THE BLOG
Topic
- Anxiety 2
- Beauty 1
- Bible 7
- Blessings 1
- Body of Christ 1
- Burden 1
- CEO 1
- Christian Living 195
- Christlikeness 6
- Christmas 14
- Commandments 1
- Community 2
- Conflict 1
- Cults 1
- Culture 1
- DDM 1
- Death 2
- Discipleship 5
- Emotions 6
- Eternity 2
- Evangelism 7
- Faith 2
- Forgive 4
- Freedom 1
- Fusion 1
- Gambling 1
- Gather 2
- God 2
- Gospel 3
- Gratitude 2
- Hebrews 11 1
- Holiness 1
- Holy Spirit 1
- Homosexuality 1
- Humility 1
- Israel 2
- Jesus 9
- Joy 2
- King of Glory 1
- Lying 1
- Missions 3
- Outreach 1
- Pastor Jeff 1
- Perspective 2
- Prayer 8
- Psalm 119 3
- Reading 1
- Salvation 13
- Sanctification 1
- Satan 1
I Don’t Do
Over the years in ministry, I've heard a number of people say things like "I really don't want to serve in the nursery" or one gal I remember said "I don't do children's ministry." Yes, we have all been gifted uniquely and differently and can find ourselves in a different season of life, but it is God's clear design for His church to function at its best when everyone finds a place to serve the needs of the body.
Are You Able to Do the 10 Things?
I have received the Baptist Press email for years. It is the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention and the largest religious news agency in the U.S. It provides daily news, features, and opinions regarding Southern Baptist missions, ministry, and evangelical concerns globally. One of its features is a daily cartoon by Pastor Joe McKeever, who pastored churches for 60 years, was a missions leader, and is a cartoonist.
Life and Judgement
On Sunday, our passage led us to consider Jesus’ words about “Life and Judgment.” Not only does Jesus speak more about judgment and hell than anyone else in Scripture, but nearly every time He speaks about heaven, judgment is part of the conversation.
The Crisis Beneath the Crisis
Recently I was doing some research on what is often called “mental health” in the United States. I don’t love that term, mostly because it’s so broad that it can mean almost anything, but the data behind it is difficult to ignore.
Work On Your Hate Life
I’m sure the title of this note sounds a bit odd, if not outrageous. But I would submit to you that God commands us to hate and we don’t often think about it. He said, “Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9).
To state the obvious about how most human minds and emotions work, it is easy to hate the evil that others do, but it is much harder to hate the evil we do. In fact, we often play it down and call our evil a weak moment or just a mistake, or worst of all, “I’m only human.”
Do Your Best
Mediocrity seems to be the norm these days. Let’s do enough just to get by at home, at work, in relationships, and even in our walk with God. But while mediocrity may suffice for those living only for the moment, it is totally incompatible with a life devoted to the eternal.
The Word Became Flesh and Attended a Wedding
On Sunday we looked at Jesus’ first sign to manifest His glory in John 2. One element that I wished I was able to spend more time on was Jesus’ humanity.
John starts his Gospel with some of the highest Christology in the Bible: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, ESV). But then, shockingly in v14 he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
The Beauty of Christ’s All-Sufficient Merit: Why Grace Changes Everything for the Weary Soul
We live in a world that constantly attempts to measure worth by achievement, success, and perfection. People are obsessed with earning—earning approval, earning success, earning acceptance and love. Yet it always seems just out of reach. Many of us fall into the trap of thinking we must somehow earn God’s favor, and we’ve become weary from shouldering a burden we were never meant to carry.
Understanding Our Mission Field
Researchers Ryan P. Burge (associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University) and Tony Jones (theologian and outdoorsman) revealed some key takeaways about the American Religious Landscape and The Nones Project. Here are some things we can learn about our mission field.