of happiness has become a freedom from all outside authority or restraint. And instead of more freedom we are finding that without some limitations people are floundering. Without some guidance beyond our feelings we quickly follow those feelings not to freedom but to bondage. Absolute freedom has actually led to slavery. It does not deliver what it promises. For us to flourish we need more than just freedom. Join Damascus Road for The Slavery of Freedom as we explore what the Bible says we actually need to live a truly free life and how to break the chains we find on our hearts.

Week 4 of The Slavery of Freedom  

There is a path to true freedom. To find it we have to follow Jesus and trust that his mental maps, that his teachings, that his way is true and good. We have to enter the divine experiment of living in his way and discover he is the source of all love and life. To follow Jesus is to resist the disordered desires of our flesh and to live into the new, redeemed desires of the Spirit, and there we will know freedom.

Freedom is perhaps the paramount value of the American cultural experiment. But what started as a freedom for the pursuit of happiness has become a freedom from all outside authority or restraint. And instead of more freedom we are finding that without some limitations people are floundering. Without some guidance beyond our feelings we quickly follow those feelings not to freedom but to bondage. Absolute freedom has actually led to slavery. It does not deliver what it promises. For us to flourish we need more than just freedom. Join Damascus Road for The Slavery of Freedom as we explore what the Bible says we actually need to live a truly free life and how to break the chains we find on our hearts.

Week 3 of The Slavery of Freedom  

Our habits and actions have consequences. Much like gardening when we plant a tomato seed we grow a tomato plant. When we plant seeds of unrestrained anger, lust or instant gratification we receive those flowers in full bloom in our lives. What goes around comes around, karma, you get what you pay for, it’s described in many different ways. The Bible calls it sowing and reaping. When we sow to the flesh, and choose unrestraint and freedom first what we reap is slavery. Or we can sow the spirit, accepting the limits that produce life, and yield a destiny of love and true freedom.

Freedom is perhaps the paramount value of the American cultural experiment. But what started as a freedom for the pursuit of happiness has become a freedom from all outside authority or restraint. And instead of more freedom we are finding that without some limitations people are floundering. Without some guidance beyond our feelings we quickly follow those feelings not to freedom but to bondage. Absolute freedom has actually led to slavery. It does not deliver what it promises. For us to flourish we need more than just freedom. Join Damascus Road for The Slavery of Freedom as we explore what the Bible says we actually need to live a truly free life and how to break the chains we find on our hearts.

Week 1 of The Slavery of Freedom

There are more enemies than lies and the devil - there are our own internal drives that push us in different directions. The Apostle Paul told us that there is a war going on within us between the spirit and the flesh. In this teaching we lay out a Biblical theology of the flesh; this animalistic, primal drive in all of us, that wars against the Spirit in our heart and we explore the radical redefinition of freedom and slavery in the West.

Three ghosts visit the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve, and over the course of one night, forever change him into a generous man who truly knew how to keep Christmas in his heart. We may not be visited by Ghosts, but we celebrate a different visitor this Christmas season, Jesus Christ. Join Damascus Road this Christmas season for A Christmas Carol as we consider what the birth of Jesus Christ means for our own past, present, and yet to come.

Week 3 of A Christmas Carol

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is the most frightening of all, showing Scrooge a future without grace and repentance. The joy of Christmas is in not only how it can reshape our understanding of our pasts and present, but it can fundamentally change our future. Christmases now and Christmases yet to come are a chance to experience the grace of a God who loves us so dearly He chose to be born as a humble child. It is a time of celebrating the goodness of God now, and the life that is yet to come. As we look to our Christmases Yet to Come, are we seeing a hopeless, unchanging future or one filled with life and worthy of a heavenly chorus?