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In my years of ministry, I’ve had hundreds of opportunities to counsel people during times of relational crisis. What amazes me is how often people are blind to the connection between their problems and their own lack of character. When they recognize it, the smart ones confess and repent; they get right with God and they make it right with others. The foolish refuse to see it. It’s always someone else’s fault.

Pastor Jeff challenged Harvest to read through the Bible in a year.
Here is the plan we’re using for 2011.
This plan has two readings each day:

• the first reading alternatives between OT and NT books (about 3-4 chapters a day), with the Gospels spread throughout the year;
• the second reading is about a chapter a day of the wisdom literature and Isaiah.

There are only 25 readings a month, allowing for catch-up and/or reflection.

By popular demand, here is the video we showed at the end of the message on 11/21/10:

The original video was produced by Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AR.
The song we added is called “It’s Never Quite What it Seems” by Over the Rhine, from their album Good Dog, Bad Dog.

This Sunday wraps up our series in the book of James. I’ve had an amazing amount of comments from people saying it’s the best series we’ve ever done, or that it’s their favorite series, or how much they’ve loved the messages.

Which I find astonishing because the book has basically kicked our teeth in every week.

We’ve had a ton of great feedback on our most recent sermon series, The Trouble With Christianity Is…

While you’re here, you can download all of those sermons onto your own computer. For free. Because free things are awesome!

But if you would rather have them pre-packaged all at once for use in your car, on your iPod, or beamed straight into your cerebral cortex while you sleep, then we can help. (Direct beaming technology may not be available in all areas.)

For parents, understanding your teenager is a lot like trying to solve Gordian’s Knot or finding Atlantis. Their music especially is strange and is seemingly filled with weird rythmns and indeciferable lyrics. It was the same when I was a teen and it will be the same when my two girls are teenagers. For me, keeping an open conversation about what your kids listen to is important. Be willing to discuss with them what they listen to and what appeals to them.

I used to be a huge advocate for getting kids off of secular music and into the CCM realm.

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days near the ocean in southern California. I spent the first thirty years of my life near the ocean and have been missing it quite a bit lately. While there, I was fortunate enough to see some beautiful sights such as Whales, Seals, Dolphins and Pelicans.

We are teaching through the essentials of what it means to be a Christian. The next few weeks we will be covering the most important commandments in Scripture, loving God and loving our neighbor. No matter how many times I have taught this, I am always struck by simplicity of Jesus’ commands and how far I am from fulfilling them. Truly a good and timely reminder to refocus on the essentials.

Recently a couple of our members got into a little debate on Facebook concerning the runaway best-seller, The Shack. Most of the people I know who have read it swear by it’s heart-rending story and reflections on God’s care for his children. A few others think that it’s the height of heresy and that no self-respecting (or God-respecting) Christian should like it.

Today, one of my favorite preachers and writers, Tim Keller, shared his thoughts of the book on his blog.

We’ve been moving at a quick pace through the book of Habakkuk on Sunday mornings. Last week, however, we slowed down to take a closer look at what is one of the most important verses in all of scripture.