About 10 years ago the Barna Research Group identified 5 characteristics that Americans aged 16-29 believed represented Christians. Sadly, none of those characteristics from 10 years ago were representative of Jesus 2000 years ago. Perhaps more troubling is that the religious people who crucified Jesus were known for many of these. So how does a […]
The gravitational pull of religion is always in the direction of the doing the minimum to keep God happy. But what if keeping God happy comes at the expense of something else? What if there’s more to faith?
When a fight is over and we’ve fought and won, sometimes we realize the the win came at a great expense. As it turns out, our fights aren’t just about the issue, and they aren’t necessarily just about the other person, either. Something much greater is at stake in our efforts to fight and win.
Christmas is far greater than most people realize, and it’s because of Christmas that one of the greatest human tensions is resolved.
Have you ever been judged before? Maybe for your looks? The people you spend time with? The way you parent? Being judged is about as universal of a human experience as there is. What’s amazing, though, is that as much as we all are judged and we don’t like being judged, we somehow find ourselves […]
In a nation that was founded on the principle of freedom OF religion, it’s interesting that so many people want freedom FROM religion. Along the way, religion has gained some baggage – things that people want freedom FROM. In today’s message we talk about religious baggage and discover that Jesus came to bring something unexpected […]
What are the hurdles that keep people from coming to God? Believe it or not, there’s a gravitational pull that exists in most churches – pulling people toward the familiar and the comfortable… the monuments of church. Unfortunately, a move toward monuments necessarily means a move away from being the movement the church was meant […]
As you learn to climb mountains, you learn to follow the blazes – the trail markers that indicate which way to go. When it comes to climbing the mountain of religion, the blazes we follow take us to the place we think we need to go. In today’s message, however, we learn about the unique […]
Your religion – your set of beliefs that answer life’s ultimate questions – is complex… it’s formulated through a number of factors. But have you ever wondered why you believe what you believe? In today’s message, we unpack what we believe and are challenged to carefully consider who God really is.
Whether you consider yourself religious or not, you have a set of beliefs to answer life’s ultimate questions. How you answer life’s ultimate questions makes up your path to the top of the religious mountain. But are all paths equal? In today’s message we learn of one way to evaluate which path to take on […]