CASE STUDIES FROM CHRISTMAS - Luke 2:22-40

Whether Christmas is embraced as a sentimental holiday or a commemorative observance of the significant event in human history becomes evident in whether or not it is applied to real life.

GOD’S LOVE: Embracing The Unexpected - 2 Samuel 7:1-16

How much latitude do you have in your Christmas plans for changes? How much room do you have in your faith for the unexpected? Only by expecting the unexpected can you truly appreciate God’s love.

JOY ISN'T MAKE BELIEVE - Isaiah 12:1-6

To be joyful is difficult only if you look to the offerings of this world as the basis for your joy.

THE EVOLUTION OF PEACE - John 16:25-33

The peace Jesus desires for his followers is a dynamic reality that evolves all the more fully as life teaches us to abide in Him.

A WHALE OF A THANKSGIVING - Jonah 2:9-10

How often it is that the real meaning of thanksgiving is discovered in the most unlikely of places.

BEHOLD, YOUR FUTURE - Jeremiah 32

Behold is to see with attention. In this we are able to see our future as the people of God.

DISCOVERING YOUR HOPE - Jeremiah 17:5-10

 More than political winners and losers have been exposed this past week. Wherein lies your hope?

POLITICAL PANDEMICS & PROPHETIC NIGHTMARES - Daniel 2:31-49

Sometimes it takes a prophet to remind us that despite all the promises made by politicians there are some things they can never deliver.

THE SEARCH FOR GOD'S FORGIVENESS - Isaiah 55:6-9

That we must seek the forgiveness of God does not mean it is something hidden but, rather, it speaks to the matter of desire.

A PANDEMIC OF FORGIVENESS - Isaiah 43:25; 44:22

This is not a pandemic to be wasted, but a window of opportunity to experience God’s grace and to be recaptured by his call.

 

#APandemicOfForgiveness

LEAKY PIPES -Ezekiel 47: 1-12

REVELATIONS OF A PANDEMIC - Jonah Ch:3:1-10. Ch:4:1-4. 10

While prophetic voices abounded in times of exile, none are more self-revealing than the one found in this whale of a story.

PRAYER IN A PANDEMIC OF DESPERATION Isaiah 63:15-64:12

The tone of prayer changes in times of desperation; all religious platitudes are abandoned for transparent questioning, honesty expression, and wounded appeals.

SILENCE ISN’T GOD’S LAST WORD - Isaiah 59

While the veneer of Sunday School piety doesn’t allow most to acknowledge the seeming silence of God during particular seasons in life, we are the beneficiaries of those biographical accounts preserved in scripture of those who have endured the silence of God.

GOD'S FAITH AND MAN'S RELIGION - Isaiah 58

 There is an eternal chasm that exists between the faith God would have us to live and the religion men are most likely to pursue.

STAND BACK AND WATCH - Joshua 3:1-6

REDEEMING GOD’S ABSENCE - Isaiah 54:1-8

God’s absence is a reality rarely considered by the people of God. The reality of the moment, however, isn’t the only reality there is. 

A SYMPATHETIC SUFFERER - Isaiah 53:4-6

In the midst of suffering, human tendency is to think God absent, unaware, unloving, and considerably less than all-powerful. With an unbelievable message, God’s prophet refutes such assumptions.

THE ALLURE OF THE DARK SIDE - Isaiah 52:13-53:12

The dark side is fueled by the most base of human emotions—fear, anger, hatred, passion, and aggression. Tragically, some have ordained these as virtuous if used in the service of the church.

THE BURDENS WE CARRY - Isaiah 46

Religious symbols, rituals, and activities are a poor substitute for the reality of a living God and a dynamic faith. Religion is burdensome and will not sustain in the crises of life.

A SUSTAINING FAITH FOR TOUGH TIMES - Isaiah 11:1-9

Everyone has a breaking point; where adversity causes one to lose heart and quit. How can faith sustain us through such times?

EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT - Isaiah 35

Are you feeling tired? Weak? Anxious? Fearful? Handicapped? God’s promise is everything’s going to be alright.

THE SONG OF THE WAITING - Isaiah 25:1-9

Waiting isn’t a waste of time but, rather, it is a passive expression of faith by those who believe in an active God.

YOU DON’T SING, DO YOU? - Isaiah 5:1-7

After so much preaching, Isaiah realizes some things are better said in song than they are in a sermon.

A POST-PANDEMIC PERSPECTIVE - Isaiah 63:7-9

Today’s pandemic experience will eventually become a post-pandemic life; far exceeding your pre-pandemic existence. How will you have been changed over the course of that experience?

LOOKING AHEAD - Isaiah 31:1-5

If God is to accomplish a true awakening within his church, we must stop thinking in terms of getting back to normal and start, instead, looking ahead with anticipation. Only those who look up in times of trouble will flourish in what lies ahead.

COME HERE, CHURCH - Isaiah 6:1-8

In the life of faith there is no adequate substitute for what happens in God’s house with God’s people.

A PANDEMIC MAKEOVER: A SOVEREIGN PLAN OF YOUR CHOOSING - Jeremiah 18:1-18

Through all of life’s exile experiences, God has a sovereign plan that he will see executed. Whether it is for our good or to our detriment is conditioned upon the choices we make.

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING ABOUT ALL THIS? - Jeremiah 2:6-8

In this pandemic exile experience, what are others hearing from you? A story of faith and trust? Or the perpetuation of rumors and speculations leading to division and fear?

WILL WE RETURN DIFFERENT? - Isaiah 1:2-20

Will insight to Israel’s disregard for the things of God prior to exile, prompt us to return any differently from our pandemic exile?

REBUILDING THE CITY - Isaiah 58:12, 65:17-25

Seeing that he is an advocate for urban renewal, as God’s people emerge from their exile, or pandemic, experience, they must give careful consideration to how things are going to be rebuilt, and what we are building toward.

CONFOUNDING CONNECTIONS - Isaiah 55:8-9

“Did God cause this to happen?” I’ve never found it to be a simple answer because there is a confounding connection between the causational and the correlative.

AN AWAKENED FAITH - Isaiah 60:1-6

The isolation of exile, or pandemics, can become a valuable and formative time; awakening us to the power, influence, and hope of our faith.

CONTENTMENT IN A PANDEMIC OF DISCONTENT: Isaiah 26:3-4

A life spent wishing is not only a waste, but it steals away any chance of contentment that might be had.

THE RESURRECTION: A CLARIFICATION OF THINGS - Luke 24:13-35

Sometimes it takes an event of cataclysmic proportions, like a resurrection, or a pandemic, to knock the scales from our eyes; that we might see things with greater clarity.

A TRUST THAT WILL NOT BREAK - Isaiah 40

To the distraught masses, filled with grief and skepticism because of trusts that seemed immune to being broken, God’s prophet holds forth a trust that cannot be broken.

TAKING A GANDER AT FEAR AND FAITH - Mark 4:35-5:20

In times of uncertainty and inner fear rises to the surface and creates a tension with our faith. If embraced, this tension can lead us to a greater understanding into the mystery of God’s being and doing.

FINDING PEACE IN THE PANDEMIC - Philippians 4:4-9

The most unsettling pandemic isn’t the one caused by a virus, but the one that has been revealed by fear. As followers of Christ, I pray that our presence would be ground zero for a pandemic of peace.

THE WHO OF INFECTIOUS FAITH - John 14:1-6

Besides the promotion of global health, safety, and service to the vulnerable, the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) has exposed in recent weeks an infectious fear that controls the behavior of the masses.

FAILURE ISN'T AN OPTION - Matthew 18:15-20

The common bond shared as the faith community is that we are a forgiven people, not a perfect people. Because of this, we strive together for the constructive means of dealing with our failures.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? - Matthew 18:10-14

Perhaps weary of asking his disciples if they understand, and no longer presuming they do, Jesus begins with where they are to get them to where they need to be.

A SCANDALOUS INFLUENCE - Matthew 18:6-9

Our influence as disciples occurs as the most micro of levels, but has a macro level impact upon eternity.

THE GOAT OF KINGDOM LIFE - Matthew 18:1-5

In the life of faith, be careful what you ask for. It may take you in a direction you never imagined.

DISCIPLESHIP THAT OFFENDS - Matthew 15:12-20

While it no surprise that Jesus offended the religious establishment, we must forever guard against the trap that seeks to take a vibrant tradition of faith and conform it to the traditionalism of dying religion.

IF THIS IS WHAT IT'S LIKE - Matthew 13:47-53

While the kingdom of heaven may sound far distant, mysterious, and hidden, Jesus reveals it to be among us now. You just have to look harder.

AN UNCIVIL FAITH - Matthew 13:44-46

While civil religion is innocuous, easy, upbeat, compatible, accommodating, user-friendly, and readily accepted by the masses of a particular nation or political culture, faith is an uncivil invasion and disruption of all things previously cherished.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS - Matthew 13:36-43

The direct teachings of Jesus to his disciples move quickly from the personal to the missional. That is, once it is established that you are going to follow him, then you have the responsibility of leading out in the task of the church.

A MIRACULOUS FAITH - Daniel 3:16-30

A miraculous faith is one that needs no miracle.

A CALCULATED DECISION - Deuteronomy 30

While some sources report the average person makes 35,000 decisions a day, there is one that, while it may be delayed, can never be avoided.