In the aftermath of this morning’s Christmas sermon and a week of getting and giving Christmas presents, I realized most of us don’t know what a gift is. Since most of me and my extended family’s gift-giving money goes toward our collective six kids, all age 5 and under, this year we decided to draw […]
What Does the Bible Say About God’s Love for Me?
What Does the Bible Say About God’s Love for Me? In the gospel, you are: Loved (John 3:16) Qualified (Colossians 1:12) Righteous (Romans 3:21-22) Accepted (Romans 15:7) Complete (Colossians 2:10 NLT) Reconciled (Colossians 1:22) Holy (Colossians 1:22) Blameless (Colossians 1:22) Without Blemish (Colossians 1:22) Free (Galatians 5:1) Free from Accusation (Colossians 1:22) Forgiven (Colossians 2:13) […]
How Saying “Merry Christmas” Turned into a Swear Word
I was chatting with the free sample guy at Meijer the other day, getting some godsend cups of red velvet cake that enabled my 2-year-old and 4-year-old to make it through the rest of the grocery run. After we got done asking each other about our kids and discussing the miraculous power of red velvet […]
Yes, I Believe the Entire Bible is God’s Inerrant Authoritative Word
For the first time in my life, it feels unpopular to believe that the Bible is God’s Word. By “unpopular” I mean, it feels like believing in the entire Bible is looked at as uncool and outdated, like we’re past that and holding on to is crude, ignorant and even barbaric. This has something to […]
Jesus’ Authority Keeps Us Unshakable When Suffering Comes
I had the opportunity to preach at Trinity Church in Lansing this past Sunday on Romans 8:31-39. Romans 8:31 and Romans 8:37 are home run verses that we love (and I love), but if we’re not careful they can become verses we take out of context and use to formulate a theology that bad things […]
Why “All Ways Lead to God” Offends Me
It’s very politically correct nowadays to say that all ways lead to God. Your view, my view and their view are all equally true, and to say otherwise is extremely offensive. This offends me. This first and foremost offends my intellect because it simply doesn’t make sense. If I believe