June 14, 2022
by Eric Stillman
When the Israelites were traveling through the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt, God provided for them by causing a bread-like substance called manna to appear every morning on the ground. Moses instructed the people to gather as much as they needed for the day, with two caveats: they could not save any manna overnight, because it would rot, and on the day before the Sabbath, they had to gather enough for two days, so that they could rest on that holy day. And for 40 years, God’s provision of daily bread sustained them through the wilderness....Keep Reading
Posted in: Discipleship Tags: Discipleship, Bible reading
June 7, 2022
by Eric Stillman
It is hard to know how to best respond to the ongoing tragedies in our country and world. On May 24th, an 18-year-old gunman tragically took the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Despite the horror of that day, it was sadly just another in a long line of mass shootings. And despite the tragedy of these mass shootings, they are only part of a larger spike recently in our country of “deaths of despair,” including suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related deaths. And, if that is not depressing enough, a survey of the global scene shows the continued ravages of war, poverty, slavery, and other atrocities....Keep Reading
Posted in: Suffering Tags: Suffering, Lament, Uvalde, violence
May 31, 2022
by Eric Stillman
As I was reading Diane Langberg’s Suffering and the Heart of God last week, I came across this devastating story that is worth sober reflection:
“While I was in Ghana a couple of years ago for a conference on violence against women and children, we visited Cape Coast Castle. Hundreds of thousands of Africans were forced through its dungeons and through the door of no return onto slave ships. There were five dungeon chambers for males, and descending into the darkness of one of those dungeons felt claustrophobic. 200 men shackled and chained together lived in that dungeon for about three months before being shipped across the Atlantic. We stood in one of the male dungeons listening in the darkness to the whole horrific story, when our guide said this: “Do you know what is above this dungeon?”...Keep Reading
Posted in: Suffering Tags: Worship, Suffering, Cape Coast Castle
May 24, 2022
by Eric Stillman
One of my favorite books of prayer is The Valley of Vision: a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. If you have never read this book, it is a unique and fascinating read, full of rarely used SAT words but also with a theological and devotional depth unmatched by modern-day prayer and devotional books. Below is a prayer entitled Continual Repentance. I encourage you to read it slowly and carefully. ...Keep Reading
Posted in: Discipleship Tags: humility, Confidence, Valley of Vision
May 17, 2022
by Eric Stillman
In last week’s Pulse, I talked about Romans 8:28 and what happens when we read God’s Word out of context and place unwarranted expectations on God. The Old Testament counterpart to Romans 8:28 has to be Jeremiah 29:11, which reads “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” When you hear that verse, what do you think God is communicating? I would argue that most modern Christians believe that it means God is going to bring good things into your life and will protect you from harm. In fact, this is how one well-known Christian author, Joyce Meyer, interprets this verse: “I prosper in everything I put my hand to. I have prosperity in all areas of my life–spiritually, financially, mentally, and socially.”...Keep Reading
Posted in: Discipleship Tags: Jeremiah 29:11, God's plan
May 10, 2022
by Eric Stillman
Expectations are a tricky thing. On the one hand, they can help us live life with purpose, goals, and hope for the future. But when we stop and reflect, we often find that so much of our bitterness and disillusionment in life has come because of expectations we placed on others – spouses, parents, friends, coworkers – that they did not meet. And this is just as true of our relationship with God. If we’re not careful, we can end up bitter at God because of expectations that we put on Him to do something that He has never promised.
One of the clearest ways this is true is in our belief that if God is a good God who loves us, then He will certainly bring about good things in our lives, like NOW....Keep Reading
Posted in: God's character Tags: God's love, God's goodness, bitterness, disillusionment
May 3, 2022
by Eric Stillman
We live in the land of the free, the land of “you do you,” the land of NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN NOT DO. This is why it is so essential to understand that “freedom” as our culture teaches it is a fallacy. There is no such thing as freedom. In the end, you are either a slave to God or a slave to sin (Romans 6:16). The choice is not between following God and living free to do as you please. The choice is between serving God, which leads to eternal life, or serving sin, which leads to death....Keep Reading
Posted in: Culture Tags: Discipleship, Freedom
April 26, 2022
by Eric Stillman
As you read through the Bible, every once in awhile you find a promise like the one Jesus gives to His disciples in John 14:11-14 that demands explanation. In the midst of giving a departing discourse to His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion, Jesus promises that those who have faith in Him will do even greater things than what He has been doing. He also promises that He will do whatever they ask in His name, because He will have ascended to the Father’s presence, with authority over everything....Keep Reading
Posted in: Prayer Tags: Jesus, Discipleship
April 19, 2022
by Eric Stillman
This past Sunday was a wonderful time in the life of our church. We enjoyed an Easter breakfast for the first time since 2019, we saw people return to church for the first time since before COVID, and most importantly, we lifted up the name of Jesus, who died and rose again to give us eternal life.
But after Sunday, inevitably, comes Monday....Keep Reading
Posted in: Discipleship Tags: Discipleship, Spiritual Warfare
April 12, 2022
by Eric Stillman
Eighteen years ago, Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ hit movie theaters. Many movies have been made about the life and death of Jesus, but Passion undoubtedly contained the most intense and visceral depiction of Jesus’ suffering and death. Many moviegoers – perhaps even you – were moved to tears as they watched the violent and unjust suffering of the innocent Son of God. But imagine for a moment if Jesus, up on the screen, turned to face the audience in the theater and said, “Do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves.”...Keep Reading
Posted in: Jesus Tags: Jesus, Cross
