Does God Want To Glorify His People?

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 →

Just Released: A Quest For The Ultimate

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 →

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

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 →

It Is About Kingdom Community

Colossians 3:1-17 is one of my favorite passages in the bible. It’s hard to think of other passages that describe what it means to be a disciple of Jesus so well. It reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount, and it is about kingdom community! Today we are looking at Col. 3:12-15: “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” (NLT) In Col. 3:10 Paul directed Continue Reading →

Understand Your Spiritual Health Better!

Would you like to understand your spiritual health better? Are you open to serious self-examination? We have created a questionnaire which you can download here Link to PDF of Spiritual Life Questionnaire (It will remain available on our website under Resources/Free Downloads.) We call it the Spiritual Life Questionnaire. We find that this assessment tool will help you understand your spiritual health. The Spiritual Life Questionnaire doesn’t rate someone’s spiritual life but asks important questions for examining one’s own spiritual condition. It is up to the individual to decide how to proceed based on how they answered the questions. If you use it to help others, the questionnaire makes it easy to cover many different topics quickly. One big advantage of the questionnaire is that people will often be more open when answering written questions than when talking face to face. Sometimes there is something they have been wanting to say Continue Reading →