Posts by Ryan Lenerz (Page 7)
Is the Bible Boring?
As a pastor, I shouldn’t be admitting this, but yes, the Bible is boring in some parts. On January 1, I began a reading plan to read through the Bible in a year. That means over the past 3 months I have read countless boring parts: genealogies, numerous censuses (or is it censii?), hundreds of verses of odd rules and regulations, and various boundary markers and travel routes. It’s at this point in trying to read the Bible that many…
Book Review: The Invisible War
Chip Ingram’s book on a Christian’s spiritual battle between Satan and his evil forces is a balanced take between the extremism of seeing a demon under every rock or ruling out the existence of demons altogether. This book is broken down into 4 sections, with each section receiving an executive summary of the main ideas with all the pertinent Bible verses at the beginning. This makes the book an incredible resource on the topic of spiritual warfare. Much of the…
Why God Deserves a Second Chance
Introduction A lot is written across the internet telling people that God gives us all a second chance, but what about the person who has given up on God? There is a scarcity of information trying to persuade a person to Give God a Second Chance. Now think about that, trillions of articles and pages on the internet, and I couldn’t find more than a page or two arguing for why God is worth a second shot. It baffles me because…
All In: Firstfruits
Sermon Podcast Audio Your browser does not support the audio element. Introduction Today I’m excited to continue our message series “All In” — where we are looking at how we can live our lives Taking Risks and Trusting God to make a Kingdom Impact. Priorities: We began this series with Amy teaching on the book of Haggai and specifically on how the Israelites had prioritized their own lives over God and restoring the temple. And we compared that to…
Remix: Unexpected Power
Introduction I have a family of four sons. As a foster family, our conversations around the dinner table can be a bit different than the typical family. A lot of learning takes place around our dinner table, and sometimes we find ourselves in some really funny moments. For instance, this week, one of my sons asked me about water baptism. So I was explaining that water baptism is an outward sign to others of the inward change that happens when a person…
936 Weeks
All parents feel like their kids are growing up too fast, but how fast is too fast? It’s 936 weeks to be exact. That’s how long you have between birth and high school graduation. The question each parent must answer is, how are you using your weeks? I know you sometimes feel pressure to fill your summers with more than seems to actually fit: multiple camps, baseball games, vacations, strawberry picking (my family favorite), and all sorts of other adventures.…
Top 3 Bible Reading Apps
Technology: For Good or Evil Technology is a double-edged sword. It devours hours of our teenagers time, and yet it put important information at your finger tips whenever and wherever you need it. Some people lament how the prevalence of tiny screens everywhere has damaged community while others couldn’t imagine a world without the conveniences technology offers us. The same tension exists when considering how technology affects Christians. How ironic it is that the same tiny screen can offer a…
Day 17: Make Better Choices
“I can’t believe I ever did that!” “How could I think that was a good idea?” “What was I thinking?” Each of us have done things we regret. Sometimes we realize our error immediately and sometimes it is years later before we realize how bad of a choice we made. And those bad choices are the result of our foolishness, selfishness, or sometimes complete naïveté. We simply displayed a complete lack of wisdom in the situation. The question we…
Day 15: Thirsty?
“Why can’t I ever feel happy?” is a common question people ask themselves. It seems like no matter how much stuff we have or how busy our schedules, we always feel like we are still missing something. We are always just one gadget away from true happiness (perhaps the iWatch) or one exciting friend away from having a really good time on the weekend. Sometimes this feeling of longing for something missing is referred to as thirst. We find that…
Day 9: Famous Goodbyes
Casablanca, The Breakfast Club, Titanic – a famous goodbye scene is what turns a movie into a classic. The final farewell is where all the emotion of the main characters’ journey together comes to a climax and us, the audience, are left in tears. I imagine many tears were shed during Jesus’s final night with his disciples before his crucifixion on a cross. In John 14, we read about this climax of emotion between Jesus and his traveling companions of…
Days 6 & 7: Reflect
Take this weekend to reflect on what God is showing you through the reading of his word. I know it can be hard to find a time of quiet and solitude, but see if you can find some time to sit and meditate on what God has shown you and wants to tell you. Questions to Consider: Look back at the key verses. Is there one you should commit to memory? Where do you need to repent of sin and…
Day 5: Humility Exemplified
Studies show that most people, when asked to evaluate themselves, rate themselves more highly than they really should. It’s human nature to believe that we are right in our decisions, sure of our actions, and more capable than most people around us. And the reason it’s human nature is because it’s sin – the deadly disease all of us are afflicted with. The problem with this sin is that if we all feel more important than those around us, then…