“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”  (Eph. 6:11, ESV)When I think of this verse the image that comes to mind is of a Roman soldier in biblical times dressed for battle, kind of like this warrior.13  Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will sti...  Read More

In his book Church Membership Jonathan Leeman offers some symptoms that might suggest that we are living with some measure of dismissiveness toward church. In this context we are using the word “church” to refer to a local congregation of Christians under the spiritual authority of elders. Take some time to reflect on five of the symptoms from Leeman’s list to see if they may characterize you:1. T...  Read More

In Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus tells a parable about giving that illustrates many of the principles about giving in Exodus 35-36. It is known as the “parable of the talents” and it tells the story of three servants who are given money to use wisely while their master is away on a journey. One servant receives five talents, another two talents, and another one talent. The first two use their money wisel...  Read More

Every summer we get the opportunity to take the Youth Group on a summer retreat. This trip is normally just a few days where we try to get out of town and get the kids out of their normal routine. As Tim and I prepared content and schedule for the retreat there was a unique time that arose in the schedule. This time was a pre-breakfast devotional time that we made optional as it did entail having ...  Read More

The year was 538 B.C. Two Jews, Zechariah and Zerubbabel, had just returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with a group of other exiles. Their enthusiasm was high, for they had finally been able to come back to their homeland to rebuild the city, restore the temple, and make a fresh start at life. However, twenty years later, after many trials and setbacks, work was slow, morale was down, and the overa...  Read More

In his book The Emotionally Healthy Leader Pete Scazzero offers some helpful questions to ask in order to diagnose our struggle to stop working/producing in order to rest. I have listed them below: 1. Do you get more excited about your work than about family or anything else?2. Do you take work with you to bed? On weekends? On vacation?3. Is work the activity you like to do best and talk about mos...  Read More