in Psalms
Psalm 22: Suffering to the Glory of God
‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ It’s the cry Jesus himself took up on the cross. Thomas tells the story of a Korean pastor’s family, buried alive by their communist captors rather...
Matthew 7:24-27: Build Your House on the Rock
Some of us love danger, Thomas says, the thrill of climbing, guns, mountain biking, while others just endure necessary risks like driving or crossing the road. He works through Jesus’s closing parable of the Sermon...
Matthew 6:11-13: Praying for Man’s Needs (The Lord’s Prayer, Part 3)
Ever known someone who went hypothermic? Thomas asks, describing how the body starts shutting down, stops feeling the cold, and just wants to sleep. He uses that picture of numbed need to open Jesus’s teaching...
Matthew 6:25-34: Do Not Be Anxious
Thomas remembers pulling weeds for hours in his father’s vegetable garden as a kid, especially the notorious dock weed that always seemed to come back. He uses that image to work through Jesus’s command not...
Matthew 6:9b-10: Praying for God’s Glory (The Lord’s Prayer, Part 2)
Imagine you’re captaining a boat with your child aboard when a storm hits and another vessel signals distress, Thomas says, using that impossible choice to frame what it means to pray first for God’s name,...
Matthew 6:19-24: Choose Your Treasure
What would you be willing to do for a million dollars? Thomas asks, pointing out how much we’re prepared to sacrifice, time, relationships, integrity, for something we treasure. He works through Jesus’s teaching on storing...
Matthew 6:9a: Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer (Part 1)
How do you approach someone with real authority over you, someone with the right to take everything you own, even your life? Thomas opens the Lord’s Prayer with that question, setting up just how remarkable...
John 3:19-21: The Light Revealed, Rejected, and Received
Is the world actually a dark place? Thomas asks, pointing out how quickly the facade of goodness falls away under scrutiny. He works through John’s picture of a light entering a world that would rather...
Colossians 1:21-23: Persevere in the Gospel
Nothing is more frightening than thinking you’re saved when you’re not, Thomas says, than believing you’re destined for heaven while actually on the road to hell. He works through Paul’s warning in Colossians 1 about...
Romans 6:12-14: Serve your Real Master
Romans 6 paints a stark picture of two masters and one slave, Thomas says: one cruel and deceptive, working his slaves to nothing with empty promises. He works through Paul’s call to serve the true...
in Easter
Colossians 2:11-15: Buried and Raised With Him
He is risen, he is risen indeed, Thomas says, opening this Easter Sunday service. But what actually makes the resurrection different from any other significant date on the calendar, like ANZAC Day or the moon...
in Easter
Mark 15:16-32: Good Friday Service
Thomas walks through the last 24 hours that led to Jesus standing condemned and beaten before Pilate, before turning to the brutal, unjust scene of the crucifixion itself on this Good Friday service.