The Goal of Our Instruction

Dennis McCallum
1 Timothy 1:1-7

As Paul commits the leadership of the church at Ephesus to his young disciple, Timothy, he encourages him to guide the discourse away from meaningless myths and unimportant issues. He reminds him that the marks of good teachings are love, a good conscience and sincere faith.

Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler

Ben Foust
Mark 10:13-27

People unfamiliar with the Gospel often approach getting into heaven by attempting to live by Plan A, a plan to live in such a way as to earn their way into heaven by their own effort. Unfortunately, they rarely live up to even their own mediocre standards, but more importantly, they can never meet God's standard for Plan A, which is utter perfection. Fortunately, God has Plan B, which is approach Him like a child and receive eternal life as a gift.

What Is Faith?

Ben Foust
Mark 5:21-43

The narrative of the woman in the crowd and Jairus and his daughter teaches us what faith is. They both placed their trust in someone to the extent that they acted upon that trust. They each took a risk to reach out to the One who they believed could change hopeless situations. What mattered was not the amount or strength of their faith but the object of their faith, Jesus Christ. His power is absolutely adequate! He can and will set hopeless and broken things right.

Know Your Enemy

Chris Hearty
1 Peter 5:8-11

Satan's greatest deception is making people believe he does not exist. Peter calls believers to know our enemy, the devil. Being sober and alert, we resist through faith and endure through fellowship. Jesus defeated him and the fear of death at the cross. We know we, who are in Christ Jesus, already have victory over the evil one.

Suffering for Doing What Is Right

Conrad Hilario
1 Peter 3:17-4:5

Peter uses the story of Noah to illustrate that it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong. Noah endured about a hundred years of mockery for building a boat in a land that never saw rain. But Noah faithfully continued to build the ark and preached righteousness. Peter explains the ark saving the righteous from the judgment of the flood symbolized how Jesus is our ark who saves us from God's judgment through His resurrection. Water baptism does not save anyone, but it is a symbol of your salvation if you have put your faith in Jesus.

The Power of the Word

Scott Risley
1 Peter 1:22-2:3

It is the Word of God that empowers us to do anything good. We can't truly love others on our own, but God's Word gives us a new nature capable of real love. Scripture gives us many word pictures for the Word; It is the seed, milk, solid food, bedrock foundation, an anchor for our souls, a mirror, a lamp, fire, a hammer, a sword, pure gold and silver, rain from heaven, and finally, the sweetest honey. The Word of God is the starting point for this new spiritual life God wants to give us. This Word is also the sustainer of this new life.

A Different Way to Live

Scott Risley
1 Peter 1:10-22

Sometimes Christians try to stand out and be different from the world but they end up being weird. Since one becomes a new creation upon salvation, Christians should be different in a good way. because we live during a unique era, we are headed for a unique destination, our God is totally unique and we have been given a unique identifier: love. God is love. What impression will we leave?

A Life of Inexpressible Joy

Conrad Hilario
1 Peter 1:1-9

Upon receiving Christ, we become chosen by God, we have an imperishable inheritance, and we have incredible security in our salvation. God desires we obey him for the long term out of love and not out of fear for the short term. I response to his incredible gifts and our security in him, we can live a life of inexpressible joy, and courage even through times of difficult trials.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

Ben Foust
Luke 19:1-10

The lesson we can learn from Jesus' interaction with Zacchaeus, the tax collector, is if you are lost, Jesus is seeking you. The way Jesus initiated with the this most hated man is typical of his posture toward all people. He showed him mercy, grace, honor, and acceptance, as well as included him in the family of God. Jesus' only prerequisite is to acknowledge your "lostness." Being "found" by Jesus dramatically changes the course of people's lives just as it did with Zacchaeus, who made four-fold restitution and gave away half his possessions after being "found."