Known and Loved

When we fast, we set our hearts above on Jesus and it reminds us that God sustains us! It is here you realize that He is your provision for a fully satisfied life. Remember Jesus is our Daily bread! John 6:35:  Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.  The challenge for you is to be sure you are get...

The best road map of your soul is- to be like the FBI- and “follow the money.” Jesus called “Money” “Mamon” in order to personalize it as a rival God. “Money” wraps up all the resources of your spiritual wallet. Time, Talent, and Treasure- ask yourself: Where does it all go? It’s painful to expend resources on things you don’t like, but if it’s something you really love--- the money and the time f...

What does Jesus mean by Giving in Secret? What is one factor that gets in the way of our giving and choosing to be a servant for Christ? It is our own self-righteousness. There is a difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When we choose to serve we put our “self” in charge and we hold the power. We expect “appreciation” for our deeds or we worry about being taken advanta...

In today’s episode of Known and Loved we continue our series, A Secret Life, based on the teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6. In this series we are examining the question: How do we deepen our relationship with God and gain security in the truth that we are known and loved by him? We search for the answers to that question in this episode by examining the idea of pursuing a Secret life with G...

Today we aim to create the ambiance of The Secret Life. The goal is not to create a check-list, but rather to reorient our hearts. In this episode we  unpack a couple of classics in literature that help illustrate how to motivate our hearts toward the pursuit of a Secret Life with God. In unpacking these great works of literature we will see reflections of the gospel that will help orient our hear...

In today’s episode of Known and Loved we begin a new series called A Secret Life based on the teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6 on the spiritual disciplines of giving, praying and fasting. In this series we will be examining the question: How do we deepen our relationship with God and find security in the truth that we are known and loved by him? We will explore the answer to this question a...

In today’s Episode of Known & Loved we conclude our  Rest Assured  series.  Colossians 2:3 refers to Jesus as:  Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures.  He is the ONE true treasure that will not fade away. Joy and pleasures forevermore are an unfading treasure for your eternity, but that richness is also available to you RIGHT now, in every moment that you place yourself in his presence. ...

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, the story of his redemption of our souls, salvation for our lives and his coming again in glory is not just one more fairy tale to add to the heap. It is the one true story to which all other stories point. The Gospel is our bedrock for now and our hope for later. Those who know Jesus and call him Lord and Savior are a part of His Story. He is both our One True...

Today we connect Psalm 16 with the story of Martha and Mary in Luke chapter 10. Here we find that each day we choose. We choose to run around by the tyranny of the urgent, fretting over things we cannot control and over the things we think we can control and all the “to do’s” on our list, and worry about not having enough time to do any of them. Or we choose the ONE THING we need- and sit at the f...

Today we look to where we can find true joy. Psalm 16: 11 says: “ In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  There is only one place where we can be filled with true joy! There is only one place where joy flows abundantly and eternally: In the presence of Jesus.  If we struggle with experiencing true joy, we have to ask ourselves this tough question: Where...

In today’s episode of Known & Loved we look at who God is- and that He IS big enough. We examine His attributes and why we can trust Him, because not only is He eternal and outside of time, He intersected the timeline to rescue us!  We also look at His intentions for us in times of suffering or difficulty. God intends for us to give thanks in all circumstances— to be praying continuously throu...

The first time I found Grace drawing on herself I opened the palms of her hands and saw crosses and hearts on one hand, and "I LOVE GOD!" inscribed on the other. She looked up at me and said: “It’s because I just LOVE him so MUCH!” I want to love Jesus in a way that is “written” all over me. When my palms are open they are raised in delight of him and when my palms are clenched in fists...

What makes you forget that you love God? What is the result? More importantly, how do you get back to him? I don’t know what makes you forget about God, but I know how we can get back to him! Remember who you are! Remember who loves you, and remember who you love. It is spelled out in Psalm 51 where we see David remember his one true love, go back to God, and become transformed. We continue to exa...

Have you ever lost a child? If not, maybe you’ve been a lost child? Or maybe as a grown up you’ve just been lost in a scary place that you know is no place to be. If you’ve had any of these experiences you know to your core how desperate you feel in that moment. The question is— to what degree do we realize our spiritual lost-ness? We wander around the world looking for “home” searching for securi...

This week we are looking at Psalm 16:8 from another angle, again with the aim of understanding that it is in fact Jesus who is our firm foundation. He is your belt of truth, your breastplate of righteousness, your feet of peace, your shield of faith, your helmet of salvation and your sword of the Spirit. Because of this you can STAND firm!

What does it mean to "set the Lord before us?" as Psalm 16 says. How do we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus? Today's look at Psalm 16: 7-8 connects with Philippians  4:8 and the list of "these things" that Paul tells us to meditate on. What are these things? How do they connect to Jesus? How do they help us keep our eyes on the Lord?

In this episode we look further at Psalm 16:5-6 as well as Matthew 25 to go deeper into what it means for God's purpose to shape our identity. Who are we? We are people who love God and love others. They will know us by our love. God has given you His eternal spiritual resources (O Lord you are my portion and my cup), he has outlined a territory (the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places...

In our next couple of episodes we are going to focus on Psalm 16:5-6. In this segment we are assured that the Lord has set us up for a certain purpose. Who we are, our identity, is directly connected with God’s purpose for our lives. Our “telos” as the Greeks referred to it- our purpose is another aspect of our identity shaped by God. The Lord intends us to be “salt & light.” But what does tha...

Today we go further into our Rest Assured series' study of Psalm 16: 1-5. In this episode we examine how Jesus diagnoses of heart condition and as the Great Physician, he is the one to prescribe the cure... ultimately the cure is Jesus himself. He is the Good God!

In this episode we continue our Rest Assured series look at Psalm 16. Our focus is on verses 2 & 3 where we discover the answer to two of the most important questions of the age:  Who am I? and Who is God? We dive into the truth of what it means to be God's children, the depth of the oft repeated phrase: "God is love," and the solid assurance that the God of the universe loves yo...

We continue our dive into Psalm 16 and examine the real American Idol- not the reality tv show, but the reality of our hearts' desire to "earn" being Known and Loved by others through our performance. When you leave today you will see how you can give up that false performance idol and stand in confidence that you are Known and Loved by your Father in Heaven... and that is all you ne...

Series: Rest Assured We begin our journey together with the series Rest Assured, based on Psalm 16. Today we take a brief overview of Psalm 16 and then dig into the idea that Jesus is Safe. He keeps us safe from utter destruction, he keeps us safe in His refining fire, He keeps us safe as the Good Shepherd, and he keeps us safe as the Strong fortified tower. Come and see how Jesus is SAFE! Episode...