Finding Connection In Sadness
Jesus wept. It’s the shortest verse in our entire Bible. John, the author, shares something personal about Jesus as His close friend died. How can sadness help us during times of loss, hurt, and pain?

Jesus wept. It’s the shortest verse in our entire Bible. John, the author, shares something personal about Jesus as His close friend died. How can sadness help us during times of loss, hurt, and pain?
Uncontrolled anger can lead to destructive behavior that damages relationships beyond repair. So if anger, as an emotion, is from God, then why are we warned to stay away from it?
How you live your life on earth impacts how you will experience heaven. We’ve all heard the phrase, “You only live once.” But what if we considered the phrase, “You only live forever.” How would our lives change if we embraced that phrase?
What you do now is an indicator of what you’ll look forward to later. After this life, believers will no longer struggle physically, no longer wrestle spiritually, and no longer have internal longings. What will you be most relieved to no longer battle with?
Jesus talked about heaven in several different ways. Today we’ll look at three conversations that reveal the way Jesus viewed the realities of heaven.
That’s why we celebrate Easter—Jesus was a King who died and came back from the dead!
Jesus didn’t ask for people to just believe in him. He invited people to follow him. How do you justify accepting God’s forgiveness through Jesus’ death on the cross while resisting Jesus as the Leader (Lord) of your life?
Being right doesn’t give us the right to be self-righteous. Has your good behavior seemed to have been overlooked by God?
Have you ever intentionally disregarded something you felt God prompted you to do? Whatever your next step is, take it. You don’t know what will happen if you don’t.
The followers of Jesus shaped civilization. Regarding your faith, have you become more of a consumer than an advertiser? If not, how have you kept that from happening? If so, what needs to change?
Christians are not expected to believe based solely on a collection of ancient manuscripts. The foundation of our faith is anchored to something far more substantial and sustainable.
In an unexpected series of circumstances, Jacob is reunited with his thought-to-be dead son after decades. Through the truth coming out and forgiveness being extended, the entire family eventually settles in Egypt where there is food. God uses this moment for Jacob to bless another son through whom people from all nations would have their relationship with Him healed.
Joseph’s life up and until now led him to this opportunity, which was a gift from God. Although God seemed silent, He was at work all along in Joseph’s life. Each moment led to the next and eventually to an opportunity to not only save his adopted home but his family from starvation.
Have you ever spent time reading the Bible and praying; then looked at the clocked and realized 15 minutes felt like 2 minutes? Time to God is different than time to us. Time is like an island to God while time is like a moving train to us. How do we react when we believe God is silent?
It’s been said, “Repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth.” Sometimes it’s not the number of times a lie is repeated but the influence of the person who is repeating it. How do we respond when someone lies about our integrity? How do we react when something we tried to hide comes out?
If Joseph’s interpretations of the dreams were right, he was a threat their way of life. The normal reasons for betrayal are unhealthy ambition, greed, or lust. Trust makes betrayal possible. How we respond to betrayal can reveal what we believe about God.
How do you respond and react when things are going well? Who do you call, text, or see? When things are going well, we find ways to keep everything going well. It’s likely that things going well in our lives has little to do with us. God is writing a bigger story and invites us to be a part of it.
When you think of the church, what is the first word that comes to mind? If you were to ask your neighbor or your co-worker, what would be the first words that come to their minds? In other words, what is the reputation of the church? What is the reputation of your local church? More importantly, how can we begin to repair the reputation of the local church?
Our reputations are important because they impact our influence. But when we look at the life of Jesus, he often risked his reputation for the sake of connecting with the excluded and marginalized. If we are to help repair the reputation of the church—and by extension, Jesus—we may have to follow that example.
Our reputations matter because they impact how much people trust us and how much they engage with us. But it’s even bigger than that, because when you represent something bigger than you, your reputation’s impact goes beyond you. How people see the church—and, by extension, Jesus—is often a function of how they see those who claim to follow Jesus. We have an opportunity to help repair that reputation.
How is it that a baby born in a very unremarkable village, to otherwise two unremarkable peasant parents, in what was considered the armpit of the Roman empire, how is it that this baby, born 2000 years ago, in those circumstances, is adored by people all over the world 2000 years later?
Jesus, who was more of a king than any other king, came to interact with his people like no other king. He came to offer what no other king could offer. The character of the King shows us he is worth following.
As Jesus followers, we are required to look at the cruelty, injustice, and suffering in the world. It’s a reminder to us of why God sent his Son. He sent a King to lead and instruct us in a different way of living. It’s the reason God sent Jesus and the reason we have Christmas.
On Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a king, not merely a forgiver of sin and a conscience cleanser. Jesus didn’t come primarily to forgive. He came to be followed.
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When we begin to see God as the perfect father, we understand his pure love for us. No matter what we do, or where we go, we belong and are welcome to come back home to him. That’s not always easy to embrace, which is why Jesus told three stories to a crowd of misbehaviors to help them see God for who he really is – our loving, Heavenly Father.
What does it mean when we say we have individual rights? Do we all have the same rights or do we have different rights? In American culture, we are asking whether or not gay marriage is like interracial marriage and whether or not a woman has a right to abortion? Jesus shows us a different set of rights.
Our world is doing everything it can to provide humanity with the perfect life. Our world is attempting to establish human flourishing apart from God. How effective has the world been with re-establishing human flourishing? We’ll find that humanity only flourishes when we live under His authority.
If you repay evil for evil, you will write a pretty predictable story. But there’s a way to write a remarkable one instead.
The Christian faith is not based on a sacred space, but a sacred relationship—a relationship with God through Jesus. You don’t need a building to start or restart believing. Sure...there are great reasons for buildings. But it’s not required for faith.