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“How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Psalm 84:1–2 NIV)
“Getting ready to go to church.”
What emotions does that phrase evoke in your family? In your heart? Your mind? The psalmist yearned for the next …
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I’ve just recently read “Mud, Sweat and Tears,” an autobiography by adventurer Bear Grylls. In case you’re not familiar with Grylls, he’s the star of TV’s “Man vs. Wild.” During each show, Grylls is dropped in some of the toughest terrains on Earth and then has to find his way back to civilization. Highlights so far have …
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Your days are numbered.
That cheery thought occurred to me -- not for the first time -- as I read a USA TODAY story headlined, "How long do I have, Doc?" Patients often hesitate to ask their doctors that question, but many would like to know the answer. They can visit a new website that offers rough estimates of life expectancy based …
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In 1990, my wife and I moved to Castaic, California to start a church.
Because we had limited start-up funding and because we realized that starting worship services was the expected method to start a church, we determined to hold our Grand Opening on November 4th - just three months after moving.
Once we set the date, we worked …
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I’m wrapping up a message series on the subject of prayer this Sunday, and I’ve grown in my personal prayer walk as a result of preaching it. I’ve learned from some great sources and wanted to pass along a list of my favorites…
Handle with Prayer: Unwrap the Source of God’s Strength for Living by Charles Stanley
Complete …
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Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)
In faith, we know this to be true:
God manages circumstances.
Whether I turn to the right or to the left, my ears will hear a voice behind me, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” …
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When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 (NIV)
Timing was important to Jesus; everything in its time at just the right time. On his mission to bring you and me from death to life (Romans 6:13), he never rushed or struggled to play catch up.
He …
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If a crowd of children was coming to your home for an Easter egg hunt, would you just give each child a carton of raw eggs as they arrived? Of course not. You'd boil and color eggs, decorate, and prepare prizes and snacks.
For churches, Easter Sunday is like that. Extra preparation is essential for such a special day. It's one of the …
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True revival cannot be scheduled on a calendar. A revival is not a series of church services that take place in a church building over a period of four or five days. Revival can come out of the meetings but are not the meetings themselves.
God tells Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37 to prophesy to the dry bones. Verse 5 says, "Thus says the Lord …
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Repentance is the ultimate goal of worship, which makes it the number one priority of our worship planning system (see Isaiah 6 for additional study on how repentance follows true worship). Everything we do is designed to call people to repentance.
That said, I rarely use the word repentance in a message. Metanoia is the Greek word …
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