Preaching and teaching from Hope Chapel Miami.
These days, we have an extremely low tolerance for stress and frustration. This is bad news for us, since everything in life involves stress and frustration, chief among these is our relationships. In Romans 7, verses 10-12, Paul talks about how sin "seizes the opportunity" of our inability to fulfill the perfect law of God and in this way it kills us. But we are under grace, if we are in Christ, so this means the law becomes a teacher. Unfortunately, we so easily are deceived into thinking because we can't do it on our own that everything is hopeless. That is the great deception, and we must combat it with truth.
As we enter every new year, resolutions are made. These resolutions, for us who know Christ, are promises that are only kept by team effort: as we keep in step with the Holy Spirit. We see how in Acts chapter two, the entering of the Holy Spirit caused broken and hopeless men to move forward with power. We too can move out in power as we walk in the Spirit. We can keep in step by using creative ways to make intentional time for God. We can lessen the focus on ourselves by serving and staying active at our local church. And we can put any undesirable habit into the hands of God. All of this, in step with the Spirit, is part of our growth and transformation in Christ.
The glory of God is a public display of God's infinite beauty and worth. This is precisely what was on display in the life of Christ, as it says in John, "the word became flesh... and we beheld his glory...". Christ radiated God's glory by moving toward sacrifice, toward the emptying of self in love. This is not a rote, mechanical act - but one of compassion, being moved from the very depths of his humanity - from the gut. In this way Christ models how we are to have compassion, in graciously forgiving one another. This is where God will get the glory.
Ultimate reality, God's reality, is fixed - and this irks us. We want fluidity, a journey without a destination. The philosopher Nietzsche referred to our dodging God's reality as "sacred games" that we would have to invent. We can fall into a truth crisis if we let feelings and emotions become our new value system. But as we see in the book of John, Jesus came into the word "...full of grace and truth." Christ's circumstances did not change the truth he was bearing. His truth was foundational, it was based in God himself. His purpose was to show us the truth of God the Father and the lengths the Father would go to graciously redeem us.
The reason for the season is is darkness and death. The light the dawned on this world came from the outside, because the internal structure of creation was steeped in chaos. Jesus, as this light, did not come into this world to deliver us from our biggest physical problems. If that were so, he failed. No, Jesus came to deliver us from sin - truly our biggest problem. Jesus saves us from a pointless Christianity, from a pointless Christmas. Imbued with such purpose, we are to walk in the light; live as children of this light; shine the beauty of this light before all people.
Christmas, in all its commercial foolishness, is a season that can generate a lot of angst. Year after year, it's the same as it ever was. We are living a parody of our lives and Christmas is the pinnacle. The answer is not to put Christ "back in Christmas." No, looking at the cosmic description of the incarnation in the book of John, we can remind ourselves of the truth that transcends this time, or our efforts to "reclaim" it.
As the people of God we should not be content with a superficial interaction with others. In James, we are called to look after, which is to visit, to intervene. We do this by grasping God's grace, knowing that we were created to love and serve others. Then we can move to imitate God's incarnation as Jesus, by emptying and denying ourselves for the betterment of others. By doing all this, we can manifest mercy; being careful to live as the genuine, caring community we are called to be.
In the second chapter of Job we find another amazing response to pain and suffering. And even among Job's laments later in the book, we find small glimmers of hope, which point us to something greater. There must be acceptance of the storms of pain and suffering in our lives for us to begin to turn our wounds into sacred wounds. Then we must see, as it is so for trees, life's fires bear necessity to burn off dead wood and push our roots deeper into the true source of life. And finally, there is a certainty we have as Christians that carries us through and makes real, deep transformation possible.
We complicate things to avoid the truth. Our emphasis in this culture is on the stuff we have. The wrong emphasis can lead to losing sight of what really matters. But as we see in James chapter one, true religion is humble connection with others and thus staying connected with God. The connectedness with others and God should lead us down the narrow path - not letting our resident alien status in this world pollute us. There should be a difference in us, as we are made clean in fellowship with one another through the blood of Jesus.
In Exodus chapter four we find a puzzling story. We find Moses at a crucial time in his life, right before he becomes the mediator between Egypt and the people of God. But suddenly God moves forward to kill Moses. Moses' wife quickly intervenes and appeases God by circumcising their son. We see through this story the importance of not compromising, as Moses likely avoided the ritual of God's covenant sign just to appease man. For us, we need to understand that chaos is introduced when obedience is avoided. We must live decided lives, and cut off the other options. Do not deny the truth just because it is disagreeable to others.
Pastor Matt speaks about the sacrament of covenantal infant baptism, before administering the sacrament. God made a covenant with Abraham, which was sealed with the sign of circumcision. At the heart of this covenant between God and Abraham was a deep promise, that God would be with and bless Abraham and his children. We too, as Christians, share in this same covenant in Christ Jesus. And as our children are a part of our community, they too enjoy the relational benefits of the covenant people. The water we apply to a child does not wash away original sin or save them. Infants in the Church are baptized because they are covenant children and should receive the sign of the covenant.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say – it has a sharp edge. It strikes at the heart of what is going wrong in our culture today. In the final chapter, we see a final warning. It's such a sour note to end the old testament on. But there is a seriousness to the reality of our sinful nature and its consequences. We must not misinterpret God's patience for his approval.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say. Here, in the latter half of chapter three, we see our selfishness on display. We need to stop complaining, comparing and questioning God. We are all steeped in selfishness, and need to repent. We need to refocus on God within our relationships.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say. In chapter three we see how we can easily tend toward a hoarder mentality. We have a greater heart for stuff than for people or God himself. We choose the illusion of security in stuff, and we live as if God doesn't exist.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say. In chapter two, verse 17, we see the complaints of the people to God. Our concern is, so often, not with our relationship with God, but with the fact that others are prospering and we are not. Our constant complaints are wearying God. We see how we are to submit to the process, know that God's plan is for us, and know that he has not forgotten us.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say. In the second half of chapter two, we encounter some harsh warnings. God lambasts the priests for breaking the covenant, and this breaking of faith extends from their families all the way to God. The faithlessness is a complete forgetting how God created us in covenant love.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say. In chapter two, we see how we can lack passion in dark times. Our passion and zeal should be to honor God, not as a side gig. We need to ask ourselves if we are motivated and moved to honor God, because otherwise our lack of passion will communicate hollowness to the world.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say. In this passage we take a look in the mirror and see how unwilling we are to give God what is his to begin.
Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, has some hard things to say – it has a sharp edge. It strikes at the heart of what is going wrong in our culture today. We want to be loved and chosen, there is a deep desire for an unending love, but our skepticism and doubt can cloud the chances of seeing God's true love. Malachi begins with a question of love. The people of God sardonically ask how God has loved them, and thus begins a series of doubt and questions which God answers with truth and rawness.
David expresses, in Psalm 56, a mix between fear and faith. We see him processing his distress over the insatiable rage of the men perusing him. Through his fear, we see David repeating the refrain "when I am afraid I will trust...". He is recognizing his fear and letting it propel him forward, and thus he grows in trust. The key to bypass the debilitating nature of fear is to focus on The Word, and ultimately The Word incarnate. Christ and His sacrifice has freed us from the full debilitating power of fear.
For those who know Christ, our pasts without him can be a source of tension in the present. But dwelling on the past should only lead us to repentance. The problem starts when we live in the past and let it grip us, leading us to dejection in the present. We must instead rest in God's grace, and give up the sinful obsession with self, piling on guilt and self-deprecation.
The exclusivity of Christ is a scandal to late modernity's idea of tolerance. To claim absolute truth is to be an oppressor, so the logic goes, so we must drop our claims of exclusivity; there are no absolutes. Yet it doesn't take too much philosophizing to see that this very claim is a truth claim that assumes absolutes. You cannot escape the need for objectivity, and to reject it is to live a paradoxical lie. We as Christians must champion a more nuanced and loving definition of tolerance: respecting the dignity of people whose opinions and claims are different than ours. And we must stand for Christ, through whom came grace and truth.
The much maligned doctrine of Hell is important to understand the cost of our salvation. But so much of what we think we know about this doctrine is not based in Biblical truth; rather it is a mix of pop-culture and other imaginings. It's important that we see the necessity of hell, because without the infinite cost of our salvation, Jesus's sacrifice is devoid of meaning. Jesus was separated from God so that we would never have to be.
In the book of Job, we see how we can think about God, how we can trust him, when we are suffering. We can trust him because he is in control, and his relationship to pain and suffering is not direct. We also see that we can't settle for simple answers and turn inward, thinking we’re the one's ultimately in control, but turn toward God. It is better that our questions lead us to God without answers, than to answers without God. Live the question: redirect your focus and see God’s grace. In Christ we have more than a mere answer, we have deep resources to face suffering well - knowing that if the blessing is not because of us neither is the affliction.
Technology is not a good or bad thing in itself, it's all about how we use it that creates dilemmas. It is important in our time and culture to have a clear theology of technology. Like the Christians in Colossae, we can be led astray and deceived by the over-saturation of information that puts pressure on us to conform rather than stand firm in what we claim to believe. It is important to ask whether our use of technology glorifies God, or does it cause us to waste time. Does it lead us to compare and covet others lives? Most importantly, we need to ask if we are being wise with our use of technology.
Everyone at some point or another will come face to face with evil and suffering. Saint Augustine said in his Confessions, "...all which is corrupted is deprived of good." We are in the mess we are because God's good order has been disrupted, his morally responsible creation chose rebellion, and the consequences were devastating. The good news of Christianity offers purpose for us in this present suffering and evil and a hope for the future of a full restoration of God's good order.
Who is God? A not so simple question. Yet, the Bible, with its strong explanatory power, gives us a strikingly full picture of who God is. We find that the fullest expression of God is in his Son Jesus, who gave himself for us all so we could one day know God fully, in his presence. In light of this we are to fall in love with Jesus, worship God, and apply our lives to who God is.
In Luke 17, Jesus warns his disciples about the temptation to sin and the need for forgiveness. In these expressions we can see how sin has devastating consequences and always affects those around us. We also see how necessary it is to forgive others, and how the power to do so can spring from the smallest amount of faith in God.
In Luke chapter 16, Jesus tells the parable of the shrewd manager. Through this parable Jesus shows that the world works harder for their temporal future than they do for their eternal future. This is a wake up call for us as Christians. We should be asking ourselves if we are excessively concerned with material possessions. The question is: does eternity matter? Are we wholly devoted to God or not?
Pastor Matt explains biblical motherhood. To be a mother is intrinsic to being a woman - not that all women will be mothers, but that the nurturing spirit of motherhood is there for all women to display. In doing so, any woman can reflect the caring, nurturing, yet protective, exhorting, and self-sacrificing love of God.
A story always has tension, but it's the redemption that we stay for. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus speaks to lost people and tells three stories about being lost and found. In all three stories (the sheep, the coin, and the sons) we can see ourselves. We are, all of us lost, but the Lord is calling. This universe is not empty and silent, but rather we live in a reality filled with the call of God.
In Luke chapter 14, we see Jesus addressing a large crowd with tough words. He uses hyperbole, giving them three reasons why they can't be his disciples. Authentic Christianity is not a bait and switch. It is a full disclosure of total commitment, up front. You cannot confess Christ and live as if he is nothing to you.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke's Gospel with another story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath. Jesus heals a woman who had been affected by a binding, crippling spirit. Through this healing, we can see the holistic approach to healing needed for our own pain and ills in this life.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke with Jesus's parable of the Rich Fool and Jesus's teaching on anxiousness.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke. Discussing Jesus's use of the term "the sign of Jonah" and what that means for our current generation.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke's Gospel on Easter Sunday.
Pastor Matt preaches on Palm Sunday, paralleling the story of Jesus's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem with Zechariah's prophesy of the event (Luke 19:28-40, Zechariah 9:8-12). Athazagoraphobia is the fear of being forgotten, and we all fall into this fear one way or another. But as we see in these passages: God remembers.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke with Jesus's telling the parable of The Good Samaritan. With the parable Jesus shows God's requirement for perfection, and that in the end there is no loophole for us to escape God's requirement in the Law. We are to submit to the authority of Scripture, repent and believe in Jesus, who alone has lived the perfect life, and died as the perfect sacrifice, fulfilling God's requirement.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke with the story of Jesus sending out his disciples. The application for us, as believers: we are to be loving, dependent and discerning Kingdom messengers.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke, with the story of two miracles sandwiched together. Miracles are signs pointing to a deeper reality. Don't look at the sign, look for what it points to: put your faith in Jesus himself and believe without seeing.
Pastor Matt continues our series in Luke with the story of Jesus's anointing by a sinful woman. Within the story we uncover the difference between living sincerely in "first person" and the facade of living in "third person".
Justin speaks about the assurance, hope, and joy of salvation.
Pastor Matt speaks about the sacrament of baptism. Covering five questions about baptism, Pastor Matt explains: Does baptism save? Why baptize? What is baptism? How must baptism be done? Who should be baptized?
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