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SERIES: Because He Lives If someone saved you from a horrible death, what would you do to thank them? Probably just about anything they asked, because that’s how grateful you would be! Jesus not only saved us from eternal death in hell, but he won for us an eternity in paradise. What shall we do to thank him? He asks for just one thing: love. He asks us to demonstrate to others the same selfless l...

SERIES: Because He Lives “Listen to your mother.” Whether those words are spoken as a soft encouragement or a stern warning, they are words of wisdom. When children ignore their mother, they often learn lessons the hard way. When they listen, they are usually blessed because of it. What is a general truth regarding mothers is an absolute truth when it comes to our Good Shepherd. Listen to his voic...

SERIES: Because He Lives Doubt can serve us well. In scenarios that involve uncertainty, doubts cause us to pause and consider the possible risks and dangerous outcomes of our actions. Such doubts can keep us from making a poor decision. But doubt can also cripple us, causing us to freeze up with fear and fail to move forward. Too much doubt can stifle progress and limit us in life. Doubt, especia...

SERIES: Because He Lives If Jesus remained dead, all he would provide is an example of a beautiful life. Therefore, if Jesus remained dead, the mission of his followers would simply be to share advice. “Here is how Jesus would want us to love one another. Or “Jesus would want us to think about money like this.” Or “This is how Jesus would pray.”  But because he lives, his followers now have a mean...

SERIES: Because He Lives In the darkness before dawn, the women walked to the tomb with heavy hearts. Jesus was dead. His mission was over. In their mind, they were feeble followers of a failure. All that was left to do was finish embalming the corpse and then try to move on. Yet, Jesus wasn’t dead. And because he lived, they were not followers of a failure at all. They were disciples of the one w...

SERIES: Open Door Policies As we begin Holy Week, we see Jesus bury humanity’s endless attempts at seizing power. In our world, power dynamics are almost always in play. Those who don’t have power want it, often more than anything else. Those who have power are willing to do anything to keep it. In contrast, Jesus—who possesses all power as the Son of God—willingly surrendered his power and placed...

SERIES: Open Door Policies If you are able to read this, you are likely fortunate enough that you don’t have to dumpster dive for your next meal. When the wastebasket in your home is full, you don’t pick through it hoping to find some valuable treasure - you take out the trash. When it comes to much of what we value and treasure in life, is it really anything more than trash in the grand scheme of...

SERIES: Open Door Policies We assume people get what they deserve. We assume that what goes around comes around. We assume God helps those who help themselves. Those assumptions are false. God does not operate on the pryinciple of merit but of grace. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. God never turns it off. At the entrance of God’s open door is not a Father looking to condemn us, but a Fa...

SERIES: Open Door Policies Trees don’t bear fruit overnight. They require patience and diligent care. Thankfully, our Heavenly Father provides this for us, too. Not only does he desire to see fruit in our lives, but he also patiently provides everything needed for us to bear that fruit.

SERIES: Open Door Policies The door to God and the glory he has prepared for us stands wide open. However, he has mapped out a very specific pathway to that door. It is not an easy one. As it did with Jesus, this route takes us through opposition, suffering, and even death. While our human nature may cause us to want to take a detour around these things, Jesus’ own life shows us that no detour is...

SERIES: Open Door Policies You don’t even have to be a churchgoer to know about David & Goliath - it’s a legendary account that has cemented itself in cultures throughout the ages. But what are we to make of a slingshotting shepherd boy who takes down a giant? With God fighting our battles, should we expect to slay our own giants as well? God doesn’t guarantee that. But he does foreshadow a greate...

SERIES: Epiphany Moments Where in the world does one find lasting glory? Conquering nations? Championships? Awards? Any glory one finds in these is fleeting and misleading. Such achievements fade and are forgotten, only to be replaced by the next conqueror, champion, or award winner. But there is a glory that endures. And, while it isn’t in you, you will find that it is for you, if you know where...

SERIES: Epiphany Moments Throughout this season of Epiphany, Jesus has described the governing principles of his kingdom being completely opposite to the governing principles of the world. This week Jesus asks us to befriend our enemies, to love those who hate us, and to repay evil with good. Worldly logic would say that is a recipe for being a doormat and getting walked all over. Yet… where have...

SERIES: Epiphany Moments Some dessert recipes are extremely complex, while others are very simple and easy to make. But no matter what the recipe looks like, no one will ever be able to taste the dessert if the recipe is never followed. Someone has to make it. The message of Christianity is not complex. We are sinners who need a Savior, and Jesus is the Savior we need. It’s simple. But no matter h...

SERIES: Epiphany Moments In 2009, Facebook added the “like” button. That same year, Twitter added the “retweet” feature. Interestingly, reported cases of depression began to rise sharply in 2010. It is easy to think that the more people like us, the more successful our lives must be. Likewise, it is easy to believe the more people like a church, the more successful that church is. So here is an im...

SERIES: Epiphany Moments When you are trying to share some important information with someone, but they refuse to listen or perhaps totally reject what you are saying, it feels like you have failed. This is especially true when someone rejects the gospel! We proclaim the good news because we want others to know the love of Christ. When people are disinterested in God’s Word, we feel like we’ve fai...

SERIES: Epiphany Moments It is easy for us to assume that if God says “no” to a request, we are getting less than we wanted. We need to have an epiphany moment, seeing the reality—that God always wants more for us than we want from him. Saying “yes” to all our requests would often result in us receiving less joy, less blessing, a lesser life. So, when God says “no” to our request, we can be assure...

SERIES: Epiphany Moments “Who is Jesus?” For the longest time, people thought the answer to that question was, “Mary and Joseph’s son” or “a carpenter from Nazareth.” While true enough, those answers do not adequately describe Jesus. But when Jesus was baptized, God the Father spoke, declaring Jesus’ true identity. Jesus was the dearly loved Son of God, chosen to be the Savior of the world. “Who a...

SERIES: The Gift of God On Christmas Eve the angel told the shepherds, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). One wonders if those words struck those Jewish shepherds as odd. For centuries, God had given special attention to one nation—Israel. There were Jewish religious leaders who taught that only members of that special people would be saved. Not accor...

SERIES: The Gift of God The Son of God took on flesh for two reasons: to be our substitute and our sacrifice. You see, when God created mankind in his image, his desire was that we would live holy lives, full of love for him and our fellow man. When mankind fell into sin, that became impossible. So, the heavenly Father sent Jesus. He is the only human being to keep all of God’s law perfectly. He d...

SERIES: A Real Christmas By this time of the holiday season, people are often weighted down… and may still feel like there remains so much left to do! But who are we really trying to please with everything that “needs” to get done? Is it all for everyone else, or is it possible that many of our to-do’s are really about us? Are we actually the ones who need everything to be a certain way for it to...

SERIES: A Real Christmas A real Christmas is one that results in great joy. But joy is not the same thing as happiness. It is infinitely better. Happiness is an emotion, while joyfulness is a condition. Happiness comes from your circumstances, while joyfulness comes from Christ. But how? What is it we find in Christ that results in such joy? What does Jesus have that we may otherwise spend our ent...

SERIES: A Real Christmas The closer we get to Christmas, the greater the pressure. There is so much work to be done! We want our houses to look good for out-of-town guests. We want to impress people with the thoughtfulness of our gifts. What a welcome relief, therefore, to hear what is required to really be ready for Christmas: only repentance. You see, repentance is the opposite of work. It is th...

SERIES: A Real Christmas It is easy to get so caught up in the imagery—a tiny newborn baby, lying in the straw filled manger under a star-filled sky—that we forget the why. Why did the Son of God come into our world and take on human flesh? So that he might die as the sacrifice for our sins. One Christmas carol puts it this way. “Neither crib nor cross refuses, all he suffers for your good to rede...

SERIES: Live Like You’ll Live Forever “Eyes on the prize.” That axiom stresses that when pursuing some good goal, focus is important. You don’t want distractions or a lack of self-discipline to keep you from obtaining whatever that prize might be. You summon the willpower to fixate on that good thing. You work hard to achieve it. You let nothing divert your attention from obtaining the prize. “Eye...