"Like Lot, even the good things we do are tainted with sin. Like Lot, we don’t take God’s promised judgment seriously, and God saves us despite our own efforts and not because of them."...

"He is the perfect intercessor, who doesn’t just ask God to find righteous people where there aren’t any, but makes people righteous so that God may relent from disaster."...

"I am so familiar with this type of laughter, and I identify deeply with it. The kind of laughter that hints at constant heartache, hysteria, and frustration, so much to a point that all you have left to do is laugh. Where were you all of this time, God? Why have you waited by as I have suffered?"...

The question that rattled around in my head as I listened and reflected on Pastor Justin's sermon this week was "What promise?" Before I expand on that, let me take a few steps back to explain how I ended up where I am in my thinking. In this Series,The Gospel According to Abraham, we have returned to Genesis and have begun tracing the story of Abraham from his calling ou...

"Our baseline faith is weak, wavering, broken, and often desperate, but God is tenacious in His assurance. He will reveal Himself in the everyday mundane, or the forty years of wandering in the desert, or enslavement in Egypt."...

"So while I continue to live in fear of being found out, I am reminded that Christ has already fully redeemed me, and that my value comes exclusively from Him. That value is completely independent of anything I might offer or pretend to offer, and that in fact is says more about His love and his grace if I acknowledge that I really had nothing to offer to begin with."...

"We NEED Christ. In Christ we can have hope that we don’t need control; that his blood was and is enough."...

"Like Lot, I am buffeted by the circumstances of life because I treasure the stuff I have been given rather than the giver."...

"We are all longing to be loved. We long for something steadfast enough to put our trust in... but we are broken, and our relationships pay the price. God’s love is not the same, it isn’t fickle...it’s resolute, more than we could ever hope or dream of."...

Abram is an example to us as he boldly listened to God, as his self sufficiency was “scrubbed away” in the belief the Lord had refined in him that God is good and He is for us....