Pastor, Church Communications Guy, Church Website Designer & Blogger
It's day one of a new year. It's also day one of the rest of your life. 2011 is behind us and a clean slate is before us. January 1 is always a day of high hopes and sometimes unrealistic expectations. If you have the idea that this year will be free from any problems, you're already in for a rude surprise. There will be interruptions … [Read more...]
Yesterday, I talked about defining the favor of God, and I defined it as enjoying the undeserved kindness of God. I also said you can spot the favor of God when you see that He has sovereignly chosen to bless something or someone for the purpose of bringing Himself glory. His favor is never for our enjoyment alone - it is always intended … [Read more...]
The phrase "favor of God" seems to be growing in popularity, and I'm glad. It's a biblical phrase - a good phrase. But it's often misunderstood. I once heard a guy talk about finding a parking spot right up front on a busy shopping day because of the "favor of God." I pictured in my mind the pregnant lady with triplets who had to park a … [Read more...]
"I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn't do it." (Luke 9:40 NLT) The disciples had plenty of great experiences to boast about. They were in the inner circle. They had been hanging out with one of Israel's most popular rabbis. But on this day, they were powerless. They had religious solutions to offer, but this … [Read more...]
God is love. We hear that statement but because it has become so cliche, we fail to feel the full weight of it. We, in our unloving and often unloveable finite human minds will never fully comprehend it. And to emulate that which we cannot comprehend is extremely difficult. If only we had a through, biblical description of this word … [Read more...]
My wife pointed out to me a powerful post on the website of People of the Second Chance entitled I am the Vulture. And I am sometimes. A few days ago, I wrote an article about preaching for SermonCentral and in the comments section, someone used the article as an opportunity to make some assumptions about me, and even about one of my … [Read more...]
Even though none of us actually plays by the rules (according to Romans 3:10, 23), we still try rather hard to do so. We've all sinned and fallen short, but in our broken condition, we just keep on plugging away in hopes that in eternity all of our trying and fighting and working will somehow qualify us for heaven in God's eyes. Most … [Read more...]
I've just finished reading the weirdest book I've ever read - Weird by Craig Groeschel... and I'm glad I did. I don't ever want to be normal again. As Craig puts it, "normal isn't working." We've used various terms for the kind of lifestyle Groeschel is calling us to live - sanctified, set apart, separated, consecrated - but the bottom … [Read more...]
Pastor Rick Warren has often said that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and an ounce of pretense is worth a pound of manure." Fake faith is a pet peeve of mine, and it is certainly an issue God addresses rather directly in Scripture. I believe God is serious about it because ultimately, Christianity with pretense hurts … [Read more...]
Men like Chuck Swindoll have a way of articulating profound truths in rather simple statements. In my own mind, I've struggled to figure out how to get the idea across that we need to serve people in order to serve God. In today's insight for living Chuck had this to say... We find it encouraging to think of ourselves as God's … [Read more...]
