Archive / May, 2012

A Plan for Peace: From Creation to the Cross

What Peace? When God created the world he created it with peace in mind. From the moment he breathed the words, “Let there be light” he had a plan, a plan for peace. When I think of all the ways I’ve heard people talk about the concept of peace (world peace, Greenpeace, peace of mind, etc.) I wonder how on earth the people who wrote Webster’s dictionary could narrow down a definition of the word. And in fact, they didn’t. They have five definitions listed for the word peace. I remember my dramatic debut as the angel in our church Christmas pageant who proclaimed, “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men!” (See Shane’s post “Jesus brings Division” for more on this verse). This is a favorite Christmas verse and frequently misquoted to mean that God desires peace among men. What kind of peace were the angels really announcing? They were declaring […]

Are You Ready for the Return of Christ?

Opening Thoughts: Danae and I cross the border into the U.S. a lot, mainly because we are able to save around 50% on our grocery bill every month. It’s crazy, sometimes I think that here in Canada we must get out our food shipped from an entirely different planet judging by the cost. There is a catch though, in shopping across the line you must go through the dreaded border crossing and speak to the terrifying guards who ask you all kinds of insane questions like “Are you hiding drugs in your tomatoes?” they do this to see if they can stump a person up and possibly catch someone who actually is hiding drugs. I once had a guard ask me if I had drugs with me and when I told him NO, he said “why not?!” Funny right? Well it actually did stump me up a little because I wasn’t expecting him […]

The Beating of Your Life

Someone Has to Die for Your Sin Who Will it Be, You or Jesus? You Earned Death Not Life: I LOVE the Bible! I am very thankful for the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ! I’m thankful that He took the severe beating for me, that He was cut in pieces for me, that He absorbed all of God’s (Just) wrath for me. Yes that’s right, you and I deserved nothing but God’s wrath, we actually earned it. Like a person who works very hard at their job with the expectation of a big fat check, so it is with our lives, the first instance we use our own will and pride to commit treason against God’s kingdom we begin to earn our pay-check. When Paul says “The wages of Sin is Death” he’s using the term wages so that we all understand that everyone of us deserves death, so when […]

Jesus Brings Division

Opening Thoughts: Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you just know it isn’t going to end well? In fact it almost seems impossible that you’ll even come close to a peaceful resolve? I mean, it’s so bad that the only way you can properly release the tension is if one of the parties either changes their mind or someone gives in and goes along with the other way of thinking? I think this situation is at its worst when it involves family. As Christians we need to be peacemakers right? I mean, is it not our duty to bring resolve to situations and not cause division? Yes it is, but not at the cost of the Gospel. Though we must be sure that our offenses are only for the sake of Christ and His gospel and not simply because we’re argumentative, or opinionated, or crass. Jesus came to bring division not Peace. […]

How Did You Receive Jesus?

Looking Inside the Pages I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover”. The lesson that is usually being taught when this old adage is used is that what might appear to be unattractive from the outside could very well be brilliant, beautiful, and worthwhile on the inside. However, the opposite angle could also readily be applied to the varying and vast amounts of teaching that takes place on the subject of “receiving Jesus”, the gospel, and salvation. Sometimes what might appear to be brilliant, beautiful, and worthwhile on the outside is really quite unattractive, misinformed, and even downright deceitful on the inside. False teaching on the basic fundamentals of the Christian faith has been happening since the very beginnings of the church that Jesus started through the apostles. The book of Colossians contains one example of this type of strike against the church by […]

The Pursuit of Happiness and The Gospel

Opening Thoughts: The past two years of our lives have literally been challenge after challenge. Shortly after our eyes were miraculously opened to the biblical gospel we were briskly ushered right into 2 years of heavy fiery trials. Trials that would have permanently derailed us if it had not been for God’s grace. So it was both God’s grace that allowed us the trials and equally it was God’s grace that sustained us through them. If we had been left to ourselves Danae and I would have pursued the American dream right to our graves. We thank God every day that He did not leave us to ourselves in the Pursuit of Happiness. Luke 12:22-31 ESV … And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider […]