Helping people find and follow God
When I think about a defining moment, I think about one of those crossroads of life type of decisions that can either make you or break you. Most of us will face a few of those in our lifetime, where we need to make a decision or when a decision is forced upon us. Those…
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I really like to control as much of my life as possible. I like to think that through careful planning and wise decision-making, I’ll successfully navigate myself and my family through the ups and downs of life. Now, that sounds really nice, but life doesn’t work that way, does it? Truth is, it’s actually been through…
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Like several Old Testament books, the author of the book of Esther is anonymous. The most interesting fact of the book is God is never mentioned by name. Like any great literature, I think this was done intentionally. The story of Esther invites us to look for God’s activity throughout the story because he’s there! …
Read MoreWe all have an internal operating system, whether we know it or not. It’s driving what we believe, how we live and what we pursue. These stories of pursuit come to us all day long in hundreds of ways including ads, tweets, music, and movies, among others. They are competing worldviews and opinions about who and…
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When I bought my first car (a 1972 Impala!), I went out and bought a map. Remember those things? And whenever I got lost, I would pull over at a gas station, pull out the map and see where I was and where I was going. The problem was I often didn’t know where I…
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Many call the book of Philippians in the New Testament, Apostle Paul’s “happy letter”. Unlike any of his other letters, he expresses lots of joy in it. The words joy, rejoicing and gladness are mentioned some 19 times in this short letter. Despite the sorrow he was experiencing during the time of his writing, as…
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Growing up in church you probably heard the story about Jonah. Maybe there was a felt board out on display with Jonah, a boat, a whale, Nineveh, the whole nine yards. The main point was then drilled into your head “don’t disobey God” from your favorite Sunday school teacher. What would you say if I…
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Have you ever caught yourself putting God in a box? Have you limited God to a certain characteristic or idea? A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What you think, about anything, ultimately does express itself in how you live and even…
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At the church I serve, New North Church, we’ve been studying Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae. And I have to tell you, it’s been so good for me personally to immerse myself in this book of the Bible. Not only have a learned a ton, but I’ve been greatly encouraged in my faith.…
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At the church I serve at, we are taking over a year to preach through the Book of Matthew. After seven chapters, we finally came to the first of many, miraculous healings, the healing of a leper. To have leprosy in the ancient world was truly an awful thing. It meant you were isolated from…
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Pastor Rob Hall 