Episodes
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Vision 2024 - "Devotion: We Love God" - Brent Stephens / January 14, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Devotion: We Love God
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Vision 2024 - ”Love: God Loves Us” - Brent Stephens / January 7, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Sunday Jan 07, 2024
Vision 2024 - Love: God Loves Us
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
The Only Good King - Advent 2023 Week 3
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Tuesday Dec 26, 2023
Advent 2023 Week 2
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
The Only Good King - Advent 2023 Week 1
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Shakespeare’s Henry V has its share of great speeches, but the best-remembered in our culture is found in Act IV, Scene III, as the king addresses his men before the Battle of Agincourt, a fight in which they know they are greatly outnumbered. He calls his men a “band of brothers”—very familial words for a mixed group of peasantry and nobility, especially in a society in which one’s birth determined so much in one’s life. The Apostle Paul continues to call out his own brothers (and a sister!) in the Lord in this final section of 1 Corinthians, people from different backgrounds and stations in life. Like soldiers on a battlefield, they find themselves united by their common mission and love for their King. Their dedication to the mission and to one another encourages us to better our commitments to Jesus and to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Most of us turn off the credits at the end of a movie, unless the music is really good! The endless scrolling list of names does not carry the entertainment value that the rest of the film does. As a student of the Bible, when you start seeing names and personal greetings, don’t treat them like that list of movie credits and tune out! All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for His people (2 Timothy 3:16). In this passage, we get a glimpse into how the budding New Testament churches interacted with one another. How did these small groups of people across the Mediterranean grow into a burgeoning gospel movement that progresses so powerfully across the globe? The churches and their workers walked through “open doors” of ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes they faced adversity on the other side of those doors, but a love for Jesus and His people kept them struggling toward the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:14; Hebrews 12:1).
Sunday Nov 26, 2023
Sunday Nov 26, 2023
Paul has just spent the last several verses discussing what the resurrected bodies of believers will be like. He now explains to the church in Corinth about the change that must take place for those that are in Christ to enter into the glorious presence of King Jesus for all eternity. This change is necessary because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50). “The perishable” is describing our current bodies, and “the imperishable” is describing our eternal glorified state in God’s kingdom. Dead in Christ or alive in Christ, it doesn’t matter. When the last trumpet sounds, those that have not fallen asleep and those that are already dead—all will be changed “in the twinkling of an eye” (v. 52). To hammer home the point of the necessity of this change, Paul uses the word “must” twice in verse 53. Our perishable and mortal bodies are not fit, as currently constructed, to enter into glory. The saints receiving their glorified bodies is the last step in the unbreakable, golden chain of redemption. “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
In the previous section, Paul deals with some in the church who are saying that there is no resurrection from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12). Apparently, one of the sticking points for this group is the inability to understand what kind of resurrected bodies they will have. We see this belief in Paul’s anticipation of the follow-up question: “With what kind of body will they come” (v. 35)? Paul is upset at the line of questioning and calls the Corinthians “foolish” in verse 36, not because they lack intelligence, but because they lack faith in the omnipotence and sovereignty of God. Paul says in verse 34 that some within the church actually “have no knowledge of God,” and he directly addresses their lack of knowledge by defending the omnipotence and sovereignty of God. He says, “But God gives it a body as He has chosen” (v. 38).
Sunday Nov 12, 2023
Sunday Nov 12, 2023
Paul begins this chapter by validating the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. If Jesus has risen from the grave, what does that mean for you and me? What are the implications of the resurrection for the believer in Jesus? Paul addresses these questions now.