God’s love does not magically cause all our pain to dissolve in a puff of smoke, but its great mystery and strength the mystery of the greatest love of all is that in Christ he shares our heartache and pain with us, and give us rest and peace.

Ironically, religion at large is incredibly self-centered and self-absorbed, on an endless quest of trying to convince God to love and approve us, whereas Christ-centered faith is surrendering to God who already loves us.

Contrary to popular religious opinion, God’s grace is not all about digging in, refusing to compromise values and dogmatically letting others know when and where they are wrong.

Join us as we learn about the lessons embedded in a spiritual fable titled “The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip.”

Many seem to be absolutely certain about specifics of God’s will and do not hesitate to dogmatically share their views with others.

We will discuss what the Bible says and what it doesn’t say about giving.

The church – the universal body of Christ – is far more about who we are than it is where we go and what building we attend and what ceremonies we perform and those we don’t.

It’s a time immemorial dilemma for religion – does the nation in which one is a citizen and the religion of which one is a member dictate who God is and how he is worshiped?

Many characterize their religious church or movement rowing away from the sinking ship of “the world” – they are “saved” and the ship of this world is going down, and anyone not on board their lifeboat deserves to be lost.

Greg was reminded at a memorial service about the love of God that Jesus lives in us, it’s a love that God gives us first before any and all other considerations.

The unvarnished, ugly and unadorned truth is that morality based on religion outraged and offended by God’s indiscriminate acceptance of anyone other than its rituals, rites, routines and regulation.

The gospel in a nutshell: Beyond our limited capacity to believe, or to even dare hope for – Jesus knows all of our regrets, and he loves us anyway!

Shame is a powerful and intimidating emotional reality employed widely, throughout our society, in an effort to keep people under control and religious organizations are no exception to this rule.

Join us as we consider what the Bible says and doesn’t say about Satan the devil as we search for a Christ-centered perspective, we will discuss two extreme views about the devil.

What does a mother really want, what is a mother’s greatest hope in return for all of her sacrifices, scars and stretch marks?

Two word pictures of our spiritual condition a woman who by her own work as a slave, purchases clothing that loudly proclaims her profession and a bride whose husband gives her a wedding dress she could never afford.

Join us as we consider yet another time when, just after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples, yet initially they had no idea who he was.

After Jesus was resurrected, he joined two of his disciples as they walked away from Jerusalem.They did not recognize him and he seemed completely unaware of what had taken place that last week in Jerusalem. The irony is that Jesus as the Stranger didn’t seem to know what was going on but he was actually the only one who really knew.

Was it a coincidence that Mary thought the risen Jesus Christ was a gardener – or did Jesus plan that? Celebrate Easter with us!

We thrill to stories about a person being rescued who is unknown to the rescuer, but what kind of love does it take to purchase a slave who has been unfaithful? (Palm Sunday)

Suffering is woven like a tapestry into the experience of God’s love expressed for you and me, and the expressions of his love that we pass on to others, by his grace.

Guilt, shame and remorse can cause us to hide, to self-medicate or even deny reality by announcing we are something or someone we are not – and while the pain is real, such solutions are not. We can be absolutely transformed and rescued – join us as we discuss the Solution.

We can try to experience and know God on the basis of the law by which a hired hand lives, or we can embrace the grace of being one of his children.

Why hop on board the bus of Christ-less religion, which is either driving around in circles or heading in the wrong direction? Why not follow Jesus, who knows exactly where he is going?

Are you enjoying and experiencing a “far, far better rest” than you have ever known?