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
- Community 1
- Conflict 1
- Cults 1
- Culture 1
- DDM 1
- Death 1
- Discipleship 3
- Emotions 4
- Eternity 2
- Evangelism 6
- Faith 2
- Forgive 2
- Freedom 1
- Fusion 1
- Gather 1
- God 1
- Gospel 2
- 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
The Power of the Minority
One of the things we quickly learn about God is how unpredictable, uncharacteristic, and unorthodox He is. He is so superior and so unique; He refuses to be put in a box. God reminds us that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Isa. 55:8), and “How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Rom. 11:33b). One of His unorthodox ways is His use of the minority.
Hebrews 11: Be Like Moses, Not Mike
Unless Michael Jordan is delivered by Christ (hope he is or will be), he will continue to experience some great short-term gains, but will tragically end with long-term pains. God has graciously allowed us to experience the lesser short-term pains that will always lead to the greater long-term gains that Moses modeled.
Live by Faith
How do we live so that God is NOT ashamed to be called our God? We must live by faith.
There are many tensions that Christians must embrace: loving the world and hating it; citizens of heaven, here as exiles on earth; not conformed to the world but as ambassadors of Christ. About this, G.K. Chesterton writes,
What’s the Key?
Back in 2010, I read an article by Dane Ortlund (senior pastor of Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, Illinois) who posed the following question, “What’s the Key to Healthy Christian Growth in Godliness?” Pastor Dane asked various respondents to keep their answers to a single, short sentence. He then shared the purpose of the exercise: “The purpose of this exercise is not to provide an opportunity to nit-pick but to re-center, refresh, encourage, spur on, help one another.”
By Faith Noah - Hebrews 11
"By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith" (Hebrews 11:7, ESV).
All people live by faith in something, and faith is only as good as the object it's placed in. In Hebrews 11, we learn about men and women who placed their faith in the one and only true God. We read about how they demonstrated the kind of faith that honors God as He worked in their lives. The object of biblical faith is God, and the response of biblical faith is obedience to God and His Word.
Staying Centered
It is so easy to get sidetracked and forget what really matters in life. Our time and lives are full of activities, responsibilities, schedules, and the plethora of endless information that can distract and overwhelm us from staying centered on what keeps us centered. The gospel of Jesus Christ keeps us centered. It is the good news about the Person and work of Jesus Christ on our behalf and how it transforms every aspect of our life.
The Voice of Faith
"By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks" (Hebrews 11:4). The verb “speaks” is a present tense, active voice form. It suggests that Abel’s influence and the lessons we can learn from him have been relevant down through the centuries—even to our own day.
