Is the Chruch Relevant Today? With Brian Anderson

Devotional

Day 1: One Word Over Waves

Peter stepped out of the boat when Jesus said “Come.” Waves slapped his legs. Salt spray stung his eyes. Yet while his gaze held Jesus’ face, water became solid beneath his sandals. The moment he noticed the storm’s fury, he sank. But that single word – “Come” – had carried supernatural power. [41:32]

Jesus’ commands contain the power to fulfill them. Peter didn’t need perfect faith – just enough to obey the word given. When God speaks, His voice carries provision within the instruction. The storm didn’t cease, but Peter’s feet received what they needed.

Where is Jesus saying “Come” to you? What step have you delayed because you’re calculating risks instead of clinging to His word? Name one area where you’ll choose to fix your eyes on His promise rather than the chaos. What storm distracts you from His voice today?

“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”
(Matthew 14:31, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to highlight His specific “Come” for you this week – then thank Him for the strength embedded in His command.
Challenge: Write “COME” on your palm. Each time you see it, take one literal step forward while whispering “I trust Your word.”

Day 2: Unspotted, Not Untouched

James defines true religion: caring for orphans and widows while staying unspotted by the world. Jesus ate with tax collectors yet never compromised holiness. He entered stinking tombs and handled lepers’ sores, yet sin found no foothold in Him. [01:07:24]

Holiness isn’t isolation – it’s infection control. Like a surgeon entering disease to heal, we guard our hearts while engaging brokenness. The church falters when it either wallows in sin or walls itself off from sinners.

Identify someone in your orbit who feels “untouchable” – the coworker with polarizing views, the neighbor with messy struggles. How can you engage without absorbing their dysfunction? When did you last risk contamination to offer Christ’s cleansing?

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
(James 1:27, NIV)

Prayer: Confess areas where you’ve either compromised with sin or avoided sinners. Request courage to touch lives without being soiled.
Challenge: Buy groceries for a struggling single parent. Deliver them in person with no sermon – just “God sees you.”

Day 3: Table With Tax Collectors

Pharisees sneered as Jesus ate with Matthew’s corrupt friends. He didn’t endorse their theft, but neither did He withhold His presence. Between bites of roasted lamb, He spoke forgiveness. Hope entered where sermons couldn’t. [01:09:05]

Meals disarm defenses. Jesus knew shared food builds bridges no argument can cross. The church loses relevance when it shouts truth from a distance instead of breaking bread on enemy turf.

Who repels you? Whose lifestyle or beliefs make your stomach clench? Invite them for coffee – not to debate, but to discover their story. What Kingdom opportunity have you missed by preferring pulpits over picnic tables?

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’”
(Matthew 9:10-11, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for sitting at your table despite your sin. Ask Him to give you His compassion for one “unworthy” soul.
Challenge: Share a meal with someone outside your church circle. Listen twice as much as you speak.

Day 4: Muddy Waters, Straight Edge

Satan mixed lies with truth for Eve: “Did God really say…?” He still blurs lines – whispering that gray areas don’t matter. But creation’s binary remains: light separated from dark, land from sea, male from female. God’s Word stays the plumb line. [01:16:36]

Compromise often starts with “just a little” – adjusting truth to fit culture’s curve. But a bent ruler can’t measure straight. When society redefines sin, the church must hold Scripture high, even as we hold doors wide.

Where have you allowed cultural opinions to sand down God’s clear commands? What issue tempts you to say “It’s complicated” when the Bible speaks plainly? How might standing firm actually deepen your love for strugglers?

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
(Genesis 1:1-2, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to expose any areas where you’ve accepted a crooked ruler. Thank Him for the gift of clear boundaries.
Challenge: Read Genesis 1 aloud. Circle every binary (light/dark, etc). Thank God for His order.

Day 5: Tenths and Trust

Tithing tests where we anchor security. That first 10% given feels like losing ground – until you discover God multiplies the 90% like loaves and fishes. The altar, not the account, becomes the source. [39:56]

Money mirrors our heart’s throne. Jesus watches the widow’s mites, not the Pharisee’s surplus. He honors surrendered scraps over hoarded stockpiles. Each tithe whispers, “You’re my provider, not this paycheck.”

What financial fear grips you? Where do you cling to control “just in case” God fails? How might releasing the tithe actually free you from anxiety’s undertow?

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven.”
(Malachi 3:10, NIV)

Prayer: Confess any area where you’ve trusted money over God. Ask Him to convert your anxiety into anticipation.
Challenge: If you don’t tithe, give 10% this week. If you do, add 1% as a “trust stretch.” Record the spiritual/emotional results.

Sermon Summary

Trust names tithing not as a formula but as a first step that trains a heart to believe God’s care. Doubt may sit deep, especially where betrayal has scarred trust, yet faith moves by deciding, not waiting for feelings to change. Jesus meets that first step with proof, again and again, that he is able to provide. Giving becomes a way to look at Jesus, not at fear.

Peter’s moment on the water pictures this. His request, “Bid me to come,” shows that one word from Jesus carries enough faith and power to walk where no one can walk. Focus holds him up. Distraction sinks him. The call is simple and pointed: take one step toward Jesus and keep eyes on him. Even giving must be handed to Jesus, not to a box, a website, or a brand. Put the gift in his hands and obey if he redirects it.

The church then faces the question of relevance in the world’s eyes. The world often sees old, inconsistent, lazy, divided. Denominational lines and doctrinal whiplash hide Jesus. Unity matters more than labels. If the church will resonate with people who are not in the church, it cannot dodge the real questions of the day. LGBTQ questions, gender, sex, race, politics, even UFOs are already shaping lives. Hard topics do not require universal agreement. Disagreement need not be insult.

Love refuses a holiness that is too clean to get near real people. Pure religion visits orphans and widows and keeps unspotted. Jesus eats with known sinners while calling out hardened religion. Loving a neighbor sits close, listens, speaks truth, and stays clean.

Worldview steers all this. Created or chance is not an academic choice. A view of divine creation anchors value and accountability, so that a hurting person is seen as “somebody’s baby,” not a problem to avoid. The enemy works to blur that moral vision by diverting, distracting, and mixing lies with truth until everything melts into an endless sea of gray. God’s word stands as the moral straightedge and the compass. With Scripture in hand, a believer can love without bending, converse without caving, and name right and wrong without pretending shades of gray are light.

Key Takeaways

1. Tithing trains the heart to trust Tithing becomes a concrete yes to God where doubt once ruled. Action builds confidence as provision meets obedience, and fear loses its leverage. The point is not a formula but a focus on Jesus with a gift placed in his hands. Trust grows as the first step is taken. [40:19]
2. Jesus’ word enables risky obedience Peter does not move until Jesus says, “Come,” and that word carries the power to walk on what should drown him. Authority resides in Jesus’ voice, not in human courage. Eyes fixed on him sustain what starts by his command; eyes on the wind undo it. Obedience stands on his word, not on outcomes. [41:48]
3. Hard conversations require a firm compass Relevance demands engaging the topics people actually carry, without demanding agreement to begin talking. Disagreement is not hostility, and patient listening can open a door truth never finds when shouted from a distance. A Scriptural compass keeps the soul from drifting while love keeps the chair pulled up at the table. Courage and clarity belong together. [65:46]
4. Scripture straightens a gray world The enemy muddies truth by mixing it with lies and erasing clear lines until everything feels negotiable. God’s word functions like a straightedge that reveals the curve and a compass that points home. Without it, conscience gets gamed by endless nuance. With it, mercy and conviction can both speak with weight. [76:36]
5. Love people more than comfort Jesus shares meals with sinners while calling religious hardness to account. Holiness is not distance; it is presence without compromise. James ties compassion to purity, holding both sides of faith together. Proximity often costs comfort, but it is where love does its work. [70:29]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[39:08] - Offering: trust over formula
[40:19] - First step: tithe in faith
[41:48] - Power in one word: Come
[42:08] - Eyes on Jesus, not waves
[43:05] - Give to Jesus, not boxes
[56:44] - Baby announcement and intro
[57:37] - Is the church relevant today?
[58:15] - Old, inconsistent, divided reputations
[65:46] - Point 1: hard conversations
[67:39] - Not too holy to love
[70:29] - Point 3: love, don’t avoid
[76:36] - God’s word: moral straightedge
[78:31] - Point 2: resist blurred lines

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
- Matthew 14:28-31 (ESV): And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
- James 1:27 (ESV): Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
- Matthew 22:37-39 (ESV): And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Observation questions

What did Peter ask Jesus to do before stepping out of the boat, and what happened when he shifted his focus? (Matthew 14:28-31)
According to James 1:27, what two actions define “pure religion”?
In the sermon, what practical example was given about how to approach giving financially? [43:05]
What topics did the sermon identify as “shaping lives” today that the church must engage with? [58:15]

Interpretation questions

Why might Peter have needed Jesus’ direct command (“Come”) before stepping onto the water? What does this reveal about the relationship between Jesus’ word and our ability to obey?
How does the idea of “keeping oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27) coexist with the call to “visit orphans and widows” in messy, real-life situations?
The sermon argues that disagreement does not equal hostility. How can this perspective help believers navigate conversations about controversial topics like politics or gender? [01:06:26]
Why does the enemy seek to blur moral lines into “an endless sea of gray,” and how does Scripture counteract this? [01:16:36]

Application questions

What is one area of your life where fear or distraction is causing you to “sink” instead of keeping your eyes on Jesus? What practical step could you take this week to refocus?
How could you intentionally engage someone this week who holds a radically different view from yours on a sensitive topic (e.g., politics, faith, ethics) while still loving them? [01:05:46]
Tithing was described as a “first step” to train trust. If financial giving feels risky, what small act of obedience could you start with to grow your confidence in God’s provision? [40:19]
When you encounter a person whose choices or lifestyle you disagree with, how might remembering “that’s somebody’s baby” change your posture toward them? [01:13:43]
What is one cultural issue (e.g., race, sexuality, technology) you’ve avoided discussing because it feels uncomfortable? How could studying Scripture prepare you to address it with both clarity and kindness?
Where have you noticed “shades of gray” creeping into your own moral decisions? How might you use God’s Word as a “straightedge” to regain clarity this week? [01:16:36]

Sermon Clips

30s

“``That moral straight edge is god's word. It's the Bible and the church has stood on it for a long long time even though they've caved in number of areas. That is your moral straight edge and that is your compass. You know, god has us clear views in the Bible on certain things, certain topics, and our society and our culture today challenges a lot of that. You know, we can stand firm and still have the conversation. We can.”

43s

“It's all just muddied together. There's no binary. There's no heaven. There's no hell. It's just an endless sea of gray. It's just all muddied together into an endless sea of gray. That's what he's trying to accomplish with your and I's minds. That's the distraction, and that's the deception. And without a moral straightedge, it gets really hard to see the crooked stuff. You don't have a compass. So what is that moral straightedge? How do you see the crooked if you don't have a moral straight edge? You can't.”

32s

“trusting God is something I really struggled with too, and this is an area where I really did struggle. You know, I wanted to I wanted to trust god. I wanted to really believe the scripture. I wanted to believe he would take care of me and provide for me and all the things that I hear. I really wanted to believe that, but deep in my heart, I really just didn't. You know, there was that doubt. There was that hesitancy. And, you know, I'm not in that place anymore because I took the first step.”

39s

“I think the world looks at the church, and they see a lot of lazy. Are you willing to help me? I need help. Would you come to a place, a body, or a congregation or a place to get help if you believed they weren't willing to help you? No. Why would you? Why waste your time? You wouldn't. I think a lot of folks see the church as lazy and unwilling to help. They see unity or division. They see the church as divided.”

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Is the Chruch Relevant Today? With Brian Anderson | 05.17.2026