Tag: Preaching

Morning Musing: Jonah 3:10

Leave a comment

“God saw their actions — that they had turned from their evil ways — so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the greatest Christmas movies of all time (after Die Hard) is Home Alone. And whether you agree with me or not, it is a fact that it’s the third highest grossing Christmas movie ever (behind the recent remake of The Grinch at number two and Iron Man 3 running away with the top spot). In any event, one of my favorite scenes comes right at the very end when Kevin walks downstairs Christmas morning and finds his mom standing there. She apologizes earnestly for their forgetting him when they left on vacation and there’s this moment where it looks like he’s deciding whether to forgive her or not. Then he breaks into a big grin and everybody lives happily ever after (except the bad guys). That scene could have been inspired by what happens here in Jonah.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Leave a comment

“Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: ‘Be reconciled to God.’” (CBS – Read the chapter)‬‬

This morning we laid eyes and hearts on the truly amazing fact that in Christ, God doesn’t count our sins against us. Rather, He counts Jesus’ credit in our favor so that our accounts can be reconciled. Once we’ve been reconciled, though, then what? 

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Acts 17:25

Leave a comment

“nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
– ‭‭Acts‬ ‭17:25‬‬ (ESV – Read the chapter) 

Have you ever done someone else a favor? I suspect so. That’s not an uncommon thing to do. It’s a basic cultural courtesy in most human cultures. Someone needs something, we are able to do it for them without cost, and so we do. And, while we don’t often cash in on this right away, there’s usually an unspoken understanding that once this favor has been given, a favor is now deserved. In most cases, this whole system keeps society running smoothly. But, what about the times when it doesn’t work? Paul touches on one here. 

Read the rest…

Being the Church

2 Comments

This Sunday we continued our conversation about the church and how it was designed to work.  With the help of a summary of the church Luke offers in Acts 2, we saw that the church was designed to rest on four pillars.  Keep reading to see what those were and what we need to do about them.

 

While there have been very large churches at various times and in various places throughout the history of the church, the megachurch movement in this country began in the 1980s.  One of the first churches that was a part of this movement and in many ways came to define it, was Willow Creek Community Church.  Willow Creek was founded by Bill Hybels.  It started as a youth ministry meeting in an old theater in 1975 in Chicago, but under Hybels’ visionary leadership it quickly became the largest church in the country.  Today it averages 26,000 people a weekend.  It’s main sanctuary seats just over 7,000 people.  Read the rest…