Category: Interior Life

heavenly body, shining

Does God Want To Glorify His People?

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This is an excerpt from my new book A Quest for the Ultimate. The retreat director Jacob asks the group about their observations in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. The issue is what God emphasizes in the next age. Does he focus more on himself or on his people? Does he want to glorify his people? Browse through chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation and tell me which is emphasized more: God’s glory or the glory and honor of the people of God? I will give you a couple of minutes.Everyone digs into their bibles. After five minutes Jacob asks again, “Which is emphasized more?”“There is a lot of description of the bride, especially in the description of the city,” Kwan observes.“Most of these two chapters are about all the blessings God is going to give us and how beautiful the bride is,” Melissa adds.Heads nod.Somewhat surprised, Gabriella replies, “I’m Continue Reading →

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Just Released: A Quest For The Ultimate

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As promised in my last post, my new book, “A Quest for the Ultimate” [Amazon link] has been released and is now available on Amazon. The Kindle version is on sale for .99 now; the paperback will be available later today (make sure the cover has the title on it.) Strangely, most believers have not given much thought to their ultimate purpose, and if they do, they are usually uncertain. Yet, isn’t it a critical question? Shouldn’t we all know the ultimate purpose for which we are “pressing on” in Christ? Why do we strive to be holy? Why do we read Scripture? Why do we pray? Why do we attend Sunday service? “A Quest for the Ultimate” will answer these questions by explaining God’s end game for your life. It is a short fiction book about seven believers on a retreat in the San Juan Islands seeking to understand Continue Reading →

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Excerpt From My New Book “A Quest For The Ultimate”

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In the next few days I will release my new book, “A Quest for the Ultimate: A Spiritual Adventure of Seven Seekers.” It is about the ultimate purpose of the Christian life. I have asked several believers if they knew what the ultimate purpose of their Christian life was, and I received several different answers. None of them seemed to fit with what Scripture teaches, so I think this will be a helpful book. God wants to encourage you with an exciting ultimate purpose, so I hope you will read the book. Below is an excerpt from Chapter Five, which I hope will whet your appetite. The retreat leader is helping the seven participants to make their way to their ultimate purpose. “Now I want us to dive into the answer to the core question that’s been lurking beneath all our discussions.” He leans forward slightly. “What is our ultimate Continue Reading →

heaven, on earth, sun

Your Amazing Spiritual Blessings

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Does it seem mysterious to you to say that we have “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”? (Eph. 1:3) ESV. This idea has seemed very abstract and fuzzy to me, especially the part about the spiritual blessings being in heavenly places. Why does it say the spiritual blessings are in heavenly places instead of in our hearts? And if the blessings are in heavenly places and we are living on earth does that mean we are separated from our blessings somehow? Do we have to wait until the next life until we have them? As we look at Ephesians 1:3-14 we can see that Paul lists the spiritual blessings he refers to in verse 3. If we look at these blessings perhaps we can answer some of our questions. Verse 4: God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world; He chose us to be holy and Continue Reading →

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The Consequences Of Guilt And Condemnation

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The purpose and destiny of all we do is the community of love with God and His followers. This community is supposed to begin now, on earth, in our Christian fellowship. And one of the fundamental principles of Christian fellowship is the division we make between guilt and condemnation. This division gives us great freedom in relationships, even outside the body of Christ. As Christians we make a big distinction between guilt and condemnation. We know that we are guilty of sin, but we also know that God does not condemn us. Romans 8:1 states, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” There is no punishment for us except the natural consequences (e. g. jail for crimes). So, because of Jesus’ death there is a huge chasm between our guilt and condemnation. Normally, when someone is judged guilty of a crime then we say they Continue Reading →