Be Intentional about Discussing Faith and Avoid Superficial Chatter After Jesus’s death and him overcoming death, he appears on the street headed to the city of Emmaus, traveling with two of his followers. But they don’t recognize him. He talks to them about God, the Scriptures, and faith. When they eventually realize who he is, […]
The Timing of When People Arrive at Church Reflects Their Priorities When my wife and I went on our grand adventure of visiting fifty-two churches in a year, we decided we’d try to arrive at church ten minutes early. In doing so we would avoid breezing in at the last-minute, and we would have time […]
The First Brothers in the Bible Provide the First Account of Sibling Rivalry The first two people mentioned in the Bible are Adam and Eve. The next two people are their sons, Cain and Abel. It would seem these four people should get along. They can’t. The result of the conflict is tragic. Cain kills […]
Four Insights in How We Are to Approach God Because of who Jesus is and what he did for us, our relationship with God the Father changes. Through Jesus we have a new connection with Papa that we didn’t have before. We can now approach him. In fact the writer of Hebrews encourages us to […]
Discover the Purpose of Church In my post “What is Church,” I suggested we are the church. Church isn’t a place we go—not really. It’s who we are. As the church we should be about worship, community, and helping others. There’s a lot I didn’t mention. That was intentional. Contrary to the actions and attitudes […]
Worship Means Different Things, but What’s Important is That We Do It Some churches call their Sunday meeting a worship service. This has always troubled me. Yes, I knew that singing to God was a form of worship, or at least it should be. I understood the part about “worshiping God with our tithes and […]
Some Things are More Important Than Religious Practices: Focus on What Matters Most I plan to fast one day a week. While I’m not as consistent as I would like, I follow through more often than I miss. Fasting is a spiritual act of worship for me. It better connects me with God and sharpens […]
Being Active at Church May Seem a Wise Use of Time, but It’s Often Misplaced Action One Sunday at church I passed our associate pastor as I scurried from one assignment to the next. “How are you?” he asked. Instead of lying with a socially acceptable response, I told him the truth. “Busy.” I sighed. […]
By Giving to God We Demonstrate Our Love to Him Jesus says to give “to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s,” Luke 20:25, NIV. While the context of this relates to paying taxes, the ramifications go beyond money. The Roman government, in general, and its ruler (Caesar), specifically, have an array […]
Two weeks ago I wrote that a spiritual discipline is something we do to draw closer to God or to honor him. To be of value we need to do this willingly with joy and in anticipation. I gave 17 possible disciplines to consider. Going to church wasn’t on the list. Should going to church […]