Church

Reynolds Price was a professor at Duke University. He was also a cancer survivor who used his experience to serve others battling cancer. He tells of receiving a letter from a young medical student who had developed a life-threatening cancer: “I want to believe in a God who cares because I may meet him sooner than I had expected. I think I am at the point where I can accept the existence of God but I can't yet believe God cares about me.” At some point in life, that’s something we all struggle to believe. Does God care about me? Lord, don’t you care that my child is sick? Don’t you care that my marriage is falling apart? Don’t you care that I have no money? Don’t you care that I feel so alone? Don’t you care that I want to give up? Don’t you care that my husband has died?…

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." - Colossians 2:6-7 Thankful people are more than happy people; they are changed people. In the Colossians passage above, Paul makes a connection between being strengthened in the faith and overflowing with thankfulness. The more you learn to live your life in Jesus, the more you will learn to see the world the way he did. As you become rooted and built up in him, it will be harder for situations and circumstances to control you. As I learn to trust more in Jesus, I am inclined to be more thankful. The reason is simple: his way is the best way. It's when I go my own way that I get in trouble! As my…

Even if you’re not a car buff, you’ve heard of concept cars – prototypes designed by car companies as a way of pushing the envelope. A few of these might actually make it into production; most don’t. A good example is the Egochine by Peugeot. Just looking at it makes me want to go shave. There’s a big difference between a concept car and one that makes it into production. One is a concept; the other is a reality. In the same way, there is a difference between God as a concept and God as a reality. God as a concept is lighter than you. You shape it. It fits in around your categories and ideas. A God concept won’t change your beliefs because you make it fit within your existing beliefs. In other words, we don’t have a real God, we just have a concept -- and one that…

Here's the video of my sermon on rejection. Sorry for the bad cropping!