Christians commonly think we can change the culture around us through evangelism or through great individuals. However, culture is primarily changed through communities. Dualism, the separation of the personal and public spheres — the way we often separate our faith from other areas of our lives — prevents us from having a stronger impact upon culture. This talk was given during a leadership training session at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

A recording of the Sunday service after 9/11. Jesus experiences both anger and grief in the face of human suffering. But he also brings about a resurrection; according to the Bible, everything bad will come untrue. Jesus is the perfect Counselor who gives us grace even when he has to suffer for us.

The worship of the living God gives us peace and equilibrium to face the troubles of life. Worship engages our entire being in adoration and brings us to a sense of joy in God’s ravishing beauty.

Seasons of spiritual dryness and disillusionment are inevitable in life, and may derail your faith. They don’t seem to fit with a just and holy God. Psalm 42 offers a prescription for your soul when it seems impossible to feel close to God and sense his lovingkindness.

The church is described as "living stones" to represent it as a deeply interconnected community. We must neither give into culture nor withdraw from culture, but maintain our beliefs while engaging and serving the world. The power to maintain this balance comes from being secure in Christ and united as a church body, with him as our cornerstone.

Christ is spiritually present in the Lord’s Supper. This sacrament is a matchless resource for spiritual growth and the beginning of a new community. This talk was given during a leadership training session at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

Jesus not only saves us from our sins, he weaves us into a new human community. That community is characterized by a reversal of values. When we realize that we are both sinners and saved by grace, we will have freedom from the values that previously defined us, and yet a regard and love for those who don't share our values.

When God forgives of our sins, he assertively initiates the process of reconciliation even before we ask his forgiveness. The essence of God's forgiveness is that he absorbs the debt of our sinfulness upon Himself in Jesus Christ, rather than requiring us to repay the debt through our moral efforts. Because God sees us for who we are in Jesus and not who we are as sinners, we are empowered to become a community that doesn't bear grudges, belittle those who have hurt us, or force people to carry the sins of their past with them forever.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a story about how idolatry erodes community. We often become guilty of idolatry when we place our ultimate desire in getting things from God rather than in God himself. Only when we are captivated by the beauty of the gospel can we be changed by it in such a way that we love God and other people more than ourselves.

Martin Luther said that our whole life should be one of repentance. True repentance happens when we come to our senses about our sinfulness, grieve at the sin itself and not just the negative consequences that result from it, and seek forgiveness first from God and then from those we've hurt. Repentance is vital to the Christian life because it reconnects us more deeply to the truth that our strength comes not from our own record of moral achievement, but from the record of Jesus Christ.