Author: Aaron Knapp

Psalms 115:1-8 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! (2) Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” (3) Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (4) Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. (5) They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. (6) They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. (7) They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. (8) Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

In Psalm 115, Israel was in effect saying that God needed to give his name glory for the sake of/because of his love… why?

God’s people viewed themselves and their dealings with the nations as being tied up with the glory of God. If the nations were oppressing Israel, it had an impact on God’s perceived glory.

Was this a false dilemma? No. Not perceptionally. If the other nations were “winning,” it meant that their gods, who did not have ears or eyes, or mouth (v 4-7) looked better than the God of Israel. It was a slap in the face of God’s glorious name.Read More

“God hates you! God is against sin and sinner!” Did you just cringe a bit? So did I. The above statement is how some Christians share the “Gospel.” Is it just me, or is something missing?

One could look to Scripture and see examples of God hating specific sins, and specific types of sinners. However, when it comes to being a Christian and being watched by the world, we need to be careful about how we present things we see in the Bible to the World. It’s called tact. I have a vague idea, but most unbelievers would probably shake their head and go: “God hates? I thought God was love.” Then they would turn, walk away, and close the door on any sort of witness we could ever have with them. Some Christians only seem to get half the message.

If we leave the message out there that ‘God hates sin,’ but we don’t speak of redemption, we’ve missed the point of the Bible. We’ve missed the purpose of Jesus’ life. Particularly when dealing with unbelieving ‘sinners,’ Jesus did not ignore their sin, but pointed to himself as the means of forgiveness. Consider the Woman at Samaria and Jesus not only acknowledging her sin, but pointing her to true worship of God:Read More

We believe that relationship with God is personal. My walk with God will not look like your walk with God. Some of us tend to lean towards the side of emotional connection, what we feel in worship, what we can point to and say that God did in our lives. Others tend to connect with God on an intellectual level, with what we can think through, give an apologetic to, and reason for. Neither of these approaches is wrong, in fact both are essential for a healthy understanding of God.

When we look to the Old Testament prophets, particularly Isaiah or Jeremiah, we see some harsh denunciations of sin. But the prophets are not merely saying to Israel “God is Holy, so be holy,” which seems to appeal more to a head knowledge or doctrinal understanding of right and wrong. Instead they point back to God delivering Israel from Egypt and caring for them in the wilderness.Read More

This is a generalization and doesn’t apply to everybody… but it does apply to somebody.

When you tell us “I am a church-hopper,” and you go from place to place, what that sometimes tells us is that you can’t be counted on to stick around and be a part of our lives… and that is what Church is supposed to be… sharing life together in the body of Christ. A family.

If you were a relationship, I would call you a fling. You can’t be counted on to hold my heart for the long hall. You get a piece of my heart, but then you leave and I am hurt because I trusted you with a part of me, and now you are gone.

If you were an employee, I’d call you a temp. You contribute for a while, but I can’t invest too much in you because you are going to leave and all I’ve built in you will be lost. I can’t count on you for the big stuff… because I never know when you will leave for the next big thing.Read More

Success is not a bad thing. Nor is money, or power. Whenever we set out to do something, we should try to do it to the best of our ability. No one wants to hire a contractor who is only going to do an “ok” job. No one wants the dentist who only gets it right half of the time. We want someone who is good at what they do, someone who will succeed in the task before them. We also want to be that person who does that work. But there comes a point where the drive to be successful can become the ultimate thing, an unappeasable god that sets out to rule us, instead of a tool for us to use.

Our culture is obsessed with success. From the time our kids are in grade school they are taught to compete against each other and to win… at all costs. Why is this a bad thing? Because eventually we all fail.Read More