The Unseen Realm By Michael Heiser
I don’t usually start off book reviews like this but I want to encourage you to read Michael Heiser’s “The Unseen Realm.” My typical approach to a review is to tell you what I think about it and then leave you plenty of room to decide if it is something you should or shouldn’t read. […]
Why Do We Exist?
“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when […]
God Works All Things for the Good…
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he […]
Three Gardens
The opening scene of humanity is set in a garden..the perfect place. All is provided. Man and woman in perfect harmony. Naked and unashamed. God walking with man and woman…unhindered. Enter serpent, temptation, the desire to be like God…tranquility broken…unashamed no more. Sin had entered into the world starting in a garden and so…like all […]
The Unusual Question the Sailors Asked Jonah and What it Tells Us About God
Read these verses from Jonah 1:4-8 and see if you pick up on the unusual question they ask Jonah, Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. […]
One Thing More Fearful Than Our Fear of Death
Genesis 3:1-7, Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but […]
What is it We are Pursuing?
If you were to ask yourself that question what would your answer be? If your church members answered that question what would their answer be? How about church staff/elders? If a visitor walked in the doors of your church what would they, after spending some time with you, say your church is pursuing? If they […]
Psalm 146 – A God We Can Trust
Psalm 146 1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. 2 I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very […]
Imitating Christ Doesn’t Mean We Do it Perfectly
One of the joys and horrors of having kids is to see them imitate you. There are times when kid’s imitation is the cutest thing ever and there are times their imitation teaches you a lot about yourself and things you need to change. I love seeing my boys play with their tools. They get […]
God is Up to Something…
and it is important that we recognize it. Once we recognize what is happening, it is important that we celebrate it. When we do that people begin to connect ministry and worship with real life. Too often worship can feel like it happens in a vaccuum, in a disconnect from the rest of our Monday […]