Believers Sword

Sermons

Messages to read and study, with the passage and audio or video where available.

  • Cease StrivingFeatured

    Be still, and know that I am God is usually read as an invitation to relax. In context it is a command issued over a battlefield, and that changes what it asks of us.

    Believers SwordPsalm 46:1-11

    • psalms
    • trust
    • anxiety

  • All ThingsFeatured

    I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me is quoted as a promise of capability. Paul wrote it in prison, in a paragraph about being hungry.

    Believers SwordPhilippians 4:10-13

    • philippians
    • contentment
    • paul

  • Jesus Wept

    He cried at a grave he was about to open, minutes from the miracle. Four things John refuses to smooth over about grief, delay, and the God who arrives late on purpose.

    Believers SwordJohn 11:1-44

    • john
    • grief
    • lament
    • hope

  • A Door in Your Hand

    The Greek word for shield in Ephesians 6 means door. It names the four-foot infantry shield built to lock into a line, which changes both what the flaming arrows are for and who the shield was ever meant to cover.

    Believers SwordEphesians 6:10-18

    • ephesians
    • faith
    • spiritual warfare
    • church

  • Songs of Ascent · Part 4

    Arriving Together

    After the distance, the danger and the waiting, the pilgrim collection lands on unity. Not agreement. Dwelling. And it uses two deliberately impossible images to say so.

    Believers SwordPsalm 133

    • psalms
    • songs of ascent
    • church

  • Songs of Ascent · Part 3

    Out of the Depths

    Psalm 130 never reports that the depths ended. It ends in waiting, and calls that waiting hope. The difference between that and anxiety is the whole psalm.

    Believers SwordPsalm 130

    • psalms
    • songs of ascent
    • waiting

  • The Whisper Was Not the Point

    The gentle whisper at Horeb is quoted as a lesson about how God speaks. Almost nobody quotes what the voice says, or notices that it asks the same question twice.

    Believers Sword1 Kings 19:1-18

    • elijah
    • exhaustion
    • calling

  • Songs of Ascent · Part 2

    Not From the Hills

    I lift up my eyes to the hills is almost always read as though the hills are the help. In the pilgrim road they were the danger, and the line is a question with an edge.

    Believers SwordPsalm 121

    • psalms
    • songs of ascent
    • protection

  • He Was Asleep

    In the storm on the lake, the disciples do not ask Jesus for help. They accuse him of not caring. Mark keeps every awkward detail of that scene.

    Believers SwordMark 4:35-41

    • mark
    • fear
    • prayer

  • Songs of Ascent · Part 1

    Where the Climb Starts

    The pilgrim songs do not open at the gates of Jerusalem. They open in distress, among people who are not telling the truth, a long way from home.

    Believers SwordPsalm 120

    • psalms
    • songs of ascent
    • honesty