Extended Cut

John says the antichrist is not one person coming at the end of the world. It is a spirit that has been at work since the first century, and it has produced many antichrists, including people who once sat in John's own...

John writes to people he has already called forgiven, victorious, and children of the Father, and only then does he tell them not to love the world. He is not warning them off creation or people, but off a whole spirit...

John writes to people who have found ways to manage their sin without ever admitting it, either by claiming they have outgrown it or by claiming it no longer touches them. Both moves are named as lies, because the truth...

John writes to help the church recognize the Gnostic heresy. The Gnostics are trying to take away our confidence that we can know God through reading scripture, and are claiming that there are only a few elite...

Matthew 25:31-46 says that when Jesus returns, everyone is gathered and separated, and there are only two places to go. Hell is not devils with pitchforks. It is the full wrath of God with no filter, and the weeping and...

The worry underneath 2 Timothy 3:14-17 is simple: if the Bible came through people, and people fail us, how can the book be trusted? Paul answers by pointing straight at the people. Look at the lives, he tells Timothy...

Your hope is not held up by how well you can argue for it; it is held up by the risen Christ, which frees you to witness without fear and stand unshaken when it costs you.

When the two sides demand you pick one, Jesus refuses both and runs a different test on the coin in your hand, render Caesar the metal that bears his image and refuse him your neighbor, your enemy, and yourself, who...

This sermon on Ecclesiastes 2 argues that pleasure itself isn't broken—our method of pursuing it is. Solomon's experiment of total self-indulgence proved that earthly pleasures, though genuinely enjoyable, are...

<p>The exposed nerve in Romans 12:1-2 is not indecision about a job; it is the quiet terror that God has hidden your real life somewhere "out there" and is mildly disappointed in how slowly you are finding it. Paul...

<p>Ruth and Boaz show that when we live for God, we bear the following fruits. We are fully alive in both work and play, we are emotionally expressive and physically self controlled in love, and we value both generosity...

<p>From 1 Timothy 5:1-8 and Paul's instruction concerning widows, we learn that the latter half of life, both empty nesting and old age, is not merely a domestic or physical adjustment but a profound new chapter of...

<p>Rachel only begins to experience rivalry in chapter 30 because she gets starved of the attention and affection she has long taken for granted. Rachel competes by playing dirty because she's so desperate to regain her...

<p>Drawing on the story of Leah, Pastor Sam described two life strategies that lead to poisoning the people we love. Self Erasing actions come from a heart that idolizes acceptance. Self-Sacrificing actions come from a...

<p>1 Peter 3 sits inside a letter written to believers scattered across the Roman empire, people pushed to the margins for following Jesus. To them, the apostle announces that they belong to a revolution, a new humanity...