Wheaton Bible Church

In 1 Samuel 18, the relationship between David and King Saul takes a serious turn for the worse as envy poisons Saul's heart. From the story of Saul's life Pastor Rob explores the damage envy can cause if left unchecked and points us to the antidote to envy that can rescue us from this destructive emotion.

The story of David and Goliath offers the obvious moral lesson that "David took on his giant and I can too." But Pastor Rob explores deeper and ultimately more important principles in this story that have great significance to each of us today.

The story of Saul—one of the most sober but most helpful stories in the Bible—shows us a man of great promise and power who self-destructed because fear and insecurity led to a failure to take God seriously.

David, the forgotten son, points us to Jesus, the greater forgotten son who became small to rescue us from our appearance addiction.

Independence and self-sufficiency—characteristics celebrated in our culture—are the very things that can keep us from fully investing ourselves in community with God's people, the Church. But in Philippians chapter 2, we discover the key to a whole new way of living in unity and service toward others—not focused on ourselves and our own needs but humbly committed to living in community with others.

We say yes to community because community is the very thing for which we were created.

In Psalm 23, we discover what the shepherding love of God for His people looks like—loving, gentle, intimate, sacrificial, and all-sufficient to meet every need of defenseless sheep, who are sometimes overcommitted, often arrogant and self-centered, prone to wander, and daily in need of His grace.

God knows we live in a sinful, fallen, and broken world. For that reason He has given us Psalm 88, so we can navigate life—and so we can help others—when things go terribly wrong, when the lights go out and life gets dark. In this message, Pastor Rob shares four things this psalm teaches us about trouble and three ways we should respond when trouble threatens to overwhelm.

At this moment, we may be experiencing the heights of hope. But it's just as likely that today or sometime soon we could find ourselves in the depths of despair, knocked down by fear and anxiety, or by the sorrow of loss, abandonment, false accusation, or possibly suffering the consequences of personal failure or wrong choices we've made. Whatever our reality is right now, the confident affirmations of Psalm 27 can raise us up as they turn our eyes and our hearts to God and His unfailing love.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. There is no scale or measurement to quantify His great love for us. Community Life Pastor Ted Coniaris encourages us to ever praise and never forget what He has done for us and how He loves us.

Psalm 46, Pastor Lon reminds us, brings the consolation and clarity we need when the circumstances of life seem out of control. Whether our world is being rocked by natural disaster, nations in chaos, or personal crisis or loss, the message of the psalmist brings rest in times of trouble to God's people.

Envy. Anger. Doubt. Pastor Rob tells us what we can learn from the psalmist Asaph who experienced those feelings and doubted God but still placed his trust in Him. It's a story of redemption and grace in the life of a believer who almost lost His faith.

"The Psalms," says pastor Rob Bugh, "are David's spiritual journal of his walk with God." As we begin a series examining David's faith as expressed in the Psalms, Rob Bugh outlines the five marks of authentic faith as reflected in Psalms 63 and challenges us to exhibit the faith of David.

As Jesus was on trial for his life in the court of the high priest, His disciple Peter was facing a trial of his own in the courtyard below. Examining the verses in Mark 14 where these trials are recorded raises the question of what our own response might be when faced with this kind of testing: will we protect ourselves like Peter or will we surrender, as Jesus did, in obedience to God's purpose and plan?

Who or what do you love? That's the question Pastor Hanibal Rodrigues asks his listeners to consider as he examines three examples of extravagant love found in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14: Mary's love of Jesus, Judas' love of money, and Jesus' love for us.

In Mark 13, Jesus shares with His disciples an ominous picture of the future—a time when it might appear that the entire world is spinning out of control. But along with that ominous prophecy of what is to come, Jesus illuminates the source of a confident and certain hope that will empower His followers to persevere through whatever trials may come.

In the closing verses of Mark chapter 12, Jesus warns his listeners not to be like the pompous and proud religious leaders of His day, who never recognized Who He was. Instead, He says, be like the poor widow, in whose example we can find the antidote to our fearfulness and the cure for our inability to fully put our trust in God.

In Mark 12, Jesus makes two statements that get to the core of what life is all about. Embracing these two simple, yet profound statements, and the principles they define, says Pastor Rob, will enable us to avoid meaningless effort and live purposeful, God-focused lives.

When you reject the beautiful grace of God, you will eventually face His just judgment. That's one reminder of many Pastor Phil teaches as he encourages us to destroy sin and cling to a holy God.

In the economy of God's Kingdom, the last are first, the weak are strong, and the greatest must first become the least. That isn't what Jesus' disciples were expecting to hear when they asked Him to reserve places of honor for them when He comes to reign in power and glory. His words to them—and to disciples today—radically redefine greatness as service not status, giving not gaining.