Category: Christian Living

Book Reviews, Christian Living

Living Second: Vain

Chris

Imagine what it would be like to have access to any and everything you want. No fee is too great. No location too remote. Don’t know how to do it? You have the time and the tutors to learn it. Wonder if it is legal or moral? All restrictions are out the window and the red tape is put through the shredder.

LivingSecond_vain

What would you do? Where would you go? This is much larger than your “bucket list.” It isn’t what to do before your final moments, but what to fill your living days with. Projects, travels, people, acquisitions. You have your pick of the world. What will you choose? What will you leave behind?

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Book Reviews, Christian Living

Living Second: Unify

Chris

Have you ever watched a sitcom where a couple has its first fight and they realize that just because they had an argument, they don’t have to break up? It’s like they finally realized that the fulfillment that comes out of a relationship is not based on a utopian experience. That it is okay to have good days and bad days. That one disagreement does not have to be the death certificate for all of the good in their relationship.

LivingSecond_unify

It is too bad that we cannot seem to grasp this concept at church. Unfortunately, serving a perfect God does not make us perfect people. Not yet. Until the day when we take on the imperishable and incorruptible, we remain sin-prone humans that still mess up. At least, I’m pretty sure that everyone else does.

As we learn to Live Second, it seems that we just might find ourselves even lower on the totem pole than we think that means. It is obvious that we should have Christ first in our lives. But does it stop there?

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Book Reviews, Christian Living

Living Second: Confession

Chris

Do you know what it means to live second? It means that you are not the first priority of your life. There must be something or someone else greater than you that you align your thoughts and actions to. Someone else that you take your cues from, learn lessons from, and organize your life according to their word.

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When Jesus called out to men to become His disciples, He simply said, “Follow Me.” He makes the same call to us. But sometimes we have difficulty making Jesus first in our lives. It is not because we do not know Him or His word to us, but because find it so difficult to put ourselves in second place.

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Bible, Christian Living

Sermon Audio: God’s Gift of Living Water

Chris

This is the second message in the God’s Gifts series.

We are meant to be saturated with  living water just like a sea-sponge that lives under water. However, our existence is more like that dry and crusty sponge that sits and waits to be united with the water that it never knew it needed. God’s gift of adoption infuses us with the gift of His living water. It brings us three special gifts from God, three key nutrients that give us life.

Bible, Christian Living

Sermon Audio: God’s Gift of Adoption

Chris

For the month of December we are exploring some of God’s gifts to us.

If there is one element of the Christmas that we cannot do without, it is giving gifts. Chances are that everyone gives at least one gift. We cannot help it. Giving  is an expression of love and relationship. When we give out of love we give as God gives to us. God gives gifts to two groups. One receives more gifts than the other.

Find out who receives more gifts from God, and how to be part of that group.

Book Reviews

Book Review: “Grace” by Max Lucado

Chris

Grace_MaxLucadoHave you ever picked up what you thought was a new book by one of your favorite authors, only to be disappointed because it was just a repackage of a book you already own and love? When I had the chance to read Grace: More than We Deserve, Greater than We Imagine by Max Lucado, I was afraid it was just that. After all, “grace” comes packaged with Max Lucado’s name on it many ways.

What I was not expecting is the gut-wrenching that I had reading the book. As a pastor, I try to walk the line between grace and what comes after. It is a paradox throughout Scripture. Reading about the depths of grace only serves to convince me of its necessity, not just in communicating the Gospel, but in living every day.

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