The Risk of Moving Forward

“Forward!” is the watchword of the spiritual life, a movement toward a destination that seems so incredibly elusive, but one into which we will step when it does in fact materialize. But “Forward!” is incredibly frightening. It can be costly. It requires change. It requires patience. It requires determination. It requires humility. It requires faith. Moving READ MORE

Integrity, No Matter the Cost

Integrity is the art of modeling and managing trust in a superlative fashion. And yet owning it is one of the most challenging things any human can do. The toll depravity takes on the soul is such that being a steward of trust is nigh to impossible, certainly without any concerted effort. In a world where the READ MORE

Grace Does Not Make Sense

Grace simply does not make sense. It is scandalous. It is shocking. It is often appalling. It does not make sense. And yet, it defines the existence of every follower of Jesus Christ. Without grace we have nothing. I often define grace in the following simple terms. You’ll note the acronym that is created from READ MORE

Turning Pain into a Parable

I have been giving some thought to the ways that God reveals himself in our lives and remembered this blog post from a couple of years back. As I reread it I decided it might be worth re-posting. Let me know if it resonates with you: Yesterday was one of those days marked by pain. READ MORE

Living Above & Beyond with Extravagant Rejoicing

This post finds us continuing our series and Bethel Church’s special season entitled, “Living Above & Beyond,” an opportunity to mature as followers of Christ, with the goal of becoming the church that lives above and beyond material slavery, spiritual complacency and small-minded eternal vision. We want to raise our spiritual bar; indeed, we must READ MORE

God’s Presence in the Pit

“Write This Down…” provides a restatement of selected points or observations from various teaching venues at which Pastor Matthew speaks. The following material is from Pastor Matthew’s sermon entitled, “God’s Presence in the Pit”, part of the sermon series “Memoirs of an Ancient Prophet: A Study of the Book of Daniel,” presented the weekend of READ MORE