Most of us will never be called on to lay down our life. But we may be called on to be inconvenienced, to give more than we think we can, to be stretched beyond our boundaries, to forgive, to be taken advantage of, to bless and not curse. But what may be hardest thing of all is saying, "no" when someone in need calls on us to act.

I've been thinking lately not so much about the theology of worship but about theology IN worship, specifically in worship through song.

I have a confession to make. I like free stuff. I remember when I was a kid signing up at the Baskin Robbins ice cream shop to get a free scoop on my birthday. Boy, I couldn't wait for that postcard to come in the mail just before my birthday saying I could bring it in for a free cone. To this day I still like getting stuff for free. I mean, who doesn't right?

Can the church survive, can we as individuals survive, believing false teachings, untruth, near truth, almost truth? Of course. But God wants us to walk in spiritual health. He wants us to walk in truth because He is truth... When we tell people that God is Love, we are not saying that's all he is. He is also righteous, and holy, and just.

We must come to God with a childlike faith. But we must grow in knowledge like an adult... So we become students of Jesus. We study the word of God so that we might know truth from error. You must know what is true, so that you can say: This is outside of the truth. This is counterfeit.

God wants to bless his church and God wants to bless the marriages of his people. But our God is a god of order, and he has established a way in which his blessing will flow. God is the head over all. Christ is over the church and over man. Man is over the woman. Blessing and favor fall from God and flow down through his established order.

Many have asked, so just what's this book about anyway? The working title is "A Love God Rewards." Through it I want to encourage married couples in their relationships and for single people to know just how God loves them and why marriage is sacred. We will touch on the topics of divorce, sex, sacrificial love, and the longing God has for relationship with you. We will look at why we strive to do good on this earth and the nature of God's eternal rewards. So with that introduction welcome to the introduction to "A Love God Rewards."

In this two part article, Why Have You Forsaken Me, we will take a look at the common belief of why Jesus in his last hours cried out to God saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" We will look at scriptures and logic to prove that God in fact did not forsake Christ. That Christ himself was once again being an example to us of how we should not let our emotions or feelings rule over us and lead us to places contrary to what God through the scriptures has told us.

In this two part article, Why Have You Forsaken Me, we will take a look at the common belief of why Jesus in his last hours cried out to God saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" We will look at scriptures and logic to prove that God in fact did not forsake Christ. That Christ himself was once again being an example to us of how we should not let our emotions or feelings rule over us and lead us to places contrary to what God through the scriptures has told us.

A recent discussion prompted me to review the scriptures and the reasons why I believe Christ's return to establish his kingdom, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the "translation" of the living saints, commonly called "the rapture" all happen at the same time, at the blowing of the "Last Trumpet" of 1 Cor 15:52.