From the Blog
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How the Grinch Stole Christmas
We all know this Christmas classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! This children’s book was written in 1957 by Dr. Seuss. In 1966, an animated Christmas cartoon was released based on the story, and in 2000 a Ron Howard Film, starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch was released. But did you know that there really…
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A Christmas Carol
Several movies and plays have been based on Charles Dickens’ book, which was first published in London in 1843. The most recent movie version was by Disney featuring the voice-over of Jim Carrey. We learn in this movie that Scrooge doesn’t know how to “keep” Christmas until several spirits visit him and bring about a…
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Elf
Elf is a classic because of the redemptive Christmas themes found in its story. Themes like: a baby boy that gets adopted, an otherworldly young man whose love and innocence cause him not to fit it anywhere, and a man named Walter who is on the "naughty list" and rejects his son. In the movie, Walter’s priorities are upside down, he puts his job and position ahead of his wife and kids, and he is angry and miserable. The story is really about Walter’s redemption by accepting his son.
The prophet Isaiah wrote of a Son that would be given to humanity that would be the Messiah bringing light to a sin-darkened world and establishing an eternal kingdom of peace in a world filled with chaos and brokenness. We can recognize and receive Jesus as this Son that was given to us to bring us out of darkness and into His kingdom of peace and light. -
Living in Hope
How should we live as Christians when the dominant cultural and political forces are at odds with our faith? The apostle Peter’s first letter says that we should live as exiles. In fact, he refers to the first century Christians as exiles three times in his letter. So, over the next three weeks we’re going…
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Stand Firm…In God’s Work
Work. Many of us consider work something we have to do in order to pay for the things we really want to have and to buy the time to do the things we really want to do. Americans have made play a higher goal than work. But that’s a low view of work. It diminishes it to an activity that we have to put up with, rather than a fulfilling and meaningful purpose for living. We place such a high value on entertainment and recreation that it has become a kind of idolatry. We celebrate idleness over work. We have made an idol of idleness!
God has a much higher view of work. As Jesus said, “My Father is always working, and so am I” (John 5:17). As soon as God made man, He gave him a job to do. And He has a job, a purpose for your life too! In the apostle Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, he told them to stand firm in doing the work to which God had called them. We can stand firm in the work that God has given us to do. -
Stand Firm…In God’s Word
We can be confident and not easily deceived or shaken if we are rooted in the Word of God. We can be confident in our salvation, and then get a firm grip on sound biblical teaching in order to pass the baton of the Gospel on.
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Stand Firm…Against False Teaching
Perhaps you’ve been alarmed and shaken by today’s headlines. Terrorist attacks, non stop news about the upcoming election, hurricanes and flooding. And that’s just last week! How are we supposed to face these things? And what do we do about all the fear-mongering that we hear people offering? The apostle Paul told the believers in…
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Stand Firm…in Suffering
Suffering often causes a theological problem for us. We put our trust in God, yet bad stuff still happens. We pray for healing, yet a loved one dies. We pray for reconciliation in marriage, but it ends in divorce. We share our faith with a neighbor, and they reject both our message and our friendship.…
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Worship and Witness is…Missional
In the 96th Psalm, the Psalmist wrote that the nation of Israel should worship and bear witness to the glory of God so that all the earth would join in. The mission of that nation was to let their worship of God be a witness among the nations. We too can be missional through our…
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Worship and Witness is…Relational
Why is there divorce, murder, and war? Why are we relationally broken? Our sin has separated us from God. We need to be relationally restored. We need to be reconciled to God and with others. In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, he told them that God’s reconciling love should move them to…