Many Christians’ faith is more about reaching a destination (Heaven) and avoiding another (Hell), than it is about adjusting our eyes to the light of God’s Kingdom and contemplating His divine glory now. … More Seeing the Kingdom of God
When Christ returns for His Bride, the church, will we be dressed in deeds befitting our role as Christ’s Bride? Or will our collective witness be stained by hypocrisy, divisiveness, infighting and adulterous acts with idols? … More Chosen 5 – Jesus and His Bride
In Episode 4 Simon Peter comes to the end of himself. He reckons with a debt he cannot pay, and has dug himself into a hole that he cannot get out of on his own. Peter grapples with a “I-can-fix-it-myself Syndrome” and it takes his wife Eden’s truth-speaking to wake him up. … More Chosen 4 – The False Gospel of Self Help
What message does a father preach at his firstborn’s baptism? Well, if his name is Peter, he loves adventurous sea stories, and desires to be a bold disciple, how about Matthew 14:22-33? … More Waters of Faith: A Baptism Sermon
This episode of The Anchor Podcast explores how God wants to bring us across the Waters of Inheritance into a new identity where we throw off our old identity as slaves to sin and live into our new identity as the Children of God. … More Podcast: Waters of Inheritance
Deep down we know, and God knows, that we need CONCRETE examples we can see, real flesh-and-blood role models who embody Christ’s teachings and values. Elijah and Elisha invite us to explore the waters of mentorship. … More Waters of Mentorship
If people could open up my mind and peek into my thought-world, they’d find an amusement park full of wild ideas rising and falling like rollercoasters, a hyper-colored circus full of spiritual insights roaming like elephants a under the big tent, and outside the box ministry visions shooting across my mind like clowns out of a cannon. … More A Mustard Seed Future For the Church
“Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.” LUKE 15 Just a reminder that I am breathing new life into many old devotionals with my Daily Illumination Audio podcast. It’s a lot of fun to “perform” these old stories in audio format. This past week, for example, I shared this piece on Chasing Lambs. … More Chasing Lambs
“Most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Christ.” … More Quotabes: Dallas Willard
A repost from 2015. This article is also available in audio form here. I’ve heard a dozen sermons and given my own share on the story of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha. I think they’ve all been a bit too hard on Martha and overlooked a potential danger for Mary types out there. … More Redeeming Martha: A New Spin on an Old Story
A few words in response to the Derek Chauvin trial verdict by myself and NWC Superintendent Mark Stromberg. … More A Word on the Chauvin Trial Verdict
Sometimes Jesus needs to invade our personal space, even spitting in our face and poking us in the eye, in order to get our attention and help us see more clearly. In this Sunday sermon, Jeremy explores Mark 8. … More WATCH: Holy Spit!
This week’s sermon looks at Elijah/Elisha as a model master/discipleship relationship and what this remarkable story can teach us about following Jesus today. Plus some flashbacks from Jeremy’s Israel trip one year ago. Text: 2 Kings 2:1-12. … More WATCH: A Double Portion for the Narrow Way
Having thousands of people attending your church, whether it be in person or online, doesn’t indicate that you have a healthy church. It means you have a popular church. The number of views on your Facebook video don’t always translate into hearts being changed. … More Church, Don’t Go Back to Normal
I’m in the final laps of my doctoral dissertation. Here’s a piece I wrote along the way reflecting on Fred Rogers in relation to my thesis on recovering wisdom culture and the place of the “sage” in ministry today. … More Mister Rogers Among the Sages
In the midst of all the “alternative facts” and “fake news” and outrageous conspiracy theories being proffered, I wanted to cut through all the crap and simplify things for those who claim to follow Jesus. … More Truth is a Slippery Thing
In light of the past week, and the uncertain days ahead, where do we go from here? Matt Erickson offers some wise words. … More Where do we Go from Here?
The story of the wise men on camels bringing their gifts is intertwined with the story of an insecure, paranoid, narcissistic tyrant orchestrating terror and chaos from his palatial office. Listen to the familiar story again, this time with your eyes glued on the pathetic sociopath spinning lies and plotting peril in the Christmas story. … More Tyranny & the Wise Way Out
Tonight we watch the clock tick-tock until we turn, turn, turn the page to a New Year and lay to rest a difficult one! I was inspired to adapt Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 made memorable by the 60’s hippy band “The Byrds.” Here’s my remix for Kingdom disciples. … More ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ – A Kingdom Remix
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” -C.S. Lewis … More When Moderation is the Enemy
If chasing worldly happiness is a “yuppie” preoccupation, then we live in a yuppie nation and breathe the oxygen of a yuppie culture. At the end of the day, however, the Bible isn’t a handbook for happiness; it’s a pathway to holiness. … More Bob Dylan on ‘Happiness’ vs. ‘Blessedness’
How can children of a wandering Aramean whose holy vocation is to “be a blessing to all nations” be comfortable with rhetoric so passionately America-focused? How can citizens of an “others-first” Kingdom rally around such an “us-first” platform? … More A Wandering Aramean Was My Father
“I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we posted Christian memes and Bible verses on our Facebook page, we bashed the demons and online trolls, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking and tweeting about us on social media.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat.” -JESUS … More All Who Have Ears to Hear, Tweet This!
“Don’t reduce holy mysteries to slogans and Christian bumper sticker cliches and memes…Don’t paste what is holy on people’s pages who are unholy and unreceptive to spiritual things. Don’t throw your pearls and treasured convictions before social media swine! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you with their own strong opinions.” -JESUS … More Pearls Before Social Media Swine
Jesus offers more than a small puddle of spiritual refreshment that appears momentarily but vanishes quickly in the afternoon sun. … More When the Waters Stir
Jeremy L. Berg 