Archive for Bruce's Blogs
The Family Is a Mission Field
I think it’s strange that so many people in the church, and not just this church, believe that “ministry” is what happens at church. Many also believe that only people who are called “ministers” are the ones who do “ministry.” That can’t be further from the truth.
The “family” is probably one of the biggest mission [...]
The Church Family Works Together
I have traumatic childhood memories of Saturday-morning cleaning. It didn’t happen every week, but when Mom started playing Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn records (far more traumatic than the actual tasks of cleaning house), we knew it was time to work together.
The church is a family, and family works together. It’s obvious that we need [...]
The Church Is Family
Hebrews 2:11 tells us that “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” It’s very simple: the church is family. God is our Father; Jesus is our brother; and the Christians around us are our brothers [...]
Simple Gifts
Christmas is a gift-giving holiday. No news flash there. It makes sense; it’s part of the Christmas story. Matthew 2:11 tells us that the wise men presented Jesus with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. It’s also a key part of Christian theology; John 3:16 tells us that God gave us the [...]
Simple Life
Life, in general, moves at a breakneck speed, but in the holiday season from Thanksgiving through the new year, life becomes a blur. And in the midst of it all, we find ourselves thinking, “Why can’t life be simple?”
Whether we realize it or not, the life we find in Christ is meant to be simple. [...]
Simple Thanks
Our Sunday evening class on Nehemiah recently discussed Israel’s celebration of the “Feast of Ingathering,” which is something like our Thanksgiving, and the “Festival of Booths,” a reminder of when Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. In Leviticus 23:42, 43, God commanded the people to “Live in booths for seven days… so your [...]
Simple Change
As I mentioned in my report at the annual meeting, I am in the process of changing how I think about the church, not just this church but the whole idea of what the church is and how it operates. I mentioned that, for most of my life as a Christian, I’ve viewed the church [...]
Simple Sharing
If you look at the front of your weekly bulletin, you’ll see that our strategy for making disciples is simply connecting people to God and other people, growing in our faith and knowledge of Jesus, and serving like Jesus. Unfortunately, we have over-complicated God’s plan for sharing his gift of salvation through Jesus.
Throughout the centuries, [...]
Simple Selflessness
We live in a selfish culture. Sometimes we don’t recognize our selfishness, especially when we’re striving for the best of whatever. While it’s not necessarily bad to want the best things of life, what we do to get the best or what we do when we don’t get the best illuminates our selfish motives.
Many times [...]
Simple Danger
Have you heard the news that some schools are banning “high fives” and teaching kids and teachers how to wash their hands to prevent the spread of the swine flu? Doesn’t it seem strange that our fears have gone from school shootings to simple interaction among kids? While it makes sense to take precautions to [...]
Simple Direction
Have you ever lost your way? Growing up hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping, I’m proud to say that I’ve never been lost. I have, however, been “turned around” a few times. Even though I knew exactly where I was supposed to be—I could point it out on the map—I wasn’t quite sure how to get [...]
Simple Focus
I’m a simple guy, so repetition is a good learning tool for me. I know I just preached this sermon, but I want to stretch the application more than I was able in the sermon. I said in the sermon on August 2 that many of our problems in life are caused by a simple [...]
Simple Forgiveness
In the last issue, I focused on the Good News that we have peace with God because of the reconciliation we have through Jesus. But there’s more to the Christian life than being reconciled to God; we must also be reconciled to each other. Jesus taught his disciples that our forgiveness depends upon the way [...]
Simple Peace
With summer comes thinking about summer vacation, whether you’re taking one voluntarily or not. For some it’s thoughts about relaxing on a beach; for others it’s relaxing in the mountains. Regardless of what you’re thinking about for a vacation, it’s very likely that peace and quiet are at the top of your list of criteria [...]
Simple Refreshment
“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD [...]