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  • The Book of Job: Our Righteousness - Job 29-34

    The Book of Job: Our Righteousness - Job 29-34
    2026/08/30
    If you were standing in a courtroom with the Lord - discussing the merits of your life - what would you do? Where would you turn? What would your best argument be? Job, having lost everything - and having done nothing to deserve it - continues his back and forth with God. Though his friends question him and raise their doubts, Job remains focused on addressing God and wrestling with Him as he tries to make sense of his life. Job never curses God. The biblical text explicitly states that Job does not sin or charge God with wrongdoing through his trials. When we go through trials, challenges, suffering - how do we consider God? Is our foundation set? Do we know Him to always do what is right? Join us as we continue our journey with Job. -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    31 分
  • The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy - Ch. 28

    The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy - Ch. 28
    2026/08/23
    Job 28 is one of the most beautiful chapters in our Bibles. It is a pause, a break, a soliloquy. For 25 chapters, Job and his friends have been going back and forth. As he is barraged by his friend’s accusations, Job defends himself and his honor - denying any wrongdoing. Job 28 comes out of nowhere. The text does nothing to make it clear whether chapter 28 is a part of Job’s discourse, or if it is instead a poetic interlude, or the narrator’s own reflection on wisdom. But it is beautiful, and begs the question - “Where can wisdom be found?” In the midst of our woes, our questions, doubting and defense, we need wisdom. We need to know how to discern what is true and what is false. Job 28 takes us on a winding journey, but ends with a definitive statement about wisdom that we need to hear. Join us this Sunday! -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    42 分
  • The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy – Job’s Friends

    The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy – Job’s Friends
    2026/08/16
    When your friends are in crisis, what do you do? In the case of Job, after tragedy had befallen him, his friends showed up for him. Their initial reaction was commendable. They wept with him, mourned with him, tore their clothes and wept with him. They sat with him in silence for seven days and seven nights. They were, in every sense, with their friend. Their presence was what was needed. But it didn’t take long before his friends changed their strategy. Upon seeing the depth of despair that Job was in, they begin to try to fix the problem. The first order of business was determining where to assign blame. Someone must be responsible for this. In our own lives – we will be called upon to offer something to those in trouble. What will we bring? What will our posture be? Can we trust God, and wait on Him, even in desperate times? -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    30 分
  • Mission Sunday - The Mission – Loving God & Loving Others

    Mission Sunday - The Mission – Loving God & Loving Others
    2026/08/09
    Join us this Sunday as we remember the commission that Jesus gave His disciples. At the conclusion of our service we will also have the opportunity to hear from those who went on this year’s mission trip to Puerto Rico. The mission left behind by Jesus for His disciples to follow is multifaceted. Matthew 28 records the simple message that we are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands. In Acts 1, Luke records Jesus saying that we are to His witnesses, first in Jerusalem, then Judea & Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. Of course, Jesus gives us many more directives about how to go about doing this. Join us this Sunday as we remember the heart of Jesus’ mission for us – and to celebrate the good that comes when we follow Him ‘to the ends of the earth.’ -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    45 分
  • Whispering Pines – Community Sunday - Return to the Blessing

    Whispering Pines – Community Sunday - Return to the Blessing
    2026/08/02
    “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” – Num. 6:24-26 This Community Sunday we are going to gather together to reflect on what was understood to be the greatest blessing known in the Old Testament. This blessing was given to Aaron, the priest, and his sons, to be used as a verbal blessing over the people of God. The blessing – was that God would see you, turn His face toward you, look at you. It’s interesting how much this thought has changed in our minds. How many children have been warned that “God is always watching you,” or that “He sees everything that you do!”? The gaze of God, intended to be a blessing, is now often used as a threat, a warning. How can we recover our understanding of God? How can we remember that His presence is a blessing? Join us this Community Sunday as we explore the deep human need that we have to know and be known by God – for God to see us as we are. -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    25 分
  • The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy

    The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy
    2026/07/19
    This week we move from one difficult book to another. In Ecclesiastes we dealt with a number of issues that are universal to the human experience: The inability of worldly pleasures to satisfy us, and the tension that exists in a world where the wicked seem to fare just as well as those who strive to do good. We saw a man who acquired things, great wealth, family, possessions and positions. We saw him flounder, finding everything, ultimately, to be meaningless, a chasing after the wind. He deemed only one thing to be worthwhile, obedience to God. Now, we turn to Job. A man who had everything – and lost it. It’s here that we find a deep-rooted and practical theodicy – a theology of suffering. When bad things happen to us – we ask the same question that Job and all of his friends were asking: Why? We ask this question, not into the void – but to God. Join us as we explore Ecclesiastes’ opposite. -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    27 分
  • The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy – Job 1 & 2

    The Book of Job: Practical Theodicy – Job 1 & 2
    2026/07/26
    Do we see God as He is? Or as we wish Him to be? At the beginning of the book of Job, we are introduced to a man named Job who is blameless and upright. He fears God and turns away from sin. He loves the Lord and enjoys His many blessings. The question is raised: Does Job do so, only because he has not suffered? And then… God allows every good thing in Job’s life to be taken away. The Book of Job is a dramatic irony. We know the story better than the characters in the story do. We see everything going on in heaven and on earth, but the characters don’t know anything. The point is to read this book and feel driven to yell at the characters – Why don’t you get it? Why don’t you understand? This book, like no other, lets us behind the curtain to see God more clearly. It is intended to frustrate us in terms of the humans in the story. Then something in ourselves and our limited perspective can be revealed. Join us as we continue this epic story of Job. -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    25 分
  • Ecclesiastes - Chasing After the Wind - Chapters 6-12

    Ecclesiastes - Chasing After the Wind - Chapters 6-12
    2026/07/12
    The second half of Ecclesiastes repeats many of the same themes from the first – but it does so in a way that leads to its ultimate conclusion. The book has a lot to say about all that is not worthy of our time – our attention – our drive. In this way, it is a “negative” book in that it highlights many of the problems and shortcomings in our lives. But – at the end, Solomon, Qoholet, the author of our book, comes to the conclusion that there is one thing that is not, is never, meaningless vanity – obedience to God. That is something that we would all agree with, at least on paper. Whether we live that out in our lives is another thing entirely. But this is why Ecclesiastes was written – in the hopes that we could learn from someone who tried it all and was left wanting. Join us for our conclusion to this tremendous Old Testament book! -Pastor Nate Roschen
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    27 分