Humans have been telling ghost stories ever since there have been humans able to tell stories about unexplainable happenings. Evangelical Christians have not done well offering explanations for the paranormal except by saying: “Ghost aren’t real!” In this series we are looking into ghosts, the paranormal and the paranormal occurrences in the Bible along with general understandings of the Holy Spirit.
Ghost Stories
Ghost Stories: An Introduction
The Bible is full of paranormal activity starting right at the beginning of Genesis chapter 1! We’ve been trying to explain that for millennia! One of the great mysteries of our faith is how our one God exists in three forms: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. There are many ways to describe the Trinity but in…
Encountering Jesus: The Samaritan Woman Pt. 2
The Samaritan Woman moves from her old reality to her new, alternate reality in Jesus and with a bold confidence she goes back to her town to tell them about Jesus. Our goal is to move into the new reality of the love of God in Jesus Christ which inspires us to tell the town…
Encountering Jesus: The Samaritan Woman at the Well, Pt 1
As Jesus was journeying through Samaria, at midday he encounters a woman getting water from a well. Jesus approaches her in her reality of being a person on the margins of her society and community but then gives her a new, alternate reality of being loved by Jesus despite her previous poor choices. What is…
Encountering Jesus, John the Baptist
Continuing our march through John 3 and 4 we see John the Baptist talking with his followers about Jesus. The concern for John’s followers was that Jesus was taking all their followers! However, John the Baptist assures them that his entire ministry was devoted to point people to Jesus and his summary was that he…
Encountering Jesus: Nick at Night
Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night where they discuss the concepts of being born and being born again. By being born we take on the likeness of our biological parents, by being born again we take on the likeness of our Heavenly Father.
Up, In and Out – Growing Inwardly
Jesus had a small group of 12 disciples and even within that small group he had 3 close friends, Peter, James and John. In this group, these men were discipled, learned the ways of Jesus and lived life together for 3 years. In an effort to model ourselves in the ways of Jesus, we too…
Up, In, Out – Moving Outwardly
Jesus’s 3-dimensional relationships are a model for us to follow to live our lives Upwardly in connection to God the Father, Inwardly with discipling relationships with friends and family and Outwardly in connection to our community. It is vital to have all three dimensions working in rhythm and harmony with one another. In Luke 9…
Up, In and Out – Focusing Upwardly
Jesus lived his life in 3 dimensions of relationships: Upwardly with the Father, Inwardly with his 12 disciples (and his primary closer 3 disciples) and Outwardly with 72, the masses and at one time, over 5,000! In an effort to model Jesus in all that we do, we remind ourselves of these 3 dimensions of…
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? My Neighbor Needs Encouraged
In a time of transition and change as school begins for thousands of students and teachers across the country. Change can be scary as we step into the unknown but there is hope! Donya Hageman brings us a bold message of courage from Joshua chapter 1 to help us talk faithful steps in times of…
Won’t You Be My Neighbor: Jesus Wants You to Be His Neighbor
Even when we are far from God, God continually woos us and draws us closer to Him through Jesus Christ. John Wesley would perhaps use the term “Prevenient Grace,” grace that goes BEFORE we ever understood that God was calling us. Romans 5:8 makes it evident that while we were yet sinners, God loved us…