Posts with the category “daily-faith-challenges”

  Last observation, day one God separated light and darkness and day four he filled the heavens with light to govern. Where do we see Jesus separate light and darkness? Where do we see him separate rule?With a word, he took care of darkness forever and stepped into ultimate rule. “It is finished.” And he breathed his last breath.If you want to jot down a few passages where we see God’s victory ove...  Read More

  Remember, this week we are looking at God’s forming and filling of creation and then how do we see that through the lens of Jesus?Day two was separating the waters, water and sky and day five was filling with sea creatures and birds.Mark 4:35-41- 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as ...  Read More

  I want to go back the question I raised last week. Do we see Jesus do something similar in his life, that we see at creation?Obviously, if I’m asking the question, it is a yes. I want to show you three stories where we see Jesus, with a word speak into the chaos of the wilderness, water, and darkness and bring order.I’m going to go backwards in the days of creation and Jesus’ life. Day three and...  Read More

  Read Genesis 1:20-23- 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and ...  Read More

  If you have not had a chance to listen to the message on April 19th or 26th, I encourage you to go back and take a listen. This all builds on each other.My intention last week, wasn’t to land on one specific way creation took place, but to throw out the challenge to all opinions of creation because I believe the declaration of the creation story, of Genesis 1 and 2 isn’t about the HOW of creatio...  Read More

  The Psalmist does a beautiful job of summarizing what we’ve talked about. I share it because this is how the ancients would have understood the creation story. Psalm 33:6-9- 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the p...  Read More

  We mentioned on Tuesday about how Jesus’ name may not be on the pages of Genesis, but because God is revealed in Genesis, we can affirm that Jesus was as well. Take a moment and read John 1:1-5, 9- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made....  Read More

  Let’s read Genesis 1:1-13. What do you notice, what gets your attention? What is created on each day? How is it created? What do you notice about the repetition of words?Genesis 1:1-13- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let ...  Read More

  Let’s read Genesis 1:1-13. What do you notice, what gets your attention? What is created on each day? How is it created? What do you notice about the repetition of words?Genesis 1:1-13- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let ...  Read More

  Last week we introduced our new series on Genesis- back to the beginning, seeing how God establishes life through creation, fall, redemption and repeat. This week we are kicking off the specific verses, going from Genesis 1 to Genesis 50.If you are familiar with Genesis 1 or remember how it started from last week, this is what we read: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Whic...  Read More

  Genesis, origins, the beginning is the story of God, not just history, and it’s not just their story, the origins of Israel, it’s our story. John Walton says, “It expresses God’s love for the people he created and his intention to bless them in spite of rebellion and sin. The picture of love, mercy, and compassion thus portrayed by means of blessing stands in stark contrast to the self-protectio...  Read More

  Notice how God steps into the life of Abram, eventually Abraham and how he starts anew with similar promises of Creation.Read Genesis 12:1-3- The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless th...  Read More

  The talking snake slithers onto the scene and starts up a deceiving conversation with Eve and then Adam.Read Genesis 3:6-11- 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and ...  Read More

  The purpose of Genesis is to remember the beginning of who God is and his activity- creation, fall, redemption, repeat. We see this in Genesis, as the micro-story, but we also see this throughout the Bible. In Genesis we will see it through different words or key ideas; life, blessing (creation), failure (fall), redemption, and covenant (new relationship or commitment).What I want to do for the ...  Read More

  We are kicking off our new series: Genesis- Back to the Beginning.For those of you who were with us when we went through Mark, this will be similar. Don’t worry, it won’t be as long . But what I want to invite you to do is take your time through Genesis. Even if you have another reading plan, go ahead and add this to the list. We are going to take our time going through Genesis and today, I hope...  Read More

Because of his great love, our lives should look different. When Jesus spent the last night with his disciples, he washed their feet before the Passover meal and before everythingwent “amuck”, even though it was for our good. Jesus gives us a new command in John 17. Notice how Peter Briscoe shares it,“Man-made religion and legalism would soon be nullified by the sacrificial death of Jesus “because...  Read More

The spoken word that was shared on Sunday and then again with the Daily Faith Challenge on Monday was written by our very own Holly Vogel and read by Josh and Emilie Dahm.We started and ended the reading with the most popular verse in all of Scripture. John 3:16- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For Go...  Read More

Let’s take a brief look at Luke’s account of the resurrection. Luke also wrote the book of Acts. Which based upon word count, Luke wrote more in the NT than any other author. I know Paul wrote more books, Luke just wrote longer books. I share that because Luke gives us great detail with all that he experiences.Luke 24:1-8- On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the...  Read More

  This week is post Easter week. Yesterday you hopefully were able to experience the writing and reflections of Holly Vogel, our Communications Director. She did a fantastic job of capturing the God’s story and our story.Today, I want to go after a little bit different perspective, because I think when we spend time around Easter, no matter our faith journey, I think we can struggle through a lot ...  Read More

  Yesterday was an incredible time reflecting on Jesus - His coming, His death, His resurrection, and His great love. Let us continue in that reflection this morning, so that the significance of celebrating Jesus’ resurrection is not limited to one day a year, but a joy and gratitude we can live in often.A poem called “The Blood That Built a Bridge” or “The Great Love” was shared yesterday and gav...  Read More

“So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud ‘No!’ to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet....  Read More

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35This passage and context of everything around it is so crazy important!  Take some time today reading through John 6, it starts off with the feeding of the 5000 and then Jesus walking on the water.  Jesus was doing these incredible miracles that only hap...  Read More

Each one of us have grown up participating in different traditions within our different cultures, some we understand and some we don’t.  If Jesus is our Lord and Savior, I believe all need to be looked through the lens that Jesus talks about here in Mark 2:18-22, message version.18 The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees made a practice of fasting. Some people confronted Jesus: “W...  Read More

Biblical fasting is the act of giving up food for a period of time so that I can draw near to God, as I draw near to God, He draws near to me just as it says in James 4:8 yet check out what it says on either side of the underlined verse.7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinner...  Read More

Friday, March 27thWorship is connecting, surrendering, and responding to the revelation of who God is and what wants to do in us and through us.The last observation of worship I want to spend some time on is worship as a response. Specifically, worship is a weapon. An offensive weapon and a defensive weapon. Worship can prepare us and equip us.Simply put, we were born on a battlefield between good...  Read More

Saturday, March 28thBonus faith challenge this week.My final encouragement, in our response to worship is; worship and prayer aren’t about changing our circumstances, even though they may. Worship and prayer are about changing us and those around us.Notice the power of this passage, especially according to their circumstances.Acts 16:22-25- 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas,...  Read More

Friday, March 26thWorship is connecting, surrendering, and responding to the revelation of who God is and what wants to do in us and through us.The last observation of worship I want to spend some time on is worship as a response. Specifically, worship is a weapon. An offensive weapon and a defensive weapon. Worship can prepare us and equip us.Simply put, we were born on a battlefield between good...  Read More

Thursday, March 26thToday’s emphasis is on surrender.  How will you respond to The One who surrendered his life for you? Read through Revelation 4-5 titled “Worshipping God in heaven”.   Notice how things are repeated 3 times, it’s to emphasize perfection and completeness. Holy means "set apart” so holy, holy, holy is the expression of God’s perfect “set apart-ness”, His being placed in His rightf...  Read More

How do you define worship?  What does it mean to you?We often limit the idea of worship as being solely musical, a reciting of words to a beat with notated melody.  Yet, how easy is it to go through the motions?  We have music playing in the background while we work, we can almost unconsciously sing the lyrics without awareness of the meaning of what we are saying or the intention behind it.  At t...  Read More

Tuesday, March 24thWorship is connecting, surrendering and responding to the revelation of who God is and what He wants to do in us and through us.This first aspect of worship I want to pause on today is how worship reveals who God is or worship is the revelation of who God is and what he has done.Notice how David is inviting the people to worship who God is and what he has done.1 Chronicles 16:7-...  Read More

Monday, March 22Our discussion this week is a unique one, because there are some who absolutely love this, others who don’t mind, but are confused, and others that don’t want to really have anything to do with it.Think about it. Where else do you experience corporate singing? Singing together in public places?Sure birthdays? We sing Happy birthday.Some say karaoke, but I don’t think so because you...  Read More

Thursday, March 19thI gave the summary statement yesterday that the power of serving others is humility in posture and obedience in action. How do you serve those that are close to you? (spouse, friends, parents, siblings).Husbands, for a moment, let me on you. Ephesians 5 it talks about wives submitting to their husbands. Typically we stop there and say, “yeah, wifey, you need to submit.” Keep re...  Read More

Thursday, March 19thRead 1 Peter 4:10- 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.See that, each of you? Not just those who are paid to serve. Not just those whose gifts are more visible or dynamic. Each of you, whatever your gift is, which was given to you from God, use that power, ability to serve others.Let...  Read More

Wednesday, March 18thAccording to Jesus, serving redefines our greatness through humility and redefines our heart posture, under Christ and for others.Today, let’s look at a parable, story, that Jesus shares with us.Matthew 25:14-30- 14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bag...  Read More

Tuesday, March 17thJesus redefines greatness through humility and shows us that at the cross. Serving pushes against pride. But I think serving can be sneaky and should push against those of us who are over responsible. Because there are some of you thinking, I’m already serving people a ton. I hardly have time to take care of myself and now I feel guilty that I’m not doing enough.Hold that though...  Read More

Monday, March 16thI don’t know about you, but how do you interact with “greatness”?Think about it in a couple of different ways. First, how do we define greatness? Or even what is the greatest?We have greatest of all time lists. Greatest actors of all time? Greatest musicians of all time? Greatest leaders of all time? We have lists for athletes; greatest basketball player of all time- Jordan, Kobe...  Read More

Thursday, March 12thGenerosity reflects who God is, reveals who we are, and declares who we trust. Generosity demonstrates our trust in God.Read Matthew 6:21-24- 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darknes...  Read More

Thursday, March 12thGenerosity reveals the intention of our heart. Generosity reveals who we are.Notice Matthew 6:1-4- “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be...  Read More

Wednesday, March 11thFor the rest of the week, I want us to hang out in Matthew 6. This passage is in the middle of what we call the Sermon on the Mount. The longest teaching of Jesus we have in one place. It is easy for us to break it apart and isolate sections, but I’m not sure if that was Matthew’s intention when writing it. Sure, Jesus may or may not have shared all of this in one sitting. But...  Read More

Tuesday, March 10thYesterday we looked at God’s image and intention with generosity through creation. But then comes Genesis 3 and everything is distorted. Evil comes on the scene and asks two revealing questions that we battle with to this day.Did God really say that? Is God holding out on you? That’s essentially what he asked Adam and Eve, creating doubt in God’s truth and can he be trusted? Whi...  Read More