Dear Jeff,   How am I supposed to relate to a God I can't fully explain? I feel like my confusion gets in the way of my faith.   Sincerely, Jamie Hi Jamie, That question lingers like a stone in your shoe—the kind you can't ignore, no matter how much you want to, because it gets right to the heart of something we all experience. It takes me back to a morning years ago on the Oregon coast with my kids. I remember the cool, damp air and the sand between my toes as I watched them

RENEWED – Week 2 (A New Heart) Ezekiel 11:19, 36:22-27, Philippians 1:6 INTRODUCTION: RENEWED Series – Week 2 - Last week – through Isaiah, God is making ALL THINGS NEW! - What’s next is better, and it begins in me! Many of you are joining us today, and not only are you unsure about what you believe about God, you may have no idea how he impacts our lives. This conversation is for you too. We're going to unpack a simple, yet the life-changing way that God can make a differenc

I Kings 17:1-16 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” The word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. “It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”

Chasing glimpses of his glory – Matthew 17:1-13 I love that Matthew and the other gospel writers include the Apostle Peter’s imperfections in their writings. Peter’s life, and the scriptural references to his spiritual growth, personality and character give us great hope that God can use us because we find Peter is far from perfect. In the two consecutive passages before today’s verses we read conflicting stories about Peter. In the first one he is praised because he received

WHAT DO YOU KNOW OR REMEMBER ABOUT THE PROPHETS ELIJAH AND ELISHA? WHAT STANDS OUT TO YOU ABOUT THEIR LIVES? When looking at the Old Testament prophets, we tend to think of the greatest prophets as Samuel, who anointed Saul and David as kings. Or we think of Isaiah or Jeremiah who not only prophesied for years until multiple kings, but wrote large books that we still read today. But the Jewish people regard Elijah as the greatest prophet, along with Elisha, his successor. Yet

Marriage that Points to Jesus 1 Peter 2 If you know, you know. If you don’t, it’s Princess Bride. And you now have a fun movie to watch in the next week. It’s amazing how packed in that little sketch, that little skit, are all of these cultural assumptions about marriage. A dream within a dream. It’s about true love. Our culture tells us that marriage and promises that marriage we will, in marriage, will find a soulmate marriage will find true love in marriage, we’ll have our