When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it is written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. The sweet language of experience is ‘Thou God seest me.’ When the eyes of the soul […]
Thoughts on Death
The following is part of a letter I wrote to a friend who was concerned about death, but didn’t want to talk with me about it. That death thing can certainly bring thoughts about eternal things into much clearer focus, can’t they? We have a church of over 800 people now and a sister church […]
Specific Strategies to Try Pt. 2
11. Since the label “depression” cannot capture the complexity of your experience, what other words (especially words that can be keyed to Scripture) more concretely capture what is going on in your heart? 12. Get help. Ask a few people to pray for you and speak the truth to you. When you ask for prayer, […]
Specific Strategies to Try Pt. 1
The following list contains homework assignments and specific strategies that have been helpful for some people. Take one biblical story, read it every day, and write down ten (or more) applications of it. (The basic idea with this assignment, and some of the others that follow, is that you want depressed people to meditate on […]
community that proclaims
But let’s be honest, we have all fallen short of community that proclaims the truth of God’s goodness and grace, as we are often censored by fear or muzzled by sin. The cross, then, is central to building community within the church. If the church is going to offer an alternative to the brokenness and […]
Faith Looks Out
Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self […]
What Is In Our Heart
Here are a series of questions we can ask to discover what is in our heart. What do you love? What do you hate? What do you want, crave, hope for? What is your goal? What do you fear? What do you worry about? What do you feel like you need? Where do you find […]
The Blessing of Community
Pastor Bill Clem… [said,] “The world will not recover from the community of God’s people living lives to glorify Jesus.” This statement should change the way you, look at community in your church. We have the means to proclaim the kingdom of God through the same means God has always used: his people. The question […]
Press to application
The most challenging aspect of leading a discussion is trying to press the point home to application. The leader who fails to bring application leads his group down a merry path into deception! James teaches us that merely listening to God’s Word without doing what it says is self-deception (Jas 1:22). We think knowing more […]