As Christ followers, we should be striving to cultivate safe places in our relationships for the glory of God. If you have been hurt by a brother or sister in Christ before, you recognize that is not the way relationships were meant to work! Christian community “should” be a place of safety. Do people feel safe with you? Do they risk being real with you? Do people confide… Read More »
How often do you wear a mask? Does anyone know the real you? To be a good friend, it requires us to be vulnerable. Intimacy doesn’t just happen. It requires revelation. Just as we can have a relationship with God because he reveals himself to us, self-revelation is a prerequisite for intimacy in our close relationships. Ever… Read More »
When you run out of human love, what do you do? I suggest that you ask God for more faith. Our cry should be: “I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24, Hebrews 11.) Faith and love are necessarily connected. The Christian life is “faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6.) You won’t be able to love without… Read More »
<Missed the 2014 Peacemaker Conference? Get summaries of the 2014 Peacemaker Conference Speakers here!> Pastor Brady Boyd, the Pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs shared his experience with the power of God in peacemaking. He encouraged us from Matthew 5, reminding us that God blesses those who work for peace. Seven years ago, God called Pastor… Read More »
<Missed the 2014 Peacemaker Conference? Get summaries of the 2014 Peacemaker Conference Speakers here!> Dr. Gary Hoag gave the second plenary session at the 2014 Peacemaker Conference. In his message, he explained that peace was now attainable through Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, peace was something that came from the Lord and peacemaking was tied… Read More »
<Missed the 2014 Peacemaker Conference? Get summaries of the 2014 Peacemaker Conference Speakers here!> Pastor Jason Meyer, from Bethlehem Baptist Church, gave the opening message at the 2014 Peacemaker Conference. He challenged us to embrace a theology of weakness. We glorify God by declaring his sufficiency for us in our weakness. Often we have the wrong impression of… Read More »
For those of you who missed the 2014 Peacemaker Conference, I have put up summaries and reflections of each Keynote Address. My intent was to be concise but allow you to get a short summary of what was taught. Dr. Jason Meyer: The Greatness of Weakness Dr. Gary Hoag: Peacemaking – A New Testament Perspective Pastor Brady Boyd: Lessons… Read More »
Satan knows when we are weak. He loves to tempt us when we are hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. Take hunger for example: Satan came to tempt Jesus after he fasted 40 days in the wilderness. But thankfully, Jesus resisted temptation and serves as our example of how to trust and depend on our heavenly Father. Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or… Read More »
In his book Loving Well, William P. Smith recounts a story of an elder sharing that he and his wife thought the secret to the success of their 27-year-long marriage was that they had learned how to be patient with each other. He went on to say that he thought that was similar to our… Read More »
Do you ever feel powerless in the storms of life? Does life ever feel unbearable? There may be periods in life when a storm comes upon us. Perhaps your storm is financial. Perhaps it is relational. Or perhaps it is an internal struggle that no one knows about. Regardless, peace seems no where to be found.… Read More »