Bible, Pop Theology

My “Life Verse”

Have you ever heard someone say, “Such and such a verse is my ‘life verse'”? It’s a trend that has become popular over the last several years.

I think people’s hearts are usually in the right place when they embrace the idea of a life verse. They want to cling to God’s word and have it govern their lives, and that desire is good, godly, and biblical.

The concept of a life verse isn’t biblical, though. The Bible doesn’t say anywhere that we’re to choose a particular verse as our life’s slogan or mantra. There might be times in our lives when a particular verse is especially meaningful, but Christians are people of the Book, not people of the verse. Paul speaks about proclaiming “the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) Psalm 119:160 says, “the sum of Your word is truth.” Psalm 139:17 declares: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

The Bible can’t be boiled down to one verse. We need all of the Bible for all of life, not one life verse. So let’s make sure we’re doing the hard work of studying the entire Bible and applying it correctly to the various situations that arise in our lives.

Vlogs

Vlogs, Volume 5

In case you’ve missed them, here are my latest vlogs.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you might have already caught all but the first one, which is new. If you’d like to subscribe to my YouTube channel, you’ll find it here. Or click here to view older vlogs I’ve previously posted on the blog. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Christmas, Church

The 25 Churches of Christmas – Final Report

Friends, thank you so much for your recommendations!

Unfortunately, we did not reach the goal of 25 churches (meeting the parameters outlined in the article below) by Christmas, but with your help, we did get 14, and I was able to remove 8 states – Oklahoma, Maryland, Iowa, New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Delaware, and Connecticut – from the “endangered species list” (states with 2 or fewer recommendations). The 14 Churches of Christmas were: 

1. Village Church, Dingley, Australia
2. Christ Reformed Church, Tulsa, OK
2. Fellowship Baptist Church, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
4. Harvest Reformed Church, Minot, ND
5. Hope Bible Church, Columbia, MD
6. Baltimore Bible Church, Baltimore, MD
7. Walsh Baptist Church, Walsh, Ontario, Canada
8. Missio Church, Ridge NY
9. Rock of Hope Church, Wisconsin Dells, WI
10. Grace Life Church of Greater Des Moines, Ankeny, IA
11. Calvary Bible Church, Westport, MA
12. Faith Fellowship Baptist Church, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
13. Berean Community Church, Milford, DE
14. Presbyterian Church of Coventry, Coventry, CT

I’m looking forward to adding many more recommendations of doctrinally sound churches in 2019, so keep those recommendations coming!

This Christmas season, I’d like to offer you an opportunity to help me give our brothers and sisters in Christ a gift – a gift that won’t cost you a dime.

If you’ve followed me for a minute, you know I’m passionate about helping people find doctrinally sound churches to join. And if you’ve ever perused my list of Reader Recommended Churches, you’ve probably noticed that we have tons of listings for churches in some states, only one or two for others, and hardly any for countries outside the U.S.

What I’m hoping to do is add 25 doctrinally sound churches to the list in the states and countries that are lacking. Of course anyone is welcome to recommend a church anywhere, but in order for it to “count” toward The 25 Churches of Christmas, it needs to be a recommendation for a church:

⛪️ in one of our U.S. states that has two or fewer recommendations (currently: Alaska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, West Virginia)

OR

⛪️ a church in any country besides the U.S.

I’ve made the list, you check it twice. If recommendations are naught, be nice and make one! :0) If you have a personal connection to a solid church that’s not on the list, comment below with:

🎄The full, correctly spelled name of the church
🎄The city and state, or city and country it’s located in
🎄The church’s website (please, please, please include this – it saves me a lot of time).

Think we can add 25 churches by Christmas Day? Let’s give it a shot and make it a merry Christmas for our brothers and sisters who are searching for a new church! Thanks for your help! :0)