Do you ever consider the difference in believing in Jesus as compared with other things you believe in but that don’t have much impact in your life? If not, you probably should. Consider the opening words of J.I. Packer’s classic book, Growing in Christ: When people are asked what they believe in, they give, not…
Category: Discipleship
Getting Off of the Emotional Rollercoaster
As I prepared for my message (54:20) this past week, I gave a lot of thought to the role of emotions in the Christian’s life. How much do we rely on them? What weight should we give them in assessing our spiritual health? Is the presence of deep emotion the sign of deep spirituality or…
Shaking Away the Chaff
Anyone who knows me knows that I love everything about coffee, from roasting to drinking. I have roasted my own coffee beans for about 20 years. Even so, a very simple but profound truth came to mind while roasting this past Saturday. When I finish roasting, I take the round cage full of beans and…
Word Power: The Importance of Reading and Listening With Your Radar Up
Words have power—even individual words. No one knows this better than news outlets and politicians, among others. I recently read a short news report on the voter bills that are being proposed around the country. In this particular story, the word “restrictive” was used 9 times. It helped paint the bills in clearly negative terms….
A Daily Devotional Recommendation: New Morning Mercies
Looking for a new devotional for 2019? I can’t recommend this one by Paul David Tripp enough! My wife, Karen, and I have been going through New Morning Mercies together over the last couple of years and found it rich with encouragement, grace, and spiritual insights. Today, we started through it again. Thoroughly Gospel-centered, Paul…
Noise: Decluttering Our Minds To Make Room For Thinking Deeply
It’s rare that I get the chance to spend a few hours in the car by myself on a road trip, but this was one of those days. Earlier this summer, my youngest had been with his grandparents for three weeks and the time had come to get him. As I readied myself, I sat…
Hidden in Plain Sight
At The Gathering on Sunday, I talked about how easy it is for us to become complacent in our journey with Jesus. Complacency can sneak up on us as we become so familiar with grace and become so comfortable in our salvation that the whole thing can become somewhat blasé (That’s French for, “meh”). That…
The Mind-blowing Nature of Grace
One of the most challenging aspects of the Gospel is the amazing grace of God that declares Believers as perfect in Christ. It is hard to grasp because we know we’re still sinners. How can we be both sinners and sinless at the same time and, if true, how can we live in that reality?…
Birds of a Feather: Understanding the Need for Real Community
The random honking was faint at first. Then through the trees I could see the flapping of wings as they approached from the East. Now in full view, they banked to the left making a complete u-turn in full formation, gliding as they made their approach down to their landing area. In the final few…
But God: The Foundational Truth
Last week, I wrote about the amazing chapter 2 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he reminds them of God’s amazing power to change the course of life through His everlasting mercy. I mentioned that the recent experience of my Dad’s very serious illness from which he is currently recovering reminded me of his…
Intentional Purity
It doesn’t happen by accident.
Demonic Distraction
I’m not likely to elicit the services of a prostitute. I’m not likely to get a bottle of scotch and polish it off in a sitting. I’m not likely to hunt down someone I dislike and take them out with one, ridiculously accurate shot between the eyes. There are probably a thousand different things I…
The Truth of the Moment: Recovering from a Spiritual Slump
If you’ve ever been in a play or any kind of production where you were required to recite memorized lines, you know the most terrifying thing to happen is to forget your lines. You freeze, palms begin to sweat, you get the deer-in-headlights look, heat begins to overwhelm your body, causing instantaneous beads of sweat…
The Equipping Work of God
Our folks at The Gathering have heard me say quite often, “What God calls you to, He equips you for.” I thoroughly believe that. Ephesians 2: 10 affirms that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” So, He’s definitely called us. …
Reflecting on a Purpose-filled Life
You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life…
Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship
Started reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer today. I didn’t get through the introduction before I came across a great quote: When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts…