Why do we crave the very things that destroy us? You want things you shouldn't have — things that hurt your body and your soul — and the question is why. In this study of James 1, Dr. Toby Holt traces the anatomy of temptation to its real source. The problem is not chiefly outside us; it is the disordered desire within. "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'... but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed" (James...

Is it okay to ask God "why"? In this bonus study from Job 10, Dr. Toby Holt asks a question every hurting believer has felt: is it allowed to bring God our raw, grief-filled "why"? Job, the most righteous man on earth, tells God plainly that he loathes his life and wants to know why God is contending with him. God is big enough to receive our honest laments — asking "why" in our pain does not mean God loves us less. Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, David, and Paul all...

What does Jesus do with the guilty? She was guilty, and no one — not even she — denied it. In this study of John 8:1-11, Dr. Toby Holt frames the scene around what he calls the "divine dilemma": God is good, but you are not; God is just, but you are guilty — so how can a holy Judge forgive sinners without ceasing to be just? The scribes and Pharisees drag a woman caught in adultery before Jesus as a trap, demanding a verdict. But Jesus turns the trap: "He who is...

Does what you do with your life really matter to God? Standing beneath a sky of tens of thousands of stars, King David marveled at the heavens and asked, "What is man that You are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4). In this study of Psalm 8, Dr. Toby Holt sets the scale: God is not a little greater than us but infinitely greater — and yet this towering God stoops to care for creatures as small as us. He made us in His own image, crowned mankind "with glory and honor,"...

What has God called His people to do? In Matthew 9-10, Jesus sees the crowds, has compassion, and sends out laborers into the harvest. In this sermon, Dr. Toby Holt explores the directions Christ gives His disciples — and the tasks He entrusts to us. Questions this sermon answers: 1. What is the harvest field? The world full of lost people. Jesus says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 2. Why did Christ send the disciples without provisions? To...