Rick Nier...Woo!

The email said it was a book about hearing God. The subtitle is How to Recognize His Voice Everywhere . How do you turn that down? I like conversations. I believe in the idea of a relationship with God being important. So if I could do that even better, I want to hear the idea. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical when I got the book. I was afraid I would be halfway through when the weird would come out. But it didn't happen. Samuel shared his story, which involved listening for God's voice in natural ways. He share about how meditation can work, how to study God's Word, and why we should be trusting God more than we trust ourselves. Along the way, Samuel discusses the difficulties, the roadblocks and the detours we take in a relationship with God. But through it all, he points us to what can be. Knowing that doubters gotta doubt, Samuel even goes the extra mile, with two appendixes to answer potential arguments. All in all, I would recommend this for anyone who t...

At our church we have a preschool. As one of the pastors, I go in about twice a month and lead a chapel time, where I share a teaching with them. In the past few years, I have found a list of verses to bring a focus for the entire year. For example, I've done the Fruit of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 13, and one year I told them many stories of Jesus interacting with people. Each year, we work on memorizing several verses along the way. And even though these kids are all age 2 through age 5, they can do a great job. This year, I've decided to go through the Armor of God with them, found in Ephesians 6:10-18. I'll post them here, or at least some printable version of what I say here. Be strong in the Lord.   That's where we started. I came in, complete with sweatbands around my head and wrists, and told the kids I was getting swole for Jesus, because the Bible said to be strong in the Lord. As the silliness subsided, I talked to them about depending on God for th...

Hey Parents. I'm going to be a little blunt today. This post may sound self-serving, but there's a truth you need to hear. I was reading Barna research today. You can see the article here . They have done their homework and found that 73% of us Americans identify as Chistians. Woo Hoo, let's celebrate! That means 3 out of every 4 people in American are professing to follow the commands of Jesus. Never mind that most of us can turn on the evening news or look at our newspaper and readily see that 3 out of 4 people are certainly not following the commands of Jesus. 73%. That's a lot. Even if that many people were simply trying to be like Christ, we would have a pretty good thing going on. Oh....wait a minute.... Barna doesn't stop with asking people what they profess to believe. They ask them how they are practicing their professed beliefs. So Barna defines a 'practicing Christian' as someone who identifies as a Christian and attends a church service...

I want to remind us what Church can look like, by viewing a few different examples of the early Church in the book of Acts. Before Paul was standing before Festus, a group of people were making a name for themselves, living out their mission, sometimes in ways that look very differently than anything we would be comfortable with. As we glimpse at these truths, it will be up to each one of us to decide what we will do. And my hope is that if we, like the crowd in Acts 2, ask 'what shall we do?', then we'll be quick to respond as well. For when Peter told that crowd they should repent and be baptized, they did, and 3,000 people were added to the Church that day. Point 1 - We should never shy away from the Truth. Tell the Truth In Acts 3, Peter and John are heading to a prayer service (something Rick Hurley is wishing more people would do) and they run into this guy who was totally lame. I mean, really uncool. Just kidding, the guy couldn’t walk. So Peter heals him in the name...

I got the privilege of preaching this past Sunday. This was just the intro...if you like it, I may post more of it later this week.  Do you want to hear one of the saddest verses in all the Bible? Let me tell you a story. Paul had been arrested for preaching Jesus and he is being tossed from one court to another as Roman judges spent their time coaxing one another's egos and skirting around justice by passing the question of what to do with Paul on to each other. In Acts 25, we find Paul standing trial before Festus, who is planning to pass him along to Caesar. Before he does, King Agrippa comes along and they discuss Paul's case. Festus admits that Paul's case has to do with religion. 17 “When his accusers came here for the trial, I didn’t delay. I called the case the very next day and ordered Paul brought in. 18 But the accusations made against him weren’t any of the crimes I expected.19 Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul ...