Hope is not dead. Hope is very much alive. No matter what the world wants you to think. No matter what you are experiencing. No matter what is going on in your life. Sure, we must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope like Martin Luther King, Jr. put it. Hope is not dead. How do I know this? Because the Bible tells so. Hope is not dead because the tomb was empty. Hope is not dead because Jesus…
Have you heard the story of a little child trying to fall asleep in a dark room? The child began to cry and her mother came to assure her that God was with her and she didn’t need to be afraid. But soon the child began to cry again. She told to her mother “Oh, Mommy, I want someone with skin on!” She stated something essential to life and faith. God is real but we also need the body of…
There is a need within each of us to know God. We search to know God whether we realize it or not. There are a lot of New Age stuff going on that offer different ways to find God. But the Bible tells us that there is only one way to God: Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me,…
You hear so many stories of how people turn away from God when they have experienced some heart-breaking difficulties. Somehow they’ve learned to think that if you believed in God there would be no hardships anymore. But that’s not what Jesus promised for his followers. He promised something much more amazing and important. All this can be found in this one Bible verse with the words of Jesus: I have told you these things, so that in Me you may…
Once I overheard a discussion between two successful young professionals on a train. It sounded like they had graduated together from a graduate school a while back with big dreams. And they had gone and achieved them all right. A good job. A beautiful wife. Wonderful kids. A comfortable house. A fast car. Extensive travels. Yet they were asking: Is this all there is? We think we can find happiness on our own. We think we know how to find…
Robust peace might sound a bit odd first. That’s because we’ve learned to think of peace as of lack of something. Peace is a lack of hurry or lack of pestering people. The peace the world ever is able to give is this kind of peace: a removal from busyness or a subtraction of something from our lives. But this kind of peace is not lasting and it diminishes our lives. This kind of peace is not robust peace. This…
What’s the big deal of the Holy Spirit? Why do we need the Holy Ghost? Why should we be excited about the Spirit of God? I’ve collected here my big five reasons why the Holy Spirit is an essential part of spiritual life. 1) The Holy Spirit is a person. For real. The Holy Spirit is not just an abstract thought or impersonal wind. The Holy Spirit is a person who hears, speaks, feels and thinks. The Holy Spirit loves,…
What’s the point of Ascension Day? (Other than getting a day off in Europe?) Why would we be excited about following the cloud? Why would be excited about Jesus leaving us? Let’s find out. He [Jesus] told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria,…
Do you (sometimes) feel inadequate? Do you wish you could have managed things differently? Do you struggle with your shortcomings? Do you start your sentences with “if only…if only…if only”? We desire to be but we are not perfect. We fail. We are weak. Most often we can somehow deal with our inadequacies and shortcomings when they don’t affect our loved ones. But when we feel that we have failed as parents or spouses or children it is incredibly hard….
This message will be short and sweet but extremely important: Don’t let anything keep you away from God. Don’t let anything keep you from receiving the gift of faith. Don’t let anything keep you from embracing grace day by day. There’s nothing in your past that could make God love you less. Don’t give in to shame. There’s no mess that big that would keep God granting you grace. Don’t give in to shame. There’s nothing that makes you unqualified…
