Psalms - Psalm 139
August 30, 2026

Psalm 139
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

[1] O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
[2] You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
[3] You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
[4] Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
[5] You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.


[7] Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
[8] If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
[9] If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
[10] even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
[11] If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
[12] even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

[13] For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
[14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
[15] My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
[16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

[17] How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
[18] If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

[19] Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
[20] They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
[21] Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
[22] I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

[23] Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
[24] And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! (ESV)

We are fully known by our Lord, and that is a precious truth that enables us to walk in continual confession and confidence in and before Him!

Jesus - He is the Word of our testimony.
Does that mean if my life declares an upside-down Kingdom ethic and someone asks, "Why did I respond that way?" Should I simply say “Jesus” and walk away?
By no means!

If someone brings you a baked good that tastes perfect, as most brownies do, and you ask, “Where did you get these?” and they say, “I made them from scratch.” What does that mean if you want to eat more? You have to go to them and ask them for a favor.
BUT, if they say, “I bought them at Publix,” then you can go get three for yourself every afternoon when you drink your creamer coffee.

when someone enjoys the fruit of the Spirit of God in your life, you are able to say, “I responded that way because it is the way that my Savior Jesus continually responds to me. It is what I have, am currently, and will always receive from Him! He is so patient with me; He is so kind and caring; He is so forgiving and compassionate with me.”

What is happening there?
You are testifying to the abundant love of Christ
You are testifying to your need for that love.
You are provoking them to go to Him.
You are testifying with the posture of the witness in the wilderness, John the Baptist, who said, I must decrease, and He must increase! Please do not think that I am the one you should follow, or that I am the source of these things! In your need, go to Him!

May today be a day when the Kingdom of God is revealed through us in greater measure in our homes and workplaces!

By His Grace Alone!
Steve

We Are Eternal: Witness
August 23, 2026

Genesis 1:28
[28] And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (ESV)

Isaiah 28:16
[16] therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ (ESV)

Acts 1:8
[8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (ESV)

Exodus 34:29
[29] When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

2 Corinthians 3:18
[18] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Thank God for His Stone of Help! Our Rock of Salvation!
Who or what does my life testify unto?
Where have I been placed as a testament to the goodness of Jesus?

Church Family,
Over the past two Sundays, we have introduced a new element to our regular worship services: a time of consideration after the sermon. I hope you have already found that brief moment to be a gift.

Why are we doing this?
We believe that the Truth of God’s Word is not just something to understand; it is something to trust and obey. We acknowledge the “Therefore” of the preaching of God’s Word. We are not a people who say, come as you are and stay as you are, rather, we arrive as we are and put our hope in the ordinary means of God’s grace that His Spirit will use His Word preached, prayed, and sung to transform us from one degree of His glory to the next. We do not want to leave as we arrived! We want to look more like Christ!

Throughout the Bible, His people are called to meditate on His Word, to taste and see His goodness, to treasure His Word… This means that we need time to courageously consider our hearts and lives. To confess and repent, to plan and plot, to stand before the Father, clothed in the Righteousness of the Son, and submit, not grieve the work of His Spirit in the grace of conviction, so that we can be renewed by the grace of forgiveness, and empowered by the grace of the resurrection!

So then! Each Sunday, we will take a moment to go TOGETHER before our Lord, to find not only rest, but also, by His abounding grace, another degree of restoration!

I can’t wait! See you Sunday!
By His Grace Alone,
Steve

We Are Eternal: Community
August 16, 2026

Colossians 3:11–17
[11] Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

[12] Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, [13] bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. [14] And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. [15] And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. [16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (ESV)

1. Who and How Community
2. Why Community and What it Does
3. To What End Community

Church Family!
Beginning on Tuesday, September 1, we will start a church-wide Bible reading plan. The plan has been created on a weekday rhythm of reading one chapter of the Word each day. This does not mean you can’t read God’s Word on the weekends; our hope is that you would spend Saturday morning reading through the passage we will be looking at on Sunday and preparing your heart for our time gathered.

This fall, we will read, Galatians, Genesis, Ruth, and Matthew.

As part of our reading plan, we will also have a memory verse each week. We know that God’s Word is our weapon against the lies that arrive and tempt our hearts during the day. The only way to identify a lie is to know the Truth!

You can see the full plan online here.
This Sunday, we will have printed copies of the reading plan available for you to take.

I hope that you will join us in this intentional work of growing together in Christ. I pray that the Lord would use His Word, through His Spirit’s work, to mature us into the image of His Son.

Consider
Carve out enough time to meditate on what you read and write some thoughts down.

1. Prayerfully consider what God is making known about Himself in this passage.
2. How does that orient your day?
3. What does it look like to walk in that Truth today?

Share
Text, call, and meet with others in the body about the day’s reading.

Gather
Attend our Wednesday Night Treasuring the Word class.
In this class, we will look at the previous week’s reading and discuss how the Lord is making His glory known, and how we then walk in trust and obedience to that image.
Sign Up Here 

Lead
This plan is intentionally easy to keep up with. Our hope is that this would be able to be used with your family.

There’s an app for that!
Here is the Scripture memory app I use. It’s pretty fantastic!
Bible Memory App: Apple // Google 

Want to go deeper in the text?
The ESV Study Bible is a great resource to do just that. It is filled with verse by verse commentary from biblical scholars who help us better understand the context and language of each chapter and verse.
Hardback Edition 
Leather Edition

Church Family,
I pray this finds you well and keenly aware of the continual common and special grace of our God.

This Sunday we will look at Psalm 115:1–11 as we consider our Worship. As we prepare for our time together, I encourage you to take a moment to be courageous enough to sit in the presence of our Lord and ask a  question:

For instance…What gives me security? What is it that if I lost today, I am sure I would be completely lost? What am I running to for joy? What am I running to for rest? What is your greatest hope for the second half of 2026?

And then join us on Sunday morning at 10 AM as we worship together. And as it has been said before, we  gather as the children of God to hear the Word of God sung, read, prayed, and preached in order that the Spirit of God would, by one degree to the next, transform us into the image of the Son of God!

I can’t wait! See you soon.

Eternal Church!
I am excited to take our first step together this Sunday as we grow in Christ through the Word of God being sung, prayed, read, and preached. This week we’ll begin by taking the next four weeks to remember why we exist. We’ll look at how the coordinates of Truth, Worship, Community, and Witness are meant to reorient and remind us of the purpose that’s been breathed into each of us by the God of Creation.

As we begin, I’d love to pass along some helpful ways to prepare for our time together.
Dr. Gunner Gundersen wrote a brief booklet entitled: How Do I Get the Most from My Pastor’s Sermons? In it, he discusses seven tips for hearing well:

1. Read the passage beforehand
2. Pray for your pastor
3. Remember who’s speaking
4. Furrow the field (till the soil)
5. Arrive early
6. Soak in the experience
7. Trust and obey

You can read a brief explanation of each of these things here:
7 Tips for Getting More out of Sunday Sermons 

With that, you can begin to prepare your heart for our time together by reading Genesis 1:1 and asking yourself, do I believe that in the beginning God created all things?
And if so, what are the implications for my life today?

I am wonderfully excited to jump into the Word this Sunday with each of you. My hope and prayer is that each of us arrives early with eager expectation for the Word of God to accomplish its purposes in our hearts and hands.

See you then!
Steve

12 Weeks of Remembering
March/April - Resurrection (4 weeks) - The resurrection of Christ
August - Reorientation (4 Weeks) - Our calling, purpose, mission, posture…
December - Advent (4 Weeks) - The arrival of Christ

40 Weeks of Verse by Verse Teaching through a text

We Are Eternal - The Four Coordinates (4 weeks)
Why We Exist will be the overarching question that we flesh out over the month of August.
Psalms (2 weeks)
James (11 weeks)
Advent (4 weeks)