Tag: Christian living

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Summer Reruns: Real Religion, Part 2

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Yesterday, we took a look at an old post from James that has our Lord’s half-brother describing what real, good, God-honoring religion should look like. What that first part of this two-part reflection established is that even people who profess to have no religion at all are a whole lot more religious than they think. This second part has us diving further into what James describes as the right kind of religion. The bottom line is this: real religion should accomplish kingdom good. If it’s not, then it’s bad religion. And there are few things worse than bad religion. Let’s take a closer look together at just what makes the kind of religion that is worth having.

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Growth in Secret Places

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This week we are moving forward in our series, A Kingdom Vision, walking through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We have finished Matthew 5, and it’s time to move forward into Matthew 6. Jesus opens this next part of the sermon by talking about three different spiritual practices. He gives lot of practical advice in terms of how to pursue them in ways that will be the most lastingly beneficial to us, but it’s the bigger picture that we simply must not ignore. And the big picture is this: the reason we pursue these disciplines matters. A lot. Let’s talk about it.

Growth in Secret Places

I love weeks like we had last week. I love hearing about camp and all that the youth and kids experienced and that God accomplished during those weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the years I have chaperoned as well. I think the reason I love church camp so much is that a church camp was the source of my first real job out of high school, my wife, all three of my boys, and my call into ministry. How could I not be grateful for camp? And, yes, you heard that right: my marriage is a product of a camp romance. 

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Getting Caught in Your Own Trap

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“Why, my son, would you lose yourself with a forbidden woman or embrace a wayward woman? For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes, and he considers all his paths. A wicked man’s iniquities will trap him; he will become tangled in the ropes of his own sin. He will die because there is no discipline, and be lost because of his great stupidity.” (Proverbs‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Have you ever done something that seemed like a good idea at the time only to run into a wall later? Had you really stopped to think about it, you probably wouldn’t have done it, but you wanted it. And so, instead of listening to the friend or two who warned you against it, you convinced yourself that you were right or even wise—at least justified—in doing whatever it was. Sin is a trap, but it’s one we often fall into ourselves because of a pattern of bad decision making. This applies to all sorts of situations, but especially times of sexual sin. Let’s talk about it.

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The Blessings Flow Out

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This week we are kicking off a brand-new teaching series for the summer. When Jesus invited people into God’s kingdom, He didn’t stop there. For those who were interested, He gave them a clear and compelling vision of what life in His kingdom would look like. While we get bits and pieces of this grand vision in various places throughout the Gospels, the apostle Matthew gathers the largest and most comprehensive presentation of it in one place in the Sermon on the Mount. For the next few weeks, we are going to be exploring the Sermon on the Mount together in order to see what life in God’s kingdom is really like. Thanks for joining me on this journey.

The Blessings Flow Out

I went to college at a really interesting time. I landed at our Baptist Student Union in a season with a whole bunch of really forward-thinking student leaders and an incredible campus minister. One of the ministries that was created during this season was a seeker-oriented service on Thursday nights called Damascus Road, that was designed specifically for non-believers. It was aimed at getting them interested in the Gospel. Now, I know that we are several years’ removed from the height of the seeker-sensitive church model, and I am well aware of some of its most pressing weaknesses including inviting people into a watered-down version of the faith. With this in mind, we actually created a second service on Tuesday nights called Fuel, that was unapologetically Chrisitan in its framing. It was just a worship service. We used Damascus Road to serve as a funnel to Fuel, and saw several people come to faith by that approach over the four years I was there.

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Hiker walking on rocky mountain path towards sunrise with trekking poles

The Secret to Happiness

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“Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding, for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold. She is more precious than jewels; nothing you desire can equal her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant, and all her paths, peaceful. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who hold on to her are happy.” (Proverbs 3:13-18 CSB – Read the chapter)

There are many things we are taught to pursue in this life. Money, celebrity, and power are chief among them. These, we are told, are the kinds of things that will make us happy. When we can afford whatever we want, when everybody likes us, and when we can get our way, all the bad feelings associated with not having those things will disappear. Perhaps…but the greater likelihood is that they will just take a different form. The Scriptures offer something else as the real pathway to happiness. It doesn’t look or work the same as what the world offers, but its success rate at achieving its ends is far higher. Let’s talk about what it is.

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