Category Archives: Spiritual life

Searching for the Gate of Heaven

Posted on December 7, 2024 by salooper57

In language intended to evoke Jacob’s experience at the “gate of heaven,” Jesus told the disciple Nathaniel, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Continue reading →

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What Are We Doing When We Worship?

Posted on December 5, 2024 by salooper57

Some people think of church as if it were a spiritual or emotional filling station. I’m running low, so I’d better go to church, or I won’t make it through the week. But that makes it all about me, which makes worship impossible. Continue reading →

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Grateful People Know These Two Things About God

Posted on November 30, 2024 by salooper57

You may think: “I already know that. God is strong. God is loving. Everybody knows that.” But our worry and our ingratitude testify that it has not gone from doctrine to practice, from head to heart. Continue reading →

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Created to Worship

Posted on November 28, 2024 by salooper57

The Fall of Adam shattered us. It broke our relationship with God and with each other. It damaged our ability to think. Our mind and will and emotions are all out of order. Humanity suffers a kind of spiritual PTSD to this day. If you think there might be something wrong with you, you are not mistaken. You are suffering from “The Fall.” Continue reading →

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Jesus, Don’t You Care?

Posted on November 9, 2024 by salooper57

Again, those telltale words: “Don’t you care?” There is something in us that is not quite sure that he does. Continue reading →

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The Halloween Post: What the Bible Says About the Walking Dead

Posted on October 26, 2024 by salooper57

Their transgression and sins were not the cause of this deadness, but its result; the way a stench is not the cause of physical death, but results from it. Continue reading →

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The Power of Community to Shape Us

Posted on October 12, 2024 by salooper57

Into this mess, Jesus comes to save us. Instead of trying to hurdle into God’s place, as the first Adam did, the second Adam hurtles into the depths, like a skydiver trying to catch someone whose chute has failed. Continue reading →

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The Power of Wisdom and Revelation for Believers

Posted on October 3, 2024 by salooper57

Let’s not misread that, as if Paul had written, “the hope of your calling.” This calling is not full of hope because we receive it but because God issues it. Continue reading →

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Wanted: Explorers (not Talkers)

Posted on September 28, 2024 by salooper57

The world needs an experiential Christianity. The church needs men and women with first-hand knowledge of God’s grace and power in their lives. Explorers, and not just talkers, are needed… Continue reading →

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Desire Shapes Us. What Shapes Desire?

Posted on September 21, 2024 by salooper57

Desires guide and move us, but if our desires are not really ours – they have been implanted in us by peers and colleagues, television and media –where will they guide us? Continue reading →

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