Rick Nier...Woo!

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. ~Romans 8:31-34 In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful scriptures that we seldom take to heart. That's right. There are many great truths in the Bible. Many we ignore, others we choose not to obey and some we don't yet understand. But Romans 8:31-34 is simple for us to comprehend, something we've likely heard in a worship setting (probably before a power anthem), and not difficult to obey. Yet we don't live out the implications of this truth. Who is he that accuses? You...

My teenager hates math. Don't get me wrong, she's smart and can handle the honors level class she's in, most days. After all, I'm not raisin' no dummies! But there are days when she comes home with lots of math homework. Not just lots, but difficult stuff with equations and letters. It's stuff I haven't used since...well...since I was in these math classes. To top it all off, we usually get the most homework when our family has other plans. How do the teachers know? Without fail, my daughter will say what everyone besides scientists and engineers have always said. 'I'll never need this stuff in the real world!' It is hard to justify algebra for keeping your checkbook balanced. Though I have started telling her she has to go to bed at x = 2(1+1) + (10-5). Solve for x and get around for bed, sweetheart! But the fact is she doesn't yet know what she'll need for her future career. Sure, she doesn't think NASA will be in her f...

I am teaching a series on prayer to my youth group this month. Here's part of what I said to them. I want you to know God even better than I know my wife.  Let me tell you what happened the other night. She had a phone call the other day that didn't go well. Once she gave me some details of what happened, I told her why she was upset.  That sounds weird, like why didn't I let her just talk? Seriously Pastor, you don't get enough time to talk? Now you tell other people what they're thinking and feeling? Do you have any useful superpowers? I wanted her to know how much I understood her. After 18 years of marriage, I wanted her to get that when there is no one else in this world who gets her, I get her. I understand.  Whether or not I actually received any awesome husband points, I don't know. Not that I'm worried about that kind of thing. Having someone who you know understands is important. On top of that, having someone you know cares ...

This is the next part of a series of lessons I'm doing with preschoolers. For this one, I showed them an old phone. When you hear 'old phone', you might assume I mean the original iPhone. But no, this bad boy had a cord, something which used to be the norm. They looked at me as if I was from another world. ~Does it have any apps? No. ~Does it have any games? No. ~Can it talk to you like my mom's phone? No, but my mom used phones like this. How many of you have seen a phone that was attached to a wall? When I was a kid, all of our phones were attached to walls. They had cords that kept them in place. If you wanted to use a phone, you had to stay in one place. When I wanted to talk to my friends, I would have to stay in one place as I talked to them. In the Bible, we read stories of Jesus ‘calling’ His friends. Do you think He used a phone? Nope. They didn't even have phones back then. Maybe Jesus had to use two cans and some string? Nope. When it says Jesus ‘c...

Luke 8:40-56 They  knew  she was dead. They  knew  it! There was this guy that lived a long time ago. He did things. He did amazing things. And he spoke truth. But the truth was so amazing, people had a hard time believing it. They didn't accept it, or didn't want to accept it.  But he would do these amazing things anyway. He would do them for free. So word began to spread and people began to call him for help, hoping he would do something amazing for them.  One such time these parents had a young girl who was dying, so they called this guy. He agreed to come, but as you might imagine, people who can do amazing things often get stopped and distracted by other people who need amazing things done.  And that happened. He got stopped. By another woman who was in need. She'd been bleeding. Actually she'd been bleeding for a long time. This was in a day and age before reliable healthcare. It was also a day before health insurance. (You c...

I shared with you previously that I am doing a series of stories with preschoolers about Jesus. I can't imagine anything more important to talk with kids about. What if I told you I was friends with the most important person in the entire world?  It’s not your mom or your dad. It’s not me. It’s not even the president of the United States. It’s Jesus, but many people don’t know that. What if I told you that I knew the most important facts in the entire world?  This is a little bit harder because there are lots of important facts in the world, like how long to bake a cookie so it doesn’t get burned. Or how to learn how to ride a bike so you don’t fall down and get hurt. Or how to treat one another. That’s important, but it’s not the most important. The most important fact is that God sent His Son Jesus to the Earth. What if I told you I had the biggest and best news…ever? Have you ever had really good news that you couldn’t wait to tell someone? I have a really hard time...

Here is part of what I shared with my youth group last night. The ability to teach forgiveness means understanding forgiveness. It means living forgiveness. The woman caught in the act of adultery surely understood forgiveness. I want you to imagine this story (but not the act of adultery). You have a guy. You have a girl. And they are doing what they shouldn’t be doing. And they get caught. Yeah, it’s a set-up. Yeah, the guy caught with her should have been out with this woman. But the corrupt religious leaders drag this woman out in front of Jesus. They make this woman, possibly half-naked, stand in front of Jesus and the crowd. As you may know, the religious leaders remind Jesus that the Law of God says she should be stoned to death for committing this sin. As if Jesus needed to be reminded what God’s Law said. Jesus proceeds to draw stick figures (or something like that) on the ground. He tells them whoever is without sin can throw the first rock. People are shocked, they drop thei...