Church

5 And hope does not put us to shame (does not disappoint us), because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. -- Romans 5:5 The Apostle Paul says that God has poured his love into the hearts of those who follow him. But how can you be sure of God’s love? How has he proved his love? That's where the gospel comes in. God did so by allowing Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and then raised him to life again. The cross reminds us that God is also acquainted with pain and suffering. The resurrection of Jesus is extremely relevant for those who’ve been victims of injustice or have been gutted by betrayal. The resurrection is highly relevant for those who face every day with pain. The message is this: Suffering and death do…

A Korean Christian once told Lloyd Oglivie that when he and his friends were under great pressure from the Communists, they used to say: “We are like nails: the harder you hit us, the deeper you drive us.” As you likely know, life will hit you from time-to-time, and sometimes it hits pretty hard. -- The health we expected into old age is suddenly lost. -- Child we thought was “normal” = has special challenges. -- The teenager we love more than life makes destructive choices. -- Job we worked hard for is eliminated or downsized. -- The one we love so much dies. When life smacks you, you have a choice: will I become bitter or better? Will I allow this circumstance to drive me deeper into prayer and God's word, or will it become a wedge between us? God does not want it become a wedge. In fact,…

If given a choice, no one would prefer stale potato chips over good ones. We would choose fresh over stale. In life, we have seasons where something has grown stale. It might be in your approach to prayer. Perhaps “Now I lay me down to sleep, pray the Lord my soul to keep" is the best you can do. It could be that you’ve lost your passion for your job or marriage and are simply running on cruise control. These seasons happen. It’s when we get stuck there that we’re in big trouble. Here's the good news: Jesus loves to works in areas of our life that have grown stale. It’s at a wedding that we’re first introduced to the supernatural side of Jesus. That might surprise you: Jesus was not anti-social. In fact, he went to quite a few parties (that alone may challenge you to rethink Jesus). Here's…

Over the last few posts, we've been looking at why worship is so important. As we continue our look at Psalm 96, I want to point out something that jumped out at me: Worship isn’t just passively acknowledging the greatness of God. It requires us to be actively engaged with him. As you read Psalm 96, notice these commands … Sing to the Lord Praise his name Proclaim his salvation Declare his glory among the nations Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” Worship is not a spectator sport, something that you come to watch. Worship is a verb. It is something you do. It's not that God needs our worship. He certainly isn't suffering from low self-esteem. Yet throughout the Bible, we find passages just like this one where God calls us to…

When you think of worship, what do you think of? Outdated songs? Overly dramatic prayers? Irrelevant sermons? In some cases, that might be true. But it still doesn’t answer our question: What is worship? In Psalm 96, we find the essence of worship is this: giving God the honor he deserves and learning to applaud his greatness! Psalm is the longest book in the Bible. It’s found in what we call the Old Testament and is often referred to as the hymnbook of the early church. Many of the individual psalms were written by King David. His writings reveal a deeply personal relationship with God. In fact, he is referred to as a “man after God’s own heart.” It's one reason why when I want to be reminded about the true place of worship, I often find myself returning to the psalms. 1 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing…