Consider this

The first chapter of the New Testament letter of First Peter has a very simple outline. The first twelve verses are all about what God, in his mercy and grace, has done for us. Phrases in this section include words like, “mercy… new birth… living hope… inheritance… heaven… God’s power… rejoice… Jesus… salvation” (verses 1-12). The focus in this section of the letter is entirely on what God has done for us. The second section focuses on our response to God. It contains phrases like, “Prepare your minds for action… obedient children… be holy… purified… love one another deeply from the heart” (verses 13-25). It is absolutely essential to get those two sections in the proper order. First, God has given you the gift of salvation, forgiveness and hope through the death of his son Jesus. Then, in response to God’s love, you live a different life. We make a huge mistake when we turn this teaching around and do not honor the

They say, “Familiarity breeds contempt”. It is also true that, “Familiarity breeds misunderstanding”. That is especially true of the Bible where we often misinterpret and miss the point of the familiar stories. For example, what is the point of the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3)? The common answer is “Disobedience is punished”. They were told not to eat from that tree, they did eat from it and God was not happy. While those details are technically correct, that is not the point of the story! The bottom line of the story is actually “The seriousness of losing your relationship with God”. At one point, they walked and talked with God in the garden. After they disobeyed it says, “The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden… and they hid from the Lord” (Genesis 3:8). Later it says that, “The Lord banished them from the Garden of Eden” (3:23) and placed a guard at the gate to ke

It is not often that one arrives at the cemetery 35 years after the funeral, but this past Thanksgiving Sunday, that is exactly what my wife’s family did. Sara’s Grandma, Faye, died of Multiple Sclerosis in the early 1970s. In an effort to help other families avoid living through a similar tragedy, the family donated her body to the University of Saskatchewan so that they could do research regarding this disease. A funeral was held and a memorial stone was placed in a cemetery in Kansas . This past year, however, the family found out that the University had buried Faye in Woodlawn cemetery in Saskatoon and so plans were made to place a stone on her actual grave. To be honest, I did not want to go. I mean, it was 35 years ago! Sure, Saskatoon is the actual spot, but, in reality, what difference does that make? It is just a plot of ground. Why would we bother driving up there just to stand around another stone? Well,

Thanks to a friend of mine, I attended the recent “Athletes in Action” supper that was held in town. Saskatchewan Roughriders Kerry Joseph and Wes Cates as well as defensive line coach Ron Estay came to talk about their faith and about how God has blessed them. One of the things that impressed me was the fact that these guys did not have to be here. In fact, I asked Wes, “How many hours of community service do the Riders require you to do?” His answer, “None! We do not have to do anything if we do not want to. They encourage us to get involved in the community, but we are not required to”. These three men gave up their day off to drive down here, speak at the supper and drive home again. Why would they bother doing that? Kerry Joseph answered that question by saying (and I am paraphrasing here), “As football players, we have some influence on others. People look up to us and listen to us, so I have decided to use tha