Streamsong Church - Doylestown, PA

01/30/2023

“You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light” - Psalm 18:28

Do you keep your lamp burning or does the Lord? Think to yourself, what might be the difference, practically speaking, between you trying to keep your lamp burning, and the Lord keeping your lamp burning?

01/28/2023

The real work of the ministry of a church happens Monday through Sunday, not just Sunday.

01/27/2023

Without the gospel, we will feel a pull towards being either naïvely utopian or cynically dystopian. Think for yourself about why this might be.

01/26/2023

A farmer told his Pastor that one of his cows had unexpectedly given birth to two calves, “and when I sell them, I’ll give the proceeds I make on one of them to the church.” A few weeks later the man informed his pastor, “I’m sorry to say it, Reverend, but the Lords calf died.”

For many of us, it’s always the Lords calf that dies. We don’t give to God in a planned and committed way. Instead of planning our life around our giving, we plan our giving around our life. We wait to see if we have enough money to do everything we want and then give to God only when there is excess.

In contrast, though he was infinitely rich, Jesus gave not just the excess but all of his wealth and even his life to save us (2 Corinthians 8:9). He planned his life around his giving, not the other way around.

01/25/2023

What are you more inclined to think or feel when you sin? "I broke God's rules” or "I broke God's heart”. Your answer may reveal something about your motivations for why you obey God.

01/22/2023

A Christ-centered, biblical church is a church that seeks to disciple and equip others for ministry relative to the spiritual gifts God has given them, while also helping people discover spiritual gifts they didn’t know they had. To do this means that leaders have to step DOWN and let others lead too. And those people who aren’t leading need to step UP.

01/19/2023

Following Jesus isn’t merely about physically “feeling” the presence of God. In a broken world in which sin exists, while we will certainly have moments, days, weeks, or seasons where His presence is noticeably felt, we will just as much, maybe even more, have moments, days, weeks, or seasons where His presence feels noticeably absent (Psalm 10:1, 13:1). So following Jesus has to be about more than just physically “feeling” His presence. So what is it about then? It’s about an ASSURANCE of his presence that goes well beyond mere physical feelings. This assurance can only be reinforced through:

1.) Prayer (Psalms 1-150)
2.) Scripture - spending time in His word and saturating in and believing his many promises found there (Psalm 119)
3.) Community - Participating in the community of Gods people (your local church) (Psalm 133:1)
4.) Remembering - what He’s done in the past (Psalm 77:11, 143:5)

This reinforcement takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. As these practices build up our assurance, we become increasingly confident that no matter how you feel, God is always with you (Psalm 13:5-6, 33:22, 34:18) and you can push forward confidently.

01/19/2023

01/17/2023

A really good way to deal with unpleasant people is to not assume the worst, and to make them prove that they are as bad as stereotyped. This is done by cultivating some sort of a relationship with them. When we get to know somebody, stereotypes are usually proved wrong because in a relationship, we humanize each other. It does not work with everyone. But it is certainly better than assuming the worst about somebody and going to war with them, which is what it seems like a majority of people in our country are doing.

01/17/2023

Many people and Christians are “trying” to live up to God, to earn his favor, to achieve the right to be called a child of God. But to be a child of God is a legal position. You are, or you are not, there is no “try”.

“…righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, . . . so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” - Romans 3:22-26

Rest fellow man, be free of the oppression, the chains, the shackles of trying to achieve something that you will never achieve, and accept the gift in Christ.

01/16/2023

“Church” is Monday through Sunday. Not just Sunday. Sunday morning gatherings are nothing more than a reunion of the total body of Christ, where we come to leave behind a difficult week, where we come to worship God together, be reminded of his grace and forgiveness in Christ, to spur each other in love and good works, be refreshed by His Word, and be redeployed into our homes, communities, neighborhoods, and workplaces once more to live on mission for Christ, in relationship with each other.

01/14/2023

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” - 1 Peter 2:24-25