Kidnapped, enslaved, and forgotten—until God spoke in a dream. The story of Patrick isn’t just history; it’s an invitation. What happens when we say yes to God, even when it leads us back to the places we’d rather avoid?
This morning I had a dream that there was a woman leading Revelation Song with a blanket over the top half of her body with someone else’s legs sticking out the bottom of the blanket. This looked about as strange as you might imagine. I tried to comprehend what I was looking at as she…
It was the night that everything crumbled. Jesus had lost plenty of disciples in ministry before, but he hadn’t lost the twelve. They were both his team and his friends, and they had been through every struggle together. But they wouldn’t stay together for this one. Not this time. When the guards came to arrest…
There are special moments in our lives where God speaks into us in such a surreal way that it can’t be ignored. One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, had such an experience and writes about it in his memoir. For three hours I found myself in terra incognita. It was the very heart of…
Jesus had eaten with plenty of naysayers and people who meant him harm over the years, but his meal with Judas must have felt extra special. After all, Judas had been elevated to take on the position of one of his twelve closest friends and disciples. He carried a deep privilege and was about as…
In an often overlooked statement, we find Jesus hanging out at “Simon the leper’s” house. This isn’t explained further so we’re left trying to figure out the scenario. In our time we call Hansens disease “leprosy,” but in ancient times the term leprosy was applicable to many skin diseases. Regardless of what kind of leprosy…
We can all agree that we are saved by our faith in Jesus and that none of us can save ourselves. This is good, solid, basic, orthodox theology. In this sense, salvation is by faith alone. But we also all agree that works are important to salvation too—we just don’t like phrasing it that way,…
Can you explain what the crowns in heaven are, what they are given for? And does that not suggest works over grace? I think E.P. Sanders summarized the works vs grace conundrum best when he said, “Salvation is by grace, but judgment is according to works. Works are the condition of remaining ‘in,’ but they…
In 2018 a group of strangers came by our church to pray for us and they shared a lot of really powerful words that God had put on their hearts—words that went on to become experientially true. But there was one simple word a woman prayed in that moment that hit unexpectedly hard for me:…
Jamin Bradley 