Blog (Page 6)
My Thoughts on Forgiveness (Part IV)
Read Part I Read Part II Read Part III Forgiving another person is hard You know by now that forgiving another person is not easy. Forgiving others is hard work. It is supposed to be hard. If we are doing this right, forgiving others is hard because it costs us something. It requires us to cast aside our selfishness. It requires us to restrain ourselves from taking revenge on, and slander, those who have offended us. It requires us to…
My Thoughts on Forgiveness (Part III)
Read Part I Read Part II So, to forgive is, to me, more than to think or say or act as though what had happened was not a big deal, and less than forgetting what that someone has done to offend us. It is somewhere inbetween the two. I know that doesn’t really help you – we all can use a little more definition. So, I wish to share in here some of what I am thinking about forgiveness. Keep…
We are Sent to the Nations
Seems like a regularly get either an email or a brochure in the mail about a cruise to some wonderful destination. Many of you have been on cruises before – but oddly, with all my travels, I never have been at least to this point in my life. But either way, I enjoy looking and dreaming when looking through those brochures. There are a couple of cruises that especially intrigue me. One of them is one that leaves western Europe…
My Thoughts on Forgiveness (Part II)
Read Part I Giving a definition of what is forgiveness is a huge undertaking because of its many complex aspects. How do you define what is forgiveness? The Minister John MacArthur writes, “Forgiveness is a verbally-declared, personally-given promise, a statement of undeserved, unearned love that affirms that though I have been offended, there is no anger, no hatred, no desire for vengeance, no bitterness, no retaliation.” The person who has forgiven another has done all those things. Some say to…
News of the World
I do enjoy a good movie, and one came out in 2020 staring Tom Hanks (a great actor) that was called “News of the World.” Set in that late 1800’s post Civil War Texas, the main character would travel around to small villages in the frontier of Texas and read newspapers to people. Even though these farmers and ranchers in the tough frontier land of Texas were not able to go anywhere outside their own county, they could feel attached…
My Thoughts on Forgiveness (Part I)
You and I are not very different from each other. I know I am not wrong. Each of us has stepped on someone’s toes. Maybe not all the time, but enough times. I know, because you and I are sinners, and it is only a matter of time before we step on each other’s toes. We have been guilty of saying insensitive things to another person, and offended them. We have said the wrong things and have done things we…
Welcome to GIC Season!
Welcome to GIC season! LifeWay’s annual Global Impact Celebration will take place Wednesday, October 18- Sunday, October 22. We hope that you will prepare your calendar (ie, clear it!!) so that you can get the most out of this awesome time. But we also want you to prepare your heart and mind so that God can speak to you during that time. On Sunday, you will receive booklets with lots of information about the GIC, but also information about how…
GIC – (Global Impact Celebration) is up at LifeWay!
In and around the years 2008 to 2010 here at LifeWay Church, they were tough years here, and we began wrestling with how to follow God’s lead to make a difference in the world. The leadership of this congregation were deeply moved and began to take distinctive steps to leading our church in very specific ways into how to take on the responsibility of making footprints for the gospel in specific places in the world that He has guided us…
What do we learn from an autopsy?
Have you ever had an autopsy performed on yourself? Silly question… of course not! If you are reading this article then you are still around, still alive, and haven’t needed an autopsy. We have to first die before an autopsy, right? An autopsy is something we perform on the dead to try to figure out what happened to them. Why did they die? We often learn from autopsy’s how to help others who suffer from the same disease. This is…
A Mirror and a Telescope
We all have a mirror but we may not all have a telescope. But we certainly know the difference between them. We use a mirror when we want to get dressed and make sure that everything is in its proper place. We use a mirror when we really want to take a closer look at ourselves – our face, our hair, or any blemishes we might want to find on ourselves. A telescope of course is useless to us if…
From the Desk of Alvin
All of us are grateful to Edwin and Danielle for their ministry to the youth and children at LifeWay. I especially appreciate their simple love, and having their home always opened to our young ones. Youth and children’s ministries will obviously not look the same this fall, and I wish to take a moment to communicate what is being planned for both ministries so the whole church is informed. The plan for the children’s ministry is for LifeWay adults to…
From the Desk of Billy
This coming Sunday I have asked Chris Thomas to bring our teaching message. We had Chris as a GIC missionary guest this past fall as he is the church planter at DOPE Church in Tacoma. He also is a neighbor as he lives right down the street. But there is a deeper reason that I have asked him specifically to come teach us. We are still using Romans a great deal as we learn about the power of the Gospel…
It’s the Gospel Truth!!
It’s the Gospel Truth!! This might be an expression that you are familiar with. Have you ever heard it used? Have you ever used it yourself? If we follow its original intent, it implies that I am telling you something that is so true and so correct, that it is backed up by the absolute truthfulness of the gospel itself. It implies that the gospel is absolutely true, so now my story is just as true as the gospel. There…
Summer of 2023 in the books!
This past Tuesday our staff office team had a review and evaluation time of the summer events, programs, teaching, and ministries we had as part of the life and LifeWay for the summer of 2023. It was productive for review, but far more importantly we had to ask ourselves ‘was it productive when we measure our goals. So… what was our goal? The goal was our theme for all things post Easter (May – August). The theme was Engage! Engage…
All Things Work Together for Good
What Bible verses can you recite from memory? Most Christians can usually recite a few verses from the Bible. The reason why they can remember a certain Bible verse varies from individual to individual. Maybe it was the first Bible verse they ever remembered from Sunday school. Maybe they bought a coffee mug or throw pillow, with the verse printed on it. Maybe the Bible verse become a favorite because it encouraged and inspired them during a difficult time in…
Spiritual Habit of worship
Over the whole summer, beginning in June, we have spent time with 6 Spiritual Habits for a growing and thriving Disciple of Jesus… This Sunday August 27 we will look at the 7th on our list… When you use and hear the word “Worship,” most of us think of music, singing, or even we might call it “going to church.” But it is far beyond this. As you come this Sunday morning, spend some time looking over and contemplating Romans…
For in the day you eat of it (Part II)
Read Part I Adam and Eve, however, did not die only physically. That is only part of the story. When a sinful being collides with a holy God, something else is happening. Colossians 2.13–14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has…
For in the day you eat of it (Part I)
We all know the story. In the beginning, God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Genesis narrative seems to say there were many trees inside this garden. God told Adam he may eat from any tree in the garden. But there was one tree in the garden where its fruit he may not eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat…
Desna Cup 2023
You should know by now that we will once again (2nd weekend in a row) NOT be worshipping in our building, but instead this week we will be at the sports field at Saghalie Middle School Federal Way (close to Fred Meyer) for an outdoor service joining with a few other churches. We did this last year, and it was wonderful, so we are doing it again. But what is “Desna Cup?” Why is it called that? What is the…
Essence of Rest
REST What is rest? As a spiritual discipline, rest can be defined as the ceasing of work with the purpose of focusing on God. Why do we need to rest? We as humans are tasked with work. From the very beginning of creation God tasked humanity with a work to do. Certainly that work became toilsome because of Adam and Eve’s sin, but there always was and always will be work to do. However, God also commanded his people to…
Fear of the Lord leads to Sharing our Faith
How often do you think about fear? Maybe when you talk with young children about a bad dream that they had. Or maybe when you talk with a parent of a teen that’s about to move to a new city and start college. Or maybe when you talk with someone who is in an unstable work environment and their future seems unsure. In all those cases, the root idea of fear is that something, whether known or unknown, is coming…
Giving Faithfully
You already know this but the Bible teaches the Christ believer to give to God. This includes resources of all types such as our time, our gifts, our energy, and our talents. One of the most distinctive practices of the Christian life is, however, that he or she also gives financially to God. Not everyone in the world understands this behavior. We especially cannot expect those who do not understand what is the Christian faith to understand why Christians give.…
Spiritual Habit of Giving
We have identified 7 Spiritual Habits for a Christian that we are teaching all summer long. Most of us would all agree pretty easily that (1) Prayer and (2) Reading the Bible are an easy fit. We may or may not actually do it regularly, but it is easy to agree that we should and would like to learn to do it better. We would even easily agree that “Gathering” (or simply put — be at church gatherings regularly) fit…
Essence of Giving
What is Giving? Scripturally, we are to give of our time, talent and treasure. These are not mutually exclusive. Our Creator has blessed us with time, abilities and talents, and financial resources. Giving back in each of these areas is simply a recognition of our understanding that, without God’s blessing, we would have none of these! For purposes of this discussion, we will focus on the giving of our financial resources. Why is Giving important? We give to demonstrate where…
The Spiritual Habit of sharing
A couple decades ago, Matt and I were living in Dallas while I was in seminary. As a part of my evangelism class, he had agreed to come with me to the State Fair of Texas to work at a booth where people could ask questions about faith or have someone pray with them. It seemed non-intrusive enough—until one of our friends (a guy with a huge heart and a clear gift for evangelism) said, “Hey Matt, let’s go chat…