THE BLOG
Category
Topic
- Anxiety 2
- Beauty 1
- Bible 4
- Blessings 1
- Body of Christ 1
- Burden 1
- CEO 1
- Christian Living 91
- Christlikeness 6
- Christmas 9
- Commandments 1
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- Conflict 1
- Cults 1
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- DDM 1
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- Emotions 4
- Eternity 2
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- Faith 2
- Forgive 2
- Freedom 1
- Fusion 1
- Gather 1
- God 1
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- Gratitude 1
- Hebrews 11 1
- Holiness 1
- Holy Spirit 1
- Homosexuality 1
- Humility 1
- Israel 2
- Jesus 5
- Joy 2
- King of Glory 1
- Lying 1
- Missions 1
- Outreach 1
- Pastor Jeff 1
- Perspective 2
- Prayer 7
- Psalm 119 3
- Reading 1
- Salvation 13
- Sanctification 1
- Satan 1
- Scripture 2
6 Things Everyday
I read a summary excerpt by Justin Taylor about J.I. Packer’s renowned chapter on adoption in his classic book, Knowing God. This is a book I read in high school that significantly opened my eyes to understanding the God I was learning to serve, love, and worship. I can’t recommend it enough as one of those classics that all believers should consider reading.
Whose Fool Are You?
I am not aware of anyone normal who is amenable to being called a “fool” or “foolish.” Those words are offensive and pejorative terms that can easily trigger outrage and strife. But truthfully and sadly, all of us have acted like fools and displayed foolishness as sinners who needed and still need God’s saving wisdom in our lives.
Feeling Inadequate?
Remember this life-enriching truth: “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant” (2 Corinthians. 3:5–6a).
What If We Disagree?
I read an excellent article the other day, Your Conscience on a Spectrum (and a Flowchart) by Bobby Jamieson. He shares some important truths about how we handle believers with differing convictions. He provides a helpful flowchart he calls “How Not to Judge” as a visual that helps us think through how we can resolve disagreements with other brothers and sisters about sin and personal convictions.
Is Grace That Amazing?
The word “amazing” is an adjective that we use to describe something we think is astonishing, astounding, eye-opening, jaw-dropping, stunning, or stupefying. The problem in our day and age is the effect of the law of diminishing returns…nothing really amazes us. We have been so over-exposed by instant access to everything “spectacular” that we shrug off the truly amazing as ordinary and commonplace.
No Downside to Gratitude
It turns out that being thankful can have many positive health effects: more intimate and connected relationships, less depression, diminished likelihood of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, more motivation and engagement, better sleep, and overall mental well-being. So says Dr. Gail Saltz, psychoanalyst and assistant attending physician at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Medical Center and clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Keep Your Fork!
Keep your fork??? Stay tuned. The end of the story is the whole point of the story. It is fascinating how Hollywood is obsessed with sequels, but in God’s four-act story of the universe, there are no sequels and everything leads to the finale.
What a Question!
Are you willing to do for the truth what the cults do for a lie? Ever heard this question? Ever stopped to contemplate its implications for your life? If we truly have the only gospel truth that can rescue us from eternal danger (and we do) and Satan is committed to spreading his damning lies through false religion (and he does), then what does that mean about our witness? Are we willing to allow Satan’s evangelists to out-share us?
Fret Not
I read Psalm 37 on Wednesday as part of my daily reading this week. Though I have read this psalm many times before, something was different this time. It came to life in a fresh way, perhaps due to how much of the news seems to progressively reveal the endless ways depravity is leaking out into our world.
