Downtown Community Church

Many of us care deeply about what others think about us. Almost all (if not all) of us seek approval from at least one person. We live in an approval-seeking culture, we just call it by the inverse: “cancel culture”. Whether it be in seeking out attention and likes on social media or in simply hating to feel like we’ve let someone down, the idol of approval has the ability to crush us. As is true with almost every idol, the idol of approval is indicative of a real need. When Jesus was baptized at the beginning of his public ministry, the Spirit of God rested on him like a dove and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my son, with whom I am well pleased”, showing the reality of the Son’s approval in the eyes of the Father.  At the basement of the idol of approval is the need to be valuable and acceptable.  However, many of us live with a core fear and insecurity that we aren’t that acceptable.  Consequently, the idol of approval trusts in people to deem us acceptable instead of God.The prophet Jeremiah draws

Whether it be assuming that our car breaks will work when we apply them, assuming that a chair will hold us when we sit down, or assuming that our friend will be on time (or late, depending on their personality), we all walk through life with a set of assumptions. More consequentially, we assume that the things at the very center of our lives will fulfill our needs. Anything that isn’t Jesus that takes our ultimate focus and attention in life is an idol. And when it comes to removing an idol from our lives, we can so often go about it without ever asking what need we were seeking to satisfy and how we can replace that idol with something that would legitimately satisfy that need. When it comes to idols, money is likely the #1 idol of our culture, and the most sensitive to speak about. We all misuse money in different ways. Some of us are ultra-spenders, and some are ultra-savers. Some of us love paying for others in order to be noticed for it. At the heart of loving money is a longing for self-sufficiency. In

We all have something that stands at the center of our life. Whether it be family, career, success, or comfort, there is inevitably something in our lives that is of ultimate importance to us. And we have placed it at the center of our lives for a reason. Whether we think about it or not, we believe that whatever we center our lives around can meet the main need we have. However, we never revisit the thing that our lives revolve around and ask, “Can this fulfill me?”The thing at the center of our life dictates our identity. For many of us, the idol of success and achievement has taken this center role in our lives. The desire for accomplishment is driven by the need to prove worth. However, as it’s been illustrated by many successful people throughout time, success always leaves you wanting more. There are needs we have that our accomplishments can’t meet. In 2 Kings 5, the story of Naaman shows us a man who has unsurmountable levels of military success, yet is helplessly reduced to be a leper. Seeing Naaman

We carry assumptions into every aspect of our life. We assume that what makes us feel good is what makes others feel good, we assume that rational people will accept our rational statements, and we even assume that acquiring more money or losing more weight would fulfill us. We carry such assumptions with us into every aspect of life, even into the sphere of our most core needs. Yet, we find ourselves still longing with our needs not met we double down on that assumption instead of changing. We seek for more relationships, more money, more acceptance from others, etc. When this happens it becomes the primary driver of our life and as such is idolatry. We, as a culture, have hidden our idols beneath the guise of intellectuality and nuance, making it harder to recognize idolatry when it exists. An idol is something we put ahead of God that we bow down to and sacrifice for. Idolatry at other times in other contexts was very obvious (i.e. a golden calf), but now it looks more like sacrificing family to the idol o

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The story of the Exodus from Egypt is one of God raising up a leader, Moses,  to lead his people out of slavery. However, as things get difficult throughout the trek between Egypt and the Promised Land, the people of Israel cry out in complaint to Moses: “You should have left us in Egypt! It was better for us in Egypt!” The reality is that there were very few things that were good about the 430 year subjugation of Israel under Egypt. So, why did Israel look back so favorably on their time in Egypt as they wandered through the wilderness?The reality is that we all have a tendency to prefer the certainty of slavery over the uncertainty of faithfully trusting in God. It’s easy to look back with a positive slant on how things used to be, even when the past is as extreme as slavery to a nation. This may play out in our lives through waiting on a right romantic relationship or living with generosity. Each of these circumstances require faith that God will provide for our needs. The temptation in either situation is

In the same way that getting berated over leaving a bowl in the sink is a disproportionate reaction to the offense, political opinions are also prone to elicit disproportionate responses. In fact, politics are more divisive than religion. The majority of us would respectfully agree that we each have a freedom to practice religion, yet have no problem lobbing insults at the opposing political camp. Politics are so charged and provoke such strong emotional responses because they play on these two emotions: fear and hope. Note that fear and hope are emotions, and not necessarily information. Fear can be described as the backdoor to hope, and hope is the backdoor to fear. They are intimately connected because they are both future oriented.  This connection is incredibly important because at the end of the day, what we fear has the ability to control us. Jesus came to take control of our entire lives. Matthew 10 shows us how we can be rooted in this reality and trust God with it. Jesus says he is sending his disci

When Jesus walked on planet earth, his kingdom was open to everyone. With a diverse population of believers come diverse sets of beliefs and opinions. This is the tension we feel as Christians. The truth is that every political position claims a part of Jesus. Yet, we should be united as a body of believers, and, as Jesus prayed, our oneness will be our witness. Yet, where does our unity end and disagreement begin? In a diverse and polarizing world how do we actually live this out?In the early church, the differences between Jews and Gentiles went far deeper into history and were far more all-encompassing than any division we face here in America. Romans 14 is highly instructional for how to pursue unity within a diverse church that’s filled with potential for division. We are to aggressively embrace with personal interest those in the church who think differently than us.  We should do so without trying to debate or judge the person with whom we disagree. Yet, we should each be fully convinced in what we bel

Voting season is the most polarizing time of the year in our country. While common sentiment would lead you to think that religion and politics are the two things that  you should never bring up in conversation, the reality is that either the world will teach us how to think about politics or the Word of God will teach us. Politics are so divisive because we all have skin in the game. For many of us, there is a real fear of the impact that will be made based on who wins an election. When we fear loss our pride often kicks in to try and prevent that loss. To make it more complex, both the liberal and conservative sides can pick certain Bible verses and constructs to prop up their agenda. This is why an oft used statement by both sides is, “I don’t see how you can be a Christian and vote for _______.”  This begs the question, how do we act as the Church in such a politically divisive climate? In John 17, Jesus prays over all those who will come to faith with a singular purpose: that they may be one even as the

To this point in the book of Nehemiah, almost every outcome has come out ideally; enemies plot against Nehemiah, but they are not effective in their attempt to halt his leadership. Despite all adversity, the wall is built in 52 days. The Law is read to the people, and they repent emphatically. In verse 13, the narrative shifts a little bit as Nehemiah spends years away from Jerusalem. When he returns and the Israelites have turned away from honoring God, his reaction is to say to God, “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds.” Israel broke every religious resolution that they made before God. Somewhere along the way, their religious responsibilities lost their importance. So often for us, our story is the same: we have moments of religious fervor that give way to blatant disobedience. We get stuck in sin, even when we see time and time again how disobedience does not end well in our life or other’s. The only way from this pattern is to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, which alway

This sermon series has been going on for 15 weeks now. While we may have gained some insight or new convictions, many of our lives look the same now as they did 15 weeks ago. How do we begin to implement God’s plan for us to influence others with our lives? Why don’t we start? Nehemiah 11 shows the slow beginnings of reinhabiting the city of Jerusalem after the wall was complete. It is apparent that it was much easier to rally people to build the wall than it was to rally people to live within the city that the wall fortified. This is because we as people get more excited about an event that has a start and end date than we are about day to day obedience. We love to build the big things, but we rarely like to live the normalcy of life in the thing God has called us to. We look for the big thing to do for God while neglecting the small moments of obedience.  Because of this, we need accountability around the small steps of faith that we can easily neglect. God works mightily in the small incremental steps towa

Most of us would agree that we as Christians are largely not as influential as we are called to be. As we have been working through the book of Nehemiah, we find that when we add value to those around us by meeting practical needs, it causes spiritual renewal. We know that we are called to be “in the world and not of it,” but we all lean more heavily to one side. Either we are so set apart that we are unhelpful to the world, or we are so worldly that there is no differentiation between us and those that are isolated from God. Like a snowglobe, we are not made to be like furniture that sits and collects dust, and we are not made to be played with as a toy so much that we become broken. When we create a false dichotomy between being set apart and useful to the world, we miss out on the mission of God to focus on the morals. In reality, engaging in the mission of God will cause you to live morally. In Nehemiah 10, the people pledge fidelity to God as they establish actions that will set them apart.Send us a text

We often take for granted the faithfulness of God throughout the entirety of our lives. Yet, when we remember the faithfulness of God, it restores our faith in God. The Lord has shown us covenant faithfulness that is based not on our own faithfulness, but on His faithfulness. Nehemiah 9 shows a glimpse into the history of Israel, focusing particularly on God’s faithfulness standing in juxtaposition to Israel’s unfaithfulness.  The root of our unfaithfulness is that we don’t listen to and we don’t remember the Lord our God. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses warns the people that they will enter into the Promised Land, gain wealth and success, and believe it’s because of their own strength and ability that they achieved it, and consequently be tempted to forget God. In other words, our pridefulness to think that we don’t need God leads us to stop listening and stop remembering.  We have all failed God repeatedly, yet he has never failed us. His Gospel is that He will uphold his side of the covenant, and die in our place

Coming face to face with our own sin is highly uncomfortable. Our most natural reaction to facing our own sin is to hide from God. In Nehemiah 8, when the people of Israel heard the law being read over them for the first time, they were deeply sorrowful. They felt this need to mourn and hide because they saw where they did not measure up. Yet, Nehemiah declared this day not to be a day of mourning, but a day holy to the Lord. He called the people to celebrate repentance. Because of the reality that God rejoices over those who repent, we, too, can experience joy in repentance. Repentance doesn’t have to lead to us hiding from God, but can become an opportunity to celebrate. Send us a textSupport the show

On a winding mountain road, guard rails serve to create margin between where we are and the present danger that lies over the edge. While most of us would agree that such guardrails are important on the roads, we so often  live in relationships, marriages, and in our financial dealings  without any guardrails in place. Worldly wisdom proves to be completely insufficient for speaking into these areas. In Nehemiah 7:1-4, Nehemiah takes proactive steps to close the gates of the city to protect it at times of the day when it is most vulnerable. For Christians, our most common response to the parts of our lives that are vulnerable is to hide. Just as Nehemiah appoints the people in the city to watch the gate, so should we appoint those in our lives who have skin in the game to act as safeguards in our lives over the places where we are most vulnerable. God calls us from wherever we start our journey to a place of holiness. It is ok to start far away from a standard of holiness, but setting up guardrails in our liv