Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

What does it mean to Fill Up and Live Out? If we are going to use this as our tag line for Student Ministry, then we should have a purpose for it. Better yet, how do we go about helping the students embody this statement, and why do we do it?  Ultimately, we are toContinue reading “Fill Up and Live Out”

When I was younger, I used to love watching American Idol with my parents. More specifically, I loved watching the first few episodes when it was just the preliminary tryouts. I always found it amusing to watch the people who came in, sung horribly, dressed funny, or said or did something weird, and then leftContinue reading “Criticism and Correction”

Scripture warns us about this. “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation,Continue reading “Contending for the Faith”

Prayer  “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be  your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us  this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And  lead us not into temptation, but deliver usContinue reading “Prayer”

When I was five or six years old, I, like most kids, had fears to conquer. Mine was due to seeing a movie a little earlier than I should have. That movie was Stephen King’s “The IT.” It was a terrifying movie about a clown. After watching this movie, I had constant nightmares, and asContinue reading “True Hope”

The Psalmist David had no shortage of words in Psalm 119 that call our attention to an action on our part. Words such as: keep, delight in, seek after, speak of, fear (respect), trust, and choose, to name a few. So many more words speak to my heart of the active and living Word of God,Continue reading “Reading That Transforms”

You’ve likely heard the C.S. Lewis quote, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to a deaf world.” It’s impossible to mimic the acute focus that suffering provides. It quiets distractions, and quickly reveals who we functionallyContinue reading “Don’t Waste Your Suffering”

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,    who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;    you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine    within your house;your children will be like olive shoots    around your table.Behold, thus shall the man be blessed    who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion!    MayContinue reading “Psalm 128: Godliness in the Family”

There’s a song out on the radio by Matthew West called “Truth be Told.” The song is a real upbeat song, but listening to the words, it’s also very cumbersome. All too often, when we go to church or we’re talking to others, when they ask you how you’re doing, often we’re quick to sayContinue reading “I Say I’m Fine”

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”-Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) Oftentimes, I believe that weContinue reading “Go and Tell”