I don’t like Hell. That should be generally understood, given that I’m a pastor. I don’t like to talk about it, I don’t like to think about it, I don’t like to even comprehend it. It seems too final. No second chances. No opportunities for a do over. It seems like the original Mario Bros. video game in a Wii and Wii U world. If you’re an old-school video game connoisseur, then you’ll get where this train is going. My boys have... Read more
Our perspective on pain and suffering is too short. We think in terms of minutes, hours, and days. To God a thousand years is like a day. We’re the ones that get frustrated at the microwave because it takes 45 seconds to heat our food! God sees from the perspective of eternity. I asked a question at our church last Wednesday night, “Have you ever experienced something that in the moment was painful or tragic but ended up being for your... Read more
Our perspective on pain and suffering is too small. If you asked my 2-year-old son and my 1-year-old daughter if I was a good dad, they might have told you ‘no’ this week. Monday we put a chain lock on our front door because our 2-year-old has figured out how to unlock the front door and escape like a lifer on a prison break. Now he can’t. When he first tried to open the door and realized he couldn’t, he... Read more
If you’re in pain, whether physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial or spiritual, that pain can blot out everything else and become all-consuming. What can you cling to when you’re walking through the dark valley of pain and suffering? The most powerful thing you can cling to is the cross. When you’re suffering, run to the cross. Why is the cross so powerful? Because it’s a picture of God’s love for us that is much more powerful than human words. Think about it: one of... Read more
This sermon answers the basic question: What does it mean to be saved? https://vimeo.com/124974672 Read more
The Bible claims that God is all-loving and all-powerful. But how can you explain the Bible’s description of God given the existence of evil? Or, let me state the argument this way: given the reality of evil and suffering in the world, God may be all-powerful but not all-loving. That is, God has the power to stop evil but chooses not to. This turns God into a distant, removed, deistic god unconcerned with the affairs of the world. Or, God... Read more
Maybe I’m the only one that secretly worries that God is mad at me. I promise Him something and then don’t follow through. I know the right thing to do, the thing God would want me to do, and I don’t do it. I care more about myself then others. I fail to live up not only to God’s expectations, but even my own. Sometimes I’m a disappointment in my own eyes. Surely I must be a disappointment to God.... Read more
Everyone struggles with this question. Christians, non-Christians, religious, non-religious. Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? Why would God allow such evil to continue? If you want the question posed in the starkest way possible, listen to this interview with renown British actor and prominent atheist Stephen Fry: It’s a question we all have to wrestle with, especially Christians. Here’s how the popular argument goes: Given the reality of evil and suffering in the world, if God... Read more
Why do we use different terms to describe the same experience? Depending on your background or denomination, you’ll use terms like: Get saved Pray the sinner’s prayer Walk the aisle Repent Believe in Jesus Ask Jesus in your heart Get baptized Be filled with the Holy Spirit Fall under conviction Be born again Why so many terms? I believe it’s because salvation is such a transcendent experience that human words will never be able to fully capture it. Have you ever... Read more
Does God speak through dreams today? That’s the unexpected topic of conversation I had yesterday with two separate people. One was recounting a family member who had a very clear dream that she interpreted as a sign from God. The second was a note from a church member saying she had a vivid dream Saturday night that mirrored with detail the sermon I preached to her the next morning (she of course had no knowledge about what I was going to... Read more
New Wineskins
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