Morning Encouragement

 Series: Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture | Guarding Your Heart in a Media-Saturated World – Day 6 "Jesus answered, 'It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4, NIV) Good morning, friends! Most of us would never skip a meal without noticing. The hunger would announce itself clearly and we would do something about it. But what about the hunger of the soul? We can go days with barely a verse of Scripture, hours scrolling feeds and watching streams, and somehow not feel the emptiness at all. Today we ask a hard but freeing question: what are we actually feeding on?

Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture | Guarding Your Heart in a Media-Saturated World – Day 5 "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! " (Psalm 119:103, NIV) Good morning, friends! Have you ever come inside from bitter cold to find a warm fire waiting, or sat down to a meal after a long day of hard work and discovered it was exactly what you were hungry for? There is a particular sweetness in the right thing at the right moment. This week we have been honest about what the media-saturated world offers our hearts and minds. Today we turn to consider what God offers instead, and it is far better than anything a screen could deliver.

 Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture | Guarding Your Heart in a Media-Saturated World — Day 4 “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-21) Good morning, friends! Think about the voices competing for your child’s attention right now. The phone on the nightstand. The streaming service with an endless queue. The social media feed that updates every thirty seconds. The video game and online gaming. Every one of those voices is saying something, teaching something, forming something. The question is not whether our children are being discipled by media. The question is whether we are intentional enough to make sure something far better is shaping them at...

 Series: Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture: Guarding Your Heart in a Media-Saturated World – Day 3 “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2, NIV) Good morning, friends! Think about the last time you watched something and found yourself laughing at a joke that, if you had heard it five years ago, would have made you uncomfortable. Or the moment you realized you had sat through an entire scene celebrating something Scripture clearly calls sin and felt nothing at all. That creeping numbness is not a sign of growing sophistication. It is a warning.

Series: Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture – Guarding Your Heart in a Media-Saturated World – Day 2 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23, NIV) Good morning, friends! Think back to the last time you went on a long road trip. Whatever was playing in the car, by the end of the drive, you knew every word. You weren't trying to memorize anything. You weren't studying. You were simply immersed, and immersion formed you. That is exactly what media does, every single day, to every one of us.

Series: Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture: Guarding Your Heart in a Media-Saturated World – Day 1 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8, NIV)