Ephesians 1:3–14, Part 4 Have you heard of Berghain, the exclusive dance club in Berlin? I learned about it on this podcast. It is nearly impossible to get in, and the club doesn’t explain why. People line up waiting for hours, hoping to be admitted. Finally, they make it to the door, and the headContinue reading “Hearing “Nein!” at an exclusive dance club versus hearing God say “Yes!””
Tag Archives: spirituality
Who and how God chooses
Ephesians 1:3–14, Part 3 Whether you are the kid at recess who gets chosen last for the kickball team, or whether you are the adult who doesn’t get chosen for a promotion, a job, a contest, it can be very difficult emotionally when we are not chosen. When I submitted book proposals, I experienced theContinue reading “Who and how God chooses”
We know where the heavenly realms are
Ephesians 1:3–14, Part 2 After a greeting, Paul begins his letter titled “Ephesians” with a grand eulogy of God. As I noted in the previous post, while we give eulogies praising people who have passed away, Paul’s eulogy praises God who is very much alive. After saying, “Praise God,” Paul lists numerous reasons why heContinue reading “We know where the heavenly realms are”
A surprising eulogy for God
Ephesians 1:3–14, Part 1 Here’s some insider pastoral info for you: when we counsel the family of the deceased, and when we officiate their funerals, we pastors sometimes straight up lie, talking about how great they were and how for sure they are in heaven. In reality pastors do not know that for a fact,Continue reading “A surprising eulogy for God”
A profoundly important description of church
Ephesians intro, part 5 A close friend from church and I work out on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with another guy. Recently that other guy, who is not part of our church, told us that he was reading the Bible over the weekend and thought the passage he was reading sounded like our church. I perkedContinue reading “A profoundly important description of church”
When mail arrived, they threw a party
Ephesians intro, part 4 We are so used to snail mail being a mundane affair. Mostly we get junk mail anymore. If it even hints of being junk, I usually just toss it straight into the garbage. Our meaningful communication in 2026 is now pretty much all online, accessible through our devices. The reality ofContinue reading “When mail arrived, they threw a party”
The healing energy of grace
Ephesians intro, Part 3 Paul’s greeting in his letter titled “Ephesians” uses two words that he starts 13 of 13 letters with. These are two exceedingly important concepts for Christians. We read the two words of this greeting in Ephesians 1, verse 2. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the LordContinue reading “The healing energy of grace”
Why Jesus said the heart matters
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 5 In Matthew 15, Jesus is being bold, confronting the religious elite, basically not only telling them off, but also telling the people in the crowd how wrong the religious leaders were. That makes the disciples nervous, and rightly so, because those religious leadersContinue reading “Why Jesus said the heart matters”
How some churches are actually two companies that Jesus never asked us to form
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 3 My church expresses vertical and horizontal faith in a public statement we post on every email we send to our church family: “We are a congregation developing a deeper relationship with God and extending his love to our community.” Notice the twoContinue reading “How some churches are actually two companies that Jesus never asked us to form”
Vertical morality: how some Christians justify horrific behavior
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 2 Do we further the will of God by killing people? That’s extreme, and we could perhaps say, “No, we should obviously never further the will of God by killing people.” When would we even have the opportunity to further the will of GodContinue reading “Vertical morality: how some Christians justify horrific behavior”
Engaging Scripture 