Who Is Jesus and What Did He Do?

Who Is Jesus and What Did He Do?

WHO IS JESUS?

Think of a few words to describe Jesus…  What are those words?

Now think of a few words to describe Christians…  What are those words? I'm betting those words are not as favorable as your words are for Jesus?

The point is we often have a different view of the people who follow Jesus than the man himself. I’d like to take a few moments of your time to give you some good news, good news about Jesus. Just because his followers often do not live the way he did doesn’t take away from who he is. Most people know he worked miracles, performed healings, taught his followers to love people and died on a cross but how much do you know about what happened on that cross? And one more question, do you know what it means for you?

The Science Behind Spiritual Thinking and How the Words of Jesus Can Abide In You

The Science Behind Spiritual Thinking and How the Words of Jesus Can Abide In You

Discipleship is the point organized church. Of course, The Church (proper) is people, but organized church is for building people up in their identity in Christ and equipping them for the work of the ministry. "The work of the ministry" being multi-faceted and highly creative in terms or expression. In other words, ministry can be nearly almost anything as long as it ultimately points people to faith in Jesus. Oh come on, you know what I mean by "anything."

A MASSIVE element of discipleship is self-discipleship, or self-discipline. If we can become masters of self-discipline, the church would become much more mature, healthy and effective, no question. I think that's possible. The more people know who they are in Christ, the more they will live accordingly. The problem is that we have too much water under the bridge to our previous life (before Christ) that the hard wiring of our brains and hearts haven't full undergone transformation yet.

Have Faith in God and Hope in His Promise

Have Faith in God and Hope in His Promise

Eternal life is the promise from God that we are saved from sin, death and separation from him. We can have hope in the promise because the one who made the promise is able to keep that promise.

This is the crux of Christianity, we can trust the one who has made us promises. Problems arise when you don't know what he's promised. Debates arise over what he actually has promised.

We know for sure that God has promised eternal life to all those who come to him in the name of Jesus Christ, by grace through faith. So we can rest assured that we can hope for (confidently expect) to live with God, in God, for all eternity in a perfect place, the restored Eden, Heaven.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ETERNAL LIFE?

Communion and Powerful Spontaneous Worship

Communion and Powerful Spontaneous Worship

Communion is a powerful ceremony that has been stolen from the church. Communion is a remembrance, it's not something you should avoid if you sinned this week. If we could only take communion when we're sinless, we'd never take communion.

Think about it, "anything not of faith is sin." If that's the standard, then you'd never take communion. Communion is a ceremony to put you back in faith toward God and what he's accomplished through Christ. It's a meditative exercise where you engage your heart with the fact that you died with Christ and you're washed clean in his sacrificial blood. The life is in the blood, an exchange happened, you should celebrate that!

Where Soul Meets Spirit, the Dwelling Place of the WORD of God

Where Soul Meets Spirit, the Dwelling Place of the WORD of God

The word of God is not just the written word...AND it's not just the spoken word. The Greek word for "word" is logos. In Greek philosophy, Heracleitus, Plato and Aristotle agreed on the basic meaning of logos, which is; the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.

Essentially, the Logos was the order and structure behind nature. Philosophers for thousands of years have looked at nature and recognized there's an order to things; a tree bears fruit, rainwater nourishes the plants, humans are sustained by the food that grows, etc...

Learn to Live from Your True Eternal Self

Learn to Live from Your True Eternal Self

You live on when you die because you have an eternal tent, house, body; i.e. a spirit. The real you is already eternal, your temporary body will become dust and fade away but your true self will live on. When that body fades away, so will sickness, pain, lack and all the things that limit us on this planet. The amazing news about your true eternal identity is that you can live from it now.

The Most Challenging (and potentially offensive) Sermon You'll Ever Hear

The Most Challenging (and potentially offensive) Sermon You'll Ever Hear

Several folks have told me this is my best sermon ever! Personally, I also see this sermon as potentially the most offensive sermon ever. Why? Because I answer the question, “why isn’t it working for me?” Over and over in the ministry of Jesus we see him hold people responsible. Jesus holds people responsible for not being able to get healed and he holds his disciples responsible for not being able to heal people. This is not an article about healing per se, it’s an article about why we don’t receive or walk in the power Jesus gave us. Click to read the full article.

Feeling Stuck in Your Faith? IT MIGHT BE BECAUSE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE "MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES."

Feeling Stuck in Your Faith? IT MIGHT BE BECAUSE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE "MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES."

Remember when Jesus told his disciples their hearts were hard? Was it because they were evil? Was it because they kept sinning? Nope. I'm going to take you through Mark 6 to show you the answer. The progression we see the disciples go through in Mark 6 is insightful, see if it applies to your life.

Your Spirit Can Pray

Your Spirit Can Pray

Praying in the spirit is one of the dividing lines between charismatic and denominational Christians. The Charismatics have made people feel like if you not praying in tongues, you're not as spiritual as you should be. And some denominations teach their folks that tongues is of the devil. I personally pray in tongues almost daily, for reasons I'll list below. I first want to show you a few passages on the topic.

Being Filled with the Spirit

Being Filled with the Spirit

When you believe in Jesus and his finished work, you receive his spirit. From then on it's your choice to be filled with the spirit. Being filled with the spirit is when you allow the Holy Spirit to come upon you to bear fruit and empower all the gifts. That's the bottom line, but let's look a little closer.

After Jesus' resurrection, he appeared to over 500 people over a period of 40 days. One appearance was to His closest disciples where he gave them His spirit. "And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." (John 20:22) Then he tells those same people to wait on the spirit to come upon them so they will be endued with power.