We serve a God who creates. He makes somethings from nothings. He meets big needs with zero resources on hand. He provides. Twice during Israel’s wilderness wanderings, God provided water from a rock. In both instances, God’s people were encamped in a waterless desert. The first time (Ex 17) was toward the ...

I’ve basically been in church every time the doors were open for as long as I can remember. One of the consistent themes I’ve seen emphasized is the Great Commission. It’s found at the end of Matthew’s gospel. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been ...

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6, ESV) I’ve read this familiar verse all my life. Each time, I’ve understood the writer of Hebrews to be saying that faith is what ...

I share my birthday with my first child. Lauren was born at home with the help of our midwife Susan and quite a bit of effort on Nancy’s part at 10:30 PM on my 25th birthday. This event brought me a mixture of both smugness and awe. Smugness because I had accurately predicted the date of her birth five days earlier. ...

Meditation is Scriptural In recent memory the spiritual practice of meditation has been mostly neglected by the people of God and instead counterfeited by practitioners of “Eastern” categories of religion and spirituality. Many Christ followers in the west shy away from this practice for the simple reason ...

This is a message I spoke at Crossroads Church in Decatur on Aug 1, 2010. What is Keeping You from the Father? – Alan Smith | Teaching ...

Luke 4:18-19 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the ...

I’m interested in helping people experience Freedom in 2010. If you are interested in pursuing more of the Freedom provided for you in Christ, here are Six Keys. 1) Understand what Freedom is and isn’t. We must not equate freedom with relief from pain. The Bible defines freedom in terms experiencing ...

I returned last week from a pastors conference in Redding, CA at Bethel Church. Bill Johnson is one of my favorites. I’ve listened to every message he’s preached for the last 4 years at least via podcast and being able to visit Bethel was a very cool experience. If you’ve ever heard Bill teach, you ...

“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.” That’s the first prayer I remember learning as a small child. It’s short (as prayers before meals should be). It rhymes. It’s really quite a good little prayer. The thing I like best about it is that it communicates ...