A Worship Problem

You may have heard me say it a lot – worship is not only just singing. In fact, singing is a very small percent of worship – we worship with our entire being and person. We are all created to be worshipers, therefore we all worship something – so what is it? God created the […]

Self-Alignment

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous […]

Fearing God Amidst Fearing Life

Psalm 86 is a very powerful Psalm – you can tell that David is writing this as someone in the midst of a trial as v1 shows a man desperately seeking God as he is “poor and needy,” v2 asks for God to “preserve his life,” and “save your servant.” David is crying out to […]

How to Love God

The book of Deuteronomy is largely a restatement of the law that was given to God’s people, but now as they are ready to enter the promised land after their 40 years in the desert, they are hearing it again before their mission continues to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Thus…when something gets […]

Acts 2 and God’s Unstoppable Plan

Sometimes we hear people say that they want to get back to a sort of “Acts 2” philosophy of church ministry, and that isn’t always a bad thing. We see a powerful, growing church in Acts 2 – devotion to God’s word, building each other up in the faith, spending life together (both in the […]

Jesus Prays for You

John 17 is a very rich passage – it’s Jesus’ prayer before he is arrested, falsely tried, beaten and crucified. In it we see several things that are emphasized. Glorifying God – Jesus glorified God on Earth. How? By fulfilling the Father’s plan perfectly and faithfully. Likewise, we glorify God by doing his will – […]

Disciples Bear Fruit

In John 15 is the well known section where Jesus illustrates that he is the true vine (as opposed to Israel, Jesus is perfectly faithful) and we are the branches, we are to abide. Our word “abide” is to remain, to stay with. In other words, don’t leave Jesus for sin – stay with him, […]

Path to Peace

In John 14:15-31 Jesus describes a sequence of interdependent events – If you claim to love Jesus you will know and obey his word (14:15, 21) If you love Jesus, you are loved by the Father (v21) If you are loved by the Father, Jesus loves you and reveals himself to you (v21) If Jesus […]

Getting to the Real Issue

In working my way through John, we see the theme of belief coming up over and over again. This is the reason for the writing of the book (see John 20:31). However people coming to understand and believe that Jesus was the long prophesied Messiah and God in flesh wasn’t a good thing for everyone. […]

Psalm 68:8/Ephesians 4:1-16

Psalm 68 among other things, speaks of the victory and presence of the LORD, verse 18 may ring familiar if you know Ephesians: “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men…” Paul quotes this verse in Eph 4:8, as he is writing about Christians walking in […]