Our mission is to help people develop a relationship with God through the study and application of His word. We seek to be a truly welcoming and dynamic Christian community where people can connect with God, with each other, and with opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others.Wonders from the Word - Public Reading (1 Timothy 4:13)
Sunday, July 25th, 2010Reading in public is becoming a lost art. The Bible is not meant solely for reading, but for listening too – “He who has ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15). God’s word is just like music which is created to be performed, and heard. Even if the player is alone, he is hearing the sounds and being transformed by the mystery of music. Public reading should be done by reading with intent, by making the words what they are – living - read more » »
On Purpose! - The Lost Book of the Bible
Sunday, July 25th, 2010Fascination soars and interest deepens when people hear about “the lost books” of the Bible. Add to that secret codes for unlocking hidden messages and all of a sudden, the Bible is once again interesting to the dull of hearing.
“For over two thousand years the church has tried to hide from humanity the spiritually empowering Gnostic knowledge that Jesus taught to his disciples. Today this knowledge is now available to all within “the Gnostic New Testament of Jesus.”
“The … GNOSTIC NEW TESTAMENT OF JESUS …will send an irreversible shock wave throughout many of our leading religious institutions, which will inevitably relinquish their false spiritual power and enable all of humanity to follow their own individual divine path.” (http://gnosticbookspublishing.com/)
Although there are no real lost books, “lost books” cause Christianity’s critics to gleefully cast dispersion and doubt on the faithful. They insinuate that these followers cannot have all the truth, or even truth itself, if it is still hidden, lost, or even worse, banned by history’s “church.” read more » »
China Report - 2009
Sunday, July 25th, 2010Detained by the authorities from the Bureau of Religious Affairs. Interrogated by the same. Warned that if what occurred in 2008 happens again, the warning will turn into something not so kind. Six officials from the Communist regime of
China sitting in front, behind and to the side, all are speaking Chinese. None of us Americans speak the language. At first nothing is being translated and we are unaware of what is being said, what possibly will happen. Not knowing can be worse than knowing.
That was our first morning in
Dalian. Welcome to
China! read more » »
Wonders from the Word - I Need To Believe That (1 Thessalonians 3:5-8)
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010“I need to believe that….” How would we finish that sentence? In the depths of the core of our being, what makes our “being” worth being? Is it that God loves us? Or that someone has truly forgiven us? Is it that we make a difference? Do we need to believe that God is not done with us yet? Or maybe that it will not be our shortcomings that will define us in the mind of God, but rather our desire? Do we simply need to believe that things will get better, that tomorrow must be better than today? The answer, whatever our answer is, no matter how broad or personal, is not about our certainties, but about our doubts. And it is that all too real doubt that drives us to make it a certainty. read more » »
Wonders from the Word - Too Sophisticated to Believe in Satan (Genesis 3)
Saturday, June 12th, 2010Modern Man is too sophisticated and liberated to believe in a myth called Satan. Freud set free our subconscious and Darwin ridiculed our religion. Educated reason teaches that cannot be Satan whispering in our ear, nor the Devil plaguing our dreams. It is only us, even an “us” unknown by us. And that story - that myth - of “in the beginning” there was a serpent that spoke with forked tongue is explained away by a Freudian psychology casting literalism out of the garden through a Darwinian survival of the academic fittest. read more » »
Wonders from the Word - The Gospel Story (John 1:14)
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010The Gospel is not just words, parables, philosophies, or platitudes; although the gospel is told in all those forms. The gospel is flesh (John 1:14; Titus 2:11-14), lived in the flesh, suffered and triumphed in the flesh; the purpose to be ultimately imitated by us in our flesh.
That is the real transforming power of the gospel. God did not send a prophet or story teller only. God did not send just a teacher or philosopher. God sent God. The Father sent the Son in a form foreign to Himself to teach us how to live contrary to ourselves. And in living contrary to ourselves, the paradoxical truth is learned that in such living we live truly to ourselves. In denying ourselves we find ourselves. We learn to live like Jesus lived; and to die like Jesus died. read more » »
On Purpose! - Enoch (Genesis 5)
Friday, May 7th, 2010Most men within history are famous for what they did. The annals of time record their accomplishments, heroics, inventions, or possibly their words. Seldom is someone remembered for what they did not do, and yet that is exactly why we remember Enoch.
What didn’t Enoch do? read more » »
Wonders from the Word - My Children - Time Well Spent
Friday, May 7th, 2010Yesterday was not a good day. Exhausted from a gospel meeting the previous week, I slept late that morning. Then working late to make up for the lost time, I didn’t get home until after 8:00 PM. My two daughters had left for a Bible Study and sleep over. Didn’t get to see them all day. My two sons gave me a hug and went back to playing – they had already eaten, so I sat down to eat supper with my wife.
Yesterday was not a good day, even though I got a lot of good work done. Still, it wasn’t a good day. Today I got reminded of that by reading Proverbs. That is one of the wonders from the word – how it can gently chastise us. Proverbs 2-7 all begin with the phrase, “My son” except for chapter 4 which reads, “sons.” These chapters are all filled with a father simply talking to his son about life, decisions, and what makes for good days, bad days, and a good life. In fact, have we ever noticed how simply talking with our children makes for a good day?
Let’s all calculate in our own mind how long we actually spent with our children yesterday. And I don’t mean sitting in front of a TV or watching a movie. I mean talking, playing, walking, doing something that truly requires our presence. Did we have a good day? Did we have a bad day? While we all have bad days from time to time – after all we do have responsibilities – the goal is to have more good days than bad. Or else we will wake up one day to discover that yesteryear was not a good life.
On Purpose! The Problem of Pain for God (John 11:35)
Sunday, April 18th, 2010One of the wondrous revelations within John 11 is that the problem of pain is not just a problem for mankind. It is a problem for God. Does that strange at best, or at worst, blasphemous? If so we are missing the reality behind the relationships which are filled with pain not just for the people involved but for God Himself. The problem for God is not that pain overcomes Him. The problem for God is that pain overcomes those whom He loves. God hurts when we hurt; God hurts because we hurt (John 11:33-36). If we truly believe that Jesus was God walking the earth in flesh, then we must truly believe that Jesus weeping on earth is accompanied by weeping within heaven. If there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10) there must also be weeping over one sinner who does not (Ezekiel 6:9). If God tells us to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15), then He must weep too. read more » »
Sermon - The Death of a Loved One (John 11)
Thursday, April 15th, 2010No one told me about the pain and the suffering, about all the funerals. As a young man focusing on the supposed glories of becoming a preacher, never did I ever think of emotional and spiritual tribulations found at the bedside, in the hospital, at the funeral home, and by the graveside. If I had the power to ease their pain by providing healing and life, I know I would have. To have done so would have been glorious.
I cannot remember attending a funeral as a child except for one – my Great Grandmother. But as an adult, way too many I have attended. As an older man, I have lost grandparents and friends, and seen loved ones suffer, both the living and the dying. If I could have stopped the pain, that would have been glorious. read more » »
