First, let me just state – I love our church. I love that every time I’m at Companion Coffee or Rivertown, I see our church members – we’re committed to the truth of the gospel and we’re committed to loving this community – it’s going to be a consistent mantra for us as a church – love the Lord and love your neighbor. But it’s healthy as a church to see particular opportunities for spiritual growth at different times – and this is one of those times.

For the coming year 2026, the elders are asking each person in the person to consider going one step further in their commitment to Christ and his church. We’re calling it “Every Heart Engaged,” as that truly is the goal of Christian discipleship, that your heart would be centered on Jesus. Sometimes I wish I lived in the days of Little House on the Prairie, as it seems there would be far fewer elements vying for my attention. Choices would be limited, and that simplicity is attractive. We would have vocation, family, food, and the great love of our Lord, with (it seems) minimal distraction. But we don’t live in the days of Little House on the Prairie. We live right here, in 21^st century America. In Northwest Alabama, in 21^st century America. And we’re called to be faithful in this time and place, right now. That means that we recognize challenges that are different than living in the Old West or in China or on the International Space Station. Christians are called to this no matter their time and place:

“If anyone would follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23

Let us dwell on this verse alone for a moment. Jesus commands our absolute allegiance to him. He is either a crazy cult leader or he is the eternal Son of God. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or he is to be ignored – further than that, to be resisted, with that level of arrogance. But because he is exactly who he says he is, we must follow him, as our highest priority; it’s not a burdensome commitment – he is the very river of life. But within this commitment is a denial of self, it’s right there in the verse. And this is often where we get tripped up; we love ourselves and we want what is easiest for us as individuals. We surround ourselves only with people that we prefer, and we spend our time the way we want. And we can’t justify this by saying we give of ourselves for our children, if you have kids – our kids are wonderful, but an extension of self. God do hard stuff – love someone that’s hard to love, do things for your growth and for others that aren’t easy.

Jesus is calling us to give up something of our wants for him – preferences, time, pleasures, and a right to self-determination. This never eliminates the self in Christianity; in fact, you cannot be truly yourself if you are not connected to Christ, as you were designed by God to worship the Lord truly, to be connected to your creator. Human beings were made in the image of God, the Trinity, an outward-facing, always loving, relational personhood. To give of ourselves should be a natural, life-giving way to live, and yet, our culture pushes against it, Satan doesn’t want it, and our sinful natures tell us things like, “to thine own self be true.”

These are the words that will guide us in the journey to have “every heart engaged,” and they come from the book of Jeremiah, which will be a focal point in our new sermon series starting in January entitled “How to Live in Babylon: The Life of Daniel”:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:11-13

 We can do that – we can pursue him with our whole hearts. Remember that the Lord’s ask of his church is always a reasonable one – he gives us one day out of seven to worship and rest from our labors. There is plenty of time for all our God-given activities: for work, eating, sleep, for love of neighbor, recreation, meditation on God’s Word, prayer, fellowship, discipleship, and worship. We are committed as leaders to not asking you to do what is beyond reasonable for God’s people.

It starts with our Sunday morning worship. Some churches will bookend the Lord’s Day with worship, morning and evening. It’s not a biblical command to do so, so we choose to encourage you to give the morning to the Lord in corporate worship and fellowship, and then spend the remainder of your day in rest and with the family. But as we are only gathering together corporately in the morning, let’s give him our whole morning. Come to Sunday School (starts back Jan. 26), and be there for worship too. It will only benefit your family to be there, so why not? We know there are things that will providentially hinder you from coming on Sunday – work schedules that are unavoidable, illness, and travel. This is ok – and I’m glad we have the livestream so that you can still engage. But please don’t ever use the livestream as an alternative to your physical presence by choice – the others in this church need you. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 12 as a reminder of how each part of the body is integral to the other.

Secondly, we want to promote discipleship in our church. This will look different for each person in our church, but we want you to take seriously the notion that we are preparing disciple-makers in our flock, not just Christian consumers. We lead others so they will be prepared to lead others in the future. That’s the cycle established by Christ himself and the most effective way to grow in maturity and be prepared to evangelize the lost. We take seriously what is commanded of us in Colossians 3:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. – Colossians 3:12-16

 It’s life on life, it’s intentional, and it’s powerful. We can teach each other, grow one another, challenge one another in love, and we’ll all be better off for it. This can look like meeting someone one-on-one, or it can be in a small group, someone leading 2-5 others. You can meet once a week or once a month or some level in between. Some folks in our church are meeting together as couples and having dinner on a regular basis, and this is good too! We recommend a stated amount of time, if once a month, for example, a term of one year; if it’s much more frequent, then a shorter amount of time perhaps. And always have a goal – if you need to talk through parenting, read a book on Christian parenting – if it’s the foundations of the faith that is needed, how about a classic like Knowing God by Packer, or the Journeys curriculum (which is for discipleship groups) developed by Randy Pope. Have a goal, have a discipler or be a discipler, and let’s get to it! Make it fit your schedule and then make it work – and if you have to give up a workout day or a fun time with friends once a month, so be it. This is important.

We are having an initial gathering during the Sunday School hour on December 21, this Sunday, and I love for all who can to attend. If you need childcare for this hour, please let me know as soon as you can. If you are involved in discipleship, as a leader or as a recipient, please come and share your experiences. We will equip you with some biblical teaching on the topic, then we will hear from some in our flock who have had excellent experiences in discipleship. Once we’ve determined a few who are eager to take on some discipleship on their own, there will be some opportunities for training in this way in January. It’s a good move for us as a church – we’re eager to present the whole flock as mature in Christ (Col. 1:28). And we’ll keep getting new folks in the door – new Christians or those who don’t know Christ yet, and we’ll seek their own spiritual growth too. In that sense, let’s please be a revolving door – a healthy church has folks in all stages of spiritual maturity.

I’m excited to worship with you this Sunday and on Christmas Eve – Christ came incarnate to be with you – to carry the plan of God forward to the cross and to the empty tomb. He came to declare a way to absolute peace on Earth, and for the hope of a life without sin and brokenness. It’s a joyous occasion, then. Let’s celebrate.

Hello Church!

Marci and I just returned from Malibu from our marriage retreat – it was splendid; great views, great talks, and a nice time of refreshment. As you might imagine, our favorite times weren’t spent sitting around a board room talking about marriage – that’s important, but our most impactful moments were waking up early and watching surfers at daybreak in the cool ocean breeze, and enjoying new food in a new place with my favorite person.

And this serves as a kind of metaphor for what we need as a church! Sometimes we miss the most important thing in the world – to just sit back and behold the splendor of the gospel! It’s a common biblical word – particularly in the Psalms: behold! See it; and be amazed. When we stand shoulder to shoulder in wonder and amazement at Christ and his mercy, we are better connected, more purposeful, and more joyful. There are a few things that tend to get in the way of this amazement, in no particular order (because idols will be different for each individual):

Busyness – We just get focused on other things that feel more urgent, so we become poor stewards of our time, giving only the bare minimum of ourselves to the Lord.

Culture – There are things in the world that bring more satisfaction in the moment than the long-simmering power of the gospel; we like our friends, our good times, our autonomy, our fun, and our causes – and they feel more important because they feed us instantly. Love Jesus more.

Theological Distinctives – It might seem a strange one, but sometimes we love what separates us from other Christians more than the gospel itself. Knowledge is power, and I mean that in the worst way possible. We feel powerful when we should be in awe, and we become stifled to the beauty and simplicity of the gospel because we love what elevates our own minds.

Faith in Self – Sometimes we fail to be in awe of the gospel because we don’t believe it; we want to hold onto our beliefs that we’re good enough, that God wouldn’t do things in a certain way because it goes against our culture’s sensibilities, or we just don’t want to give ourselves to anything that requires commitment – we love to trust in ourselves!

The Therapeutic Self – Researcher Christian Smith coined the term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” as a description as the most common religion in America today. I will be good, feel good, and acknowledge that there’s a God somewhere. It’s the therapeutic self which has taken off more than any other aspect of this description since the term originated around the year 2000. If something has made you feel sad or uncomfortable, it is cut off – and that includes the church. This cannot be.

We’re all going to be tempted by one (or more) of these, and this is a call to a deeper commitment to His church because of the magnitude of the gospel. Wake up, o sleeper, and rise from the dead (Eph. 5:14)! He took a lifeless body in each of us and breathed life into us – you can’t get much more dramatic than that! The creator of heaven and earth, who knit you together in your mother’s womb has called you by name to himself. He delights in you, sings gloriously over you (Zeph. 3:17), and finds you to be absolutely righteous in his sight. Instead of being held back by any of the idols that may plague us, why not sit in the beauty of the gospel, with unity and thanksgiving?

The gospel is infinitely grand! It couldn’t be bigger. Behold the beauty of God and his mercy!

Consider these words from the psalmist:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple. – Psalm 27:4

I came across this in my Bible reading today:

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.² And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” ⁵ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. – Genesis 11:1-5

There is a great deal of irony in this passage. They try to build for themselves a tower so they can reach the heavens – they are trying to build their way up to God, both physically and metaphorically. And then it says that God came down to see the city and the tower, he just cruised on down there without an issue to see what was going on. This is a representation of all of mankind’s sin and the beauty of God’s condescension down to us. We are trying to be God, to do God-like things (the garden of Eden), and he’s like, but you don’t need to do that, I want to be with you. And he can without any effort to it at all. Our efforts to build something for ourselves will only leave us more confused, more separated, and less God-like. Now mankind is spread out and their language is confused – the source of all the various languages of the world – and there’s a lot!

We see here the gift that language is. Man is made in the image of God and can use language for good – we can communicate in ways that no other part of creation can do. But we can also use that language to promote ourselves and determine that we don’t need God. The creation cuts off the creator – the great sin of man! The more we build upwards for ourselves the further we are from God himself. And the only way we can be exalted is if we humble ourselves (Phil. 2).

Further, there is a thread of Christian nationalist thinking that will argue that mankind was created to be separate in language and culture – and that’s just untrue. Look at this story: man was meant to be united in purpose and praise of the Lord. Culture is a good thing and in our separated state we have created wonderful cultural elements, but there is nothing about separation that is biblical. We are moving back towards this unity – a pushback of Babel, and we see in Revelation 5 people worshiping the Lord united from every tongue, tribe, and nation. In many ways, Pentecost is a reversal of Babel; there you see the Holy Spirit come down and make all those who spoke in various languages understandable – a unified voice coming from many different languages; and there are listed there representatives from some very different places!

Let us all look forward to the reconciliation of all mankind together!

I came across this in my Bible reading this week:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. ⁴ And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” ⁵ And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.

⁶ And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. ⁸ Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. ⁹ For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. ¹⁰ In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.” – Zechariah 3

I have included the whole chapter here because it’s hard to not have the whole context of the vision. Here you have the high priest, Joshua, standing before an angel on one hand and Satan on the other. Satan is accusing Joshua, which is his thing. And Joshua, who is the priest, in his priestly garments, is covered in filth. Even the one who is made ritually made clean with those very vestments to enter the Holy of Holies and offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people, even he, is filthy. He’s not worthy to come near the presence of God – and yet, the promises of God are exquisite. He shows Joshua being made clean, removing the sin that plagues him. And then there is a reminder that because of that grace, being made clean, to walk in the ways of the Lord.

And then of course he promises the Branch, bringing in language also given to the prophet Isaiah. And because of the branch, God will remove the iniquity of the land on one single day – at the cross. And as a result, peace – hospitality, a welcome – love of neighbor, and eternal rest. Jesus is the one great high priest who will always intercede on our behalf before the Lord, and he is the one priest who ironically offers himself as the sacrifice, the one-time sacrifice to deal with all sin of those who love God in a single day. And he says in that moment, “It is finished.”

I came across this in my Bible reading today:

The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ ³ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.

⁴ And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” ⁵ So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” ⁶ And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. ⁷ And the Lordsaid to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” ⁸ So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. – Judges 7:2-8

What is going on here? You have the Israelite army prepared to go to war and the Lord says, there are too many of you, and so I will not give the Midianites into your hand. And the worry is that they will boast in themselves. It’s a clear declaration that the one who gains victory is the Lord himself, that’s the first thing we see here – but also, God cares deeply about the heart of his people and will not allow them to give glory to themselves for winning the battle. And he will go a very unconventional route here and ask them to go from 32,000 soldiers to 300. And God can win in just that way. It’s a strong metaphor for our salvation – and it’s not just that, of course. This is a real event in real history and God had his own purposes for conquering the Midianites. But it does serve as a type for us, a type of salvation. It’s not of our doing – ever. But instead our salvation is a great gift from God himself. And to him belongs all the glory.

The Lord is never showing might the way the world shows might, but instead he shows his dedicated, humble control over all the world and its events. He then shows too, his deep compassion for those who love him.

I came across this in my Bible reading today:

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
    let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷ The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing. – Zephaniah 3:16-17

These are some of my favorite words in the minor prophets. Zephaniah’s words have been hard to Israel – he has warned them greatly, but then promised that the Lord, who will keep a remnant with him forever, will change hearts, will forgive sin, and will be their God forever. But look at the relational emotion at play – the Lord, the mighty one, is with you – he’s in your midst. And he will save you – and oftentimes we can think of that as if God is saving his people reluctantly, like some cosmic, ‘Yeah, I guess,’ in attitude. But that’s not what we see here at all. He rejoices over his people; he is glad you are with him. And further than that, he rejoices over you with loud singing. Imagine that picture. The Lord singing loudly – like the way you sing in the shower loudly. With rejoicing and gladness – it’s awesome. It means that our response to him had better be the same – do we love singing his praises?! Does it make you glad?!

Then notice the contrast – he will also quiet you with his love. He settles the hearts of weary sinners; Zephaniah goes on to say that he will cause them to graze and lie down in the pasture, these needy sheep. They will no longer be afraid. The imagery matches that of David’s in Psalm 23. Sheep almost never lie down – it’s too risky. They won’t be ready to move when the wolves come. But here is a picture of absolute serenity – there is no threat for those who love Jesus – nothing can make them afraid, not ultimately. The Lord is a comforting Father who is always there for his frantic children – we, like awe-filled children, look at his mercy in great wonder, and let it be a comfort. The Lord’s love is personal, dramatic, relatable, and permanent.

I came across this in my Bible reading today:

Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, ² and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?

– Judges 2:1-2

The exodus from Egypt is often reference in the Old Testament as a testament to God’s great faithfulness for his people. It’s a refrain before the giving of the Ten Commandments, to make clear to the people: obey the Lord because he is the Savior, not so you can earn your salvation. The Lord loves to save, and has saved a people and will continue to grow that people. In fact, notice this in our text here: I will never break my covenant with you. A covenant is a promise, and God has always promised to be the God of Israel, sustaining them, giving them all they need. His promises are never broken and yet ours are continually broken to him: we are sinners, after all. God’s people have not obeyed the voice of the Lord.

But take a look at Genesis 15 when you can. God makes a promise to Abraham there, and they perform a covenant ceremony, common in the ancient world. Animals are killed and the bodies are made into two lines – the two parties in the agreement are then to walk between the lines of animals together, symbolizing that if either party were to break the covenant, this fate of death they would suffer as well. They would be like the animals. But there is a great catch here in Genesis 15: Abraham is actually asleep for the ceremony. It’s in his dream – and he doesn’t walk through, it’s a flaming pillar of fire and a smoking pot. That pillar of fire will be how God represents himself when he’s leading Israel out of Egypt – it is Father and Son, walking through that line together – God will keep his promise, but Abraham will not be able to do so. So God himself will take the punishment of the broken covenant – he will suffer the fate of the beasts on Abraham’s behalf. It’s a beautiful portrait of the gospel way back in the beginning of the Bible.

I came across this in my Bible reading today:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. – Genesis 1:1-2

These are the first two verses of the entire Bible. There is much to be said about Genesis 1 and 2, and we will not get into much here. I recommend the PCA’s Study Report on Creation, it can be found at pcahistory.org. There are four views represented that have been held historically on the days of creation, biblically defensible views – so I recommend you give that a read if that is a concern of yours.

But here I just want to point out that chaos is introduced in the narrative. Moses writes this to tell us something particular – there was darkness over the face of the deep. It’s a strange way to put it, because what is the deep? What is darkness? But Moses is making the point – God created everything out of nothing, bringing order to something that would otherwise be chaotic. He is God of all, creator of all, and must be honored as such. I do believe Moses is less concerned in Genesis 1 about the scientific reporting of what’s happened in creation as he is with the spiritual implications of one creator God in the universe. John 1 picks up on that mode of operation as a reflection on Genesis 1, now introducing our creator and savior as Jesus Christ himself.

Here in this chaotic mess of a world, we see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. God rules over this and will make beauty from ashes. He is always in control. It is delightful that we see the Trinity at work here, combining Genesis 1 and John 1, as all three persons of the Trinity are present in creation, eternally existing in relationship with one another. We, being made in God’s image, are also relational creatures, meant to be selflessly looking to the good of others first. We learned something in the creation story, though – that we could step into that god-like ourselves, self-existence and independent of what he’s given. It’s never worked for us, but we keep trying. Know that he made you, he made you in his image, he made you to bring glory to him.

I came across this in my Bible reading today:

The scatterer has come up against you.
    Man the ramparts;
    watch the road;
dress for battle;
    collect all your strength.- -Nahum 2:1

Nahum’s prophecies come about 100 years after the time when Jonah was asked to go to Nineveh and demand their repentance; but Nahum prophesies to the same place, now announcing their sure destruction because of their waywardness again. Nineveh would fall finally in 612 BC, and these words of prophecy come about 50 years before that. Notice the very modern and brusk way of speaking here. The Lord uses his prophets as his mouthpiece at this time, these are indeed the very words of the Lord. And he’s telling them that they will go to battle, and they will be destroyed. Because we are made in the image of God – we know these poetic and creative instincts when it comes to true judgment that is coming. Watch the road, he says, in a way, mocking the rebellious sinners.

There is one true chief end of man: to glorify God and enjoy him forever; it means acknowledging him, giving the king his due – it’s the most important thing a human being could ever do. Anyone who rejects God will face him and they should be ready for that – now, our God is so gracious and so loving and wants nothing more than to turn that relationship into deep reconciliation through Jesus Christ – that’s the goal. Turn to him and not just when it’s convenient – but really acknowledge there is one true God in all the earth. He is fierce; he is serious when it comes to sin, and he’s also infinitely merciful.

I came across this in my Bible reading today:

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us;
    he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old. – Micah 7:18-20

Micah’s words throughout his book of prophecy are hard; the indictment on Israel is severe, and Micah describes a world that is not unlike our own. Hatred is unchecked; murder is rampant, and wisdom says to trust no one. And yet, Micah, I will wait for the Lord and his salvation. The Lord hates disorder and the lack of shalom in the world because of sin – he hates it and will bring judgment. It’s in his nature to do that and he was willing to do that with his own Son, who bore the sins of believers on the cross. That is the place where the justice of God and the mercy of God meet.

But look at those words of comfort from Micah at the very end of his book. Chapter seven is the final chapter. His anger is not long, he delights in shalom, in peace, and has made peace with us, sinful people. He is a God of compassion and one who loves to save sinners. Does he hold on to resentment? Of course not, but instead he casts our sins into the abyss, into the depths of the sea. His plan of saving people and drawing people to himself will not be void – but those promises made to Abraham and his descendants will be true – you will be blessed, you will experience the blessing of God forever!