Paul did something fairly remarkable when he spoke to the men of Athens: he found common ground. Surprisingly, he did not start by expositing the Bible; he started by connecting with the people who were interested in hearing what he had to say. I think this is an important concept to consider as we think about the church and the way we connect with ... [Continue Reading]
Introducing…
For quite a while I have been toying with the idea of creating a blog for the High School Student Ministry at LifePoint. Well, today it became a reality. Introducing: www.lifepointhssm.com. Give it a visit and let me know what you think! ... [Continue Reading]
How deep should we go?
I have had some interesting discussions with people in the last several weeks, and one of the discussions is regarding the depth of what should be taught in church. There are people who claim that they want to go deeper spiritually and desire more teaching times, but the reality is that if we don't put into practice those things that we're learning, then who ... [Continue Reading]
Seeing as the Lord sees (1 Samuel 15-17)
So much goes on in these three chapters that it's impossible to address it all in a short entry. Instead, I want to focus on the instructions that God gives to Samuel as he is selecting the new king. Samuel obviously needed a reminder from God, otherwise God would not have told him these words: "For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the ... [Continue Reading]
Does God bargain with us? (Judges 11-12)
Have you ever found yourself, in your prayers, bargaining with God? If You... then I... I think sometimes we're tempted to try to bargain with God because we bargain with each other. How often do we do something for a friend with an expectation of something in return? If you do this for me, then I'll do this for you. None of us ... [Continue Reading]
What a guy (Judges 3-4
I like Ehud. First, he was left handed. You've got to like a guy who's left handed. Second, he didn't let his left-handedness get in the way of accomplishing something big for God. In fact, he leveraged it for the Kingdom. As a left handed person, I have to admit that I feel like a minority in society. It's not easy ... [Continue Reading]
Hello, old friend
Yesterday I visited one of my all-time favorite restaurants: Kewpee Hamburgers. As a young boy we got this Lima, Ohio treat whenever we saw our grandparents. I always looked forward to eating at Kewpee's, so I jumped at the chance to stop by yesterday when I was passing through (I think it had been 5 or 6 years since my last burger). I walked into ... [Continue Reading]
Making faith your own (Deuteronomy 5-6)
It's interesting to me that Moses sees it fit to remind the Israelites that God did not his covenant with their fathers but with them. In other words, the Israelites had to own up to their faith; it wasn't something they inherited. I see a tendency in the church, especially in young people, to "inherit" a relationship with Jesus from parents ... [Continue Reading]
Jealousy (Numbers 10-11)
It's a pretty interesting story when Moses finds himself unable to bear the burdens of the Israelites and God, in return, appoints elders to help lighten the load. As a young leader, Joshua finds himself in a spot of jealousy of the manifestation of the Spirit in other people, and Moses reminds him that there should be no place for jealousy. Don't we all, ... [Continue Reading]
Does God care about numbers? (Numbers 1)
In the introduction to the Book of Numbers there is recording of a census. Interestingly enough, Moses didn't randomly decide that he wanted to know how many fighting men were available; God told him to take the census. We're never really told why God wanted the census taken (surely He knew how many fighting men were available), but it leads me to ask ... [Continue Reading]
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