28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on…
We all have a past. Some good and some bad. How we deal with our past impacts our future. In the Old Testament, Joseph certainly had a strange and difficult past. He was thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers and then sold into slavery. He was falsely accused of impropriety by the wife…
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2 Margie and I have been planting a garden for the last few years. Right now we are enjoying tomatoes and peppers, and we have made lots of pickles…
“Sing to the LORD a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it. You islands, and those who dwell on them” Isaiah 42:10 As a musician for most of my life, I have found that the greatest, most noble,…
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Once you become a Christ follower, you experienced a changed life. The old has gone and the new has come. God no longer sees you as a sinner in the world…
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; Psalm 103:10-11 Confession and repentance can be humbling and painful but in order to receive God’s forgiveness, it is necessary. …
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 What moves your heart? It may be your family or your spouse – or a close friend. However, when we begin to follow Jesus, he creates in us a new heart – a heart that is more like His. We begin to…
For the grace of God has appeared… Titus 2:11-12 For us to truly, in our hearts, want to repent of our sins, repent of our screw-ups—for us to truly want to turn our backs on our old selves, on the self-indulgent people we’ve been—we’ve got to first trust that we can change, that we can…
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 Have you ever been held back because of your past? I…
I believe; help my unbelief—Mark 9:24 Have you really thought about what you believe about God? Some givens (I think): We know He is Omnipotent – all powerful. He created everything (Genesis 1; Colossians 1:16). We know He is Omniscient – he sees everything and knows everything and can do anything (Isaiah 55:9; Hebrews 4:13;…