The Cross of Christ

It has been said that atonement is like a multi-faceted diamond. What Christ accomplished on the cross is massive, and its window into the heart of God is grand. In this series, we study the many things Jesus’ death and resurrection achieved as we prepare our hearts and minds for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Atonement

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 2: The Shame of the Cross

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 3:

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 4:

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 5:

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 6:

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

JAMES

To faithfully follow Jesus, our faith must be marked by action. Our belief should lead us into good works and obedience. In the book of James, we are challenged by the brother of Jesus to examine the authenticity of our faith and to ensure that it fills each area of our everyday lives.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Consider it Joy (James 1:1-12)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 2: When He Is Tempted (James 1:13-18)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 3: Be Doers of the Word, and Not Hearers Only (James 1:19-2:13)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 4: Is It Faith? (James 2:14-26)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 5: Taming the Tongue (James 3:1-18)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 6: What Causes Quarrels Among You? (James 4:1-12)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 7: You Are a Mist (James 4:13-5:6)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 8: Establish Your Hearts

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Known and Loved

“Known and loved.” That’s a powerful phrase. 

At some level, all of us are looking for places in life where we feel known and loved. Some of us have that, and some of us don’t. Others of us are looking for that in family, romance, friendships, or any number of things - and have felt hurt or betrayed in the process. 

And yet, the beauty of Scripture says this is what Jesus offers us when we follow Him.

For this series, we’ll spend three weeks looking at how Scripture calls us to be known and loved by God, known and loved by each other, and making Jesus’ love known to our neighbors.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Known and Loved by God (1 John 4:7-11, 16-19)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 2: Known and Loved by Others

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 3: Known and Loved by Our Neighbors (1 John 4:7-12, 19-21)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Revelation | The Advent of Jesus

SERMONS | ADVENT INITIATIVES | RESOURCES | TEXT-IN QUESTIONS

The word Advent means “arrival,” and this time of year, the global church celebrates the arrival of the birth of Jesus. But this celebration is not an end in itself. It’s a reason to hope as we look ahead to the second Advent - the return of Jesus. 

For the next four weeks, we’re looking at the book of Revelation and what Jesus’ second Advent will look like. Far from being a book filled with hidden codes and secrets, Revelation teaches us how to live between the first and second Advent. Because Jesus was born, we can live with the hope that Jesus will return. All our hope for the future is tied to a baby that gives us a “no matter what” hope for the future.

This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Pulling Back the Curtain

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 2: The Baby Who Slayed the Dragon

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 3: The Way of the Lamb vs. the Way of the Dragon

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 4: All Things New

(Sermon) (Sermon Outline)

One of our goals as a church family is to be generous people. So every year around the holidays, we press into generosity to think about God’s generosity to us and to talk about how we can grow in walking in the kind of generous love He’s shown to us. 

Each year, we focus on three practical ways to grow in generosity:

INITIATIVE DETAILS

1 -   Start Tithing

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We encourage church members to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us to be generous around the holidays and throughout the year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all we do as a church in our city.

2 - Give to Serve the City 

Serve the City is our initiative as a church family to partner with local organizations serving the most vulnerable people in our city. This year, we are raising $20,000 to fund the various Serve the City initiatives we do throughout the year to serve these organizations and the people they work with. These funds will also go towards our Serve the City Weekend on March 22, 2025. We partner with the following local organizations:

Transitions

Home Works

The Ezekiel Center

Epworth Children's Home

Daybreak

Salvation Army

3 - Personal Finance Seminar

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources God has entrusted us. On January 25, 2025 from 9am-12pm at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a practical training class to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS | COURSES | ARTICLES

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

Stand-Alone | A Normal Spiritually Powerful Life

Sermon by Jon Ludovina on November 24, 2024.

Before wrapping up our Year of Biblical Literacy with a series on the book of Revelation, this week we zoom out and look at our reasons for doing this initiative, and the fruit we pray comes as a result. We will see that in the midst of our chaotic lives and the many distractions of modern life, God’s Word offers us a beautiful invitation.

Stand-Alone | Celebration Sunday 2024

Celebration Sunday sermon by Jake Blair on November 17, 2024.

Our church family spent Sunday together celebrating baptisms! Videos from the Gathering and this week's LifeGroup Guide can be found below.

Baptism Stories

Hebrews | Christ & the New Covenant

Near the tail end of our Year of Biblical Literacy, we come to the rich, dense book of Hebrews. It’s full of callbacks and history, threads pulled from all across the Old Testament. The author assumes intimate knowledge of the old covenant –the sacrificial system, the tabernacle, the promised land–and then shows that they were incomplete, only “copies and shadows.” 

Each is an arrow pointing to Christ, who himself becomes the mediator of the new covenant–the perfect high priest, the meeting place between God and man, the source of eternal rest for those united to him.

This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Christ and the New Covenant

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 2: The Descent and Ascent of Christ

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 3: Christ the True and Better Moses

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 4: Today, If You Hear His Voice, Do Not Harden Your Hearts

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 5: Christ the Perfect Tabernacle, Priest, and Sacrifice

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 6: Hold Fast Your Confession of Hope

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 7: The Hall of Faith (and the Vision Required to be There)

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 8: A Tale of Three Mountains

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS | COURSES | ARTICLES

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

The Gospel | The Kingdom of God is at Hand

SERMONS | RESOURCES | TEXT-IN QUESTIONS

How would you summarize Jesus’ teachings? Depending on who you ask, you’re likely to get different answers. However, Jesus’ summary statement is actually one of his first statements in the Gospels: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

In other words, Jesus’ life and teachings are all about ushering in God’s loving rule and reign on Earth as it is in Heaven. So what might His kingdom look like in our city, and how do we faithfully follow Him in our time and place?

Join us for five weeks as we examine Jesus’ teachings and consider how we can experience more of His kingdom in Columbia as it is in Heaven.

This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Kingdom of God Is at Hand

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 2: The Acceptance You’ve Always Wanted

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 3: The Power of Forgiveness

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 4: The King Wants Your Heart

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Week 5: The Pursuit of Greatness

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Outline)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS | COURSES | ARTICLES

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

Psalms | Ancient Songs for Modern Hearts

The Psalms are a unique collection in the Old Testament: 150 poems, songs, and prayers covering approximately 1,000 years of Israel’s history. The writers cover everything from hatred to pure joy and nearly everything in between. Some of the language and honesty in the Psalms are shocking–even uncomfortable to hear–because of how unfiltered they come across.

Amidst the raw emotions, the Psalms offer a beacon of hope. They guide us to understand what’s going on in our hearts and how to realign ourselves with reality, offering a path to transformation and spiritual growth. 

In this series, we’ll spend six weeks looking at specific chapters as we ask how God wants us to shape us as His people.

This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: A Theology of Song

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 2: The Bible as Meditation Literature

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 3: Dealing with Difficult Emotions

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 4: Arrows and Blessings

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 5: A Song for the Politically Weary

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 6: The Type of Heart that Sings

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS | COURSES | ARTICLES

PSALMS OUTLINE

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

How Long O Lord? | A Study of the Minor Prophet Habakkuk

SERMONS | RESOURCES | TEXT-IN QUESTIONS

The prophets are a diverse group of writings. They come from different periods, face different issues, and are written in different genres.

The book of Habakkuk, in particular, speaks to us on our journey to Christian maturity. It mirrors the moments we all encounter—when our understanding of God’s character seems at odds with our current circumstances, when we question God’s plans, and when injustice, both individually and collectively, seems to prevail.

When that happens, what do we do? How do we respond? How can we trust God is still in control of it all? We’ll spend the next four weeks in Habakkuk exploring these questions.

This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: How Long O LORD?

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 2: How Can This Be?

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 3: The Cup That Is Coming

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 4: Wrestling Toward Maturity

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS | COURSES | ARTICLES

HABAKKUK OUTLINE

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

W I S D O M

SERMONS | RESOURCES | TEXT-IN QUESTIONS

How do we become people who build our lives on God’s wisdom rather than ruining them? How do we navigate life and all its complexities? How do we make sense of death and suffering? How about friendships, wealth, and decision-making? What about sex and marriage? 

These questions are where the Old Testament’s wisdom books come in. Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs depict how to navigate life’s complexity. Through poetry and narrative, the Bible shows us following Jesus is more than just acquiring knowledge. It’s about seeing reality the way God sees it and learning how to live within it—in short, it’s about becoming a person of wisdom.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Wisdom and the Fear of the LORD

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 2: Wisdom and Decision-Making

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 3: Wisdom and Pride

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 4: Wisdom and Wealth

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 5: Wisdom and Sex

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 6: Wisdom and Friendships

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 7: Wisdom and Conflict

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 8: Wisdom and Work

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 9: Wisdom and Words

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS

VIDEOS

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

Stand-Alone | Easter Weekend 2024

Good Friday sermon by Adam Gibson on March 29, 2024.

Our church family spent Good Friday looking towards the cross and Easter Sunday celebrating our Risen Savior! The Good Friday sermon, baptism videos from the Easter Gathering, and this weeks LifeGroup Guide can be found below.

Baptism Stories

Ruth

SERMONS | RESOURCES | TEXT-IN QUESTIONS

The story of Ruth centers around one of the most vulnerable and marginalized figures in the Old Testament. This series examines God’s sovereignty over all of life and how God uses unlikely people to bring hope and healing to the world.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Compromise, Bitterness, or Faithfulness?

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 2: God’s Faithfulness in Your Faithfulness

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: The Risk of Hope

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: The Story Behind the Story

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS

PODCASTS

This will be updated as we progress through the series. Stay tuned!

VIDEOS

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

Ghosts & Ancestors

It’s often said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 

As we look at the first five books of Scripture, stories abound of those who trusted God and those who did not. Some, through faith, went on to be ancestors who blessed those after them. Others proved to be ghosts that haunt their lineage with heartache and pain. 

As we learn to interpret the narratives in the Torah, both the negative and the positive, we’ll see how God works in the midst of it all and calls us into his story, inviting us to walk in the steps of our ancestors who came before us.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Two Paths

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Abraham

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Esau

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Jacob

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Leah

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Moses

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Aaron

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 8: Joseph

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS

PODCASTS

This will be updated as we progress through the series. Stay tuned!

VIDEOS

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

Advent 2023

SERMONS | ADVENT GUIDE | ADVENT PROJECTS

"Advent" means "arrival." And since the early church, God's people have celebrated the arrival of Jesus' birth during this time of year. As we remember his first arrival, we also look ahead to Jesus' promised second arrival - when He will return and make all things new. So, each week, we'll look at different aspects of Christ's coming and how that should shape how we think, feel, and react to the Christmas season.

Kidtown will be provided for ages preschool and under. Children are invited to attend the Gathering with their parents during this series.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Hope

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Peace

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Joy

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Love

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

To help us prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, we wrote an Advent devotional guide for you and your LifeGroup to work through during this season. The suggested donation is $8 per copy.

One of our goals as a church family is to be generous people. So every year around the holidays, we press into generosity to think about God’s generosity to us and to talk about how we can grow in walking in the kind of generous love He’s shown to us. 

This year, we are focusing on three practical ways to grow in generosity:

#1. Start tithing

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We encourage church members to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us to be generous around the holidays and throughout the year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all we do as a church in our city.

#2. Personal Finance Seminar

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources God has entrusted us. On January 27 from 9am-12pm at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a practical training class to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

#3. Give to Serve the City 

Serve the City is our initiative as a church family to partner with local organizations serving the most vulnerable people in our city. This year, we want to fund the various Serve the City events we do throughout the year to serve these organizations and the people they work with. These funds will also go towards our Serve the City Weekend on March 16, 2024. We partner with the following local organizations:

  • Transitions

  • Home Works for America

  • The Ezekiel Center

  • Epworth Children's Home

  • Daybreak

  • Salvation Army

Embodied

Oversimplified narratives about our bodies surround us. Through conversations and airwaves, we are constantly told what we should pursue with our bodies, how we should think about them, and what dangers follow disagreement with the cultural ethos of desire, gender, sexuality, and marriage.

But these messages skip over some very essential questions–questions like: what is your body, exactly? What is your body for? Who created it, and with what purpose? What is the eternal destiny of our bodies, and how does that inform what we do on a normal week? 

Join us for an eight-week series unpacking God’s plan for the human body–a majestic story from beginning to end.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Telos

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Ish and Ishah

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Union

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Eros

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Marriage Guide)

Week 5: Epithumia

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Resurrection

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Agape

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Q & A

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Q & A Podcasts

During our Embodied series, we had over 70 questions texted in. To cover these questions more fully, we’re releasing a handful of extra podcast episodes to further equip you.

Featured
Embodied Podcast Title.jpg
Midtown Podcast | Final Q+A
Embodied Podcast Title.jpg
Midtown Podcast | Marriage Q+A
Embodied Podcast Title.jpg
Midtown Podcast | Gender Q+A
Embodied Podcast Title.jpg
Midtown Podcast | Body Q+A

During the series, we want to know the concepts and ideas that you wrestle with the most or would like to learn more about. We'll base the final sermon of the series off of the submissions we receive.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

People of the Pages

Midtown Fellowship started over 15 years ago, in 2007, in a context where Christ's name was abundant, but faithfulness to his teachings sometimes was not. The resounding question back then was: Why aren't we just doing what's on the pages?

Fast forward fifteen years, and new challenges face the church that we must learn to navigate if we want to live out being a Jesus-centered family on mission faithfully.

These challenges require us to look again at our Bibles and ask questions like: What are we at risk of neglecting as Christians today? What must be rediscovered and re-committed to if our story is to remain the same story – to be a church that says, "Why don't we just do what's on the pages?"

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: People of the Pages

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Pages Point to a Person

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Enjoying the Imperfect

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Known, Loved, and Challenged

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: People of Presence

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Come for You, Stay for Others

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Jesus &

Jesus Christ controls the universe with His power. He is supreme, and how you view Him changes how you view everything else. But Jesus is also intimately personal -  what does Jesus have to say about you? What does He say to you in your hurt? What does He have to say to you in your doubts? What does He have to tell you when you screw up?

For this series, we’ll spend seven weeks looking at how Jesus interacts with different types of people in Scripture and what He has to say to us too.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Jesus & the Bully

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Jesus & the Outcast

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Jesus & the Little Ones

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Jesus & the Doubter

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Jesus & the Hurting

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Jesus & the Jealous

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Jesus & the Prideful

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

The Family Guide resembles the weekly LifeGroup Guide and is designed for a family to do together once a week.

It has the same familiar elements (Catch Up on Life, Sermon Discussion, Engage the Heart, Review the Mission) and is meant to be a 30-minute family rhythm.

Stand-Alone | The Parable of the Wonderful Father

Sermon by Ryan Rike on June 18, 2023.

In Luke 15, we find one of Jesus' most famous teachings. It is often called "the Parable of the Prodigal Son" or "the Parable of the Two Sons." While the two siblings have much to teach us, perhaps we are also invited to understand this passage through a different lens: the Parable of the Wonderful Father. In this passage, Jesus radically upends what many believe God is like and invites us to recapture the wonder of His love and grace.

Colossians

SERMONS | RESOURCE ROUND-UP

A growing church. A bustling city. Cultural pressures threaten the way of Jesus - from religion to philosophy, to mysticism and politics.

It’s here, around 60AD, that the apostle Paul, in prison, writes to this church. Here, he offers a panoramic view of Jesus and how this bigger view changes how you view your life and reality itself.

So for the next ten weeks, we’ll study this book as we ask - what does the church in Colossae have to say to our church? What are the cultural pressures we face? And how does a bigger view of Jesus change how we view everything else?

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: TexMex & Christianity

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 2: All Things for All Time

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 3: Mature in Christ

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 4: Hold Fast to Christ, the Head

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 5: Put Off

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 6: Getting Heaven Into Us

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 7: Getting Heaven Into the Home

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 8: Work, Slavery, and Power Dynamics

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 9: History Belongs to the Intercessors

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

One of the main ways we grow into the image of Jesus is to listen, meditate, and live out what He says in Scripture. To help us with that, for this series, we’re offering resources to help you further study the passage from Sunday.

Below you can find related videos, podcasts, and articles to learn more about the passage we studied that Sunday. You can also choose to receive those resources every Monday straight to your inbox. Just type in your email below. For now, we only have the first few weeks of the series posted, but more will be added soon.

* indicates required

WEEK 1

WATCH

“Book of Colossians Summary” from The Bible Project (9 minutes) For almost ten years, The Bible Project has released short explainer videos of every book of the Bible. This video provides a visual overview of what Colossians is all about.

“How to Read the New Testament Letters” from The Bible Project (6 minutes) Another one. Along with Bible book overviews, The Bible Project also has a series on how to read different genres of the Bible. This one centers around how to read New Testament Letters.

“Letter to the Colossians” by N.T. Wright (14 minutes) If you don’t know the name, N.T. Wright might be the GOAT in New Testament studies. Combining both the academic and pastoral, Wright provides the cultural landscape of Colossae, situated within the Roman Empire.

LISTEN

“Strength to Wait with Patience” from Desiring God (3 minutes) A devotional written by John Piper on Colossians 1:11 - is available both as an article and as a podcast episode.

READ

“Knowing the Bible: Colossians and Philemon” from The Gospel Coalition (over an hour) TGC released a free 12-week class on this book. Talk about a deep dive.

WEEK 2

WATCH

“Heaven and Earth” from The Bible Project (7 minutes) Like we mentioned in the sermon, Heaven is more than just a place you go to when you die. As the video explains, the emphasis of the Bible is that Heaven is a reality you can experience through Jesus now.

“Understanding God’s Identity in the Bible” from The Bible Project (8 minutes) Arguably one of the densest pieces of theology in the Bible, The Bible Project explains the concept of the Trinity.

LISTEN

“How Did God Reconcile All Things to Himself?” from Desiring God (14 minutes) John Piper dives more into Colossians 1:20 on his popular Ask Pastor John podcast series.

“The Son of God: Dr. Iron’s Trinitarian View of Jesus” from Trinities (50 minutes) This is a deep one - one of the premier Trinitarian theologians discusses the biblical view of the Trinity on a podcast devoted to talking solely about the Trinity. Meta.

READ

“He Holds All Things Together” from Desiring God (30 minutes) Both a sermon and a manuscript unpacking Colossians 1:15-20 from David Mathis, the executive editor at desiringGod.com.

“The Preeminence of Christ” from Reformed Theological Seminary (22 minutes) A seminary chapel message to an audience of mostly seminarians, Dr. Dusenbury unpacks Colossians 1:15-20.

WEEK 3

WATCH

“What Happens When We Die According to the Bible?” from The Bible Project (55 minutes) Last week’s text/idea was a big one, so to unpack a bit more on this concept, here’s more from Dr. Tim Mackie.

Kids Bible Devotional - Rooted in God | Colossians 2:6-7 from YoungHearts Ministries (5 minutes) Ok this is a little cheesy, but a great little video to teach kids about being “rooted in Christ.”

LISTEN

“Guard Yourself with Gratitude” from Desiring God (35 minutes) This is a sermon of John Piper’s from 1985. So yeah, this is a throwback.

READ

Colossians and Philemon For You by Mark Meynell For those interested in Bible commentaries, the “For You” series is an accessible, concise set of commentaries that digs into different books of the Bible.

“The Incomparable Christ” from Reformed Theological Seminary (15 minutes) Dr. Ligon Duncan works through this passage in Colossians expositionally with his seminary students.

WEEK 4

WATCH

“Spiritual Beings series” from The Bible Project (about 5 minutes per video) When Paul mentions “elemental spirits” in Colossians 2:20, he doesn’t really believe evil spirits exist…right? In this video series, The Bible Project brings up an important concept that serves as a helpful biblical backdrop.

LISTEN

“What is Baptism and How Important Is it?” from Desiring God (45 minutes) Baptism is a central part of Paul’s argument in this passage - so how are we to think about baptism biblically? John Piper got you.

READ

“How Do Baptism and Circumcision Correspond?” from Desiring God (46 minutes) Also central to Paul’s argument in the passage is the connection between circumcision and baptism. So….what’s that about? Once again, John Piper on the mic!

The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser If that Bible Project video series whet your appetite, then check out the book that inspired it (outside the Bible, of course). This book teeters on the intellectual side, so Heiser also released a non-academic version of the book too called Supernatural. Either book is well worth your time.

WEEK 5

WATCH

“The Glory of Christ and Racial Unity” from Desiring God (45 minutes) What does Jesus’ death and resurrection have to do with racial unity? A lot actually. Here, John Piper unpacks how because of Jesus’ work, He is drawing all people to Himself.

LISTEN

“Saved From God’s Wrath” from The Bible Project (56 minutes) The Bible Project not only is the top-tier video resource, their podcasts are also pretty solid too. In this one, the gang covers how to think about the atonement.

“The Light Beyond the Light” from Desiring God (4 minutes) I love that title! In this quick podcast, John Piper unpacks what it means to be seated with Christ.

READ

“The Incomparable Christ” from Reformed Theological Seminary (20 minutes) Once again, Dr. Ligon Duncan, president of RTS, teaches through the book of Colossians.

BONUS VIDEO

A couple of years ago, most of us learned to be pros at Zoom. The key phrase here is, “most of us.”

WEEK 6

WATCH

“What Jesus Meant by Eternal Life” by The Bible Project (6 minutes) The call to “put on” Christ is a call to step more and more into the abundant life Jesus makes us available to us now. The Bible Project unpacks this more.

“What Happens When We Sing?” by Desiring God (1 hour) In Colossians 3, one way in which we let the “word of Christ dwell in us richly” is through singing together. In this sermon, John Piper presses into this idea and why singing is a crucial practice in our formation to Jesus.

LISTEN

“Gloria Furman on Eternal Outlook for Everyday Life” by The Gospel Coalition (49 minutes) ”Whatever you feel defines you, look at this in light of what you read in Colossians—that this life is not all there is. You know that. We all know that. God has put eternity in man’s heart. But we have to do the hard work of remembering that our life is hidden with Christ in God.”

“Matt Chandler on Worship” by The Gospel Coalition (48 minutes) In this sermon given to an audience of worship pastors, Matt Chandler speaks on the importance of worship in our lives.

READ

Following Jesus Together - We created a website on spiritual practices to help us further “put on” Christ. Here you’ll find blogs and videos on how to abide with Jesus, confess sin, fast, and more.

“Living Together When Christ is All” by Desiring God (26 minutes)

WEEK 7

Watch

Parenting Resources from Midtown Fellowship There are a million voices and blogs telling you what to do and not do as a parent. So we created and pooled together some of the best parenting content to help!

“Marriage: Forgiving and Forbearing” from Desiring God (53 minutes) Colossians speaks to the importance of marriage. Ephesians 5 is also a great text in the New Testament, further unpacking that. In this sermon, John Piper speaks to how marriage is a pointer to the work of Jesus.

LISTEN

“How do I Not Provoke My Children?” from Desiring God (12 minutes) Colossians 3:21 warns against fathers provoking children. But what could that look like?

”Family of God” from The Bible Project A podcast series on the biblical theme of family from Dr. Tim Mackie and Jon Collins. Enjoy!

The Family of God sermon series from Midtown Fellowship How we love our neighbor reflects our love for God and how we love God manifests itself in how we love our neighbor. And the reality is, while our “neighbor” encompasses everyone, it most immediately applies to who we share a home with and see daily. Check out our sermons from 2021 as we unpack this more.

READ

Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley “Discover simple habits and easy-to-implement daily rhythms that will help you find meaning beyond the chaos of family life as you create a home where kids and parents alike practice how to love God and each other.”

Family Worship by Donald Whitney “Gathering together for worship is an indispensable part of your family’s spiritual life. It is a means for God to reveal himself to you and your loved ones in a powerful way.”

WEEK 8

Watch

"Does the Bible Support Slavery?" from The Gospel Coalition (1 hour) Dr. Peter Williams (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) argues, based on the standard definition of slavery, no. "To make his argument, he examines the key Old Testament and New Testament texts said to support slavery. Along the way, he looks at the biblical words commonly associated with slavery and how their translation has changed over time. He also looks at the logic of the Old Testament world and the way ancient societies were structured quite differently from ours."

LISTEN

Precious in His Sight sermon series by Midtown Fellowship. In our sermon, we explored the power dynamics at play in Roman culture and how Jesus speaks into those dynamics. And while our context looks different than Rome, we want to equip each other to understand better our nation's history and how to navigate such issues.

Work sermon series by Midtown Fellowship. We can put love into our work without necessarily loving our work. Check out our sermon series from 2019 to learn more.

READ

Garden City by John Mark Comer. "Does God care where I work?" "Does he have a clear direction for me?" "How can I create a practice of rest?" Check out this book on work to learn more.

How Then Should We Work? by Hugh Whelchel. This book covers topics like the difference between work, vocation, and calling as a Christian, the history of the Christian view on work, the call to "reweave shalom" through your job, how to live a life of deep significance, and more.

Resources on Race by Midtown Fellowship. "As followers of Jesus, we stand up for righteousness, truth, justice, and love - because those things are definitive of life in the Kingdom of Heaven…In the list of resources, we've also included links to organizations and opportunities for you to take further steps to stand up for justice and love." 

WEEK 9

Watch

“How Does God Answer Prayer for Others?” by Tyler Staton (13 minutes). When we pray for others, what happens to us? Check out this video (and honestly, this whole series is awesome and worth your time.)

“Paradise Now” by Tim Mackie (50 minutes). From the 24-7 Prayer USA Conference, The Bible Project’s Tim Mackie talks about entering this Heaven and Earth reality when we step into prayer.

LISTEN

“The Power of Persistent Prayer” from Midtown Fellowship (30 minutes) This was from our Acts sermon series in 2022. (Personally, I’m a fan of whenever we can mention Dwayne the Rock Johnson as an example.)

“The Practice of Prayer” from Midtown Fellowship (38 minutes) Fom our 2020 series based on the Sermon on the Mount, “The Way of Jesus.”

READ

“Abide” from Following Jesus Together. For some practical steps on prayer, including blogs and videos, check out our Abide page and practices like “Lectio Divina” and “Examen Prayer.”

“Persevere in Prayer!” from Desiring God (5 minutes) John Piper unpacks Colossians 4:2-6 and offers five guidelines for prayer.

A Praying Life by Paul Miller IMO, this is one of the best books of prayer in the last ten or so years.

BONUS VIDEO

Hoop dreams!

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