“Love & Submission” Ephesians 5:1-2, 5:22-6:9, Colossians 3:18-25

I’m seeing a pattern.
As children of God, we are to submit to Him, who loves us with an unfailing love.
Wives are to submit to their husbands, who are to love them sacrificially, as Jesus loved the church.
Children are to submit to or obey their parents, who are to love them and not exasperate or embitter them. 
Notice [...]

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“From the lips of children” Matthew 19:13-14; 21:14-17

It seems that our fate as humans is to make everything more complicated and obscure than it really is.  In our sophistication and pride we sometimes lose sight of the obvious.  Sometimes is takes children to remind us of what the plain, unmistakable truth is. 
The famous story of ”The Emperor’s New Clothes” highlights this fact.  Pride can make us blind [...]

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“Care for the Little Ones” Matthew 18:1-14

Raising children has got to be without doubt one of the most rewarding pursuits of life.  Through watching the lives of my children, the Lord has taught me so many things about His loving care for me and about myself as well.  This week, being allowed the opportunity to shepherd third graders through Cactus Canyon [...]

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“transparent lives” Psalm 127; Proverbs 20:11; 22:6

“Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.”
VBS got off to a good start this morning. I was asked to help one of the boys do a scavenger hunt. We ran through the church searching for a comb, a bible, a rock, a piece of [...]

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“Discipline is Good” Hebrews 12

Pursuing Jesus can be a struggle.  Living for Christ can result in hardships.  Those hardships make us strong.  They refine our faith.  God allows us to experience hardships so that we will learn to cast off sin and choose to depend on Him.  And learning to depend on Him is the best thing for us.  So [...]

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“Exasperate” Ephesians 6:1-4

Just this morning at breakfast with a few other men, someone listed a few good examples of how fathers can exasperate their children.   Here they are:
1.  Compete with their children.
2.  Live vicariously through their children.
3.  Be a phony, demanding one thing while living another way.
4.  Don’t ask for forgiveness.
I thought those were pretty insightful, because [...]

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“Blessed with all Spiritual Blessings” Ephesians 1:3-6; 2:18-21; 3:14-19

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
We just cannot help but praise God for what He has done for us in Christ.  In these passages we get a glimpse at different illustrations of the redemptive plan of [...]

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“Children of God” Romans 8:13-18; 1 John 3:1-3

We are children of God through faith in Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  
As children of God, we know several things.  First of all, we are loved unconditionally.  This is a relational reality of true sonship.  Secondly, we have access to God through the Spirit.  This is a privilege of true sonship.  [...]

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“compassion, not calamity” Jonah 3 & 4

Jonah’s story may seem a bit bizarre at times, but no one could be more real than Jonah.  He was really hoping for calamity to fall on Nineveh.  That would have been his idea of a good time. 
When God acts compassionately, Jonah pouts: “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to [...]

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“Running from God and the Nations” Jonah 1 & 2

When God told Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites, who were not Israelite, Jonah headed in the opposite direction.  He got into a ship and went to sleep. 
Sometimes I think we do much the same thing when we encounter people from a different culture.  We avoid contact and then live in denial that even we [...]

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