"And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." - Jesus He said these words. He had the nerve to tell us not to do things to be known or noticed. Have you ever wondered what Jesus might say to us concerning our need for social media? Would he consider it all bad? Would he consider it useful but in need of boundaries? Would he be taking selfies just as much as we are? If you're a follower of Jesus, why do you follow him? When you serve him, what is your greatest hope? We will look at these things as we go through Matthew 6 together. If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

Have you ever been really desperate? Have you hit that place where you don't know what to do and you find yourself crying out to God? If so, do you make audacious statements of facts or polite requests?  We will look at that topic today as Brian takes us through Mark 1:40-41.  If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

Isaiah 53:10 - “Yet the LORD was pleased to crush him severely.” (CSB) Wait! It pleased God to crush Jesus severely? How can this be true? “Pleased” and “crush” seem like two words that can never be put together into one sentence without telling a horrible story. And yet the gospel uses these two words to convey a beautiful and powerful truth. They remind us of a story about God’s amazing grace. If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

How do we make sense of everything that's going on? Wars. Mass shootings. Violence. Racism. Pandemics. Hatred. Poverty. Homelessness. Sickness. Death. How do we make sense of it? And here's the thing: I'm not sure that we can. But we can find hope in the midst of everything going on in the fact that God is still good. And some who read this while looking at the world may wonder how can God still be good in the midst of everything going on? And that's such a fair question. But Psalm 73 brings us up close to someone who had the same frustrations when he looked at everything going on around him who then was comforted when he actually went to God with everything he was feeling. May we do the same as we try to make sense of things. And as we do, we just may receive the hope for today that we need.

When we think of the book of Proverbs we think of wisdom. As we should. But what if the fullness of Proverbs is fully understood when we see that Jesus is wisdom. We look at Proverbs 16:6 today and see Jesus fulfilling what he came to do and what our response should be. Once again the Bible leaves us speechless as we encounter Christ and his cross. If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

Have you arrived? I know it's kind of a vague question but I think it's so important to slow down and answer it. Have you arrived? In your marriage? Career? Education? Parenting? Relationships and friendships? Your walk with God? I was confronted with this question this morning as I spent time with the Lord in 1 Kings 3 + 6. In today's podcast episode we're gonna chat about why it's so important to never truly arrive but rather stay in a place of arriving. This does not mean that we live with the belief that truth is relative or changing. I don't believe that at all. I believe truth is truth and that Jesus, who declared himself to be the truth, has revealed his truth to us through his word. But it's more about my perspective on where I am and what I'm doing being impacted in positive ways by what God reveals as truth. To know that we're on a journey rather than having finished it will keep us teachable and humble to receive God's truth. If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

When you look up in the night sky, what do you hear? Yes, hear. I know that we usually only pay attention to what we see (as we should). But according to the Bible, the heavens are declaring the glories of God. The heavens speak in a universal language that can be heard and understood by everyone on planet earth who has a sense of sight. But then I asked the question, "Do we?" Do we as followers of Jesus "declare" well the glories of God? And so that led to the topic of living out our faith according to truth and then what truth is how does one find it, and... well, you get it. So we will look at the topic of God's glory as well as us bringing God glory through how we live according to what's true. Also, in this episode, I mentioned an article that I found recently. Here's the link for it. Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts about truth, especially if you disagree. You can email me at [email protected]. I would love to start a helpful and respectful discussion with you if you're interested. If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

"Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision." We have a decision to make when fear invites itself into our lives. And so are reminded over and over throughout the Bible, "Don't be afraid." So we pray for boldness and courage. But what if we actually need courage to pray? We know that statement seems outside of what we are used to thinking when we think of prayer. The beauty of prayer is that we can come to God whenever we want with whatever want. But maybe there's something that we're lacking when it comes to praying in a manner worthy of who God is. We will look at this in today's episode of our Ignite City Podcast from 2 Samuel 7:25-29. ALSO, If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

Do you see others with the position of leadership that you wish that you had and therefore believe that you aren't really a leader? Have you been tempted to lead others at the expense of caring for those that you lead? We will look at these things in today's episode of our podcast as we look at a couple more things about leadership. If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.

Have you noticed the number of resources available on the topic of leadership today? Podcasts. YouTube videos. Books. Seminars. TedTalks. Conferences. We are a culture that is consumed with the topic of leadership. Why? Because I believe everyone wants either to be a leader that people are willing to follow or want to follow leaders who are worth following. In this podcast episode, I share some things that stood out to me on the topic of leadership when I read through 1 Samuel 22. But please hear me: I'm not speaking as one who has arrived and is the leader of all leaders. Rather, I'm sharing my thoughts on the topic of leadership as one who is still very much in-process and desiring to grow as a leader, but the kind of leader that Jesus calls us to be. I pray that this is helpful to you. Love you more than you know, Brian PS... If you're not part of the Bible reading plan for Ignite City Church but would like to be, click here and fill out our connect card for Ignite City Church and choose "Please add me to the Bible reading plan on Google Calendar" at the bottom of the form. And to check out everything about the Ignite City Church community, check out our website.