Embracing Faith without Comfort
Why stepping out for God is worth it: Is God prompting you to take a leap of faith? Could He be asking you to step out of your comfortable life?
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Bible | Books | New Testament
Concluding Lucado’s “Parable of the River” (Part 3)
Last week, I explored themes from Max Lucado’s book, “In The Grip Of Grace,” delving into the first few chapters of Romans. What started as a single post has evolved into a three-part series. Today, I present the third and final piece of this interesting and inspiring tale.
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Navigating Max Lucado’s “Parable of the River” (Part 2)
Yesterday, we started to unpack Lucado’s parable. It’s a parable titled, “The Parable of the River.” Briefly, I gave you a taste of Max Lucado’s book, “In The Grip Of Grace” in yesterday’s post. We looked at the core premise, that Lucado’s metaphoric parable relates to the first few chapters of Romans. Before reading any…
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Bible | Books | New Testament
Exploring Max Lucado’s “Parable of the River” (Part 1)
In Max Lucado’s book, “In the Grip of Grace,” we encounter a parable that unfolds from biblical principles. Specifically, those outlined in the first few chapters of Romans. Before diving in, I want to give a quick SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t read this book. I’m going to give a lot away as I unpack my thoughts over the next few posts.
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Why We Need to Embrace Sacrificial Love
Love has lost its true meaning. In modern cultural language, love is often replaced by the complexities of sexuality. During my time as a youth pastor, I witnessed too many teenagers have a revolving door of partners, whom they supposedly loved. They would return the statement of I love you, but really meant to say…
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Bible | Books | Discipleship | Old Testament
How You’re Being Included In God’s Purposed Plan
Take a moment to meditate on the deeper level of this Scripture. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21) It’s next level, isn’t it? One of those reflections of time and space. I often find myself getting lost in Scriptures like this one. I’m consumed by thoughts of how God is guiding my life, and my eternal life for those willing to accept that statement. God’s sovereignty always seems to be on my mind and always has been.
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Books | Church | Leadership
Book Review: “Church Planting Is For Wimps”
Consider this the continuation of my review on Church Planting Is For Wimps by Mike McKinley. If you haven’t already, I’d urge you to read the previous post for a full context of today’s entry. At the time of reading Pastor McKinley’s book, I resonated with a young man trying to lead a ministry that is packed with opinions, from a wide range of demographics. And having to build loads of generational bridges.
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Books | Church | Leadership | Ministry
Can Punk Rockers Become Pastors?
Church planting is something that has always interested me. I have never been a church planter, and God’s calling on my life has always leaned toward church revitalization. However, I’ve visited church plants and I’ve been involved in assisting or supporting a few of them. And they’ve always interested me.
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The Choice To Surrender Self By Spending $100 – Small Group Study
Last night, we completed our series titled “Surrender” by Francis Chan. I highly suggest the series to any youth group. It was a fantastic model for addressing the current struggles of teens in today’s culture. Furthermore, I believe it has empowered our students to reach new heights with how their faith is played out in day-to-day life.
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How To Surrender Our Altar Egos – Small Group Study
We’ve been working through Francis Chan’s “Surrender” series. The last section of our series is based on the Surrender of SELF. How can we rid ourselves of our Altar Egos?
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A Continued Petition To Surrender Sin – Small Group Study
As promised, here’s Francis Chan’s second session of Surrender SIN. Keep your eye out in the next couple of weeks as we finish our Surrender series with Surrender SELF.
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How Does Sin Work? A Small Group Discussion
Unfortunately, each of us carries a sin nature that we were born with, so we will all carry a certain amount of debris on us. Throughout our lives, we do have choices as to how much debris we pick up from the places we go and the people we associate with.
