There are times when we try hard not to know how something ends—the new Batman movie, for instance. But overall, humanity tries hard to figure out how things are going to play out—crystal balls, palm reading, weather forecasting, stock market predictions. When it comes to the story of humanity, God has already slipped us the ending. And by seeing the end guaranteed in Jesus, we get to know that God’s purpose is to restore everything—even us.

The Bible is not a tragedy. Sin and brokenness are barely established before God promises rescue from them. David lived out the consequences of sin, but he also experienced a foretaste of the redemption that we get to experience in full.

The great and pervasive brokenness that the Bible calls sin slowly turned King David from a pro-active and just person into someone who was passive, envious and willing to take things that didn’t belong to him. Even the “man after God’s own heart” wasn’t immune from this moral decay—and neither are we.

Download the bulletin that goes along with this sermon’s worship service.

Because we encourage our Community Groups to hold social events instead of regular meetings and sermon discussions for the month of August, there is no sermon discussion guide for this week’s sermon.

Jesus’ presence transforms any place—even the harshest of homes and the unlikeliest of hearts—into places of grace. And that grace changes the way we view ourselves, others and Jesus himself.

Download the bulletin that goes along with this sermon’s worship service.

Christianity is not just a call to a new set of rules by which to live your life—it is an invitation to live your life as part of a new, different and larger story. And unlike the stories offered by many other philosophies and worldviews, the way that story starts is incredibly important to how the rest of the story is shaped.

The Bible tells us that God has a plan for using every experience in our lives. This makes understanding and reacting to good times a little easier—we can be grateful for them as a foretaste of the better times to come. But it makes it harder to react to difficulties the way we want to. Joseph understood that the story he was part of was bigger than the scenes he could see.

Download the bulletin that goes along with this sermon’s worship service.

Joseph built up Egypt’s storehouses so that he would be able to give away what they stored up. Opening all of Egypt’s storehouses during a famine was the culmination of much of Joseph’s life up to that point, and it wouldn’t have been possible had God not given him the opportunity to develop wisdom and character.

Unfortunately, this week’s sermon is not available in audio format because of a technical difficulty. We hope to have a detailed summary or a transcript available next week, but in the mean time, download the bulletin that goes along with this sermon’s worship service.

We all think we have a decent handle on what the story of our lives are up until now, and we have some decent ideas about how it might progress. Christianity, however, often invites us to read our story very differently: It tells us the ending, and encourages us to re-read everything that comes before in light of what we know about the ending. After the death of his father, Joseph demonstrates this backwards reading to his brothers.

We conclude our study of Nehemiah’s account of rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall with a look at divine humility. How is humility tied to spiritual renewal? And what role does it play in renewing our city and serving (and leading) those around us?

Download the bulletin that goes along with this sermon’s worship service.

If you’d like to download the sermon to listen to later, click the title above.