It’s easy to say that we love someone or a group of people and it’s good and right to communicate that love with our words. Putting that love into action, however, can be challenging at times. If we don’t demonstrate our love in our actions, our words about love...
It’s easy to get swept downstream in the current of consumerism. In a me-oriented society, our lives can instinctively become all about us—our money, our time, our pleasure. But the one wishing to follow Jesus and walk as He walked will eventually be confronted with a...
Imagine our whole church unleashed into our community to make a difference. It’s called Be Rich. We’re taking Paul’s simple advice to Timothy and putting it into practice: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” (1...
Three decades is a long time—long enough to experience the consistent faithfulness of our God. He has been with us through every twist and turn. God continues to empower us to be influencers who can help others discover His love and grace. Today we celebrate our first...
Life is filled with the unexpected. Sometimes our plans exceed our expectations and other times we fall short as we trip and stumble along the journey. We need to leave room for both successes and failures. Our plans must always create space for God to work in ways we...
The cost of achieving great things usually requires sacrifice and focus. When the Jewish people were called upon to occupy Jerusalem, they found themselves at a crossroads. This next step of faith would require giving up their comfort. In fact, it would require they...
We’ve all failed. From minor mistakes to persistent sins, failure has marked our lives. The best place to turn in times of failure is to God. But sometimes turning to God about our sins just seems to magnify our moral crisis. Thus, we’d prefer to keep our distance...
If you think about it, we make a lot of choices and decisions based on assumptions. We assume we know what someone meant; that we have all the information; that we know the outcome. The problem is that our assumptions often turn out to be completely wrong and this can...
Some problems in life are so big they are overwhelming. At the beginning of the book of Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruins. The people living there had grown accustomed and indifferent to the ruin around them, but Nehemiah’s heart was broken by it. He was...
It’s not unusual to find people paralyzed by doubt. But with God’s help we can go beyond where we are to where we could be. And that means our doubt can get replaced with confidence and faith. Nehemiah led the people of Jerusalem in a rebuilding project that was met...
It’s usually a good sign when we’re reaching for things that require God’s help. If we could make progress without God, then maybe we should reconsider the goal. The story of Nehemiah and the Jewish people is one of remarkable accomplishment. It all began with an...
Life is busy and people are tired. Our days are filled with what seems like a never-ending list of activities and obligations. The hectic nature of life makes us long for rest. This is just what Jesus promises to those who will come to him. He offers rest to those who...
Relationships can get strained and twisted and even broken. But a wrecked relationship is ripe for reconciliation. A reconciling community is one that creates an environment that anticipates reconnection and healing—the expectation that things can be put back right....
Relationships can get strained and twisted and even broken. But a wrecked relationship is ripe for reconciliation. A reconciling community is one that creates an environment that anticipates reconnection and healing—the expectation that things can be put back right....
Each morning, we wake up believing a story about the lives we lead. Hope is essential to our lives. Many people struggle through life trying to manufacture hope. For believers, hope is a gift that is received. The gospel is a story that brings hope to everyone and...
God loves us all. And He has made forgiveness and eternal life available to anyone who believes in Jesus! No one is excluded from this opportunity. But many people in the world don’t know this. And God has given His Church the privilege of taking part in sharing this...
It has always been the mission of the church to grow. Jesus told His disciples that they were to go the ends of the earth making disciples and inviting people to become part of the community of faith. This is an incredible calling, but it is also challenging. Growing...
We’re told “God helps those who help themselves.” And we know that if we give things away, we’ll have less. In addition, many believe what we have is ours, to be used for our own pleasure. When these false narratives are combined, they form a powerful argument against...
We have been talking about community a lot lately. But what does community look like to you? Can we even see the community around us or have we become so tuned in to our day-to-day duties that we are missing the opportunity for genuine community? Possibly, even worse,...
The Doctrine of the Trinity – that God is One in Essence and Three in Person – is one of the most ancient and well established beliefs in Christianity. While it is perplexing, mysterious, and often confusing, it is far from irrelevant. God’s simultaneous unity and...