Seeking Pearls

In this episode of the recurring Do You See this Woman series, Jesus brings us face to face with our own prejudices. He goes out of his way to pour his mercy upon a dear woman and her daughter who perhaps others think should not get any of the "crumbs" of his healing. Even her, Jesus? Are you sure she deserves your mercy? (As if a person could 'deserve' mercy.) Then he seems to go out of his way t...

Oh how I love this woman and her story. She is courageous and strong. She is humble and lovely. On the day when she we certain she would see her death, she instead saw the kind and loving eyes of her Savior, full of compassion and mercy and forgiveness. She is me. She is you.

In our third recurrence of the "Do You See this Woman?" podcast series, we will look at three women whose names are hidden from us in the pages of Scripture. Though we don't know their names, the Savior does. He meets them right where they are at, in the midst of the muck and mire of real life, and pours his love and mercy upon them.  

One of the greatest parenting lessons God has ever taught me is that He is better at it than me! He is wiser, kinder, more patient, gentler, more loving, smarter...everything good...He is more and better than I am. What a relief! And, He lives in my kids. The great Teacher, Counselor, Comforter, Advocate and Helper...the Paraclete Himself...The Holy Spirit lives inside of my kids. What does it mea...

In this final episode of our series on Paul, we will look past Paul to the Jesus that he preached. Going through each of the 13 letters from Paul in our Bible today, we will look at and discuss beautiful passages about Jesus and His cross, resurrection, and return. Like Paul, may our heart-cry be "I want to know Christ..."  

As Paul journeys to Rome, the Lord stands by him yet again to give him courage and confidence in the midst of tremendous trial. With networking in such a way that challenges us even today, despite all the technology we have at our fingerprints, Paul presses on, with and toward people he loves and who love him in return. No matter the trial or suffering, Paul will not be stopped. He has full assura...

Led by the Spirit of God and strengthened by the Lord Jesus himself, Paul goes on to Jerusalem, knowing full well that prison and pain await him there. But, his aim is to preach the Gospel and every ounce of his life is all about Jesus, so to Jerusalem he goes. Come along as he undergoes one trial after another, being found innocent every time, yet remaining a prisoner for the sake of Christ.

As Paul finally gets to minister in Ephesus, we see him battling the forces of darkness as the Name of Jesus is lifted high. When his years in Ephesus draw to a close, we hear the heart of a man who loves Jesus..."My only aim...is to testify to the goodness of the grace of God." That is the heart of a transformed man who loves God and loves people. May we love one another as purely.  

As Paul journeys on from Philippi into Thessalonica to Berea to Athens to Corinth, he tells us that he does so with one single resolve: to preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified. In a world of false idols and immense suffering, Paul preaches the hope of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus. There was literally nothing the people of Greece needed more, and there is still literally NOTHING that we nee...

After being instructed "No!" twice by the Holy Spirit, Paul and Silas finally were given the divine green light to proceed westward across the Aegean Sea into Macedonia (now modern Greece). There, they met a dear woman who would become the first person to house a church in Europe, a demon-possessed slave girl, and a jailer who would come to Christ along with his entire household. Amidst suffering...

Illness, persecution, division, even death...nothing can stop Paul's fervor for the gospel of Jesus Christ. On the second half of his first missionary journey, Paul is stoned to death, miraculously healed, and then gets up and goes right back into the city that just tried (successfully?) to kill him. Why? Because Jesus is worth it. Jesus is worth it all.

The first missionary journey for the Apostle Paul and Barnabas has set sail, and there will be no shortage of drama! Preaching to a governor, releasing a man from a demon, illness, controversy, suffering, arduous mountain trails, sleepless nights and a possible shipwreck... But, far more important than all of that, through it all, lives are saved for the sake of Christ. The gospel is proclaimed, a...

In the fourth episode of our series on the Apostle Paul, we zoom in on a key encourager in his life: Barnabas. Barnabas takes a risk on Saul when everyone else is still scared of him. Barnabas encourages him, remembers him, seeks him out, and mobilizes him for ministry. What would it look like for you and I to be a Barnabas?

In this third episode of our series on the Apostle Paul, we look into the hidden years. After his conversion and before his first missionary journey is a period of about 14 years. We don't have very many details in the pages of Scripture, but what we do have gives us intriguing insight into the years in which he sought the Lord Jesus and learned personally, directly from Him. Let us wait on the Lo...

In this second episode of Paul: His Letters, His Journeys, His Jesus, we take a deep dive into his conversion experience. What happened that day, two thousand years ago, on the long, hot road into Damascus? When Jesus met Paul that day, it changed the world. Paul's obedience, Ananias' courage, and above all else Jesus' grace...it all flipped the world around in an irreversible way. Join me on the...

Who was Saul of Tarsus? Join me this summer as I journey with the Apostle Paul through his conversion to Christ, his silent years of learning from Jesus, his travels, his sufferings, and ultimately getting to know his Jesus. In this first episode of Paul: His Journeys, His Letters, His Jesus, we will look at Paul BC - Paul before Christ. Who was he before Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and...

In the last chapter of his letter to the Colossians, Paul beseeches them to pray. He asks them to pray for one another, to be watchful and thankful in prayer, and to pray for him. For his safety, we might ask? No. He wants them to pray that while he is in prison, they would pray that he would share the Gospel clearly and fearlessly.  They do and he does.  May we live fearlessly too for the sake of...

In the second half of the third chapter of Colossians, Paul instructs the people of Colossae on how to live like Jesus. They've learned about the cross of Christ, they've received a detailed theology on who Jesus is, they've been instructed to get rid of all leftover sin habits entangling them. Now...live like this. This is how we do it.

In chapter 3 of Colossians Paul teaches what it means to belong to Christ. He alone is true life. He alone is the place on which we should set our hearts and minds. The life that is truly life is found in Him alone, and as believers we have full access to that life. Therefore, let us let go of the sin habits that cling to us and that we so tightly cling to. Let's set our minds on Christ and grow i...

Paul gets into the deep details of the Cross in this section of Colossians. What does it mean that we have been circumcised in Christ? What is circumcision of the heart? When was I baptized into the death of Christ? When was the charge against me cancelled? And who are the authorities that Jesus put to shame through His death on the cross? And most of all, what does this all have to do with my fre...

What treasure are you seeking? If we are honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that all of us set our heart on something or someone. If we don't set it on Jesus, we will most certainly set it elsewhere. In Colossians 2:1-8, the Apostle Paul declares that Jesus is not only the great mystery of God, but also the great treasure of mankind. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge - unfathomab...

In the latter half of Colossians 1, Paul writes a glorious description of Jesus...the King of the Kingdom into which we have been transferred. Jesus is the perfect and total representation of God, He is the One through whom the universe was made, He comes before everything, has superiority in everything, and is the eternal glue that holds all things together. He is everything. And, as we find out,...

Paul's letter to the church in Colossae is filled with tremendous truths for you and I, even two thousand years after it was penned. To a city that was filled with competing philosophies and a conglomeration of gods to be worshiped, Paul wrote with remarkable clarity about the unique sovereignty of the Jesus Christ and His Lordship over all creation. Jesus is the treasure for which every human hea...

As we near Christmas it is fitting for us to study this beautiful woman whose life of trauma was turned around and used mightily. A woman who others may have considered worthless, loveless, and purposeless God saw as courageous, bold, and fit to be in the lineage of His Son Jesus. Join us as we befriend Rahab, learn her story, and discover that God's plan for our lives goes beyond what we could ev...

If you have ever felt unseen, unnoticed, and unvalued (and I think you have), then Hagar is a sister in Scripture you need to befriend. Hagar too experienced the heartache of wondering if anyone really saw her. And then one day, when she was pregnant and alone, God showed up on the roadside and invited her to tell him her story. Her response after her encounter with the pre-incarnate Christ was "Y...