Weekly Thoughts From Outside the Boat

Hey guys, I hope you’re having a great week. This week’s Thought comes from Matthew 7:20. “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” This passage is on the tail end of the Sermon on the Mount. I began to think of all the different applications to this verse. I think about our culture as a whole, how divided we are, how people say one thing and do another. Then, I thought about our church culture and the different interac

Hey guys, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. This week’s Thought comes from Matthew 5:37, “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t’. Anything beyond this is from the evil one.” This mandate from Jesus comes from His Sermon on the Mount. This truth is so simple and yet so critically important to our relationships, whether those are relationships in the church, in our culture, in ministry, in our families, or in our marriages. It is so vitally important to “let yo

Hey guys, I hope you're having a great week. It's a big week. It's a week to be thankful, and as you spend time with family and friends this weekend, I hope you take some time to really think about the things that you have to be thankful for. Certainly, there are things we struggle with and things we wish were different, but I challenge you to just take a few minutes and write down the things for which you have to be thankful. I bet that as you begin to write those down, you'

Hey guys, I hope you’re having a great week. I’ve started reading through the book of Matthew, so this week’s Thought comes from Matthew 1:24. “When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded, and he took Mary as his wife.” Obviously, this is the beginning stages of the Christmas story and how Mary and Joseph came together. God had conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb. A few verses prior, in verse 19, it says that Joseph was “a righteous ma

Hey guys, I hope you’re having a great week. This week’s Thought comes from Deuteronomy 28:52. For context, this is found in Moses’ last words to the children of Israel before they enter the Promised Land. Most of chapter 28 is either a prayer of blessing for obedience to God’s laws, or a warning of curses to come for disobedience. Verse 52 is found in that list of warnings for disobedience. “They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in the land - the wall