glory of God

If you happen to find yourself alone without any distractions, where do your thoughts wander? Are you anxious about that next job assignment, cowering before an intimidating boss, demanding your rights from someone, or eager to defend your motives? Do you fear for your child’s health, reputation or...

A few years back, the scientific community was in a tizzy over a photograph of a black hole. The aerospace engineering students in my congregation told me it wasn’t really a photograph of a black hole, though. It was a picture of an event horizon that surrounded the black hole. The black hole is an...

Tsehay Tolessa – Through a Fiery Furnace When, on July 28, 1979, the Lutheran pastor Gudina Tumsa was abducted at the end of a church service, the troubles for his wife were far from over. [1] Kidnapped at the same time, Tsehay Tolessa was left outside the city walls without any explanations. She...

When was the last time you failed to follow God’s call to holiness? Maybe you knew you should give a gracious answer, but instead responded to a friend, spouse, or child with anger. Perhaps you knew you were to be content in a situation, but discontentment filled your heart. Or maybe you knew God...

The fear of God is essential to what it means to be a believer, yet there seems to be a modern aversion to this often misunderstood theme. Tune in as James and Jonathan talk to long-time friend Keith Plummer as he shares the security and courage that the fear of the Lord is intended to give to God’...

One of the things we most want in life is to be loved. We want our parents and siblings to love us. We want our friends and extended family members to love us. We want our coaches and teachers to love us. If we are married, we want our spouse to love us. If we are parents, we desire our children to...

It was 8 a.m. on a Saturday in Southern California while I was settling to watch my four-and-a-half-year-old son play basketball when I received a call from a sister in the Lord, Anne, dying in Minnesota. [1] We never met, but similar difficult providences had connected us for counsel and we became...

“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!” – Romans 11:1 The fear of rejection is perhaps one of the more influential considerations in our decision making. The choices we make, the conversations we choose to have or avoid, the way we spend our money; many times, these decisions are...

Is it difficult for you to think about joy and suffering in the same sentence? Normally, when we are in the middle of suffering, we just want it to be over. Think of the woman who feels betrayed by her best friend, or the wife who feels betrayed by her husband. Consider the mother who longs for her...

Remodeling a home (or church) is hard work. Not only does it take a great deal of planning, hard work, blood (if you happen to be accident prone), sweat, and even tears. There are often unforeseen trials that accompany the work, like leaky pipes, rotted wood, and poorly run wires that all need to...