'Jesus' Tagged Posts
It may be Friday, but Sunday is Coming
Easter Sunday will be here in a few short days. Christians all over the world will celebrate our Savior’s victory over sin and death. The entire Christian faith is centered on Jesus’ raising from the dead. However, we rarely think of Easter without first being reminded of Good Friday. Of course, there is nothing “good” about it since that’s the day we remember Jesus nailed to the Jewish cross and crucified. There seems to be a theme that emerges from these two events – How COVID has affected us
Emotionally Connecting with God in Worship
Music has a remarkable way of stirring our emotions and transcending language barriers. In the realm of worship, music becomes a powerful medium to connect with God on a deep and emotional level. In this article, we will explore the biblical perspective on emotionally connecting with God through musical worship. We are called to be active participants in worship by offering our hearts fully to Him. The Emotional Power of Music The Bible acknowledges the profound impact of music on our How COVID has affected us
SELF DEFENSE?
Over the last few weeks, our life group has been diving into the Sermon on the Mount. There are a ton of great messages we get from it: don’t judge, don’t worry or be anxious, and of course, we have the Lord’s Prayer. There are, however, a lot of difficult teachings in there as well: love your enemies, be peacemakers, and equating hate and lust to murder and adultery. There’s one idea that seems to be a common thread throughout the entire sermon How COVID has affected us
Salvation Confusion
If you listen to one preacher give an invitation to “invite Jesus into your life,” he might lead you in a prayer. If you listen to another preacher prodding you to become a Christian, he might be telling you to be baptized. Yet another preacher might tell you to “Believe in your heart” and you will be saved. If these preachers are all Christian, Bible-believing men, then why the confusion? Why are they offering what appears to be conflicting invitations? I’m How COVID has affected us
Fall into Discipleship
You probably could have guessed this was coming as the subject of my article this week. School just started back last week. Ephraim is having his kickoff tonight for the youth group. Sara is getting ready for WASP and Octane to fire back up. And yes, we have programs for adults, as well. I call it our discipleship rhythm. And, believe it or not, we don’t offer these things just to fill your calendar or because we don’t have anything else to do. I’m not trying How COVID has affected us
Faith In Action – The Sheep and the Goats
The Sheep and the Goats – Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus tells a parable in the gospel of Matthew about Judgment Day when all the nations will be gathered before him. He says this will happen when the “Son of Man” returns to the earth. In essence, He is saying, “Ok. Time’s up. Game’s over. Let’s see how we did.” The King, Jesus, proceeds to separate all the people from every tribe, tongue, and nation into two groups. One, the “sheep” or How COVID has affected us
Nevertheless
By the time everyone reads this I will be at Bowling Green State University with our some of our high schoolers for a weeklong convention called CIY Move. The theme for this year’s convention is Nevertheless. This is taken from Galatians 2:20 (KJV). In this verse, Paul declares that he has crucified himself with Christ and the new life he lives is not his own, but Christ’s. Too often times, people treat Church like a drive through or supermarket. We roll up in How COVID has affected us
Ecclesiastical Expectations: What Does the Bible Say?
This is the third article of three regarding church expectations. In my first article, I asked “What do you expect from the church?” In the second article, I wrote to answer the question, “What does your church expect from you?” Let’s look at what the Bible says in regard to church expectations. If you have heard of the phrase, “paradigm shift” then you’ll understand that this is nothing like what my first two posts talked about, but is rather a whole new way How COVID has affected us
A better Story
I attended a conference for preachers a month or so ago and one of the speakers shared a message from John 11 that really affected how I think about a sermon, but more importantly about how I think about the lessons learned from the raising of Lazarus. I shared these thoughts with a group of our leaders before a strategy session a few weeks ago. In John chapter 11 we read about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus How COVID has affected us
Worth in Jesus. Strength in Numbers.
Throughout this school year, the topic of worth has come up several times. It’s been woven through the majority of my lessons during Wednesday night youth group. Why are our youth struggling with this topic? Honestly, why do we adults struggle with this topic? As Christians, we should know who dictates our worth, and where it comes from. Yet so many struggle to feel like they’re enough. We are inundated with worldly marketing. We’re constantly being told we’re missing the mark. We’re How COVID has affected us