Biblically Based, Christ Centered, Caring Community in Annapolis, MD
To thrive in our exile, we must labor to see others experience shalom, remember that our God is the Living, Eternal God, that the kingdoms of this world pass away but that God’s Kingdom endures forever, and that God rescues and saves His people into His kingdom.
Daniel 6:25-28
Daniel still faced persecution under the new kingdom, reminding us that God’s people must always live by trust in God rather than man in the land of our exile.
Daniel 6
God brought mighty Babylon and her arrogant king to a swift end as He had promised, and this is a warning to all who arrogantly trust in themselves rather than Christ.
Daniel 5
God is Sovereign over the world, both nations and individuals, and is able to humble the proud and exalt the humble.
Daniel 4 (Daniel 4:1-3, 34-37)
To stand strong in the fiery trials of exile, God’s people must walk by faith – displaying humble confidence in God, trusting in His Sovereign Power, and obeying God and His Word regardless of the consequences.
Daniel 3 (Daniel 3:16-18)
God is the source of wisdom and power, His kingdom is everlasting, and He will give wisdom and power to His exile people as they walk with Him.
Daniel 2
To stand strong in our land of exile we must remember our true identity as God’s people, trust in His Sovereignty, and walk with wisdom and humility as we are in the world but not of it.
Daniel 1
To stand strong in trying times, we must know that God is Sovereign and faithful, even in the land of our exile.
Daniel 1:1-2
Psalm 1 and 2, which together are an introduction to the whole book of Psalms, teach that God’s people will embrace His teaching and rule and thus walk in the way of blessing and life, while those who reject God’s instruction and rule will walk in the way of destruction and death.
To walk in God’s Way while surrounded by those who reject it, God’s people must learn to trust in His Sovereignty, knowing He rules all things and will fulfill His Word.
Psalm 1 – 2
The Spirit enables us to walk in the way of righteousness, enabling us to overcome the flesh in a way the law never could, so that we can become more like Christ.
Galatians 5:16-26
Those who walk in God’s Way must embrace His Kingship, submitting to His wise, loving rule in every area of life.
Psalm 2
Those who walk the way of Jesus Christ embrace God’s Instruction, meditating on His Word day and night so they understand and obey it, knowing this is for their own good.
Psalm 1
Jesus Himself is the Way, the promised Messiah, King, and Son who rules over God’s people to bring them into the way of blessing.
Psalm 2
There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways.
Psalm 1
This 7-week series looks at the meaning of True Freedom. Our culture speaks a lot about freedom but usually assumes freedom is escaping any limitations. However, true freedom is found, not in rejecting limits, but embracing the limits God has placed on us as His created image-bearers.
Adam’s sin brought us slavery to death, but Jesus, the Second Adam, has conquered and gives freedom from death to His people through the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Sin promises freedom and fulfillment if I will reject God’s limiting commands and design, but this always produces deadly results rather than life, freedom, and flourishing.
Genesis 2:15-17; Genesis 3
Freedom is found in embracing the truth that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and it is the only proper context for human sexual activity.
Genesis 1:28; 2:20-25
True freedom is found in a proper relationship with food, neither despising nor idolizing it, but rather rejoicing in it as God’s good gift which points to our ultimate need for God Himself.
Genesis 1:29-30; Genesis 2:15-17
True freedom embraces the rhythm of work and rest, for body and soul, that God built into creation.
Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2:1-3; Genesis 2:15
True freedom is found in recognizing humanity as including both body and soul, and embracing the inherent identity and limits of both.
Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2:7
The key to human freedom is recognizing and embracing our inherent nature as we were created by God, including both the God-given dignity and limits of that nature.
Genesis 1:26-31
Authentic community requires in person, face to face relationships rather than those mediated by technology.
2 John 12-13
Believers must be prepared to resist unauthentic teachings that distort the Person and work of Jesus Christ and thus create a false Gospel.
2 John 7-11