Confidence of salvation

As we continue in our series, A Word on Reality, this past Sunday morning we looked at John’s call to make loving one another something that goes beyond being merely a slogan we claim, to an essential part of our identity in Christ. Read on for more…

A Call to Action

Have you ever seen or worn a t-shirt with a slogan on it? I suspect you have. I had one in high school that my folks recently dug up in one of their closets and mailed to me that read: “The football team will be performing before and after tonight’s featured performance of the marching band halftime show.” It featured a picture of a trombone slide piercing a football. Now, if you’re a football fan or player you may be rolling your eyes, but I’m comfortable admitting that I was a huge band nerd in high school. Also, our football team was awful. And with over 200 kids in the marching band, for most home games our parents easily made up the biggest percentage of the crowd. So yes, the crowd really was mostly coming to the game just to see the band. Read the rest…

In part two of our teaching series, A Word on Reality, we talked about how we can know with assurance that we are close to God by looking at 1 John 2:1-17. What is the evidence of a life spent in Christ? Read on for the answer.

Whose Word Is Final?

Close your eyes for me for just a minute. I’m going to say some words and I want you to internally react to them. Whatever your reaction is, I want you to just dwell on it for a moment and then we’ll talk about it in a bit. Heaven. Grace. Love. The world. Sin. Submission. Obedience. Okay, open your eyes. Now, by a show of hands, how many of you reacted positively to all of those words? Anyone react negatively to all of them? How many were split between some of the words? How many of you reacted positively to the first couple of words and more negatively to the ones after that? Okay, how about this one: how many of your reactions went from most positive to most negative in the order of the words as I spoke them? That last word, obedience, leaves a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of people today. I think part of the reason for this is that we have been fed since birth a worldview by our culture that believes the highest good is achieved when we are singularly in control of our lives. Now, while there are a few people in the world who have personalities that are very comfortable in a setting where we simply do as we are told, I suspect they are more the exception than the rule. Read the rest…