Wheaton Bible Church

David's sin with Bathsheba—and all that came after—is a warning to us all, Pastor Rob says, of the potential for wickedness that exists within the human heart, and how easily compromise and cover-up can culminate in extraordinary evil

As we continue our studies on the life of David, Pastor Lon now introduces us to "the David we don't want to meet" — the David whose sin will have devastating consequences for this great king, his family, and the people God called him to lead.

When David decides it's time to build a house for God, he learns that God's plan for us is not about what we can do for Him but what He—in His limitless power and love—will do for us: surrounding us with His presence and flooding our lives with His grace.

There is nothing in life, Pastor Lon says, that matters as much as getting God right, And at the center of "getting God right" is a right understanding of how we are to approach Him: in awe-struck worship.

The tumultuous story of David's ascent to the throne as king over Israel offers us important lessons about power—its potential and its peril—and how it can bring good or evil into our own life and the lives of others.

Some of the changes that come into our lives are positive, but many are unwanted—even painful. There were elements of both in the critical transition that David faced upon the deaths of King Saul and Saul's son, Jonathan. In David's experience we find important lessons on how we can better face difficult turning points in our own lives.

The Scriptures that follow the telling of the Christmas story hold a truth that can transform worry into peace. It's the peace we all need, Pastor Phil Shields says, as the challenges and opportunities of a new year loom before us.

Pastor Rob Bugh explains that we are like a child who opens a beautiful Christmas present, but focuses instead on playing with the box. We concentrate on “horizontal” peace, looking for relational peace, international peace, and a life without longing, but ignore the “vertical” peace the angels announced on Christmas—the best gift ever given.

We have a "peace problem," Pastor Rob says. Our world is peace starved, and in the heart of each person is a hunger for peace. The good news of the Christmas story is that peace can be found—peace we can experience no matter our health, our finances, our relationships, or any other circumstances in our lives.

There is a way, Pastor Lon Allison says, that we can experience the "Peace on Earth" that the angels announced on the night of Jesus birth. In this message he shares two truths that will lead us from lives of stress and tension to the inner peace we crave.

As we seek to experience "Peace on Earth" this Christmas, Pastor Rob reminds us of the key to bringing peace in our relationships with those who share our workplaces, our homes, our neighborhoods, and other areas of our lives—by releasing the most potent force in the universe.

With turmoil raging globally, nationally, and for many people, personally, the idea of “Peace on Earth” seems unrealistic, if not impossible. But the angels spoke the truth, Pastor Lon tells us, and the peace they proclaimed on that first Christmas night can be ours—both now and forever.

When life goes wrong—when problems multiply and solutions are elusive—where do you turn? When David found himself in that kind of "wilderness" situation and it appeared that all was lost, he turned to God. There he found the kind of compassion, generosity, and grace that can radically transform our wilderness and also give us hope to enter the wilderness of others.

Even David, who was destined to be Israel's greatest King, faced significant disappointment in his life. But even though he gave into discouragement and took his eyes off God's plan, David's experience teaches us important lessons about God and how we can respond to difficult circumstances in our own lives.

Being wronged by another person can be one of life's most difficult circumstances—especially for those who seek to live lives of obedience to God. In the story of David, we find a man who knew the extremes of what it means to be treated unfairly, but who refused to repay evil for evil and instead extended grace to those who wronged him.

There are moments in our lives Pastor Rob says, when we get fearful, even desperate. David experienced that kind of desperate fear as he ran for his life from a murderously angry King Saul, and in David's story Rob identifies the truth that will transform us when our own fears threaten to overwhelm.

Guest speaker Dr. Amy Sherman is an author and strategist who is one of the leading thinkers among evangelicals in the area of faith-based community development. In our second week of MissionsFest, she explains how entire communities are blessed when God's people are passionately committed to His purposes in the communities where they live.

Dr. David Garrison, Global Strategist for Evangelical Advance with the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board talks about those areas of the world that are the most unreached today with the Gospel of Christ—yet God is doing utterly amazing things in those places. He shares stories from China, India, and the Middle East, contending that God is fulfilling the words found in Habakkuk 1:5; by doing “something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

In the story of a group of distressed and discontented misfits who became David's mighty army, Pastor Lon Allison finds parallels to God's mighty warriors today and to the One David foreshadowed Who brings the ultimate victory and peace to a lost and broken world.

In the friendship of David and Jonathan, Pastor Hanibal Rodriguez finds a picture of what godly friendship looks like and explores some of the barriers that keep us from experiencing the kind of friendships God wants for us.