As I reflected on this past Sunday’s sermon on the power of our words to encourage others, I thought of two prominent youth ministry leaders who influenced me when I was a youth pastor and how their w...  Read More

"He must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:30)As we enter the third month of 2015, one thing has been clear this year for me: it has been the year of the funeral. In January, I performed th...  Read More

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of Go...  Read More

So, how is that “read through the Bible in a year” plan going?Okay, so I’m sure not all of you set that as a goal, but for those who did, I am guessing that you have been slogging through Exodus, Levi...  Read More

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4)The 2...  Read More

During this past Sunday’s sermon, I shared a quote from the Donald Miller book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. As I meditated on that quote and the place of conflict and struggle in the story God...  Read More

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be abl...  Read More

This past Sunday I preached on the fact that God is eternal, that He exists outside of time and is fully present to every moment of time at once. He is the Alpha and Omega, the one who was there in th...  Read More

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2)Ecclesiastes 7:2 is a vers...  Read More

“Meanwhile his disciples urged him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’ Then his disciples said to each other, ‘Could someone have brought hi...  Read More

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is like a ma...  Read More

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sa...  Read More

Today’s post is adapted from the April 20th, 2010 blog post, and is dedicated to Jonathan, Karen & Hailey.“Yet to all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to beco...  Read More

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sin...  Read More

“Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a...  Read More

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)Over the past ten weeks,...  Read More

Today’s post is entitled “Facets of Glory,” and is written by Lynne Pleau.“For the Lord is God, and He created the heavens and the earth and put everything in its place.” (Isaiah 45: 18a)Imagine: what...  Read More

We’ve been looking at the book of Daniel for the past two months on Sunday mornings, and one of the repeated themes is that God’s kingdom is everlasting, while every kingdom and political leader of th...  Read More

"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-- but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)One of the most neglected spiritua...  Read More

Today’s Pulse includes a section from a recent blog post by Pastor John Ortberg on the christianitytoday.com website. The post was a response to the recent resignation of Mark Driscoll, pastor of the ...  Read More

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)“Every day is a journal page, every man holds a quill and inkAnd there's plenty of room for writing in all we do ...  Read More

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in th...  Read More

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may ...  Read More

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)It is a continual stru...  Read More