Feburary 26, 2015 This past week in our series on Philippians we looked at verses 1-16 in chapter 2 we talked about finding Joy through humility. I just had a follow-up thought about the relationship between having humility before God and having humility before other people. It can often appear like we have one while lacking the other, but really I believe they go hand ...

Feb 13, 2015 One of our 7 Big Prayers for 2015 is as follows: "That God would give us love for those whose sins offend us.and also the boldness to have awkward conversations to help each other grow." I've been praying this one a lot lately - particularly the 2nd part of it -- because I've been hearing about the need for quite a bit of these awkward conversations to be in...

FEB 5, 2015 Every morning I try to have what I call "time with God." Time alone in prayer, reading the bible, reading a portion of a book, listening to God. Some times I walk away from that time filled with awe over the grandeur of God's grace, God's bigness, God's sovereignty, God's power. Some times I don't walk away with that awe. And it makes all the difference for...

January 20, 2015 "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." (Mark 9:29) "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation." (Mark 14:38) I recently rearranged my study at home. But I did not remove the prayer corner or the prayer bench. I made it more private. All I have ever read and experienced teaches me that deep spiritual influence for the good o...

January 13, 2015 On January 4th we began a new sermon series called "A CALL TO PRAY." Our hope is that we would be a praying church, a church that is utterly dependent on God's grace and power in order to make things happen. And for the first two weeks of this series we focused on "Our Big 7 Prayers For 2015" -- specific things that we're praying for regarding our churc...

December 24, 2014 It may not be a popular thought on Christmas Eve, but the very fact that Jesus came assumes something about us as individuals. It assumes we ares sinners in need of him coming. It assumes we are sinners in need of a Savior. And that need never ends. We don't pray a prayer one day in church and then have that need met once and for all. Yes, we are forgiv...

December 16, 2014 The weekly homework club at Maple Leaf has taken on a whole new look this month as we celebrate the Christmas season with them. On Saturday, Dec. 6th many of us participated in a two-part Christmas party inside the clubhouse. With decorations and Christmas tree in place we invited all the children from the community to join us for an afternoon of ...

April 16, 2015 I want you more than you want me. It's a line in my journal I wrote years ago when I realized one day the imbalance of a relationship in my life. Here I was wanting this person to love me so badly, and for whatever reason, choice or inability, they weren't. My longing for that relationship took center stage in my life for years... decades maybe. It was a c...

April 10, 2015 There are many tensions in the bible, where it seems like we are told different things that don't necessarily contradict each other, but do push against each other. For example, we're told that God is sovereign but humans have free will; we're told that God hates sin but lovingly runs after sinners; we're told that God accepts us as we are but refuses to le...

March 21, 2015 God likes using wines and vines in his miracles and parables. I thought of that a number of years ago when I read the following in an article: Great wines come from low-yielding vineyards planted in marginal climates on the poorest soils. Though hard on the vines, these tough conditions are good for the wine, because the vines that are stressed must w...

March 13, 2015 One of our Big 7 Prayers for 2015 is: 5. That God would give us love for those whose sins offend us.and also the boldness to have awkward conversations to help each other grow. Paul speaks to both parts of this prayer in Galatians 6. Galatians 6:1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that perso...

July 31, 2013 Today is Sunday, July 28th, 2013. We have been fully "operational" for 5 months now, and I got home from our service today and got the urge to want to start chronicling - on a weekly basis - the life of True Life Church. My hope is that others will join me in the chronicling (meaning - I hope others will write posts like this one because I won't feel like ...

May 28, 2015 This past Sunday we talked about the importance of Awe -- how there is a difference between believing in the truths about Jesus and having an awe over those glorious truths. Belief alone -- in the sens of an intellectual agreement -- does not lead to worship or life change or freedom. Awe does. That was the purpose of the sermon on Sunday as we looked at 3 S...

October 17, 2012 What is an idol? Essentially it is a God other than God himself. It is something that we consume ourselves with and base our life's meaning upon. If it is taken away, we will lose our sense of peace and joy. As Christians, we worship God himself, and as a result we can't have idols because it would mean that we aren't worshipping God. We can't worship ...

November 15, 2012 Growing up, my mom used to always say that God gave me good eye sight to make up for my poor sense of direction. Now, I'm not entirely sure that's the way God was thinking about things, but that thought has always stuck with me. When I'm lost (which is very common for me) and frustrated with my (lack of) sense of direction, I am actually more grateful ...

December 19, 2012 There are two things that I see everywhere I look - signs of Christmas, and the latest reports about the Newtown tragedy. In between holiday songs and commercials about sales at Best Buy, the news and radio have been non-stop with coverage on the Connecticut community -- from eyewitness accounts to interviews with psychologists and priests to politicia...

January 15, 2013 At our last gathering, we talked about suffering and how our prayer is that we would learn to trust God to use them for our good and for His glory. In the middle of the sermon, we showed a video clip from a message by Francis Chan. Since last Sunday, more people have commented on and asked about that video clip than the sermon (no offense taken, haha), s...

April 2, 2013 This past Sunday -- Easter Sunday -- we talked about the resurrection and how if we believe it, then we should be living like we believe it. And I referenced a marriage story that I was sent a year ago by a good friend. It's powerful. Watch it: The Story of Ian and Larissa....