Any reference to a political person, party, or position... creates a moment when we can find ourselves in a divide... a potential divide that is all the more significant because it’s within the very community in which it is essential that we know we can truly belong ...with genuine respect and care. While I don’t presume I can resolve all the tensions, it may be helpful to try and clarify what I believe are valuable principles to guide us in how we relate to political choices and one another.
Read MoreWe all hear God. The basis of this class is my confidence in that belief. I also believe that the nature of hearing God is one in which we can tend to be too definitive or too dismissive. It’s really common within a church community to have some who speak of hearing God is very common and confident ways...and others who wonder if they ever really hear God speak to them. So I want to say... these weeks will serve across that spectrum. This class is not a test of your faith… it is a time to enjoy God’s presence.
Read MoreIn the process of establishing a modern state of Israel, some see a persecuted people being given a land of their own wrought with potential good and conflict... others see the fulfillment of God’s prophetic plans... plans that reflect a significant relationship to the “Old Covenant” God held with the nation...and the unfolding of the “end times.” This has raised a significant issue of how those who receive Christ and their Savior and Lord should relate to the modern state of Israel.
Read MoreProtecting basic rights and equal access to essential public life should be supported by everyone. Period. However, the Equality Act would weave over 60 changes through the civil rights laws, change the definition of “sex” and “sexual discrimination”, and then would remove the role of Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. It brings a change to both what is being protected and how it is being protected.
Read MoreI believe that differences of perspective can generally be healthy. However, if one does not sense value to actually consider other views... or if everything correlated with one “side” is right and the other “side” wrong...then the differences will only become a source of conflict... not only with others...but with God.
Read MoreIf one tends to consider such an issue as simple… able to be summed up with a one line position...they may not be one who values what will be shared here. I have found that quick simple positions tend to be more political than personal in nature.
Read More“Fasting” is a topic we don’t hear as much about today… even in the church. Many of us may think of fasting as for the spiritually elite… those specially gifted. As those raised in a time of rather regular consumption, the very idea may sound strange or intimidating. So how can we discover the potential for spiritual feasting (growth) through fasting?
Read MoreThe use of marijuana has become more common again in the recent years. Many of us who grew up during the 1970s or later have known a previous season in which marijuana was a part of our social world and often personal experience. While the issue may not be new, the cultural perspective and nature of its use has changed.
Read MoreDespite what some extreme critics may want to say, the Bible presents what has proven to be a testimony rooted in real history that has created a profound understanding of moral virtue. However, there are parts of the Bible that present what appears to be difficult to reconcile in terms of either factual accuracy or moral sense.
Read MoreA life pattern is the way a person structures his or her life. A pattern is built or drawn from the values that a person develops over time. These values come from many different sources including family, friends, culture, and God. When a person becomes a follower of Jesus they are discovering and entering a whole new understanding of reality.
Read MoreA significant reason there are such differing perspectives about whether there is some potentially appropriate way for those following Christ to practice some form associated with “yoga” has to do with the assumptions and approach one has about the nature of such “association.”
Read MoreWhen I was teaching an adult Sunday school class, one member, the CEO of a major firm, asked me to lunch. He started the conversation by saying, "I have a CPA to keep me liquid, a lawyer to keep me legal, and a doctor to keep me healthy. But I have no one to help assess my spiritual condition. Can you give me a 'spiritual audit'?"
Read MoreThe most important factor in the success and satisfaction of a marriage is one most often overlooked. It is expectations. Expectations are the unseen link between how we experience something and how satisfied we are. Expectations flow from the purpose we believe something is intended to fulfill.
Read MoreWe encourage neither the way of fear which refuses these experiences altogether, nor the way of fanaticism which confuses these experiences as an end in themselves, but rather the way of freedom which uses these experiences towards God's purposes in us. Manifestations may help guide our facilitation of the process, but the ultimate focus is on the internal work in our inner beings. While the manifestations may serve as "signs", it is the lasting "fruit" by which we will be known.
Read MorePerhaps it should not surprise us that living out such a God-shaped covenant is a challenge. Human hearts have a way of changing over time… especially marital affections. What often begins with a sense of blessing can later experience times when it feels like a curse. Differences and divides emerge. Hurt goes unresolved. The vows once taken can seem long abandoned. As a result, many come to a juncture in which one or both partners choose to divorce.
Read MoreGod is a God of story…. as he works in the drama of our human lives. Jesus understood that sharing what God has done is spiritually significant … both for us and those who can draw from it. When Jesus first touched lives, he commonly told them to simply go tell others what he had done… to share their experience.
Read MoreMany may wonder if marriage holds any real value. It may be looked upon as just a religious ritual or legal rite that makes no real difference to their relationship. We encourage not simply accepting some sort of obligation to get married….but daring to consider the deeper venture of what marriage truly is.
Read MoreSo for those who would like to reflect on what a healthy perspective may be when either “shopping” for a church… or considering “changing” churches…I believe the following article by James Emery White… provides some rich insight and guidance. May it serve you well.
Read MoreOur roots are that of a hunger for God in a spirit of humility, out of which the presence of God and the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit was experienced, encouraged, and thoughtfully understood in light of the Scriptures. To remain true to such a spirit of hunger is to continue to seek to know the person of God more than the power of God… His face more than His hand.
Read MoreWe are living in a time in which the very means by which information comes to us makes it hard to discern what is really true. It should be clear that in this age of internet media and cable news, what is presented as “information” is now an increasingly packaged presentation of fact and fiction. What comes to us may include some form of facts... but it is often shaped to feed our desire for drama .... which includes defining the “sides” that represent good versus evil.
Read More