THE BLOG
Topic
- Anxiety 2
- Beauty 1
- Bible 7
- Blessings 1
- Body of Christ 1
- Burden 1
- CEO 1
- Christian Living 174
- Christlikeness 6
- Christmas 12
- Commandments 1
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- Discipleship 5
- Emotions 6
- Eternity 2
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- Faith 2
- Forgive 3
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- God 2
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- Hebrews 11 1
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- Homosexuality 1
- Humility 1
- Israel 2
- Jesus 7
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- King of Glory 1
- Lying 1
- Missions 3
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- Pastor Jeff 1
- Perspective 2
- Prayer 8
- Psalm 119 3
- Reading 1
- Salvation 13
- Sanctification 1
- Satan 1
- Scripture 3
Is Jesus really the only way?
As I was re-reading some of our Fusion book, More Than a Carpenter, Josh McDowell discussed this question using some of the following arguments and Scriptures in his 11th chapter, "Isn't There Some Other Way?"
Restoring Parent-Child Relationships
This past Sunday, we learned what God teaches about His fifth commandment: "Honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you" (Exodus 20:12). One of the truths we know by Scripture and experience is how honor will be resisted by sinful hearts and it must be continuously cultivated. Sadly, this honor in the home is not always mutually experienced and enjoyed and results in sorrow and brokenness in some of our closest relationships.
Consider Rest
“Busy.” It may be the most common response we hear—and give—when someone asks, “How are you?” “I’m swamped.” “Overloaded.” “Maxed out.” “Slammed.” “Stretched thin.” We say we’re running on fumes, spinning plates, burning the candle at both ends, or caught in the rat race.
When Success Still Doesn’t Satisfy
Scottie Sheffler is the #1 ranked golfer in the world and has been for the last 147 weeks. A reporter asked him about how he views his wins and his losses and he responded in a profound way:
Perspective
One of the important lessons we need to learn about living the Christian life is maintaining an eternal perspective in the midst of horizontal life that is always full of distraction and trials.
I ran across a story that reminds us how important perspective can be. A college student wrote the following letter to her parents:
Two Year Old Theology and the Law
During the sermon on Sunday, I made a joke that Piper’s (my 2-year-old daughter) favorite words right now are “mine” and “no.” After the service someone jokingly asked her what her favorite word was, and without skipping a beat she yelled, “no!”
The point I was making was that we are sinful since birth and that we need rules and commands from our parents to know how to properly act. Similarly, we need the rules and commands of God to know how to obey Him, honor our parents, and love our neighbor as ourselves.
Learning to Lament
It is likely that we’ve all experienced a time in our lives where after sharing our pain and turmoil with someone, they chose not to enter into our grief and sorrow to weep with us. Instead, they responded with cold truth that lacked compassion, tenderness, and love.
Our Lord is not like that. We serve a risen Savior who is defined by compassion and empathy (Ps. 103:8; 2 Cor. 1:3–4); who weeps with us (John 11:35; Rom. 12:15); who collects our tears in a bottle because they are precious to Him (Ps. 56:8); and who experiences our pain and sorrow with us (Is. 53:4; Rom. 8:26).
Emotions
Several weeks ago, Gail and I were preparing dinner for a family get-together only to discover that we were missing a key ingredient for the meal. So, I jumped into the car (Gail’s car…) and made my way to the grocery store.
As I pulled into the parking lot, a car suddenly backed out of a parking spot and crunched into the car (Gail’s car…). I was of course bummed that this happened, but I initially felt a gracious calm come over me as I figured we would just exchange insurance information, and the damage could easily get repaired. Everything was fine for about five seconds, until the driver of the other car attempted to flee the scene.
My Mom and Death
This past Sunday morning at 9:45am, while I was preaching about the Lord of the local church, she went home to be with Him. Just eight days after celebrating her 88th birthday on May 31st, the Lord called one of His own to Himself. Those eight days were both painfully short and strangely long—short because her decline came so rapidly, long because she lingered when it looked like the end had come. Monday evening was the last time I heard her sweet voice after hospice took over.