Posted in life of grace, sermon notes on Apr 2nd, 2012
The early Christians prayed differently than us: When they prayed, they expected God to do stuff. Jesus didn’t have prayer sessions where he went on about his day and complained about things, then walked away. No, he prayed for things to happen and they did. Early Christians prayed in Jesus’ name, in his place, and [...]
Posted in life of grace on Mar 30th, 2012
Spiritual gifts are abilities that come out and develop as we start to obey and change for Jesus… Natural gifts refer to things that we normally do well, abilities that we’ve developed over the years; but Spiritual Gifts (SG’s) are the NEW abilities that come from the changes that Jesus make in our lives. So [...]
Posted in life of grace on Mar 30th, 2012
We ALL struggle with pride. The person who brags he NEVER struggles with pride struggles with pride the most! And we know that pride is like the anti-matter to Jesus’ Gospel teaching in our lives – so it’s always a good idea to keep a watch for it, and root it out where we can. [...]
Posted in life of grace, life skills on Feb 21st, 2012
Some people go through the painful parts of life and come out bitter and angry. Other people go through similar difficult circumstances: evil and unimaginable things like paralysis, rape, loss of loved ones…and come out wiser and gentler and courageous. What’s the difference? I don’t know exactly why some people wind up with the lingering [...]
Posted in life of grace on Jan 23rd, 2012
We’re doing a series on how we grow and change, and the first thing I want to get across is that it IS possible to change and grow. Although there are many people who are stuck unable to change, real change is possible… Those who say “people never really change” are usually talking about changing [...]
Posted in life of grace on Jan 12th, 2012
Everyone has a breaking point… the point where we fail and don’t know what to do, and are overwhelmed. We think it’s God’s job to keep us from getting there; but it’s really just the opposite! God WANTS you to get to the end of your rope. To throw your hands in the air and [...]
Posted in life of grace on Jan 4th, 2012
People think I want to obey so that I can get more of God’s favor… or because I don’t want to get punished. So when bad things happen, people naturally wonder if they’re being punished… And many people in the church want to do “just enough” so that they don’t get bad stuff from God. [...]
Posted in life of grace on Dec 28th, 2011
Here’s a really fascinating talk by Daniel Goldstein dealing with the problems we all face with self control and will power… Part of you wants to save money, but the other part wants to buy stuff now. Part of you wants to lose weight and stay on your diet, the other part wants a Shack [...]
Posted in life of grace on Dec 27th, 2011
Recent studies suggest that you should never tell children they’re “smart.” Instead you should complement them for “working hard” or “overcoming obstacles” and things like that… Because if you tell people they’re smart, they’ll avoid doing things they’re afraid they won’t be good at. Which is a problem, since the way you get good at [...]
Posted in life of grace on Dec 15th, 2011
There’s a part where Paul says he wants women in the church (but this applies to men too) to be modest in their outward appearance, adorning themselves with “good works” rather than the latest hairstyles and expensive clothing. I understand that we read that in the worst possible way – there have been plenty of fuddy [...]