Savedthroughfaith.com

One of my first jobs was selling shoes. This was a good fit for me because I played a lot of basketball and bought a lot of sneakers. One of my early practices was evaluating people based upon their shoes. Some of this was a necessity as you would try to match them up with their current tastes and needs. However, the practice, which became a game, also became a habit. A habit that continues to this day. I still find myself sizing up runners, bal...

Photo by Tony Reinke I have never met a preacher who did not want to increase the effectiveness of his sermon. The question is where to start? We often, and rightly so, head over towards the practical application of the Word itself. We spend more time praying, reading, studying, writing, and thinking. These are good and right. I encourage all of this. But the focus of this post is a little different. Without discounting these I want to just highl...

I can still remember my mom encouraging me to count sheep as a viable option to cure my adolesent insomnia. Even though it seemed strange to me to count sheep I was compliant. I can’t remember if it worked or not. At any rate, the saying endures through another generation. I can tell you first hand, from a pastoral perspective, that counting sheep will not put you to sleep. In fact, it will do the opposite. If I wake up in the night and ...

Hebrews 4.15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses Often times, particularly during tough times, we struggle with the thoughts that people do not understand what we are going through. I cannot count how many times I have heard people say, “But you don’t understand what I am going through!” The good thing for us who are Christians is that we don’t necessarily have to understand or identify with wh...

At the end of Ezra 4 the people who started out rebuilding the temple with a head of steam had fizzled out. They were crippled by a fear of man. As they cowered in discouragement and shame the dust settled on the building project. So what does God do? He sends a couple of preachers, Haggai & Zechariah to preach. And do they ever. God reminds his people that he is for them, is close to them, has a plan bigger than their life, that his Son is ...

In 2 Kings 8 we read of a woman who had been the beneficiary of the powerful kindness of God through his servant Elisha. The Shunammite woman’s son had died and then God used Elisha to raise him from the dead (2 Kings 4.18ff). Elisha then warned her that a famine was coming and that it was wise to leave her homeland. This advice was taken. In chapter 8 we learn that she has come back to her land to find it in someone else’s hands. Sh...

During our most recent ReNew Conference I was able to commandeer Dr. D.A. Carson in between sessions. A selfish little request made possible by our conference director. A request I make every time he’s with us. I am never disappointed in these moments and he is always graciously and sincerely obliging. So much was running through my hard drive afterwards I though I’d better write some of it down. Here are some takeaways. 1. We Know So Littl...

I am not a handy-man. In fact, if I am actually the guy who keeps guys like this in business. In the course of life I break a lot of things and some of my friends fix a lot of things. Every now and then I get the urge to get a taste of the glory. I reach for some tools and attempt to get things done. Recently I felt such an urge in our kitchen. After my wife put in a lot of work remodeling I decided I could rewire the outlets. In theory it really...

I don’t know that I have ever seen an experience that could rival it. There was crying so loud that people could hear it from a far distance away. The crying was strange though, it was mixed with happiness and lament. It was 2,500 or so years ago in the land of Israel. The exiles had returned and had laid the foundation for the new temple. The older folks were wailing with lament because they had seen the previous temple in all of its glory...

Sometimes we as pastors just assume that by being there and doing things the way we alway have that we are helping push the gospel line forward. We would never think that we (our ministry leadership, cadence and preaching) might be hindering or worse yet, sabotaging the gospel advance. These things are good for us to evaluate and think through. For the glory of Christ, the sake of others, our ministry, and Christ’s church, pull the car ove...