THE BLOG
Topic
- Anxiety 2
- Beauty 1
- Bible 7
- Blessings 1
- Body of Christ 1
- Burden 1
- CEO 1
- Christian Living 189
- Christlikeness 6
- Christmas 12
- Commandments 1
- Community 1
- 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
- Gather 1
- 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
- Scripture 3
Total Forgiveness
One of the amazing blessings of knowing Christ is to receive the gift of total forgiveness. To be clear, I am using the word “total” to communicate the entirety or completeness of the forgiveness of every single sin whether past, present, or future. God communicates this to us in the following vivid ways:
Crazy World, Calming God
It seems everywhere you turn, you see craziness: antisemitism; DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), unprosecuted theft, CRT (critical race theory), fentanyl, transgender athletes, rampant victimhood, illegal immigration, climate hysteria, abortion rights, gun violence, taxation without representation, carjackings, drug addiction, shrinking families, gender confusion, identity theft, domestic violence, gender pronouns, LGBTQIA+ adoption rights, women in combat, safe spaces, euthanasia, transitioning, restricted parental rights, legalized marijuana, human trafficking.
Trustworthy
Sometimes it's hard to get a clear sense of what faithfulness looks like in an unfaithful culture. We regularly hear of faithless acts that can condition our hearts to be reluctant to trust others around us. No one likes to be:
defrauded by an investment firm
scammed by a salesman
lied to by a close friend
abused by an employer
cheated on by a spouse
But none of this will happen with God.
Again and Again
Each time I read through the Bible, I am stunned by what God shows me that somehow hadn’t grabbed my attention before. This year I have been noticing a repeated phrase that reminds me how amazing our God really is. The phrase is “again and again.” I have counted no less than ten times that God uses this phrase to get our attention. He uses it in two ways and both are a sad commentary on how we struggle as His followers.
Reasonableness Check
The attention of the world is on the savagery of war that Hamas (in the Gaza Strip) perpetrated on Israel beginning this past Saturday, October 6th. The images and reports of rape, burning, butchering, beheading, kidnapping, and murder of Israeli men, women, children, and infants is horrifying. Hamas, being an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group, exists to eradicate the Jews any way they can (video) and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) exists to defend its people and homeland from all foreign or domestic enemies. But why is there so much attention given to this small piece of real estate (about the size of New Jersey) that Israel occupies?
God’s Word to Gaza
In my reading this week, I ran across an excellent article about what the Bible says about Gaza written by Joel Rosenberg (editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons).
About Israel
The attention of the world is on the savagery of war that Hamas (in the Gaza Strip) perpetrated on Israel beginning this past Saturday, October 6th. The images and reports of rape, burning, butchering, beheading, kidnapping, and murder of Israeli men, women, children, and infants is horrifying. Hamas, being an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group, exists to eradicate the Jews any way they can (video) and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) exists to defend its people and homeland from all foreign or domestic enemies. But why is there so much attention given to this small piece of real estate (about the size of New Jersey) that Israel occupies?
5 Lies
What would you think, and how would you react, if you heard someone announce what is being called five lies of our Anti-Christian age? Stunned? Wrong? Surprised? Over the top? Outrageous? Unloving? What is your reaction? Rosaria Butterfield just released a provocative book that calls for the church to repent of five common lies about sexuality, faith, our culture and churches today.
Who Am I?
Here’s an understatement: People are suffering from an identity crisis. Everywhere you turn, our culture is redefining everything: gender, sexuality, marriage, parenting, family, race, work, crime, policing, victims, you name it. No one seems to know who they really, are and we are watching the tragic results of this all around us.