A great sermon to start 2026

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I watched this online Willow Creek sermon yesterday from a new series called The Jesus Way, about the Sermon on the Mount... and I just gotta share it because I haven't heard a sermon this good in awhile.  In fact, it's one of the best I've heard in a long time.  A great way to start 2026!  

Maybe it just said what I needed to hear at this point in my life.  Maybe it won't speak to you the same way.  But, who knows, maybe it will.  Give it a try.  What've you got to lose?  

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Hardest Spiritual Lesson #7: Accepting Love and Forgiveness

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Another lesson that's really hard for many of us:  Letting Yourself Be Loved or Forgiven (note: there's a bonus section at the end of this post). Not everyone will face this lesson, but those with broken pasts will know what I’m talking about.    One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn in my spiritual life (and in my earthly life) is to let myself be loved by someone ... by Someone.   I come from a very dysfunctional home.    Three dads by the time I was 8.    And then another dad (after a  very messy  divorce) when I was in my late-20's/early-30’s.    I didn’t grow up with my bio-dad or his family.    I didn’t even really meet them until my teens.    And then after that, I’d see them about once or twice a year, sometimes less.    I never really felt like I belonged to a dad or had a place in my extended families (or that my mom was an emotionally-safe person, so I never went to her for enco...
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A Quick Study Of Calvinism's Favorite Words

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  I am going to do a quick study of several of Calvinism’s favorite words – sovereign, predestined, elect, chosen, whosoever, and hardens - looking them up in the Bible (in context) and in the concordance to see what we can learn about them.   1.   Sovereign Despite the fact that Calvinists heavily build their theology on their idea that being “sovereign” means that God has to control every detail, every sin, every choice we make, every speck of dust or else He can’t possibly be God … this word NEVER shows up in the King James Bible or in the concordance.   (Strong’s concordance uses the King James.) And when it is used in, say, the NIV, it's used as a title (Sovereign Lord), not a description of how God has to act.  Sovereign is about the position God holds, being the Top Dog, the High King, the One over and above all, the One who has the final say in all matters. “Sovereign” is about the position of power and authority that God holds.   But...
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Another great sermon: What if love meant more than you thought?

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Before I get to part 2 of   "White Horses and a cup of tea,"   here's another great sermon from Willow Creek (they're on a roll):  What If Love Meant More Than You Thought? A sermon like this is especially needed in this "outrage culture" where people spend their days looking for things to be angry about, for people to lash out at.  Ugh. But there's a better way.  It doesn't have to be like this.  We don't have to let the news and social media lure us into an ever-increasing spiral of hopelessness and discouragement, antagonizing us into hating life and everyone around us. If you've already spent enough time letting the online world break your heart and blood your boil, why not take a break and try something else, something relaxing and encouraging for a change?   L ike reading the book of John in the Bible, followed by the rest of the New Testament.  Or talking a walk and enjoying nature (start a collection of interesting things you find on ...
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Some Good Posts Against Calvinism

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  Here are a few good, random articles against Calvinism (I'm still reading through them, but they all seem basically on-track so far.  If I find things I disagree with as I read more, I'll add notes.): The Modern-Day Pharisees: Calvinists   [Notice what the Calvinist he quoted says about how the elect were never on their way to hell because they were elect for heaven from the very beginning, and that this is why they need to hear the good news of their salvation - so that they can believe it, rejoice in it, and profit from it.  The Calvinist says that the Gospel doesn't make their salvation true, but it's that their salvation was already true and the Gospel just declares it.  Basically, the Gospel just makes the elect aware of the salvation they already have.   Do you really hear what this is saying about salvation?   It's saying that the elect have no responsibility to do anything to be saved because they enter the world already saved and j...
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God's Greatest Priority (and why there's a hell)

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Calvinists believe that God's greatest priority - His primary reason for making people - is to get more glory for Himself, and that He gets it through ordaining sin and predestining people to hell (among other things).  They think that this is why people are in hell: for God's glory, that He gets glory when He shows off His justice by punishing sin and evil.  And so He needed sin and evil and non-elect people to punish or else He couldn't fully display all His attributes to get praise and glory for them.   [But remember that - in Calvinism - people don't actually get to choose whether or not they want to believe in Jesus.  God decides for them.  He decides who won't believe and prevents them from being able to believe, and then He punishes them for not believing, even though they never had the chance or ability to believe, by God's decree.  This is a  far different  kind of "justice" than punishing people who actually deserve it, who had a ch...
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White horses and a cup of tea (part 1)

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I generally don't make New Year's Resolutions.  I mean I do sometimes, but I don't really see the point because they never last.  It's often more fun making the resolution than keeping the resolution, isn't it?  And so what started out as a grand idea on January 1st becomes a grand flop by January 31st.  We can waste more time planning and daydreaming about our resolutions than actually doing them, am I right?😁   (Besides, if it's important enough, we'll do whatever it is when we're motivated enough to do it, regardless of the time of year.)   And so instead of any grand resolutions these past several years, I've been trying to think of more light-hearted things to "resolve" to do throughout the year, relaxing things.   Who says resolutions have to be lofty or serious anyway? Such as these resolutions from the past several years: 1.  In 2024, my resolution was to wa tch lots of  sourdough videos , s tart growing my own sourdou...
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Are We At The Very End?

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I'm not the only one who thinks that we are at the very, very end: https://www.raptureready.com/2019/01/11/loving-exhortation-alice-childs/ At least, that is my prayer! Hallelujah! by the Newsboys In The Sky by Bob Carlisle and others Coming My Way by City Harmonic Break Open The Sky by TobyMac People Get Ready by Crystal Lewis I Wish We'd All Been Ready I Have This Hope by Tenth Avenue North Holy (Wedding Day) by City Harmonic Oh, What Love by City Harmonic. Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle
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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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UGW #11a: Does Everything Happen For A Reason?

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Understanding God's Will #11: But doesn't everything happen for a reason?  Don’t you think that God could’ve caused bad things to happen for a reason, even if He didn’t really want them to happen?                  Sometimes, maybe.    I wish that I could say no ... and yes.    No, because I don’t want to think that God causes bad things to happen.    And yes, because I want to believe that all bad things have a purpose and that He is in total control.    It makes the bad things a lot easier to face then.    (And for the record, I think that our view of what’s “bad” can and does differ from God’s.    Our perspective is so, so cloudy and flawed compared to God’s.)              I think that the Bible does show times when He causes something “bad” for a reason (but He never causes sin or evil).    Som...
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Help for Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts

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It's so sad to hear about all the celebrities who have recently committed suicide (or about anyone who has committed suicide, for that matter).  My heart breaks for them, for the pain they went through, and for the ones who love them, for the pain they are now going through.  It is truly a tragedy. To anyone who is hurting really badly, who is struggling with overwhelming anxiety or depression, who is considering taking their own lives ... I dedicate this post.  Please, take some time to look through some of the links here.  This is a round-up of some on-line resources or posts about dealing with anxiety or depression, particularly as a Christian. But first: Quick tips for help: If you are desperate for some immediate help and don't want to look through the links I have below, try some of these (or if it's really bad and you think you might hurt yourself, call 911 or go to the emergency room): 1.   Put on a worship song right now.  Or sin...
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