To be unclean didn’t mean that you’ve done something wrong; it meant that something was wrong with the whole world. Becoming unclean happens when you rub shoulders with death in some way, and death is the first unwelcome invader in this good world God’s made.

Patience. It’s not the answer we want when we’re suffering. But it’s the wise answer; the answer we need.

Imagine sin like a tree. This tree can only bear one kind of fruit: death. We can’t cultivate this Sin Tree and expect peaches or apples. But if sin is like a tree, so is Jesus.

Everything in this world will hurt you if you have too much of it — even water and vegetables. Jesus Christ is the one thing that you can be insatiable for, and you can never have too much of him.

Only in Christ’s body do we get both deeply united into one organization (or “organism”) and maintain a strong individuality. As a part of Christ’s body, “you” don’t disappear into a homogeneous blur. “You” both become more truly “you” and more truly are made into the image of Jesus.

Epaphras was “a faithful minister.” That’s about all we know of Epaphras, with one exception. The only other personal thing we learn about this faithful minister of Christ is what his prayer life was like.

Through local church membership we share a covenant commitment with each other, under the care of this church’s leadership, for the flourishing of the body and the glory of God.

Follow along with our series in Genesis titled, “Be Fruitful & Multiply.”

Liturgy is shaped worship — careful, ordered, structured — because we understand that worship shapes us.