“Live in such a way that it requires a Jesus explanation for why you do (live that way).” Does that make you stop and think? There are people who don’t believe in Jesus but attend church, offer help and serve others in need, give to charities, read the Bible, and in general are very nice… Continue Reading What has changed?
The empty tomb of Jesus is so critical to the doctrine of the Christian faith that without it, there is no reason to trust in or follow Jesus. Everything hangs together or falls apart on the reality and truth of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, never to die again. The resurrection is the… Continue Reading The resurrection is the validation
We wear them as jewelry, have them tattooed on our bodies, we place them in our churches and more; there are crosses everywhere. Sanitized, glittering and precious to us are the crosses with which we surround ourselves. The almost 2000 years since Christ hung on a cross have removed the horrid spectacle of Roman crucifixion. … Continue Reading Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
After service this morning, someone shared with me what would bring them the greatest happiness (Biblical definition) or blessing. It would be that their loved ones would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ the Lord. This is what they would place in the bag I shared in Sunday’s sermon. This dovetails with… Continue Reading It’s in the bag – or is it?
One of the things that stood out to our teens from the sermon Sunday was the percentage of senior pastors who had a Biblical worldview – only 41% –according to research by George Barna. Doesn’t that amaze you also? I asked our teens who thought they had a Biblical worldview, and almost to a person they… Continue Reading Live out a Biblical worldview
Living your own truth would be a great thing if it was possible to establish and determine unchanging, absolute truth for yourself. But Jesus didn’t affirm your ability to determine truth because He knows we are all flawed individuals, which means we don’t always get it all right. What we want to claim as our… Continue Reading Time for a change?
Believing in yourself is something Jesus never said. Looking inside yourself for the answers to the big questions of life (who am I, why am I here, where am I going, how does all this end) will be a fruitless search. In the same way, looking inside yourself for answers to the guilt, shame and… Continue Reading Who to believe in: a matter of life and death
We are told today to “be true to yourself.” Yet this is never the counsel of Jesus. In preparing to preach through this for Sunday, I looked for a guide to “be true to yourself.” And what I found is that there are so many of these guides. One of them gives a six-step process… Continue Reading Be true to yourself – through Christ
An idol is anything (attitude, person, thing) that we allow to pre-empt our worship of God. An idol is anything we chase for our satisfaction and purpose in life more than God. So we need to ruthlessly and completely tear down and eliminate any idols that are in our lives or that we are tempted… Continue Reading Idols will not lead you to God — only back toward bondage
