Immanuel is a name for Christ we hear often during the Advent season. It is taken from several prophecies found in Isaiah that we accept as a references to Jesus and then we see it explicitly applied in Matthew 1:23. The name literally means God with us and as such you can see why during Christmas this word is used.

The phrase "Christ, according to the flesh" has a shocking and confusing quality to it for me. At least it did as I read it in 2 Corinthians 5 as I was preparing last week's blog entry. You come to that fairly common passage that is quoted quite often in chapter 5:

It's incredible how this time of year our attentions are turned to newness. A new year, a new start, new hope, new expectations and for many new resolutions. There is something exciting about realizing that we are at the beginning of something new. We have such excitement about the new year even though if you think about it, what has really changed?

"Being the church." This is a phrase people at Mercy Hill hear me say all the time, as in: "We're not looking to build a church, we're looking to be the church." For some this might be a difficult distinction to understand but I have enjoyed the evidence of it this week.

Outreach or inner growth. Seekers or the Saved. Evangelize or Discipleship. There has been a debate raging for years now in the church world about the "proper" approach to the Sunday morning experience. Do we focus on Sunday mornings to reaching out to the lost or do we use Sunday morning service as a classroom of sorts to teach those who are already in faith to deepen their relationship and knowledge of God? And in that, we must acknowledge the reality that, whatever approach we take, it does not simply affect the Sunday morning experience but filters down into all areas of the church.

"And my God WILL meet all your needs according to His glorious riches..." is a stunning promise to Christ followers that is found in Philippians chapter four. When you really look at the breadth of that promise it really becomes quite empowering. All the needs that I have God PROMISES to meet. And yet so few Christians seem to "venture out" into life with a conviction of that assurance and many never seem to experience the joy of God's need meeting provision. Why?

Over the last couple of weeks we have talked about the leadership exhibited by Paul in Acts 27 in the midst of shipwrecking. Learning the character of biblical leadership is important for all of us who are Christ followers because whether we like it or not we are called to be leaders. We are called to lead others to the hope of Christ and when we fail to embrace that responsibility we will lead others away from Christ.

Last Sunday, while looking at the First Century church, we saw again in Acts how Paul and the church were so incredibly affective at influencing the behavior of their culture. What was most interesting to me was again (remember Paul's sermon at Mars Hill) how he was able to confront the idol worship that was such a part of the culture.

Two weeks ago I got a call from a good friend of mine with a question. He told me he was having a discussion with someone when he asked him the question, "Why do you think God stopped with what we now call the Bible?"

Whenever we talk about finding God's will I think of my favorite scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You remember that one, when Indiana Jones and the bad guy are in the cave needing to choose which cup is the Holy Grail and the bad guy, after making his choice and taking a drink, suddenly implodes and turns to dust.

This passage in our text chapter from this past Sunday reveals to me a great deal about the make up of Paul and his commitment to the cause of Christ. Not only was he willing to face hardship for the sake of the Gospel he was not going to allow the hardship to deter him from the mission at hand.

Israeli police had to break up a fist fight that erupted between Greek and Armenian Orthodox clergymen at one of Christianity's holiest sites. The scuffles broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Orthodox Palm Sunday.

The leadership development industry in America is booming. Billions of dollars every year are spent on books, boot camps, conferences, seminars, webinars , webcasts and simulcasts. Billions of hours are invested in expanding the leadership skills of business men, ministers, teachers, law enforcement officials, government employees, moms, dads, students, if you breathe you are getting your leadership developed.

Nothing has quite the same ability to irritate and embitter me like a cheesy church marquee. On more then one occasion I have seen this particular “wit-ism” on the sign of a church in the midst of a summer heat wave: Come in out of the heat, this church is prayer conditioned! and it always bothered me.

This last Sunday I spoke about money and the transformative importance of giving...

As we discussed the church this last week I touched on the importance of Church unity. This is a concept that has taken such a peripheral position in the church it is almost non-existent. And when it is discussed it is kinda this sloppy "your ok, I'm ok let's ignore the difficult issues" kinda unity.

It is amazing how often we as Christians are frustrated in our spiritual walks. For many of us who truly desire to reflect the nature of Christ, the nature of the Gospel in our lives we find ourselves frustrated when we don't do those things we are "supposed" to be doing. You know what I am saying; to reject sin, embrace charity, live selflessly. It seems all too common to look at your lives and say, "Gosh darn it, why can't I live right!" It's funny because even Paul had this experience in Romans 7: