The Rock Church

Prayerful

Are you a prayerful person? Most of us would say we have room to grow in prayer. One of the most encouraging aspects of believers’ lives is pouring out our hearts to God and watching as He responds. There is absolutely no better way for us to communicate our thankfulness, adoration, desires, or grievances with God than through prayer. Yet, for so many of us, it becomes an afterthought. We can also be robotic or neglect to pray altogether.

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Forgiven By A Friend

“The servant girl at the door said to Peter, ‘You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.’” — John 18:17

Imagine how disappointed in himself Peter must have been the second those words left his lips.

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It Shall Not Return Empty

“so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” — Isaiah 55:11

If you’re like my family and me, you take in and process a lot of words throughout the week. These words come to us through various means, whether reading books, watching the news, or listening to podcasts or sermons. We certainly live in a time when we hear words constantly. 

For all of this reading and listening, God promises that only His Word will fulfill His purpose in authentic spiritual growth. 

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Doctrine?

One of my best friends recently moved to a small town in South Dakota. He asked me if I could help him find a church there. After I did a quick Google search I was amazed to find 34 churches in this “small” town! I also visited some of their websites and read their statements of faith, values, leadership details, etc. In the end, I was able to categorize those 34 churches into three separate groups:

• Churches I wouldn’t even consider going to 
• Churches I’d visit because they’re historically biblical 
• “Proceed-with-caution” churches 

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Fire!

A few days ago, my wife Ashley and I were sitting in our living room while I played the guitar and she sang some worship songs. It was refreshing and encouraging. You could say we were literally distracted from the world, because right across the street from our house, a neighbor’s tree was on fire! 

By the time we finally noticed the fire, there were people (from up and down the street) with fire extinguishers and a hose, spraying down the tree. Less than a minute later, two fire engines and an ambulance pulled up with lights flashing and firefighters ready to do their jobs. 

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Diamond in the Rough

It’s always a joy to find something of value in an unexpected place — a diamond in the rough. Over the last few years, my family has discovered that one of our favorite things to do together, is to go to yard and estate sales. We look for paintings my wife loves, furniture from the 1800’s, rare musical instruments, and any kind of electronic device that uses tubes. Most of the time we clean the items up and re-sell them. Sometimes, (not very often), we find something we want to hold onto — something worthy of taking to the Antiques Road Show (true story).

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All Things New

Happy New Year! It always amazes me how quickly one year comes to an end and another one takes its place. It’s a never ending cycle. A few days ago, I was reading in the Bible (the book of Revelation). What really stood out to me was that when Jesus comes to make all things new, it will be the end of the “out with the old and in with the new” mentality we’ve all come to know in this life.

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Tradition

Every year, the pastors of The Rock Church go to our National Pastor’s Conference. There’s a tradition, one night during the week of meetings, when we go to a grocery store (or a gas station), get some snacks, and head to the hotel lobby to spend time together. We’ll play games, joke around, and laugh a lot. It has become something I really look forward to each year. 

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Eclipse

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” — Psalm 19:1

Eclipse glasses? Check. Moon pies? Check. Last week, we all saw something incredible take place. We saw the sun, the moon, and the earth, perfectly align— creating a solar eclipse. Other than destroying the sun, moving the earth, or moving the moon, there was nothing that was going to stop the eclipse from happening. I read that “According to NASA, experiencing a total solar eclipse where you live happens about once in 375 years.” So, no matter how hard we try, or how hard we want it to happen, there is nothing we can do to align the sun, moon and earth to force an eclipse.

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Harvest

While on vacation this summer, my family and I stayed with relatives who live on an Ohio farm of over one hundred acres! One morning, the kids were out playing in the yard and the farmer asked if we wanted to take turns riding in the tractor while he fertilized the crops?

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