From the Blog
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.
-
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…
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
A Shared Focus
The early church had a shared language–– it was the language of prayer. It was a shared focus, one that focused on spending time together talking to God in prayer. How are you doing in this area? Do you pray? Do you pray with your spouse, with your kids? Do you pray with your family?…
-
A Shared Food
There’s something about shared food, a shared meal that leads to authentic community. Every culture has its own distinct food. So does the family of God. However, isn’t the physical, but the spiritual food that makes for an authentic Christian community.
-
A Shared Faith
The first century church had four devotions. The first was the apostle’s teaching. They were devoted to the preaching, teaching, study, and obeying of God’s Word.