Bringing Scripture to Life

I found this photo the other day, and began thinking about an odd thought. What if our Bibles could speak to us? And, if our Bibles could speak to us, would this be what it says? This would be a strange thing for us to see on our bibles. Can you imagine if our Bible sent us a message like this each day, informing us of important truths that are going on within our lives. Obviously "Read me", would not be the words that anyone who loves God would ever want their Bibles to say, because that would say a lot about a person's spiritual condition.  The great thing about our Bibles, is that they actually do speak to us. In fact the Bible tells us, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1:2-3). The Bible tells us here that because of our faith in Jesus, and our knowledg...

1 John 5:6-12 When God Bears Witness Pastor Jason Stewart I.      Introduction: a.    When John began this letter, he started off by sharing his own testimony of how he had met and experienced a relationship with Jesus Christ. He then with authority teaches the believers of Asia Minor who Jesus is, and what a relationship with Jesus looks like. From his own eyewitness testimony, to his God-inspired teaching, John will now move on to the most authoritative testimony in all creation, and that testimony is from God Himself. II.    Revelation/Application: When God Bears Witness a.    The Witness of God the Spirit (5:6)                                               i.     ...

More than Surviving! We’re Thriving! Pastor Jason Stewart I.      Introduction: a.    We must go from Surviving spiritually to Thriving! b.    Romans 8:37 II.    Revelation/Application: Spiritually Thriving Spiritually Thriving: a.    Is the Result of trusting in Jesus (5:1)                                               i.      Belief in this verse is “pisteuo”, and it is a word that means much more than intellectual belief. This word is a belief that fully trusts in the object of belief.                                 ...

A few weeks ago, I shared a story about my family experiencing the effects of a multi-vortex Tornado. It was on Tuesday May 24 th 2011 that an F5 Tornado touched down in Oklahoma. I received a text from someone asking me to pray for her aunt who lives in Oklahoma, because a Tornado just hit ground on the I-40. This text caused me to immediately call my mom to see if she was okay, because she and my dad just moved out to Oklahoma 2 months ago to stay with family for a while.  So I immediately called her and a recording came on the line saying, “The number you are dialing has been disconnected or is no longer in service.” I thought to myself, “Oh no my mom has been swept away!” So I called back again, and thank God she finally answered. She had just picked up my 6 year-old-nephew at school, and she and my dad were heading down to the basement of the school. I asked her if they were near the I-40, and she said yes, it is very close to where they are. And for the next hour I stayed o...

I.       Introduction: On June 25, 1967 the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) commissioned the Beatles to write a song for the United Kingdom’s contribution to a T.V. show, called Our World, which was the first live global television link. The Beatles were asked to write and perform a song that would contain a simple message to be understood by all nations. What was the song that they wrote? “Love is all you need.” And with that song the Beatles struck a nerve that was felt around the world, as it hit home in the heart of over 400 million television viewers. After playing this song to over 400 million viewers, they quickly released it in the UK, where it soared to the top of the charts to number 1, and then after that they released the song in the US where it also reached number 1 on the billboard charts. The concept of love reaches down into the deepest part of almost every human being’s heart and soul. It has such an appeal to the human race that Amazon ...

Now that my wife Lyndsey and I are having our first child in October (a son), and are about to begin the great adventure of parenting, we are trying to arm ourselves with tools that will help us raise our little miracle baby. One of the books we are reading right now, is a book that was written  by Dr. James Dobson entitled, "Bringing up Boys". In this book we read about the negative effect that TV has upon a child, especially those two and under. Here is an excerpt from the book that we are reading: "Steve Rubenstein of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, 'Turn off the TV, moms and dads, the health of your little tyke is at stake. Children younger than two should not watch TV because it can interfere with healthy brain growth, according to a new policy issued this week by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Pediatricians should urge parents to avoid television viewing for children younger than two. Research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers h...

The Bible tells us that after Elijah had done great things for God at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18), that the evil queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-2). This caused Elijah to go from one of the most incredible mountain top experiences that anyone has ever had with God, into a complete downward spiral of fear, hopelessness, and depression. He was so depressed that he ran far away from everyone and hid in a dark and lonely cave. Too depressed to face life, too discouraged to even get up out of bed, the Bible tells us that the Lord came to Elijah and instructed him to get up and get going.  Maybe you can relate to Elijah today? Maybe you can understand the loneliness, and fear, and great depression that he must have felt. The type of depression that keeps you in bed all day, shut out from the world. If you are in this place today, it is my prayer that the following video will give you encouragement to take some simple steps to get back on track with God, and His p...