This is a possibly valuable question. Is it ok to live a s shallow life? Many men and some families live a shallow life. From a Christian counselor my wife and I learned a valuable lesson with his hand drawn pyramid like I did above. Level 1 is top of the pyramid. just an acquaintance. Level 2 is the beginning of a shallow friendship Level 3 cuts deeper to involve things we believe like faith and politics and how to make the best cake. Level 4 is things that deeply trouble me and and my hopes and dreams at a quite vulnerable level Level 5 is clear. For mental health, we each need one person a ..read more

Fear is a big enemy, and I want to uncover it. It helped in my own life to uncover it. Let’s look together. Lets start with the Bible. Jesus saw how big an enemy fear is when he asked us to not fear man in Luke 12. 4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7&n ..read more

The fact of the Resurrection is not our topic today. Let’s talk about its impact on us. So I ask “What about the Resurrection?” 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, How much hope did Peter have on Easter Saturday? It seems not much. His living hope came through the resurrection of Christ. Jesus said a lot of radical things and called them to radical faith. Take up your cross, and follow me would be one of many.   He ..read more

Men What is Marriage? God had a plan, but it is hard to see in the selfishness of our lives. Women tend to civilize us if we look at it one way. Let’s look at what God says about this. The Bible begins in Genesis 2:24 saying: That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Jesus says divorce is wrong: 4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two wi ..read more

Main thing is certainly about the Cross and its centrality to all our hope. However, it is also about clarifying what to fight about. Some things God said clearly, and we can talk about them with authority here.  Some things God did not say clearly. We should not presume that he could not and then help him. If God was unclear, he meant to be unclear. So, we can speak with clarity on the Cross and how we are saved, but not so clearly on what to have for communion or how much water is needed for baptism.  Now, some who read this think the Bible is very clear on what to consume at commu ..read more

Do they add meaning to life? Investing in a world that is perishable takes the life out of everyone unless they convince themselves that the perishable is imperishable. Without God’s great commission, we tend to live our lives trying to be happy. It feels empty. Let’s add meaning to life. My college life was filled with outreach work to fill the world with more mature Christians. We rarely succeeded in bringing people to faith, but it was exciting times making disciples. During early married life, my wife and I were deep in ministry work while I held a full time job, and we quickly added three ..read more

lthougJesus is only listed once in the Gospels praying for us. Jesus prays in John 17. First, he prays for himself. Then, he prays for the disciples. Finally, he prays for those who believe through the disciples. That would be us. So what did Jesus pray for us the night before he died? 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Wow, he could pray we woul ..read more

So many failed marriages plus loveless marriages partly adds up to a hookup culture that is just about girls and boys looking for love in all the wrong places. Engagements got big as marriage lost its luster. It is really an ugly picture. Let’s think more. What about before marriage for a place to do better? My teenage and young adult children are totally committed to abstinence before marriage as were my wife and I. We trust God in this. Like God, we think oneness is more important then sex, but sex after marriage does lead to fun learning together. All along you are learning to be loyal to e ..read more

Meditation and a verse is rather a cryptic topic. For any who have started to practice the discipline of meditation as noted by Richard Foster, this may be more clear. My house church and whole family have been working on the topic of meditation for some time. I have been encouraged as the book say of course toy are not good at it, You have not practiced. We were out at a park, as family, and my dear wife said lets each give the the person next to us a verse and then we each meditate on the verse we got from our family member. My 16 year old daughter gave me the whole 23rd Psalm. I took the f ..read more

How much does God love us? God loves us more than we can know. He died for us to set us free from sin that we may live a new life. . He also knew we needed to know how much He loved us just to wake us up. Only by stretching out his arms to die for us on the Cross could we possibly understand how much love he had for us. He drew us in. In one shocking act, he showed his love and mercy toward us who are still sinners while at the same time showing how much our sinfulness needed justification and not just “who cares”. So God maintained his holiness by dying for us when he did not deserve to die i ..read more