A year-end ditty by Jim Levander I have been thinking much about sin, guilt, grace, shame and doubt. I am struck by how many believers don’t have a great understanding of the grace they say they have accepted. And because of this, I believe, many don’t have great assurance of their faith and find themselves... Continue Reading →

In what lies the value of a man? By what metric is he appraised? We open his financial portfolio His assets are tallied up Assigning worth to all his properties. But we all know that dying with the most toys doesn’t really ensure the win. We look into his career His rise to the top... Continue Reading →

“They keep telling you, they keep telling you, it’s just  fascination. Why don’t they listen, no one listens to what I am sayin’ … There’s a perfect lover running through my head” so the Kansas song goes. Is a perfect lover possible or not? And what does perfect love even look like? Well, this blog... Continue Reading →

The question that makes up the title of this blog is all-important for each man and woman to answer. There's a sense in which we can all say "yes" to it in that we are all created by God. And certainly each human life has great value since God made him or her and planted... Continue Reading →

“I’m on top of the world!” “Money makes the world go around.” “It’s a dog-eat-dog world.” “He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders” “The world is my oyster.” If you had to sit down and write what each of these catch phrases meant, could you do it? What about when Michael Jackson... Continue Reading →

Fellowship is another key word and theme in 1 John. The Greek word for it, koinonia, is only used in the first chapter, but the concepts behind it span the entire book and have ample impact in John's writings on the whole. Understanding fellowship helps us understand God, His purposes behind making us and saving... Continue Reading →

The title of my blog today matches that of the sermon from this Sunday and is somewhat of an ironic double entendre. To muse about something is to think deeply about it and get lost in thought, but if you take “light” to mean “not heavy” it turns into an oxymoron. But when you realize... Continue Reading →

I thought it might be helpful to supplement the Sunday sermon with a blog that follows up on some key concepts or themes from the passage in focus. And this passage focused on the physical and the spiritual foundation of the witness of the apostles to Christ and His message. In the Bible, the physical... Continue Reading →

Paul second prayer in his letter to the Ephesians is a twofold prayer for power followed by a doxology (“word of praise”). First he prays that the Father would grant power through the Spirit to the inner man of each believer so that Christ would make Himself at home in their hearts and transform their... Continue Reading →

We studied Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:3-11 this week and the following is the result of both adult and youth Sunday School discussions. The main point of Paul’s thankfulness to God for this church was their gospel partnership with him (1:3-5). They believed in what Paul was doing and they were sacrificially generous (4:10-20; cf.... Continue Reading →