Category Archive

A Fresh Start God has programed into His system that every day would be a day of fresh start, not a one time thing. You get it over and over and over again. Have you ever had a time in your life when you just wanted a fresh start more than anything? Maybe it’s to move to a new job or school or even a new state? After all even nature gets to start over. Every new season is a fresh start just as every new day is as well. In the book of Lamentations chapter 3 the prophet says, “My mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.” This is wonderful news for us because this means that God’s mercies are there every single morning, In fact, God’s mercies are new every time we repent of sin. We don’t have to wait for a new day or a new season to start anew, we can get things right with the Lord as many times as we need too. I’m not talking about what is referred to as “greasy grace” where you willfully sin because you know you can repent. I’m talking about living in the knowledge of the …

The Good Stuff When life pressures us, what comes out is not always what was on the label. But if we stay under pressure long enough the “good stuff” will start to come out! Have you ever had a time when you squeezed a tube of something and you were surprised at what came out? Have you ever squeezed a tube of lotion or medicine and because it had not been used for a while an oil of some kind comes out? It can be surprising and off putting as well. Now let’s take a moment to ponder what could come out of our hearts and mouths if squeezed unexpectedly. Being squeezed can look like many different things like someone dangerously cutting you off in traffic with your kids in the car. It could be when your spouse snaps at you or when your kids have gotten on your very last nerve. It can also be any combination of mental, emotional, physical, financial or spiritual issues. We all like to think that if we were squeezed we would burst into prayer…however, many times that is not the first thing that happens. We might react with anger, rage, jealousy etc. Now, …

All That Remains Something that when all things are set and done, we know we can still hold on to. I feel it is relatively safe to say that most of us if not all of us have struggled with the constant changes in this world. So much is taking place all day every day that it can be disorienting. We know what we believe and we know the difference between sin and Holiness, but we are still affected by the never ending movement towards complete chaos. We find ourselves reflecting on that thing that is unmovable and unshakable. Let’s look at 1st Corinthians 13:13. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love,” I’m sure I could get a hardy “AMEN!” When I say that it takes great faith to live in this world! Thanks or no thanks to social media we have real time exposure to every little thing happening around our country and even the world. We obviously need hope as well. If we didn’t have hope of being with our Heavenly Father in Heaven, we would be racked with fear as those who don’t trust Jesus are. As wonderful …

Shape of God – The Square Psalm 23:5 says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Now, this is not a literal table with literal food. This is a picture for the fact that we can feast on the Lord’s presence and the peace that He offers us in His presence. What a beautiful picture this paints for us! In this world we encounter so much opposition and when we as Christians are feeling beat up by the world, God will lead us to green pastures where we can rest and again experience the peace that God offers us. Now, the specific table we are learning about this week is the Passover table. In the Old Testament God called Moses to deliver the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. The Pharaoh at that time was a very stubborn man and so God sent the 10 plagues against Egypt while keeping the Israelites safe. These plagues were to demonstrate God’s power and yet Pharaoh’s heart remained hard and he refused to let the Israelites go. The final plague was for the death angel to move through Egypt killing the firstborn in all families. In order for …

Shape of God – The Square We know who Jesus is, we know what Jesus said, we know what Jesus did, and we are trying to align ourselves with His purpose!

Shape of God – The Rope The cross paid my price. The resurrection gives me hope.

Shape of God – The Circle God Has Promises for You – This week we look at the circle which represents the fact that we finish where we start. God takes us full circle in our lives and with His promises. There is an academic phrase dealing with literature called “ring composition” and we are going to discuss it in regards to our circle shape for this week. Ring composition is a technique that basically means the story will end up where it started. On the left side, you have the events building up to the arc, which is at the bottom. After the arc, the story starts making its way back around and back to an eventual close. Interestingly enough, there’s a parallel between situations going on, on the left and the right of the ring. There are some amazing cinematic examples of this technique such as The Lion King. The movie starts with a baby and ends with one as well. On each side you have Scar…one side he plans to rule and plots to kill the king. The other side relates because Scar then does become the King. This is an amazing visual of ring composition. You …

Shape of God – The Triangle The Godhead – In the world of Christian theology one of the hardest things for us to wrap our brain around is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity! How is this possible and how can we EVER hope to understand? At some point most of us in the church have heard a sermon or two on this topic and I bet almost all of them ended the same. We have almost all been told that “it’s just a mystery.” Now, don’t get me wrong it truly is far beyond our scope of understanding in its entirety. Going back a very long time ago, after the original disciples went home to be reunited with Jesus in Heaven, men began searching for an explanation for how God could be One, yet seen as three. Justin Martyr from the early hundreds described God as having “faces” or one God with multiple faces or masks. Ignatius of Antioch from the third century described the Trinity as the “Threefold Splendor of God.” He was one of the first to use the triangle as a visual example as well. There’s Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, it’s one triangle, but …

Shape of God – The Cloud We have heard that God is like a prism and that He is like a cloud, but have you ever thought about a simple dot when you think about the Lord?? Well, for starters, what is a dot? It’s a precise point at the end of a sentence which is probably the most common form of a dot. It is very precise right? It is the smallest of details. When God says something you can know that He is very precise with what He means. He is very much into details including the details of our lives. Details, some of us run from them, and some of us live for them. I love the fact, that the God of all creation, the Alpha and the Omega cares about the simple details in our lives. The Scriptures tell us that God knows the very count of the hairs on our head. (Luke 12:7) Think about that for a second, 8 billion people in the world and God knows the number of hairs on our heads. He also knows the number of every grain of sand in the world. How can we not be comforted by …

Shape of God – The Cloud There are so many things about God that are too amazing for our human brains tocomprehend, but one that tops this list is the fact that God is omnipresent, (everywhere at once)omnipotent, (having unlimited power) and omniscient, (knowing everything.) How is this evenpossible? In the Old Testament God took the form of a cloud during the day and fire at night to leadthe Israelites. That is a pretty amazing thing to read about, I can’t imagine how it was for theones that actually saw it. I think it is a cool analogy to think of God as a cloud, there are somereally appropriate correlations. When it comes to actual clouds there are several different types.There are three different levels of clouds, and based on how far up they are the less we can seethem on earth. However, think of the lower level clouds that we have seen our whole lives andthink of how we like to compare their shapes to something familiar. You know you have donethis, especially when you were young. It was great fun to lie in the grass with your friends andtry to find the most outrageous shapes in the clouds. …