Pastor Quinn • September 5, 2021

A Life of Listening to the Word

This week we see that a a God-lived life is A Life of Listening to the Word. Is there a difference between hearing and listening? Three children are playing video games. Their mother says, “It’s time to turn off the television and go clean your room.” The first child just keeps playing. The second child says, “Yes, mother,” and goes to clean his room thinking, “When I do this, then she’ll owe me.” The third child goes and cleans his room because he loves his mother and enjoys doing what makes her happy. All three children heard their mother. Who actually listened?


This week we see that the life of a disciple finds its basis and motivation in the precious gospel message of God’s gifts to us. For the disciple, God’s precious gifts do not merely lead to a life of hearing God’s Word, but to a life of listening to God’s Word. This listening includes joyfully living life according to it.

What Helps In Life Fails in Death

By Pastor Quinn • September 14, 2025
In a sense, prayer comes naturally to us. We want so we ask. We hurt so we cry out. We are frustrated so we vent. We are blessed so we give thanks. Natural! What does not come naturally, however, is a proper understanding of the privilege of prayer. Prayer is a privilege, based entirely on the unique and unearned relationship we have with God, our Father. And the purpose of prayer is really not to tell God what we want, but to claim that which God wants for us. Prayer provides the opportunity to bring our will into conformity with God’s will, not the other way around. This week, we give our undivided attention to what God says about this access we call prayer. Along with Jesus’ disciples we say, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

Count the Cost

By Pastor Quinn • September 7, 2025
This week Jesus’ sharp words expose our desire to pursue comfort and avoid pain at all costs. Jesus explains that following him will be hard. Jesus’ disciples will be called to let go of things they love and embrace things we naturally loathe. Jesus promises that discipleship comes with crosses—a unique type of pain. So, Jesus tells us that we must count the cost of following him. He wants us to do that now, ahead of time, rather than waiting until we are in the heat of the moment and emotions are running high. However, our calculations must not only consider what we might give up for Jesus. They also entail calculating what we get through him! When we perceive the infinite blessings we find in Christ, the decisions we just make, while difficult, will be clear. Whatever is lost as we follow Jesus pales in comparison to what we gain.

The Door is Very Narrow

By Pastor Quinn • August 24, 2025
We tend to think of mission work as being “over there,” something done in a far-away place. It is good and right to support foreign mission work with our prayers and offerings. However, something is off if we allow our appreciation for “over there” mission work to take our eyes off the mission that is right before us. Here is the two-fold reality worthy of our undivided attention this week. First, if we have seen the grace of God, we will serve as witnesses for Christ. Second, we need not cross the ocean to share the gospel. We can simply cross the street. In our various callings— parent or grandparent or sibling, friend or neighbor or coworker—God will provide one opportunity after another to serve as the witnesses Jesus has made us to be. So, let us continue to pray for and support “over there” mission work. But let us also give our undivided attention to the mission that God had placed right before each of us.
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