As we embark on a journey through the life of Joseph, we need helpful tips for reading through Genesis 37-50. How do we understand the events and what are central aspects to better keep God supreme throughout it? It is easy to slide into a path of reading through Joseph’s story and just focus on the moral issues that crop up. You have strong emotions of hatred and deep grief in chapter 37. Not much further one comes across lust, disobedience, death, imprisonment, and restorat

Many days, I sit in my office chair listening to the story of another, asking questions to elicit meaning and offering strategies with deep concern for my client’s wellbeing. There’s a heaviness in the room as they express the hurt and pain this world has offered them. There’s no question that suffering exists, and we try our best to come up with effective strategies to help us cope with the continuum of mild symptoms all the way to tragedy. And yet, as I sit there, I know co

This is the longest section of teaching from Jesus that is recorded in the Bible. John concludes that the works of Jesus could fill all the world’s volumes and yet here we have just a small glimpse into the preaching/teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Why would it be helpful to take a deep dive into Matthew 5–7? We could go on and on, but let me narrow it down to four reasons. The Teaching Is Astonishingly Authoritative At the conclusion of Jesus’ sermon in Matthew

After grumbling in my spirit over our ridiculously full social schedule for this first week of December, I felt like a total hypocrite. I had just done a podcast with a friend the day before, encouraging families in our church to keep their celebrations Christ-focused and to streamline their calendars and plans when necessary in order to honor Christ in every detail of this busy season. To be honest, it’s a fight. No matter what season of life we are in, keeping our celebrati

Following my recent post on speaking boldly, Pastor John asked if I could extend the conversation into a two-part series, this time...

Click on the button below to access the Sermon Slides for April 7, 2024: Thrills and Thorns 2 Corinthians 12:1-10