A New Beginning

We are still about a month away from New Year’s Day, but having just concluded an excellent study on Noah, new beginnings were on my mind. Can you imagine stepping off that ark and knowing there was not another human being anywhere in the world? The only man made thing anywhere on the planet may […]

We are still about a month away from New Year’s Day, but having just concluded an excellent study on Noah, new beginnings were on my mind.
Can you imagine stepping off that ark and knowing there was not another human being anywhere in the world? The only man made thing anywhere on the planet may very well have been the ark with whatever supplies and tools Noah and his family would have taken with them.
The first day off the ark they had fire and food. They sacrificed and they cooked.
But what really intrigues me, they had just lived through the reality of God’s judgement. They saw first hand the results of his wrath and destruction. They had spoken to God directly and he had spoken to them. They listened to him and they were the only humans left alive because of their trust in what he had said.
Through them, humanity had a second chance to get it right. To live lives that honored God and never turn away from him. But that chance was not taken advantage of and it didn’t last very long. Sin returned quickly and completely.
Everyday we have a chance to draw a line in the sand and be done with sin. But no matter how determined we start out, it never happens. We are all sinful. God knows it. Thus, came Jesus. Through him we have forgiveness. Through him we are counted as holy and perfect. Through him we are the children of God. Through him we have eternal life. Through him we have the only true new beginning.

Kidmin 101

This past Sunday night, I shared five core values that our Children’s Ministry is founded on. These values are what helps keep each event, activity, and class in line with our overall mission. The core values are: 1. Know: Our children will learn to know God and the...

Faith On a Shelf

I have this hat that my dad brought back to me from a business trip to Atlanta when I was 9 or 10 years old. You can see that I’ve worn it a lot. In fact, I wore it to just about everywhere I went during the summer when I was a kid. Church camps, grandparents’ house,...

“Jesus Loves Me”

After being led in this song by two of our young men Sunday night, I was reminded of a quotation from Karl Barth. On April 23, 1962, Karl Barth (the renown 20th Century Swiss-German, neo-orthodox theologian) spoke at Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University...

That’s Not a Candle

Several years ago, there was story shared about a woman from Connecticut whose power had gone out during a storm. She left her house to go to a local hardware store to purchase some flashlights, but the store was closed. She returned home and found what she thought...

The Post-Christian Problem

I attended the New Day Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at the end of last week with a small group from Riverchase. It was a good conference and I left encouraged about the opportunities we have to fulfill the call of Christ to make disciples. On Friday evening,...

Josiah’s Reform

In the thirty-one years of his rule, King Josiah proved to be a faithful man of God and a great king of Judah. He served God from the beginning as a young king and grew into a greater understanding of God’s will and a determination to follow that will. He made a...

You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat You’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Simply defined, it means that you should eat healthy if you want to be healthy. This phrase can trace its roots back to the early 1800’s. It came from the 1826 work The Physiology of Taste, in which...

It Is Well

Above the piano in our house is a large wood sign with the phrase, “it is well with my soul” on it. Kimberly and I purchased it during a season of our life together where we were not completely sure what the future had in store for our little family. Since then, the...

Do Over

  I messed up on recording my recent radio programs. The sound quality was so bad Mark could not run them on the air. So, I deleted them and recorded them again.   I sure wish I could do that in real life with all the other mistakes I make. Just delete them...

Don’t Believe Your Preacher

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9 ESV) Here is the test. The “teaching of Christ” is, of course, the very word of God. So, if your...