My Thoughts and Reflections

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV1984) Happy Halloween! Happy Reformation Day! Happy All Hallows Eve! Today is the day of the year that many choose to celebrate evil, death, devils, witches, and many other abhorrent things and ideas while others celebrate the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg. Today is also the eve of the day that the church celebrates the lives of all...

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5 (NIV) When we come to church each Sunday, we come expecting an encounter with God. However, do you expect an encounter with God on a daily basis too?  What do your daily encounters with God look like?  Are they a quick thirty second prayer to get the day going? Are they mealtime prayers and a quick one before you drift off to sleep?  Or, are they consistent meetings each day in scripture, prayer, and solitude?  Whenever our meetings with God take place and however our meetings with God take place, we’re still meeting with the one and only holy God of the universe!   When Moses met with God at the burning bush, he was not expecting to meet God and he certainly did not understand how he should have been prepared to be meeting with God too.  God told him to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.  T...

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. - 1 John 4:11-12 When I read these verses this morning, I was struck by the words, “No one has ever seen God” and “God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”  Even though no one has seen God, God lives in us!  This means that anyone can see God when God’s love is shown through us!  People can see God when we love one another like God has loved us.  That love can only happen when God is living in us. As followers of Jesus Christ, it is our goal to emulate the one who we follow.  God loved us by sending his Son into the world as the sacrifice for our sins and the gateway for us into a redeemed relationship with God.  Jesus showed us what true love looks like throughout his life and ministry and especially through his death on the cross.  With that examp...

The L ORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one L ORD , and his name the only name. Zechariah 14:9 (NIV) We live in a world with many competing powers, authorities, rulers, and names. This is all a result of sin having a hold on every part of humanity. When I sit down and think about how we live in a state, a country, and a world where the authorities generally do not honor or respect our God, it brings some uneasy tension to my life. However, because of the hope that Jesus Christ provides as a result of his death and resurrection, we now have a firm and solid promise that someday we will get the privilege of experiencing a world where there is only one king over the whole world and that this king will be the L ORD . How exciting is that?!?  As followers of Jesus Christ, we certainly do suffer for him in our own country, but our brothers and sisters in other countries suffer much greater peril for the name of Jesus Christ than we do here i...

I posted an article yesterday on Facebook about the abortion video made by Emily Letts. I believe that this video displays the disgusting, despicable, and demented culture of death that is spreading throughout our country. One of my former youth group members responded negatively to my post and my views and here is my response to him. I am calling him "Bob" in this post. I would love to receive anyone's comments on this. Hey Bob, Here's my response in full to your comment on the article I posted yesterday. I can accept it if you don't agree with me, but be patient and hear me out as I try to address each of the concerns you've raised. The government does have the right to make you do something even if you don’t like it or don’t want to  (a prime example would be the Obamacare legislation) . The government seems to have a lot more rights than it should, but that is not where the argument is. A government can make legal something that is w...

Lord of Heaven and Earth!   Your love for the world caused you to send your one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world so that he could die for our sins.  Thank you that he not only died, but that he also rose again to life.   Thank you that you provided over five hundred witnesses to your resurrection so that on account of all of the evidence we find in the Bible, we can come to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that he is the Son of God.   Lord, bless us this week with boldness as we proclaim, "Christ is Risen!" to our coworkers, family, friends, fellow students, and to all other people that we meet this week.  Give us boldness as we bring the good news of the gospel to all those who have not hear and accepted it yet.  Give us the words to say when it is time to say them.   We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior.  Amen!

Where could I go to get away from your spirit?  Where could I go to escape your presence?  If I went up to heaven, you would be there.  If I went down to the grave, you would be there too! Psalm 139:7-8 (CEB) As we move closer to the end of this Lenten season, I continue to marvel at the innumerable things that I can praise God for!  My main focus, during Lent, is obviously on Jesus and that is cause for constant praise.  However, these two verses in Psalm 139 really are something to praise God for today as well. Earlier and later in the psalm, David is praising God for the fact that he intimately knows each an every one of us.  In these two verses, David is reminding us that there is no where we can possibly go where God cannot find us!  No matter where I go in life, no matter what I do, God is still there right beside me.  I can go to the furthest location away from heaven and earth and God would still be there with me! God ...