Week 3 (April 26): No Excuses: Moralism Exposed

Romans 2 

This week confronts the little g gods of self-righteousness, religious pride, and  hypocritical judgment. Paul shifts from obvious rebellion to those who believe  their knowledge of truth and moral clarity place them safely on God’s side. Yet  condemning sin in others while excusing it in ourselves only reveals the same  brokenness of heart. God’s judgment is impartial, and religious knowledge or  moral alignment cannot substitute for repentance and obedience. 

Paul warns that when God’s people claim righteousness while living in hypocrisy,  His name is dishonored before the watching world. This passage calls the church  to reject surface religion and pursue the kind of inward transformation that  honors God, not merely the appearance of righteousness before others.

Week 2 (April 19): God Gives Them Over: The Cost of  Idolatry 

Romans 1:24–32 

This week confronts the little g gods of desire, pleasure, sexual autonomy, and  expressive individualism. Paul describes what happens when humanity  persistently rejects God’s authority. Rather than forcing obedience, God often  allows people to pursue the very things they insist will satisfy them. 

The message will explore how worship shapes desire and ultimately directs  behavior. When people give their allegiance to lesser gods, those gods begin to  redefine identity, relationships, and community. Paul’s point is not simply to  catalog sin, but to reveal the trajectory of idolatry. This week challenges the  modern belief that freedom is found in following our desires and instead shows  that true freedom begins with rightly ordered worship.

How Half the Christian World Fell in a Single Century 

This installment traces the explosive Islamic conquests of the seventh and eighth  centuries, during which vast portions of historic Christendom were lost. It introduces the  doctrine of dhimmitude as a theological and legal system governing conquered peoples  and contrasts it with the biblical concept of stewardship, watchfulness, and ordered  authority. 

Historically, the session recounts the fall of Jerusalem, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa,  demonstrating that these were not neutral imperial conflicts but religiously motivated  campaigns. Theologically, it contrasts Christian restraint with Islamic expansion  doctrine. Modern application focuses on how historical amnesia has left Western  Christians vulnerable to repeating the same mistakes of complacency and disunity. 

Comparing the Reliability of the Bible and the Quran 

This installment puts the holy books of Christianity and Islam under the microscope. It  examines the overwhelming manuscript evidence for the Bible—over 5,800 Greek New  Testament manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, hundreds of fulfilled prophecies, and  consistent archaeological confirmation—and contrasts it with the Quran’s troubled  textual history, including Uthman’s burning of variant manuscripts, over 1,350  differences between the Hafs and Warsh readings, missing verses acknowledged by  Islam’s own sources, and content borrowed from apocryphal and legendary texts. 

The session culminates in the Islamic Dilemma: the Quran itself commands Muslims to  trust the Bible, yet the Bible teaches doctrines Islam denies—the deity of Christ, the  crucifixion, and the resurrection. Theologically, this creates an inescapable  contradiction. Modern application equips believers to articulate why the Bible is the most  reliable ancient document in history and to share that evidence with confidence.

Week 1 (April 12): The Truth Suppressed: When Creation  Points to God 

Romans 1:18–23 

This week confronts the little g gods of autonomy, intellectual pride, and self made truth. Paul explains that God has already revealed Himself through creation in ways that are clear and undeniable. The problem is not that humanity  lacks evidence, but that it actively suppresses what it knows to be true. 

The message will explore how people attempt to replace the Creator with ideas,  systems, and identities that allow them to remain in control. Idolatry begins  when human beings refuse to honor God as God and instead elevate their own  understanding above His authority. This week calls the church to recover a  posture of humility before God’s revelation and to recognize that truth is not  constructed by us but received from Him. 

Comparing the Life of Muhammad and the Life of Jesus 

April 8th, 2026 - Pastor Nate Brown

This installment places the founders of Christianity and Islam side by side. It contrasts  Jesus’s sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection with Muhammad’s many  wives, bloody conquests, and the manner of his death—which fulfilled the very test he  himself prescribed for identifying a false prophet. 

Theologically, the session examines what each founder taught by word and example  about violence, women, forgiveness, and the nature of God. Historically, it draws from  the Quran, the Hadith, and the earliest Islamic biographies to present Muhammad in the  words of Islam’s own sources. Modern application challenges the popular claim that  Jesus and Muhammad are comparable moral teachers and equips believers to  articulate why the character of the founder matters. 

Easter Sunday @ Vintage Church Liberty Hill

4/5/2026

Pastor Nate Brown

Good Friday: The Victory of the Cross

April 3rd, 2026

Pastor Nate Brown

How Islam United Theology, Politics, and War From the Beginning

Midweek - April 1st, 2026

This opening installment begins in seventh-century Arabia by contrasting the nature of Christ’s kingdom with the origins of Islam. It establishes that Christianity advances through repentance, truth, and sacrificial love, while Islam from its inception unites belief, law, and coercive power.

Theologically, the session contrasts the gospel of life proclaimed by Jesus with Islam’s doctrine of submission, introducing jihad not as a later distortion but as a foundational category embedded within Islamic theology. Historically, it examines the transition from Meccan persuasion to Medinan warfare and political consolidation. The session concludes by connecting these foundations to modern misunderstandings that treat all religions as morally equivalent, preparing participants to recognize why origins matter.

Week 5 (March 29): GUARD WHAT MATTERS MOST 

Build a Home Shaped by Wisdom 

Some decisions don’t just affect you—they echo for generations. Proverbs speaks with clarity about faithfulness, temptation, discipline, and the shaping power of the home. God’s wisdom is not restrictive; it is protective. It guards what is sacred because the cost of compromise is always higher than it first appears. 

This final week brings wisdom home, reminding us that what we build in private shapes everything else we touch.