In the start of the Gospel of John, we read a peculiar little account. But before we dig into the meaning of the first few verses of this book, let’s take a quick glance at why this book exists in the first place. In the New Testament of the Bible there are four letters known as Gospels. These four books account for the life of Jesus from different perspectives. They certainly say the same thing just with different thrusts. Matthew is writing to Jewish people who were expecting a king so he writes mostly about what Jesus said. Mark is writing to Roman people who saw Jesus do some pretty amazing things, so he’ll focus on what Jesus did. Luke writes to a guy named Theophilus, and he’ll spend his account focusing on what Jesus felt. And not to be left out, John writes to anyone and everyone, and he’ll focus on who Jesus was.
Continue readingCategory: Devotion (Page 5 of 11)
I’ve been reading a lot of social media posts lately about people being against Jesus and against religion as if they’re the same thing. I believe there’s a misunderstanding about who Jesus is and what religion is all about. To say that religion and Jesus are the same is a gross misunderstanding of reality and a complete missing of the point of both!
Continue readingBeing a pastor I get the chance to study the Bible and teach what I learn. And honestly I’ve been learning a lot lately! I’m not sure how it happened but for a time it felt like I heard less new to me stuff and kept almost recycling the information I already knew. But starting the first of the year over at Living Word Galena we started a new sermon series titled Reframe. The point was to take what we know and look at it from a different angle, kind of like looking at an old picture after it’s been reframed. Well this process has been massively rewarding! It’s been so rewarding that I’ve started to implement this idea in all of my reading.
Continue readingThere seems to be a problem with prayer. Well, not really with prayer but with our prayers. It’s not that we’ve filled them with the wrong words necessarily. It’s not because they aren’t eloquent enough or professional sounding enough. But there’s a problem with our prayers and it really needs addressing. Continue reading
There’s something about being a follower of Jesus that just doesn’t make sense to many people. Maybe you’re one of them. I get it. If I’m looking at it with my simple eyes, it just doesn’t make sense. I mean really. The foundation of the Christian faith is Jesus and his death and resurrection. Think about it for just half a second. Who does that? Who could believe that a man would willingly die that kind of death for people he’d never even met?! It’s craziness! And that says nothing about raising from the dead!?! Continue reading
Every once in a while it’s healthy to sit down and reflect on where you’ve been. As we wrap up a summer of ministry, I’ve taken a little bit of time to just pause for a second or two to consider what the past 12 months have brought. There have been many ups and a few downs along the way, but in all of it God has truly shown up! Below are my reflections, three significant failures on my part and the lessons learned. Continue reading
It was about six o’clock and in our house that means it’s just about supper time. The food was ready. The table had been set. Drinks were in cups and the only thing left was to call the children to come and get it. But not so fast! Have you ever had one of those moments when you just thought a little peace and quiet wouldn’t hurt anything? Well this was one of those nights. We considered ear plugs and eating by ourselves but that wouldn’t really be great parenting. Continue reading
Over the past several weeks in our midweek services at church we’ve been wrestling with the gospel, the good news of Jesus. Our task has been to take what we know of this good news message and summarize it in about seven words. There’s nothing magical about seven words. There’s nothing all that special about this number necessarily. The number seven is a simple number that is small enough to remember and long enough to pack a meaning. So what are your seven words? Continue reading
Ok, so if you know me at all, you’ll see the title of this post and immediately be curious if I have any idea what I’m talking about. And for those of you who don’t know me all that well – I don’t rest the way many people rest. In this post we’ll look at rest and try to determine if there is a right and wrong way to rest. Continue reading