2019
Discover the Wonder
12/22/2019
Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” As you have gotten older, have you lost some of the wonder of Christmas? We’d like to invite you to “Discover the Wonder” of the season and begin to see Christmas again through the eyes of a child.
City
12/01/2019
Over 14 years ago, the families that would eventually become the foundation of Journey Church wrestled with two questions: Can one church reach an entire city? If so, how? All these years later, we’ve never ceased to believe that God can use the people who call Journey home to reach our city. And we have better answers to the question of how to do it than ever before.
Nation
12/08/2019
As a local body of believers, we are in a unique position to have a national impact for the Kingdom of God. With such an opportunity comes incredible responsibility--to work hard and not become complacent, to model the changes we wish to see, and to share what we learn with others. We believe God wants to use our influence to bless countless churches all around the country through a movement of eternal significance.
Heart Problems
10/13/2019
Our hearts, shaped primarily through our habits, practices, and behaviors, were designed to be the wellspring for our worship to God. The problem is that sometimes our hearts go rogue.
Piling up Possessions
10/27/2019
The desire for more, bigger, better, newer, or faster is like the cultural air we breathe. But what if there was a way to own stuff and have peace at the same time? The secret, according to Jesus, is in learning how to possess without being possessed.
Preference for Power
11/03/2019
Nobody wants to be weak or vulnerable. That’s why power, and all it promises, looks so attractive. Power says you can get your way; you can have control over your life and circumstances. The biggest problem with this worldview is Jesus, the most influential man in history, who sees power differently. Perhaps His life has something to teach us all about what power really looks like.
Preoccupied with Position
11/10/2019
It’s natural to wonder if we are good enough. Unfortunately, most of us don’t know how to alleviate our concerns without comparing ourselves to others. That’s why we get stuck spending our whole lives in an imaginary competition with the people around us. For those looking to get off the comparison treadmill, Jesus had some radical ideas that may just result in the fullness of life.
Who Am I?
09/08/2019
Few questions are more profound than those which cause us to consider our identity. Perhaps it’s because our answer, however we answer, goes a long way in determining how we live our lives, which ultimately shapes who we end up becoming. If that’s true, then the most important question of all may just be: Who or what gets to tell me who I am?
Awareness and Appreciation
09/15/2019
Have you ever given someone a thoughtful gift only to be met with a reaction of entitlement or thanklessness? If so, then you know that how a person receives a gift says a lot about their heart and view of themselves. Once we understand how truly incredible the gift of Jesus is, we won’t be able to contain the appropriate response.
Religious Obligation vs. Responsive Obedience
09/22/2019
“Work harder” might be good advice when it comes to your career, but it’s a terrible strategy for following Jesus. The danger with putting all of the emphasis on our effort and activity is that we tend to lose the plot, and end up with something that doesn’t look at all like our Leader.
A More Perfect Union
09/29/2019
Two thousand years ago, Paul reimagined what relationships in the home could look like in light of Jesus and it changed the world. The model of self-giving love has the power to transform anybody’s relationship, even yours.
Behind Enemy Lines
10/06/2019
The importance of Paul’s advice to walk worthy of our calling cannot be fully appreciated until we account for the fact that we have an enemy with a vested interest in seeing us fail and fall. Fortunately, we don’t have to fail or fall because we have been given everything we need to be faithful and victorious.
Doubt Not
08/11/2019
We never see doubt coming. It’s not something we plan for or schedule into the calendar. Sometimes doubt hits us all at once like a tidal wave, but other times we simply become aware that our faith is eroding, suffering the death of a thousand small drips. The good news is that doubt-free faith has never been a prerequisite for following Jesus. It’s not doubt, but what we do with doubt that makes all the difference.
Sin Not
08/18/2019
Do not sin. This is the type of command we would expect to hear from the mouth of the Son of God. It may not be radical that Jesus said it, but the reasons may surprise you. We assume that God is all about His rules, and sin is what happens when we break them. But Jesus gave us a better reason not to sin, and it has nothing to do with guilt, fear, or condemnation.
Judge Not
08/25/2019
Nobody likes to be judged--sized up by someone else and written off from a distance. Fortunately, Jesus had a command that specifically addressed the tendency in all of us play the part of judge, jury, and executioner. Unfortunately, we sometimes get it confused and twisted. There is a world of difference between judgment at the expense of another, and judgment for the benefit of another.
God, Creator of Heaven and Earth
06/30/2019
Who is God? What is He like? What does He want? And why is there something rather than nothing? It’s been said that you can never really understand who God is apart from knowing His Word. There is no better place to find answers to our deepest questions, and start our investigation of the Bible, than in the beginning.
God, Covenant Maker
07/07/2019
It’s impossible to wrap our minds around the grand story of the Bible without first understanding God’s dealings with Israel. They were a nation without a home, a people enslaved to Egypt. Without God, Israel would have been nothing more than a footnote in the pages of history. Their humble origins and unimpressive resume begs the question: Why did God choose them in the first place? Not surprising, the answer tells us very little about Israel and a lot about God.
God: Nation Builder
07/14/2019
The God who reveals Himself through the Bible does so as One who makes and keeps covenant promises. Nowhere is this more apparent than the story of Israel, which began as nothing more than a promise to a childless, old man named Abraham. God may not always make sense and the way forward may not always seem clear, but that’s okay because God always keeps His promises.
God: Human Being
07/21/2019
If all we had was the Old Testament, we would reach the end of the story with a feeling that something was missing. We would anticipate something exciting and new, even if we weren’t quite sure what it should be. Fortunately, the story of Israel wasn’t the end of the story. All that God had been doing and promised to do reaches its unexpected climax in the story of Jesus.
God: Kingdom Builder
07/28/2019
The introduction of Jesus into the grand narrative of the Bible demands nothing less than a complete reimagining of the whole story past, present, and future. The exclusivity of Israel becomes the inclusion of the whole world. Commitment to a nation transforms as people from every tribe, tongue, and nation commit themselves to a Kingdom beyond geographical borders. That is what it means to be the Church, a movement of Spirit-filled people living and working as representatives of Jesus in and for the world.
“A true understanding of God’s grace will always cause someone to desire to do justice.”
- Jimmy Carroll