Active Faith

Jesus Christ: One Way or The Only Way to Heaven?

One of the most common concerns that people raise with me is the exclusivity of the Christian faith. Many people in our postmodern, relativistic society want to believe that all roads lead to heaven. In 2016 Lifeway Research conducted a poll and found that 60 percent of all Americans believe that “Heaven is a place where all people will ultimately be reunited with their loved ones.” Only 40 percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement that “Hell is an eternal place of judgment where God sends all people who do not personally trust in Jesus Christ.”(1) Heaven or Hell? […]

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Praying with My Eyes Open

I started 2018 with fasting and prayer. During an early prayer time, I felt God calling me to intercede like never before for my community. He asked me to grant these people, with whom I share proximity, a higher level of priority. I struggled with how to pray for my neighbors and their needs beyond a general covering thinking, “There’s gotta be an app for that.” An app for praying Not finding a “pray for your neighbors” app, I downloaded the Nextdoor app and began praying through daily posts. As I read each post, I brought my neighbors’ names and […]

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Who’s Got Zach’s Back?

Imagine living your life in such a manner that increasingly no one wanted to be around you.  You were so self-obsessed and so focused on your own “so called” success that people and relationships did not matter. Now, imagine something happened that changed all that. Perhaps a book you read, perhaps a sermon you heard, perhaps a caring friend that spoke into your life, but you truly had a “scrooge moment” and woke up with a new perspective. You were different. You assumed everyone would be happy and excited and want to celebrate this new you. However, you were not received the way you thought you would be. Perhaps […]

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RUF Reaches College Students at FAU

RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) recently kicked off  its third year of ministry on the Florida Atlantic University campus in Boca Raton. A ministry of the PCA denomination, RUF’s mission is to reach students for Christ and to equip them to serve the church. According to Campus Minster, Rev. Jeff Lee, who is also an FAU alumnus, College is a pivotal moment in a student’s life where questions of identity, purpose, meaning, and hope are constantly being discussed and explored.  For those reasons, RUF is committed to sending seminary trained, ordained pastors to campuses around the country in order to bring […]

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Jesus Never Said, “I am God”

When I talk with unbelieving skeptics, it is not uncommon to hear them object, “There is no place in your Bible where Jesus says, ‘I am God!’” And if you search the Scriptures for that exact statement from the lips of our Lord — “I am God” — it’s true that you won’t find it. But it is also true that Jesus declared that He was God in a variety of ways, and there can be no question that His first century audience clearly understood His claim to be God. To be sure, not all of that audience accepted Jesus’ […]

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The Power of Prophecy

(Scroll down to leave a comment on the power of prophecy.) As a pastor, I am often asked how we can know for sure that the Bible is truly the Word of God.  When confronted with this question, many Christians frequently respond by quoting 2 Timothy 3:15 — “All Scripture is God-breathed . . .” That is certainly a glorious, God-breathed truth, but when you use that verse to prove the reliability of Scripture to the serious skeptic, that unbeliever will often reply, “That’s circular reasoning! You’re telling me that the Bible is the Word of God because the Bible […]

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The Conversion of Jamel Attar

Stories of how people come to faith in Christ can be moving and powerful. In the earliest days of the Church, for example, we read of the amazing conversion of the Apostle Paul (Acts chapters 9 and 22). Paul was a man deeply committed to a religion (first century Judaism) but came to believe in Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Paul had misunderstood and opposed the Christian message, but one day he met Jesus personally and his life was changed forever. As a result, he became a great missionary for Christ. God still saves people like this, even out […]

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Beautiful Applause

“She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6). Their names are not even mentioned, and yet the Lord bestowed the highest praise on three women who demonstrated courage in difficult circumstances. Their ordinary lives are not memorials for us to simply admire, but to emulate, compelling us to love the Lord more deeply and trust him more completely right where we are today. We meet one woman as she entered Simon’s house in Bethany “with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table” (Matthew 26:7). Some of […]

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The 21-Day Slow

I typically don’t like to fast. I know it’s important, and it’s encouraged throughout the Bible. I know that there are many benefits to fasting. The clarity and focus that occurs as one intently focuses on Jesus is something supernatural. I have dear friends who fast regularly for extended times and speak of its benefits. I still don’t like to fast. I have fasted many times and frankly, will fast again. However, did I say I don’t like to fast? 21-Day Fast Our church has, over the past few years, encouraged its community to fast for the twenty one days […]

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Youth and Next Generation Leaders Take Center Stage at Church United

As Church United, we believe a mission to own the lostness, pain and brokenness of our community must include a mission for youth. Without a strong focus on reaching the next generation, we will miss perhaps what could be the greatest domestic missions opportunity in our nation’s history. Research points to the reality that over one million youth at least nominally in the church today will choose to leave each year for the next three decades. Thirty-five million youth raised in families that call themselves Christians will say they are not by 2050. However, we believe the story is far […]

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