Our world is spinning out of control wrong is seen as right and the pressure is on. We as Christians are called to hold to the truth, to love as Jesus did, and to shine as lights amidst a crooked and depraved generation. There was a time in our culture when the marriage bed was seen as sacred, and virginity before marriage respected. Now I am told that this generation of believers are often “sexual atheists,” shunning God’s standards for purity. Likewise, just ten years ago, most opposed gay marriage, but today, in America, according to John Stonestreet of World News, 6 out of 10 approve of gay marriage, and many who claim Christ are following in their steps. God’s plan is like a beautiful river bringing life and joy. But when God’s plan for sex and marriage is broken, […]

This is going to be so fun to do with you! Tuesday He Calls You Beautiful will be released. AFTER FOUR YEARS OF PRAYER, SEEKING GOD, STUDYING, WRITING, TESTING, EDITING AND FINALLY: IT’S HAPPENING! I tested the waters here twice, and so you are a huge part of this and I do not take you for granted. Some of you are quoted in it. Many of you prayed. And I hope for prayers from all of you this week, for though I may be wrong, I am anticipating spiritual warfare. The lie of the enemy from the garden on is that he tells us God doesn’t love us, doesn’t want our best in hopes that we will back up from the Lover of our Soul. And we believe it, for we look at our failures and agree, “Of course He […]

For those of you who have just joined us for our summer study, let me do a brief review. We are going on a “God Hunt” in life and in Scripture. This week, because of the 4th of July week, we are going to focus on hunting God in every day life. Karen Mains had said, “The passion children bring to “hide-and-seek” is the same passion we need to bring to finding God. When our two sons, James (J. R.) and John, got older, they morphed the hide-and-seek game into “Scare Hide-and-Seek.” When the seeker got inches from the hider’s hiding place, the hider would leap out from the bushes or the broom closet with “BOO!” Or, if the seeker thought he saw that blanket move suspiciously, he would pull it off and yell “BOO!” or “GOTCHA!” to the hider. […]

If the early Easter sermons were like some sermons in churches today, the world would not have been turned upside down. Can you even imagine John and Peter preaching: “Easter means that just as spring follows winter, there is always hope.” Never! Instead, they plead with us about the risen Lord: We heard him, we touched him, this is no fairy tale! Rather, as Paul says, “If Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (1 Corin. 15:17) What scriptures did the risen Christ show the two on the walk to Emmaus to help them grasp the gospel, to grasp why He really came? He must have helped them understand that He came not to deliver that generation from the Romans, but to deliver all generations who would believe from the curse […]

Have you had the experience of telling an unbeliever about your joy in Christ and had him respond with something like: “I’m happy for you.“ The message? Christianity is not for me, but if it is helping you, go for it. Because “the whole world lies under the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19) the world is blinded to the fact that Jesus, and only Jesus, is the “true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20) They are also blind to the fact that in Jesus, and Jesus alone, is power.   We must daily remind our souls what we have in Jesus. When God created the first Adam, Adam was glorious, for was in the image of God. But when Adam was tempted, he fell, and the whole of humanity fell with him. The “imago dei” was […]

Discovering Jesus in Genesis 1 can impact us in several ways. First, the light dawns on who He really is. How I remember Debbie in our Seeker’s Bible Study. We had just read the opening of John’s thundering prologue: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not any thing made that was made.   Debbie pressed her fingers to her temples and scrunched her eyes shut: “This is giving me a headache! I thought Jesus was born at Christmas! How could he have been there at the beginning if he was born at Christmas? I can’t wrap my head around this!” I smiled and thought, She has a headache because she is in […]

WELCOME TO OUR SUMMER STUDY! I BELIEVE YOU WILL BE GREATLY REFRESHED BY THE SWEET COMMUNITY GOD HAS PROVIDED HERE. SUMMER IS A GIFT! FOR MANY OF US IT CAN MEAN BREAKING FROM THE MADDENING PACE. MORE TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS, AND IF WE ARE PURPOSEFUL, A TIME TO SLOW DOWN AND SEE OUR LORD IN UNEXPECTED PLACES! THE SCRIPTURAL SPRINGBOARD FOR THIS SUMMER STUDY IS  MY FAVORITE HISTORICAL BIBLE STORY: THE WALK TO EMMAUS. WHEN THE RISEN CHRIST WALKED BESIDE THE TWO UNSUSPECTING DISCIPLES, HE SHOWED THEM HOW HE WAS IN ALL THEIR SCRIPTURES. NEXT WEEK, FOR EXAMPLE, WE WILL LOOK AT GENESIS 1, FIND JESUS HIDDEN THERE, AND CONSIDER HOW THAT IMPACTS US, FOR IT DOES! ALSO: WE WILL KEEP OUR ANTENNAE UP TO SEE JESUS IN EVERYDAY LIFE WE WILL GET HELP IN THIS FROM A […]

i THINK THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN AND EDIFYING! THIS WEEK AND MEMORIAL DAY WEEK, TOGETHER, WE ARE GOING TO ASK GOD TO HELP US EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE, AND REPORT HERE. HE COMES IN MANY WAYS. PSALM 19 TELLS US THAT THE HEAVENS DECLARE HIS GLORY, AND THE FIRMAMENT HIS HANDIWORK. EVEN “UNBELIEVERS” HAVE A SENSE OF AWE. IN MY LITTLE VILLAGE THE SUMMER TOURISTS LINE THE SHORE IN THE HEART OF TOWN AND CLAP WHEN THE SUN SINKS BELOW THE HORIZON. THE SEASONS TOO ECHO HIS FAITHFULNESS. WE HERE IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN WAIT AND WAIT FOR SPRING, AND MAY BE TEMPTED TO SAY “WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF ITS COMING?” YET COME SHE ALWAYS DOES, JUST AS HE WILL SURELY COME. FORGET-ME-NOTS COVER OUR FORESTS, REMINDING ME NOT TO FORGET HIM. LIFE WHERE THERE HAD SEEMED TO BE […]

SOME WOMEN WILL STAY HOME FROM CHURCH TODAY, FOR THEY ALREADY HAVE A KNIFE IN THEIR HEART. THEY DON’T WANT TO SENSE THE EYES OF OTHERS UPON THEM, OR TO BE HANDED A ROSE AS THEY LEAVE BECAUSE THEY ARE A WOMAN, KNOWING THOSE ROSES WERE REALLY INTENDED FOR MOTHERS. THAT ONLY PUSHES THE KNIFE FURTHER IN. THEIR FRIENDS CARRY BABIES IN THEIR WOMBS OR IN THEIR ARMS, WHILE THEY FEEL SO EMPTY. WHY DOES GOD GIVE SO FREELY TO SOME WOMEN AND WITHHOLD FROM OTHERS? ** OTHER MOTHERS ARE IN PRISON, FEELING LIKE FAILURES AS MOTHERS, REMEMBERING WHEN THEY HAD TO SAY GOOD-BYE TO A CHILD WHO WAS ANGRY WITH THEM AND ANGRY WITH GOD. THOSE MOTHERS ARE ANGRY WITH THEMSELVES, ANXIOUS TO RETURN TO THEIR CHILDREN, ANXIOUS ABOUT THEIR CHILDREN’S EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL, AND SPIRITUAL STATE. SOME HAVE NOT […]

  You may have heard that the Father, Son, and Spirit are all the same God, but they wear different masks, have different roles, like I am a mother, sister, and friend, but am just one person. But no. God the Father is not God the Son and God the Son is not God the Spirit. If there was only one Person, Reeves explains, He could not have died for us. Neither would they be in a dance with each other! Yet, still, the Father, Son, and Spirit are one, in perfect harmony. Mike Reeves says, rather, when Jesus says that He and the Father are one, He doesn’t mean they are the same, but just taking different roles, but rather, taking an earthly and scriptural illustration, that they are like the husband and wife who become one in marriage. […]

It is only when we understand the Triune God that we see how the living God is set apart from the idols of human imagination. (Mike Reeves) HOW DOES ONE EXPLAIN THE TRINITY? NOT, REEVES SAYS, WITH THREE OF THESE EXAMPLES: A teacher might say, “God is like water — sometimes watery, sometimes icy, and sometime steamy.” HELP! Or God might be compared to an egg or an apple! PLEASE, NO! THIS WILL NOT DO FOR OUR AWESOME, RELATIONAL, LOVING GOD. Mike Reeves says: Far better to go to the baptism of Jesus. For just as we saw the Trinity dancing over the waters in Genesis, it is happening again! For, as we saw last week, here we see the Trinity relating in love. The Son submitting to the Father. The Spirit glorifying the Son. The Father loving the Son. […]

  JOIN US IN A SHORT SERIES ON THE TRINITY! IN THE FREE SERMON THIS WEEK, TIM KELLER ASKS: DO YOU JUST BELIEVE IN GOD, OR ARE YOU IN THE DANCE? C. S. LEWIS, MIKE REEVES, TIM KELLER — AND MANY ANCIENT CHURCH FATHERS COMPARED THE TRINITY TO A DANCE. THEY HAD A NAME FOR IT:  C. S. LEWIS WROTE: GOD IS A DYNAMIC PULSATING ACTIVITY, A DRAMA, ALMOST, IF YOU NOT THINK ME IRREVERANT, A DANCE WHEN JOHN WROTE HIS FIRST LETTER, HE SPOKE OF THE JOY OF THIS “DANCE,” THIS “FELLOWSHIP,” SAYING, “And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ!” You see, the Spirit reveals to us the true identity of the Son, and when we respond to Him, we become children of God and then join into the dance with the […]

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS WOULD GREET EACH OTHER LIKE THIS: VITAL TO THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS THE UNDERSTANDING THAT CHRIST HAD COME IN THE FLESH (THE INCARNATION) AND RISEN IN THE FLESH, FOR SOON THE SPIRIT OF FALSEHOOD WOULD ARISE FROM THE FATHER OF LIES THAT JESUS WAS NOT DIVINE, BUT JUST A MAN LIKE US; THAT HE WAS NOT GOD IN THE FLESH, AND THAT HE HAD NOT RISEN IN THE FLESH. BUT THE WORD BECOME FLESH (JESUS) MADE IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR, WITH HIS MANY APPEARANCES AFTER THE RESURRECTION, TO MANY DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS, ALLOWING THEM TO SEE, HEAR, AND TOUCH HIM. HE HAD RISEN IN THE FLESH INDEED. “TOUCH ME AND SEE” HE SAID, “FOR A SPIRIT HAS NOT FLESH AND BONES AS YOU SEE THAT I HAVE.” TIM KELLER EXPLAINS THAT ALL THE WORLD RELIGIONS HAD A […]

FOR THESE LAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE EASTER SUNDAY WE WILL BE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND. IN A CHURCH I USED TO FREQUENT IN KANSAS CITY, THEY HAD COMMUNION EACH WEEK, AND MANY OF THE YOUNG FERVENT BELIEVERS TOOK OFF THEIR SHOES BEFORE WALKING UP TO THE ALTAR TO RECEIVE COMMUNION. I LIKED THAT. AND FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS I’D LIKE US TO DO THE EQUIVALENT IN OUR MINDS. FOR IN THIS ULTIMATE SERVANT SONG, FOR WE ARE, INDEED, STANDING ON HOLY GROUND. SO OFTEN WE DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT GOD IS DOING. OUR OWN PRECIOUS MARY E HAS A TERMINAL DIAGNOSIS. OUR OWN CHRIS HAD A GODLY SON MURDERED. HOW DO WE RECONCILE THESE THINGS WITH A LOVING GOD? HOW DO WE GO ON WHEN WE ARE IN GREAT PAIN AND GOD SEEMS SILENT? ONLY BY LOOKING AT THE MAN […]