Zoe Dallas

We might not usually associate Christmas with the ideas of fear and submission, but a deeper look at the gospel of Luke reveals the greater authority with which Christ has come into this earth.

Jesus is so much more than what people think of him this season as a baby. The gospel of Mark shows us that Jesus is from God, heaven breaking through to earth. He has entered into our fallen world and broken humanity, and has called us to go his way.

In the incarnation, we must remember that Jesus became part of a real human family, with a heritage filled with real victories and real baggage. He was born not only into a world of suffering and sin, but into a family legacy of suffering and sin. In his genealogy we see God's grace from the beginning.

Thanksgiving is one of the qualities of the truly Spirit-filled life, but to have to give thanks always and for everything is indeed a lofty standard. How are we to grow in thankfulness as evidence of our faith?

God us the source of all comfort, and only his comfort is true and eternal. We can trust his promises to come alongside us in our time of distress, to give us courage in the face of suffering, and to provide comfort in such abundance that it will overflow as we share his comfort with others.

Where do you turn in times of difficulty? How can we find peace in the midst of chaos? This chapter describes a stressful time in the lives of David and his friends, and it teaches us to trust not in our own wisdom and plans, but in the God who is in control.

Personal relationships can be the source of our most difficult trials. Although David experiences evils at the hands and the plans of others, he continually entrusts himself to the hand and the plan of God, who is for us and is stronger than anyone who could be against us.

What makes a church a church? Everything we believe, profess, and practice together is founded on the unity that God has called us to as his people.

When we experience the fire of pain and trials, though it may burn and hurt us, it also refines us. Pain is a God-given opportunity to draw closer to Him in trust and in faith.

In this world, deceivers abound who desire to draw away the hearts of the Lord's followers. In studying Absalom's character, we learn how to recognize such people and how to avoid the snare of following after the wrong king.

Walking worthy means balancing the reality of who we are in Christ with the way we live our lives. Namely, our spiritual maturity is evident in how we pursue unity with one another, holding each other up to greater faith.

David, the man after God's own heart, was not perfect. His personal failures, familial failures, and now his kingly failures put on clear display the both sinfulness of man and our need for a true King.

We are all sinners living in a world of sinners. When we are inevitably sinned against, what is our response? Do we justify our anger and bitterness, or do we understand that we may be responding sinfully ourselves, and giving an opportunity to Satan?

While we may be rightly horrified at the sin of David's eldest son Amnon, we also must turn our gaze within and be appalled at the sickness within our own hearts. The only source of our hope and redemption is the true love of the perfect Heavenly Father.

Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church reminds us that it is vital in our own lives that we seek the nearness of Christ, know the immensity of Christ's love, and desire the abundance of God himself in us.

The Bible teaches in Psalm 51 that behind David's restoration was repentance. We'll talk about what repentance really is, what it produces, and why every person needs to ask themselves whether they have truly repented.

As David is confronted with his sin, we are challenged to consider our response to our own sinfulness: do we recognize that God is fully righteous, and are we willing to accept his righteous judgments as good?

When we hear of terrible and horrific things, we wonder, "how did this happen?" As we look at David's fall, we come face to face with the reality of what is in the heart of every man: the propensity to focus on ourselves and to forget about God, who sees and knows everything.

The story of humanity is that we have each set ourselves against God because we don't want him to be in charge. But the story of God's Word reveals that we are able to receive God's kindness, to be confident in God's good will, and to submit ourselves to God's rule.

The story of David and Mephibosheth demonstrates how the steadfast love of God to bring us out of shame and into the family of God.

The parallel psalm to 2 Samuel 8 reveals a bleak backstory. But even in the midst of apparent trials, God is for his people, and he will hear and answer them according to his promises.

Under David's reign, the Lord gives His people great victories over their enemies. But Israel's greatness is not defined only by their successes in battle, but in their consecration for the Lord, and in their administration of justice and pursuit of righteousness as the people of God.

The book of James gives us a picture of what kind of people we should be as Christians. The whole Christian's life is to be nourished by receiving God's grace with humility, following the pattern of hearing and obeying God's word.

Would you rather be a king or a servant? David, though king, understands that to be a servant of the Lord is the greatest blessing. As God's people, we serve Him out of our knowledge of and response to His greatness.

In what has been called the loftiest and most beautiful of the psalms, David speaks to his own soul to remind himself of the truths of God's salvation, character, compassion, and kingdom.

When David desires to build a house for God, God reveals in the Davidic Covenant that His own will and purposes all along have been to establish His own eternal kingdom through building the house of David.

David's two attempts to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem result in the death of Uzzah and the derision of Michal. David's failure and his success both demonstrate why it is important that we worship God rightly.

When we are following God's way, we are bound to encounter opposition from our flesh, the world, and the Devil. But God is in the business of breaking down idols, and He breaks through for us, if we have the faith to seek Him and submit ourselves in obedience to Him.

As Israel is finally united under David's kingship, an overview of his reign shows us how God fulfills His promises, defeats His enemies, and blesses His people through His anointed one.

After the death of Abner, Israel finds itself in a time of great uncertainty and dismay, which causes us to consider: where do we find our hope? In whom do we place our trust? In times of trouble, do we turn to others, take things into our own hands, or do we truly trust the Lord?

Can there really be peace in this world? What about interpersonal peace in our relationships, or deeper still, peace within ourselves? Our hope in this fallen world comes from understanding and looking to the source of true and lasting peace.

The story of Abner, though his motives are questionable, confronts us with the personal question: whose kingdom will we choose to serve: God's or our own?

We rejoice together in God's goodness and faithfulness, giving Him all the glory as we celebrate Zoe's 6th Anniversary with a special family service including communion and baptisms.

The fallout of Abner's rejection of David and the Lord shows us our sinful nature, our tendency to multiply that sin, and the consequences that inevitably follow. We all have a dark side, so the Bible points us to hope not in ourselves but ultimately and only in Christ.

Christ is the Risen Lord, and his resurrection from the dead is the most important event in human history. You either think the story is false, and unimportant, or you believe it is true, and infinitely important. How will you respond to Him?

If God is truly the King and in charge, why does it sometimes feel like he is absent? Perhaps there better questions to ask to shape our perspective: Are we listening to the words of God? Do we choose to follow His ways? And will we hold out faithfully until the King returns?

David records for posterity his lament over the death of King Saul. As we see him grieve over the shame, the loss, and the pain of the situation, it all points us to our need for a greater King who is more glorious, more mighty, and more loving than we can imagine.

What does it mean to be good? David's reaction to the news of Saul's death exemplifies how our goodness is demonstrated by our actions. After all, what we do with what we have defines who we are. But can anyone be truly good?

Jesus loves the church with a love both undeserved and incomprehensible. He loved us while we were still sinners, and gave his life for the church when she was unlovely. As we explore the idea that Christ's love for the church is the model for husbands and wives, it becomes clear that church isn't about just being together, but about having a true relationship with Jesus.

Ultimately, the church does not belong to us; the church belongs to God. He is the owner, cultivating his field and causing all the growth. However, we also have the responsibility to participate in the work as God's servants, to build up the body and to be built up ourselves as part of God's building.

In calling us the household of God, scripture shows us how we are to view and relate to one another in the church. We are all imperfect, and there will be sin and conflict, but our call together is to experience the incredible blessing of being a part of God's own family.

Unity the church is not uniformity. Our God-given differences are both important and useful when we recognize and use them to fulfill God's purpose and design for us within the church body.

What does it mean for the church to be a body of Christ? Just as the health of our own bodies is important to us, Christ cares about the health of his church and has called us in scripture to be a united, growing, and maturing church.

What is truth? In a world where that views truth as subjective, variable, and unknowable, the church stands in a unique position to declare that the truth, founded in the one true God alone, is as solid and unchanging as God himself. The call to the church is one of steadfast faithfulness to firmly uphold the truth that has been revealed to us through Christ.

The church being a flock is not a flattering metaphor when we understand what it means to be like sheep. But the point of the comparison is that it points us to our need for the good Shepherd himself. Throughout history and into eternity, God has designed, desired, and defined the means by which he lovingly shepherds his people.

Many people have sought the secret solution to improving church, adapting to the culture, and staying relevant. However, Paul reminds us that a church must not stray from this fundamental truth: that the dwelling place of God is with man. God's Spirit dwells in us, and we are God's temple.

What is the church? What is its focus, and what does it look like? In this introduction to a series on the biblical metaphors of the church, the foundational truth we must return to is that the church must be centered on Jesus Christ alone.

Where we end up in life is determined by what we do right now; our trajectory affects our destiny. As we conclude our study of 1 Samuel with the death of Saul, we find that his ending, while tragic, is not at all surprising.

Bad things happen to everyone. When we encounter trials and tribulations, what distinguishes us as faithful is our response: will we choose to reject God or to turn to him in faith and obedience for restoration?

When David finds himself on the wrong side of the battlefield, his situation prompts us to ask ourselves how our lives have gotten to this point. How are we reaping what we have sown in the past? As we consider the new year, we must consider what needs to change in our lives, and remember what hope there is in the gospel for all our sin and guilt.

As we consider the brevity of life and the Christian's future hope in God's promises, we turn to the apostle Peter who shows us what it means to live faithfully and what it means to be truly effective and fruitful in this lifetime.