DESCRIPTION: Children are such a cramp on our lifestyles. They are so disobedient and inconsiderate and unappreciative of what has been done for them. Our kids are sinners in need of the Gospel. But does our parenting reflect it? Does our discipleship of the younger believers around us—our spiritual children—reflect it? Do we parent with a gospel of “do better so we’ll be nicer to you” or with a Gospel that says “you’re broken, just like me, and you need Jesus. . .here He is”?

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DESCRIPTION: Marriage is so much more than having a lifelong roommate, but many people just don’t get it. So many look at marriage as a way to simply add an extra means of pleasure to their usual lifestyle. On top of all of that, our culture has loaded so much baggage onto this passage of Scripture that we miss the real meat of what Paul is trying to say about the mystery of marriage. Marriage is deeper. Marriage relates to us a cosmic union, so much more than two friends moving in together. So how do we get to a deeper understanding of marriage? What is the point—the purpose—of marriage? What rhythms can we practice to strengthen marriage when all that we really bring to it is our own pride?

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DESCRIPTION: Pornography seems to be one of those really big elephants in the room. So many people are addicted to it, both inside and outside the church, but no one really ever wants to talk about it. We try to dismiss it as not really hurting anyone or “just one of those sins I’ll be stuck with until I die”, but Scripture disagrees. It flies in the face of the nature of the reality of God, supporting every lie that Satan has ever wanted us to believe. But why is that? Why is pornography so bad? Why is it that it is so pervasive in the church? What can we do to fight against it other than just telling ourselves to “do better”?

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DESCRIPTION: It always sounds really cheesy to talk about Jesus being our friend. Why? Is it because we think it sounds too much like Jesus being our “homeboy”? Or do we just not have an understanding of real friendship? As a culture we have a terribly low view of what friendship is. Scripture clearly identifies Jesus as our friend and then He displays it by laying down His life. So what is Gospel-centered friendship? What do we do with our 1,300 Facebook “friends”? How do we develop relationships with each other that actually reflect our friendship with Christ?

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DESCRIPTION: No one these days really wants to hear this, but the reality is that we all harbor some form of hostility to those we perceive as unlike ourselves. However, Christ came to tear down that division and hostility, reconciling us to each other and to Himself. In this passage we discover that racism isn’t nearly as much about a broken society or government as it is about the broken, sinful people who make up that society and the Gospel that makes one new humanity.

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DESCRIPTION: No one really wants to hear a church talking about money. We shrink back from that guy on TV who just wants to upgrade his private jet at our expense or the church that only talks about money, keeping the books in the black at the expense of preaching the Gospel, but the stewardship of our money is a discipleship issue and we need the Gospel to speak into it. It’s a matter of the stewardship of our hearts, not just the stewardship of finances.

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DESCRIPTION: God owns everything and commands us to steward everything—including our stuff and our time. This seems obvious enough and we wouldn’t deny it out loud, but we rarely live it out. That truth speaks both to the lazy bum and the workaholic at once. How can we make the most of our time and resources while still keeping rest as a priority? More importantly, how do we glorify God in our stewardship of all that?

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DESCRIPTION: So many people are looking for joy in their lives. We seek out joy in our jobs and our families and our hobbies and in any number of other things in life, but so many times we don’t turn to God for our joy. Not only does Scripture offer us joy, but so many times it speaks of joy in the midst of sufferings and sorrows. We can make New Year’s Resolutions to be happier all we want, but the reality is that the only way to guarantee that we won’t have Joy is to seek it apart from God.

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DESCRIPTION: The Sermon on the Mount is not your typical Christmas Day sermon, but it can bring so much more of the significance of the Incarnation to light. Jesus sets the bar unreachably high for us to meet on our own. We could never stand a chance of making it, but that makes the grace of Christ—the gift of the Incarnation—so much sweeter, showing not only how far lost we are, but how far the cross has brought us up to God.

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DESCRIPTION: As we celebrate the birth of Christ during Advent, we also celebrate the advent of the Kingdom of God on earth. With His Kingdom, Jesus ministry brings light to the darkness of our lives and the grace of repentance—the possibility of change—where once our lives were ruled by our corruption, depravity and death and the futility of our own efforts improve our lot.

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