Long Hill Chapel Long Hill Chapel is a Christian church in Chatham, NJ and is part of The Christian & Missionary Alliance https://lhcnj.net Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:09:02 +0000 Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:09:02 +0000 hourly 1 3600 SnapPages.com This Is What Family Does https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/10/07/this-is-what-family-does Wed, 07 Oct 2026 09:49:41 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/10/07/this-is-what-family-does
The word belong can mean two things. You can hold something up and say, “This belongs to me.” Or you can walk in a room and say, “I belong here.” Same word, very different statements. Belonging isn’t about what I have, it’s about where I have a place.

Belonging is personal, and that is where things get interesting when it comes to following Jesus. The phrase you need a personal relationship with Jesus shouldn’t be confused with you need an individual relationship with Jesus.

The Bible never calls our spiritual walk an individual journey.

The tension is that we want a place where we belong, and the word family carries different things for different people. Some of us hear warmth. Some of us hear hurt. So, we’re not starting with an idealized picture of family.

Belonging isn’t just something that comforts me; belonging confronts me.

Belonging confronts the idea that I can follow Jesus and be disconnected from the people He’s placed around me. And sometimes, we want Jesus without always wanting the people Jesus brings with Him.

You can’t have the Savior without the family He saved.

Family doesn’t always get it right. That’s not to say we allow bad behavior or don’t strive for health – of course we do. But we can’t say, “My faith is just between Jesus and me, and I don’t need the thing He died for – I don’t need the church.”

Something We Are
Context matters. In the Book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is writing to Christians in Ephesus who are learning what it means that Jesus created one new people out of people who previously didn’t belong together.

Ephesians 2
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth…

And Paul is speaking in the middle of religious, cultural, and social division.

Ephesians 2
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

Paul tells them to remember where they came from. Jesus took people who didn’t belong together and made them one. It was part of the work of salvation.

Ephesians 2
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Jesus didn’t just die to bring you near to God. He died to bring us near to each other.

Ephesians 2
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Paul’s saying that since Jesus did this, here’s the new reality. Jesus didn’t ask a bunch of church people to become family. Jesus MADE us family. That’s different.

Family isn’t something we “do,” it’s something we ARE because of what Jesus has DONE.

So, while we all have preferences, differences, or ways that God has wired us, those things are not the prerequisites for belonging – Jesus sets that standard.

Something We Become
We’re already a family. The question is whether we’ll live like it. Are we going to be the family Jesus has already made us?

Ephesians 2
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Members of His household – you live there, you have a place there. These are your people. Something happens when a thing becomes yours. There’s a big difference between kids being “their” kids vs. “your” kids.

Relationship changes the way I see what’s happening.

And that’s the language Paul is using – you’re not just a bunch of people who happen to meet at the same building once a week – you’re members of the same household. You can attend an event anonymously, but you can’t be part of a family anonymously.

At an event, you can sit where you want, enjoy what happens, and when it’s over, you can leave without anyone really knowing you were there.

In a family, presence matters.

That’s belonging. It’s more than walking into a room, it’s looking around and realizing the people in it have a place in your life. This is where belonging becomes beautiful because there are seasons when you need people who know more than your name, you need people who know when you’re not yourself, you need people who can hear “I’m fine” and know you’re not, or people who will pray for you when you don’t have the words to pray for yourself.

That’s family.

And that’s not just done for us, it’s something we actively do for each other.

Ephesians 2
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Paul takes it even further – household becomes house. Jesus is the cornerstone, and the cornerstone determines everything else. It sets the direction. Jesus is the One the whole thing is built around.

Ephesians 2
21 In him the whole building is joined together….

God isn’t collecting a pile of individual bricks. He’s building something. We can all sing in the same room, sing the same songs, listen to the same sermon, and believe the same things. We can be physically close to one another but not really connected.

You’re part of what God is building.

Your presence matters, your gifts matter, and your story matters. What God is forming in you matters to what God is forming in those around you. This is why your Christian faith isn’t just about you – that’s why it can’t be your “personal individual relationship with Jesus” alone.

Paul doesn’t say we’re being built next to each other, we’re being built together. And all of it is being aligned around Jesus. That’s the picture of the church. Jesus is at the center.

Ephesians 2
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

He brings together people who don’t naturally fit together. He’s tearing down walls, making family, and building a place where His presence can be known. He’s not just building a room full of people who believe in Jesus, he’s building a people through whom the presence of Jesus can be seen.

We need to belong to each other because Jesus is still the cornerstone, we’re still His household, and the Spirit is still building something in us.
]]> Hope Set High https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/30/hope-set-high Wed, 30 Sep 2026 11:10:17 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/30/hope-set-high
Have you ever encountered a fear head-on? If so, there’s no certainty in taking the step to overcome a fear when you haven’t done it before. Unfortunately, moving ahead doesn’t wait for us to become comfortable with uncertainty, but transitions make us want certainty.

Transitions can feel so uncomfortable. We never know if everything will be okay, what exactly will change, who’s leading, who’s in charge, or what it will all look like. We try to stay in the past, where things felt more familiar, but we have a complicated relationship with it.

On one hand, there’s forgetting the past. Things we want to forget, like our mistakes, wrongdoings, or an awkward time in our lives, trends we wish we weren’t a part of. As a culture, we’re so obsessed with what’s next that we’ve lost sight of our history, roots, and where we came from.

Those who don’t learn from their history are doomed to repeat it.

On the other hand, some people love to live in the past. The high school football player or lead singer in a band. Their pinnacle moment in life was back then. Or we have a really great season of life we don’t want to end, but it always does. We live in a reality of trying to re-create it rather than releasing it.

When we live back there, we can never fully live in the present moment or receive what’s ahead.

Those who do not lean to the future are doomed to miss it.

The future would be a lot easier if we knew what it looked like. God rarely gives His people a complete picture of the destination, but He gives us something better – His presence and faithfulness.

God was back there, but God is also right here, in this moment, in this season with all of its complexities and nuances. And God will be up ahead in all the future holds.

Hebrews 13
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Remember His Deeds
Psalm 78
2 I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old— 3 things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.

This is the foundation on which we build the present and future. We stand not on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, but on who God is and what He has done.

Release the Next Generation
Psalm 78
4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

Faithfulness doesn’t mean holding onto our season for as long as we can, faithfulness means handing what we’ve received to those coming behind us and teaching them to do the same.

Jesus has been building His church long before any of us arrived, and He will continue to long after we’re gone.

He builds it through us, but not just the current us, the us that was before, the us that is now, and the us that’s to come. That’s an important reminder. Someone else will one day do your job, and someone else will one day own your house.

Are you spending your life trying to be the only “us” in those places, or are you remembering that those seasons will one day end? You should always be able to look behind you and see someone other than you.

Know that the biggest challenge for you in this is that the next generation will take what you give them but do it differently than you do. Don’t get stuck on how they’re doing it, look at the fruit it’s producing.

Set Your Hope Higher
Psalm 78
7 Then they would put their trust in God, and would not forget his deeds, but would keep his commands.

Your hope isn’t found in a place or in the past. We remember the past, but we can’t do anything about it. Your hope isn’t found in the future because it's uncertain. Your hope isn’t found in the right person. We need to set our hope higher.

Your hope is found in God.

Hope is having a present reality about a future that is unknown. When you travel to visit someone in a city you aren’t familiar with, everything looks different until you see the familiar face. You lock eyes. Someone you love is waiting for you. You know them, they know you. And they’re looking for you.

They know the way, the city. There’s no unknowns or surprises. They welcome you, embrace you, and suddenly the unknown no longer seems unknown. God isn’t just there when you get there, but He’s already there.

Knowing who is waiting for you matters more than knowing what is waiting for you.

We can be uncertain and unafraid at the same time. Our confidence isn’t that we know where God is taking us. Our confidence is that wherever God takes us, He’s already there. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He IS yesterday, today, and forever.
]]> Look Up https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/24/look-up Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:54:38 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/24/look-up
Have you ever made a fashion choice you were confident looked good, but looking back, you're mortified by it?

Being confident about something doesn’t necessarily mean you’re right.

This lesson also applies to following Jesus. We can be convinced that God wants us to do one thing and still be wrong because sometimes we need to do a better job of stopping and listening. If God has been faithful to us, what does faithfulness look like from us?

If God really is who He says He is, what does He actually want from me? We all feel this whether we’re trying to make a decision about work, our kids, or a relationship. We don’t want to get it wrong. The challenge is that sometimes we don’t always get an answer to our question. And when we don’t get an answer, we tend to answer it ourselves.

We start deciding before we start listening.

RECEIVE
Matthew 17
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter didn’t orchestrate this. John and James didn’t ask for this, but they got to see God in a way they hadn’t before. Not because they planned it, but because they said yes to the invitation.

Some moments in our lives are simply meant to be received.

That’s where faithfulness begins, not with everything I can do for God, but by responding to His invitation. God moves toward us before we ever figure out how to move toward Him.

And some of us think, “Okay, but isn’t receiving passive? I thought this was about faithfulness, about what I do for You?” But receiving IS faithfulness. “God, You lead. I’ll follow.”

LISTEN
Now, receiving the moment is one thing. Knowing what to do with it is another.

Matthew 17
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

Peter isn’t disobeying Jesus. He’s making plans for Jesus. He’s not rejecting Jesus. He’s trying to help Jesus. He’s trying to be… faithful. That’s what makes this so important.

Peter has gone from receiving the moment to managing the moment.

The moment didn’t require Peter’s plan. It required Peter’s attention.

Matthew 17
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Sometimes we confidently decide what faithfulness should look like before we’ve actually listened to Jesus. We make plans, we make decisions.

Peter’s busy talking about all the things he could do for Jesus, and the voice of the Faith essentially says, “You don’t need to make plans for Him; you need to LISTEN to Him.”

STAY CLOSE
We hear, “Listen to Jesus,” and we make it more mysterious than it has to be. We should ask God those questions, pray for direction, and ask Him to lead us.

While you’re asking Jesus what’s next, don’t miss what He’s telling you now.

Some things we don’t have to wonder about, and sometimes it’s easier to focus on what we don’t know than to obey what we do. Don’t let what you don’t know keep you from listening and being faithful with what you do know. Faithfulness is staying close enough to Jesus to listen to Him.

Peter’s problem isn’t that he appreciates the moment. The problem is when remembering what God has done becomes trying to hold onto what God did.

It’s easier to trust where God has been than where He’s going.

We can see where God has been, but where He’s going? We have to trust and follow.

TRUST
Matthew 17
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

They’re terrified. They hit the ground. And honestly, this is where listening gets difficult. You are not the one leading, and that can be scary. That’s where fear comes in. And if we’re not careful, fear can start making decisions for us. Don’t confuse faithfulness with fear trying to stay in control.

Look at what Jesus does. He comes close. He touches him. He says, “Get up. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus doesn’t remove everything Peter could be afraid of. He reminds Peter that he doesn’t have to face it without Him.

Matthew 17
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Peter wanted a plan. Jesus gave him something better: His presence.

Trust means my fear doesn’t have to lead me anymore.

If you are trying to figure something out and feel like Jesus hasn’t given you the answer yet, maybe He’s giving you Himself, so LOOK UP.

Look up because being faithful was never about knowing everything that comes next.
  • Look up and receive what He’s giving.
  • Look up and listen to Him.
  • Look up and trust the One who’s leading.

We can look back and say that God has been good, but we also need to be faithful with what Jesus puts in front of us.
]]> Faithful https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/16/faithful Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:06:30 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/16/faithful
How do you tell an 80-year-old story, especially a church’s story? Buildings might change, pastors change, music changes, but there’s one constant through it all – God.

Psalm 100
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

He was faithful 80 years ago, He’s faithful today, and He’ll continue to be faithful in the future. Celebrating our church’s 80th birthday is a celebration of the faithfulness of God to Long Hill Chapel (LHC).

Look What God Has Done
Psalm 100
3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

So, who has actually sustained this church? Not great leadership. Not great programs. Not perfect decisions. God.

We are here because God has been faithful.

Look What God Is Doing
Psalm 100 doesn’t just ask us to recognize God’s faithfulness. It calls us to respond to it.

Psalm 100
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

As you walk through life, it’s important to look at what God has done, but then you need to do something about it. One of the most important things we need to recognize is how God has chosen to demonstrate His faithfulness in us and at LHC.

God works through people.

Think about the people of your past who came before you. They showed up. And that’s what people have done over 80 years at LHC. They showed up – they moved to the area, their kid went to youth group, they were invited to a bible study, they attended an event, they started serving, they gave, they prayed, they invited someone else. They were simply faithful in their moment.

God took thousands of ordinary moments of faithfulness from ordinary people and used them to build something that would outlive them here at LHC.

  • People have prayed, served, sacrificed, and given to this church for decades.
  • Some people aren't here anymore—some are with Jesus—who prayed for things they never got to see.
  • People prayed for you to join them at LHC, and now they sit in the pew next to you.

Eighty years ago, people we never met prayed, gave, served and sacrificed because they believed God wanted to do something here. And we're living inside the answer to some of their prayers.

Now, we don't only have to look backward to see God's faithfulness. Look around you today. God works through people. HE was faithful through them FOR you, and He will work through YOU for someone else.

Trust What God Will Do
Psalm 100
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

God was faithful before we came. It didn’t stop with the generation who built the walls of our church. It didn’t stop with us. It continues through all generations.

Leaders change, seasons change, and generations change. But the future of Long Hill Chapel rests in the same place its past has always rested: in the hands of a faithful God.

Psalm 100 doesn't tell God's people to figure everything out. It tells us to worship, be thankful, and respond to God's faithfulness. Someday another generation will be at our church celebrating what God has done.

Until then, we can show up, give, love, make disciples, and remain faithful because He is faithful.

Check out the full sermon from Pastor Michael Hoddy and Pastor Joey Monteleone here!
]]> Strength in the Struggle https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/09/strength-in-the-struggle Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:11:06 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/09/strength-in-the-struggle
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As Christians, we can all get behind the idea of praying, it’s what we’re called to do, but what about the idea of praying for healing? It might bring up some rather pointed feelings. On one hand, many of us have seen and heard some crazy stories about churches and ministers turning it into a spectacle, and it’s off-putting. It might make us cynical, and we can joke about it, but there’s a deeper struggle with it under the surface.

As Christians, we also try to reconcile where this idea of “healing” fits with the miracle of modern medicine, which is also a gift from God. But on the other hand, we’ve all known someone who desperately needed prayer for physical needs when there were no answers. Medicine, as amazing as it can be, fell short. When lives are suddenly turned upside down, or there is a long, hard battle.

And sometimes things turned out well, sometimes they didn’t. It leaves us to wonder if we prayed enough, prayed the right way, or had enough faith.

But what if this wasn’t so much about healing, sin, confession, or even prayer, but was about real faith?

faith can sometimes be a struggle – the where, who, or what we have faith in, and holding onto it in difficulty.

James 5
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.

Pray in all things.

The good, bad, or ugly. When things are up or when they’re down. We need to pray in all things. But then there’s a part about calling the elders and anointing. The word “sick” can also be translated as “weak.” It can be physical, but it can also be spiritual or emotional.

When you take the step and trust in who God is, that’s faith. It’s the faith to believe that God CAN heal, and even if He doesn’t heal us in the way we desire, that He’s at work through it. That He’s still enough, sickness and death don’t have the final word, He’s faithful, and that He gets the glory from it.

We take a risk with faith because it might not work out the way we want, and publicly. But something always happens. It may not be the healing we want, but it’s always the strength we need.

God always gives you strength in the struggle.

James 5
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

There’s a powerful thing that happens when we confess our struggle to others and come clean about our weakness, even sin, and that’s that the power of it is broken. Maybe we’ll still struggle, but God gives us strength in the struggle – the strength to keep going, to overcome.

Some of us feel like we could never do that and might ask ourselves, “What if people found out who I really was?” We might think the price is too high. Aren’t you paying a steep price now carrying that around?

Some of us think, “I got this. I’ll handle it.” Whether it’s an addiction, porn, something that was done to you or you did, or someone you’re angry with. The problem is that you’ve been saying that for years. It’s not getting fixed. You can’t fix it yourself. You can’t pull yourself out. This time isn’t going to be different than last time.

Confession isn’t just saying, “I did something wrong.” It’s admitting, “There’s a pattern in me I don’t want to keep repeating.”                                     ~ Chris Durso

You might’ve been in a place of struggle, an addiction, a marriage that didn’t work out, a personal challenge, even a struggle against sin, and you took a chance on the church with it. You tried to get help, you stepped out in faith, and you made yourself vulnerable.

Unfortunately, they burned you with their response. And you feel like you can never do that again, rightly so. You’re owed an apology, and even with that, it’s still hard.

Some days our faith feels strong, God seems evident, and things seem clear. Other days, uncertainty and cynicism wash over us. That’s why James gives an unlikely example.

James 5
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

A lot of us are just like Elijah – part fighter, part runner – big faith, big steps, and then huge doubt. Certainty followed by uncertainty. Three steps forward, two steps running backward. Part strong, part struggle.

The good news is that this is not about the amount of your faith because that’s going to rise and fall. It’s about where you continue to place your faith, whether it’s a little or a lot.

In the story of Elijah, God pursues Elijah, stays with him, even into the desolate place. He never leaves. He even provides for him in the desolate place. He gives him strength when he needs it most in the struggle. And He does the same for us!

Where do you need strength in the struggle today?

Not faith in an outcome, faith in the God of the Outcome. When it comes to healing, we’re not anointing an outcome, we’re setting ourselves apart to the God of the outcome, whatever that outcome is.

When it comes to sin and confession, we have faith that He’s big enough, that our struggle can be seen in the light, and He’s still enough. Imagine going to a church where the masks came down.

We all need prayer, we all need anointing at times, we all need to confess, and we all struggle. If we did this together, it would drive us ALL towards humility, where strength will rise. And we don’t stop there. Again and again, we stay anchored to Him, and to each other, through thick and thin.

James tells us that this type of prayer does stuff – it changes things. And regardless of the outcome, it changes you. God always gives you strength in the struggle. There’s always healing, it always comes – just sometimes in ways we don’t expect.

God is with us, and we’re with each other. That’s real faith, and that’s the kind of church anyone would want to be a part of.
]]> God Isn't Limited By Age https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/01/god-isn-t-limited-by-age Tue, 01 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/09/01/god-isn-t-limited-by-age
If you grew up in the church, most likely you started to serve in the place where it seems they start everyone – the chairs. Oh, the foldable chairs. Moving rows of chairs around the sanctuary or other rooms where people gathered, and stacking them when they were no longer needed, was a simple place to start. But we need to realize that God has called us all to more than stacking and moving chairs.

At the time, we may think that’s all we or someone else can handle, but what if that’s not how God sees us?

What if it’s not how God sees kids?

We always think that someday kids will take the next step in serving in the church, even worse, we might be soothing our own fears by saying they aren’t ready yet. We can’t equate maturity with usability, because that kills the RIGHT NOW mindset and leaves us in a loop where children are always the future of the church without declaring they are the future of the church.

God is NOT limited by age

We have age restrictions on a lot of things like driving and voting. In 1 Samuel, we see a timetable of when people can answer the call to serve in the Kingdom of God that might not be one we live out.

1 Samuel 3: 2-18
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God,[a] and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”
15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

Calling to Serve Now
God calls Samuel to serve as a boy, and He does so in an interesting way. Samuel is already in the temple helping with simple tasks, and then one night he hears a voice calling him. He thinks it’s Eli, so he goes to him, and Eli tells Samuel it wasn’t him. This happens twice.

Eli is older and has enough spiritual perception to realize God is calling Samuel, and he encourages him to respond and listen. This interaction is a great reminder that God will call kids.

Kids need mature believers to help guide them

We need to be ready to discern and encourage when kids show interest or express a desire to serve. It’s not something that just falls on the shoulders of leaders serving kids, it takes a village.

It takes a Church to help kids recognize the voice of God and answer the call now

Serving is Not Just Being a Missionary

You don’t have to be an overseas missionary to answer the call of God to serve. Kids can answer the call right where they are and with who they are.

God isn’t asking you to give what you don’t have

God wants to use what you do have. Even if you think it’s only a little bit.

John 6
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

All these people have traveled far to hear Jesus, and he doesn’t want to send them away hungry. The disciples want Jesus to send them away to get something to eat, but Jesus tells them to feed the crowd – doing this to test them.

They complain there isn’t enough money or resources, and all they have is a boy willing to share his lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish. It seems like a minuscule amount for many people, but Jesus uses it to serve a larger purpose.

Jesus doesn’t dismiss this boy and his lunch offer, He uses it to show how God uses even the littlest things to do great things. Jesus didn’t dismiss the boy as young and naïve, Jesus took what the boy had, blessed it, and used it to do great work and serve a greater purpose in the Kingdom of God.

Serving as an Application
So, what does this look like for us as a church family as we help kids perceive God's calling in their lives?

Students:
  • Where could God be calling you RIGHT NOW?
  • Where can you serve with what you have and who you are?
  • What areas of your life could you be a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish and leave an impact in the Kingdom of God/the Church?

Parents / Adults / Leaders:
  • Who is the Samuel put in your life RIGHT NOW that you can encourage and offer discernment to?
  • Who is the kid that might only have a little to give, but wants to serve?

Imagine a RIGHT NOW church. A church that doesn’t wait for someday, but a church that can stack chairs, offer what they have and who they are, and go beyond.

Pray for our kids: they need prayer in the spaces they go every day

Partner with our kids: serve in youth and kids, engage with them

Prepare our kids: help them perceive by being a family that walks in this together

In society then and maybe now, kids may not be seen as a group who could contribute, but in the Kingdom of God they are vital to the Gospel Light continuing to shine. Because, as Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them.”
]]> You Can’t Outrun God’s Presence https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/26/you-can-t-outrun-god-s-presence Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:17:56 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/26/you-can-t-outrun-god-s-presence
Did you ever experience a year you look back on as the hardest year of your life? Whatever the circumstances you encountered were, it was a year you wouldn’t want to relive. In the midst of situations like that, we sometimes find ourselves questioning God. Asking Him, what’s next?

Then God answers, but it isn’t the one you were looking for. Sometimes we run from what God is putting on our hearts. And no one is a better example of running from God than Jonah.

Going back to Jonah and the whale, this was one of the few periods in the life of God’s people where there was prosperity. Territory was expanding, and the economy was booming. It was a time of abundance. So, when Jonah gets the message from God to go to Nineveh, he knows exactly what that means. God was going to destabilize his comfort.

Jonah, wanting to protect his nationality, prosperity, and comfort, runs from God.

Jonah 1
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Many of us hear the story of Jonah and might think it’s a missionary call, but it really isn’t. The Book of Jonah is about sin. As modern people, we feel like something is wrong with us, but we have no adequate way to do anything about it.

Through the story of Jonah, there’s a magnitude of sin, but it was the kind of sin that was in his heart. It was a heart sin and issue, even though on the surface, Jonah was a prophet, preacher, and distinguished moral religious leader. So, the real sin in his life flew under the radar, and it didn’t show up until it blew up.

The Word of The Lord
Jonah’s calling and purpose are specific for him. He’s called to be a prophet of God, someone who speaks for God and acts on God’s behalf. And you can’t do that unless your life is oriented toward what God has called you to.

Now that said, you also have the right to run away. Imagine taking a feather and trying to use it as a hammer. It sounds silly, but the point is that’s not a feather’s purpose. We have to remember that the reality we are living in right now is not our ultimate reality. It’s not the world or eternity you were designed for. This is only the audition.

The Word of the Lord is the word of your design, your purpose, and what created the heavens and earth. You have a calling, a design, and a purpose. So the question you need to ask yourself is: Have you found your true identity in God's purpose and calling?

What Happens When We Run
Jonah ran the other way to create his own new identity, a new identity apart from God. Jonah wasn’t just being disobedient, he was breaking the law, the rules, and God’s heart.

God created you uniquely and wonderfully, but then the despair of living your life, trying to find yourself and be yourself apart from God leads to nothing more than despair, but in the moment,  it’s hard for us to stay. We try to convince ourselves that God is leading us in another direction, or we run, just like Jonah.

But like Jonah, we eventually learn we can’t outrun God's presence.

Jonah was building his identity, life, and heart apart from God. So, Jonah wasn’t outrunning God's presence because we can’t do that, he was running from the face of God. He’s running from the presence, relationship, and surrender.

When Moses met God face to face, he never had to return again to the burning bush because God’s presence went with him. And face-to-face with God is really what the story of Jonah is about. If we haven’t centered our attention on God, His heart for us, His will for us, His Word for us, we can’t get face-to-face with Him.

When you get face to face with God, you’re basically telling God that you will center and define your life according to Him.

Many of us have mortgaged ourselves just to get a sense of self. We’ve mortgaged ourselves to our careers, reputation, romances, friendships, sports – He will never affirm or approve, but He especially will never resource your idolatry.

We see through the Book of Jonah that he needs transformation, not simply rehabilitation.

So, what does God do? He sends a storm. He sends a fish. It sounds awful because it could’ve led to a lot of destruction, but the worst thing that could ever happen to you is if God stops chasing you and lets you do what you want to do.

This storm is the grace of God. This storm is the salvation of God. Up until this point, Jonah has decided he knows better than God. He’s not afraid to go to Nineveh because that might kill him or they might not repent, he’s afraid they will repent because that will destroy his nation.

There’s a place that love has that nobody else can have. And that’s what God has been doing in your life. That’s what the storms are really about. We’re so stubborn, resistant, and controlling in so many ways that we need more than reformation, we need transformation. We need God's love and grace to become the driver of our hearts.

Every time the storm happens in most of our lives, we ask God, “Why are you letting this happen?” But if you’re really going to advance in God, you’ll realize that whatever in His power He could prevent, in His wisdom He has permitted. Whatever in His power He could have prevented, in His wisdom, He has permitted.

Trusting Him when we don’t understand is hard.

Finally, when the story was raging, Jonah says, “Throw me in!”

Jonah really will only drown if he keeps on running. He’s expecting sacrifice, but instead of sacrifice, he receives forgiveness. Jesus comes back hundreds of years later and explains.

While God sent a fish to wait for Jonah, God also sent grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Even when Jonah threw himself into the storm, God waited for him with the provision he needed.

But Jonah received forgiveness because Jesus threw himself into the storm for him. He consumed all of God’s wrath. Jonah found grace in the belly of the fish. Jesus drowned for Jonah.

When you receive what Jesus did for you and reorder your life according to His love, plan, grace, and mercy, only then will you have identity transformation. It’s not something you achieve, it’s something you receive.
]]> Trusting God With The Outcome https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/19/trusting-god-with-the-outcome Wed, 19 Aug 2026 07:56:35 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/19/trusting-god-with-the-outcome
The perfect family photo never works out the way you want – Instagram vs. reality. We go into family photoshoot sessions with a little stress, but a lot of expectations about the outcome.

In church, we talk a lot about control. We talk about how we’re not in control, that we need to give God control, and that we need to trust God with it. Some of us are happy to relinquish control. We’re happy when someone else takes the initiative.

But what really matters to us isn’t the control, it’s the outcome.

  • I do X so that Y will happen.
  • I have the conversation, so they’ll change.
  • I parent correctly so my kids turn out “correctly.”
  • I work hard so I’ll succeed.
  • I pray so that God will fix this.

And when Y doesn’t happen, we’re devastated. It even causes us to question God.

Why?

Because we weren’t simply being faithful, we were making a deal with the outcome.

Have you ever given a gift where the other person didn’t respond the way you thought they should? Or maybe someone gave you a gift where you suddenly discovered it was as much or more about your response than the gift?

Living a faith-driven life looks different.

  • I do X because X is what God asked me to do.
  • I tell the truth because it’s right.
  • I love because Jesus told me to love.
  • I forgive because I’ve been forgiven.
  • I persevere because God is faithful.

Outcome is God’s responsibility.

James 4
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

The first thing we do with outcomes is assume them. He has the whole thing mapped out, and at the end, you find the outcome. But who’s nowhere to be found? God.

We confuse our responsibility with God’s sovereignty.

James isn’t criticizing planning or looking ahead, you should do those things. But sometimes we need to slow down or wait, and sometimes that means taking a step of faith, but not in the direction you want.

You can make the plans, but you need to hold loosely to what comes out of them, and trust God with the outcome.

Proverbs 16
9 A man plans his way, but the Lord orders his steps.

We plan, God laughs. God gets the final word.

James 5
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Our certainty is in an outcome, but now it’s wealth – money.

We might see the word “wealth” and think this doesn’t apply to us, but it does. Money isn’t the issue, the level of confidence you have in your faith is. James says what we all subtly know – whatever you think it gets you doesn’t last.

James 5
3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

James doesn’t say, “had wealth,” he says, “hoarded wealth.” Right now, the wealth gap has never been wider, the top 1% hold more wealth combined than the bottom 90%, and most people who are objectively wealthy (2%) don’t think they are.

There’s always another rung on the ladder to climb. And as we lock our eyes on that outcome, something begins to happen. We start trying to buy outcomes.

When I have to have a certain outcome, I will eventually start using people to get it.

You can’t control tomorrow, you can’t even control what you have. And you can’t control people to try to make it happen.

So, what can you do?

James 5
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

Real Faith releases the outcome.

Be patient, wait faithfully. We all love being patient (enter sarcasm here). But we are so impatient because the outcome we have our minds and hearts set on hasn’t happened yet. Impatience reveals something that’s in our heart.

“Why hasn’t this turned out the way I thought I should?”

“I did what I was supposed to do – why hasn’t it paid off?”

James uses some illustrations about what being patient and releasing the outcome looks like:
  • The farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop.
Faithfulness is doing what God has given me to do in this moment while trusting God with what only He can do.
  • The prophets who spoke. The moment they opened their mouths, their lives got harder.
Obedience is about doing the right thing regardless of the outcome and trusting God with the rest.
  • And finally, Job. He did all the right things and didn’t get the outcome.
Faithfulness doesn’t guarantee the outcome you want, but faithfulness isn’t resignation, it’s not just passively shrugging your shoulders.

This is about an active trust. Trust that’s a battle every day. It’s not trusting the outcome, it’s not invoking God as a genie in a bottle to get the outcome, it’s about blessing whatever our outcome is.

It’s trusting the character of the God of the outcome.
]]> What Do You Want? https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/11/what-do-you-want Tue, 11 Aug 2026 07:55:25 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/11/what-do-you-want
Type your new text here.
Have you ever ignored your GPS because you were absolutely convinced that you knew a better way? The GPS wasn’t smarter than you because it was more intelligent, it simply had a perspective you didn’t.

It’s amazing how quickly we assume we know better, even though all we can see is what’s right in front of us. And honestly, that’s not just how we drive, it’s how we live.

We think:
  • I know how this conversation should go.
  • I know how this relationship should work.
  • I know what they need to hear.
  • I know what should happen.

The problem isn’t having an opinion, the problem is when your opinion becomes the final word. The problem is when we stop asking, “God, what do You want?” because we’ve already decided, “I know what’s best.”

Why are we so convinced we are right?

Why is it so hard to believe that maybe, just maybe, someone sees something we don’t? We don’t reject God’s wisdom because we are trying to rebel, we reject it because we trust our own more.

That’s the human condition. It’s not just believing we’re right but believing we are the best person to decide what’s right.

It’s hard to follow God’s wisdom when I’m already convinced mine is right.

The Book of Genesis says that Eve saw the fruit as “good for food,” “pleasing to the eye,” and “desirable for gaining wisdom.” She didn’t reach for it because it looked evil, she did because it looked right.

Every time we quietly decide that we know better, know what’s best, and have the best perspective. So, who gets to define wisdom and who has the final Word? God, or us?

Real Faith Lets God Define What Is Wise
No one ever argues with the GPS after they get to their destination, we only argue with it before we know where the road goes. Every wrong turn you take feels like the right one. Nobody wakes up intending to make foolish decisions. We choose what seems wise.

In the Book of James, James doesn’t ask if we want to be wise, he asks, “Who is wise?”

Wisdom isn’t proven by what you claim but revealed by what your life produces.

Humility is what happens when we finally admit that God may see something we don’t.

Real Faith Lets God Define What Is Wise
Wisdom begins the moment we stop assuming we know best.

James 3
14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

With envy and selfish ambition, your life becomes centered around one question, “How do I get what I want?”

James doesn’t call us out on this, rather, he explains that this is “wisdom from a completely different source.”

James 3
15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

It’s either from God or not.

James 3
16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

James says you don’t have to guess where the wisdom is coming from, look at what it’s producing.

Wisdom always leaves fingerprints.

You don’t have to identify wisdom by how convincing it sounds, you identify it by the fingerprints it leaves behind. That’s why real faith lets God define what’s wise. In humility, you’ll know when you’re doing that based on the fruit you see.

Real Faith Examines Its Desires
If God’s wisdom is so much better, why don’t we choose it? Nobody wants the fruit James describes, so why do we keep producing it? The problem isn’t what kind of wisdom you’re following. The problem is what you’re wanting.

James 4
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

He asks, “Where did it come from?” That’s a completely different question. The issues you’re having, and the fighting you’re doing, come from your desires.

Conflict doesn’t create your desires, it reveals them.

James 4
2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James says the problem isn’t simply that you want something, it’s what happens when you don’t get what you want. So, in the middle of conflict, you need to ask yourself, “What do I want right now?” Because underneath the argument, frustration, or fight, there’s usually something you’re reaching for.

Wanting certain things isn’t necessarily wrong, but when you have to have them, they drive you. Our conflicts reveal what we want. They reveal our desires and how misaligned our desires are with God’s.

REAL FAITH EXAMINES WHAT IT WANTS

Every desire isn’t sinful, but every desire is revealing. James is saying that if we’re not careful, even our prayers can become another way of trying to get what we want.

James 4
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

James shifts the metaphor to adultery, and it’s not because he’s changing the subject, he’s actually reached the deepest level of the issue, royalty.

What you refuse to surrender becomes what you worship.

Whatever desire becomes ultimate in our lives is what we worship. So, if you refuse to surrender certain desires in your life, God won’t compete for a throne He alone deserves. Whatever you have on that throne is what you worship.

James 4
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Our desires may be strong, but He gives more grace.

Our pride may run deep, but He gives more grace.

We’ve spent years insisting on our own way, but He gives more grace.

God doesn’t expose what’s in our hearts just to push us away. He exposes it so we can bring it to Him.

Real Faith Returns to God
James 4
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

There are numerous actions, yet James tells us to respond in only one way. Turn around, repent, and come back.

REAL FAITH RETURNS TO GOD

Everything James gives us to do comes out of the first thing He says: Submit yourselves to God.

Submission is deciding God gets the final word before I know whether I’m going to like His answer.

God should be the one defining wisdom, sitting on the throne, and getting the final word.

James 4
11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Every time we insist on being the judge, we’ve forgotten we aren’t the King. That’s the issue. You don’t need the final word, to win, or to be the Holy Spirit in someone else’s life. You need to let God be God, examine what your heart really wants, define what is wise, and then submit yourself to Him.

James 4
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you…

James doesn’t simply say, “Stop wanting things.” He says, “Come near to God.”

All the desires you’re after, they’re actually found and met in the presence of God. That’s why James doesn’t just call us away from something. He calls us toward Someone.

The invitation has always been and will always be, “Come closer.”
]]> Watch Your Mouth https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/03/watch-your-mouth Mon, 03 Aug 2026 11:41:48 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/08/03/watch-your-mouth
We all remember being a child, going to the doctor, and having to open our mouths, stick out our tongues, and say, “ahhhh.” As children, what we didn’t understand was that the doctor wasn’t looking at our tongues. What the doctor was looking for was what our mouths showed that could be affecting somewhere else.

In the Book of James, we see James giving us the same type of instruction. And the problem is that most of us don’t think there’s anything wrong with our mouths. We have diagnosed everybody else’s mouths, but we have trouble seeing ours.

We have an incredible ability to minimize our words.

When something comes out of us that we regret, we usually try to convince ourselves that it isn’t that big of a deal. We tend to treat our words as isolated mistakes, whereas Scripture treats them differently. Scripture sees them as revelations of what’s going on in our hearts.

Our first instinct is to defend ourselves, but what if we became curious instead?

Luke 6:45
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Eventually, what's inside comes out.

One of the easiest ways out is through the mouth, and if our words really do reveal what’s going on inside, then our tongues have more power than we realize.

James 3
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

We all struggle with this and need to come to terms with that very reality. We all stumble. We all need Jesus.

The word perfect in verse 2 doesn’t mean flawless, it means mature or complete.

Real Faith Owns Its Words
James 3
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 

James gives us two pictures. A bit and a rudder. Both pictures prove the same point.

Something small can determine the direction of something much larger.

That small thing is our tongues. Words go somewhere, they steer. Your words can steer your marriage, your children, your friendships, or your church.

The scary fact about a bit or rudder is that you don’t have to turn it very far to eventually end up somewhere completely different.

Words can do that. But the opposite is true too!

  • You can change someone’s week by saying, “I’m proud of you.”
  • You can impact a child forever by saying, “I believe in you.”
  • You can break a vicious family cycle by saying, “I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
  • You can bring healing by saying, “Will you forgive me?”

Where are your words taking the people closest to you?

And James isn’t done yet because the tongue doesn’t just have the power to direct something. It has the power to destroy something.

James 3
5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Again, James takes the gloves off and tells us that something said in ten seconds can take ten years to undo.

There’s a destructive power within words that forever can change the course of your life, how you see yourself, and what you say “yes” and “no” to. Everything can be impacted by a few words, and they can destroy you.

And it’s not just what is said, it’s how it is said.

You can say the right words with the wrong heart.

Our tongue isn’t just the words we use, it’s the tone we use to deliver them. It’s not what you say, but how you say it.

Remember, we have an incredible ability to minimize our words because we can say things that on the surface aren’t destructive, but the way we use them is like atomic bombs that destroy people’s lives.

What makes it worse is that when we say these destructive things, we usually have a pretty good excuse.

  • “I was joking.”
  • “I’m just being honest.”
  • “That’s just my personality.”
  • “I’m sarcastic.”

The problem with those explanations is that they focus on intention instead of the impact of the words. If you get into a car accident but explain to the person you hit that you didn’t mean to, that’s good, but the dent is still there. Intention matters, but it doesn’t erase the impact.

We don’t get to say something destructive and then use our intentions to escape responsibility for the damage.

James 3
6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind

No human being can tame the tongue, and that’s a good thing because our hope isn’t human willpower. Our hope is the Spirit of God producing in us what we cannot manufacture ourselves.

Your tongue reveals the heart that Jesus wants to transform.

This is a heart issue, not a mouth issue. This is an overflow of what’s inside of you.

Real Faith Goes to the Source

It’s not about encouraging yourself to stop complaining, it’s about asking why you are so discontent. He doesn’t want to make a better version of you, He came to make you new.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Not an upgrade, not a better model of your old self – a NEW creation.

The same Jesus who forgives what has come out of your mouth is able to transform the heart from which it came. It’s not about pointing out our flawed behavior, it’s about pointing it out to Jesus and telling Him that’s where we need His grace.

James 3
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

We sing, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and then declare, “Great is My Annoyance.” Out of the same mouth, and sometimes sentence, we bless God and curse people made in the image of the God we just blessed.

The person you tear apart, God made them. We don’t have permission to strip someone’s dignity away just because we’re hurt.

Real Faith Sounds Different
The source isn’t our mouths, it’s our hearts.

Follow your words back to the source.

Stop and ask Jesus, “Why did I say that? What’s going on with me? Where did that come from? What am I afraid of? What am I angry about?”

Doing this starts to show what Jesus wants to heal in our lives.

Imagine a world where gossip wasn’t used as a form of connection, disagreements didn’t become disrespect, and we could have hard conversations without stripping people of their dignity. And not just on Sundays, on every other day that ends in Y too.

We should do this under the guise that Christians are supposed to be nice, but because, at the heart, Jesus is changing the source.
]]> Best Seat in the House https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/29/best-seat-in-the-house Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:14:22 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/29/best-seat-in-the-house
We all have favorite things. Our favorite color, place to eat, sports team, and that’s perfectly normal. However, our preferences go beyond that to people. We all have people we like, and this becomes a problem when the things that draw us to people, including our judgments about them, become pictures of what we think their value is.

We naturally value people by what they can do for us rather than what God says about them.

We don’t simply see people, we evaluate their usefulness. And when usefulness becomes the measure of value, favoritism is never far behind. James challenges us to learn to see people the way God sees them and to see their value the way God sees it.

In the beginning of James Chapter 2, there are a couple of things happening. Many of the early Christians James is writing to are very poor, beginning to experience discrimination, and are looking for relief. The “meeting” is like our church service, the rich man and poor man are guests who don’t know where to sit, and there happens to be a seating chart in order of “importance.”

James makes 2 key points throughout this passage.

  • God’s idea of “rich” is a lot different than ours – Blessed are the poor in spirit. How we interact with people paints a picture of what we believe God is like.
  • We shouldn’t be focused on cozying up with the “in crowd” – What are you hoping to gain from being around people outside of faith who are rich and powerful?

James 2
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

The audience here is largely poor believers scattered by persecution. James isn’t saying every rich person is evil, he’s saying we shouldn’t surround ourselves with people who have historically used their power against us.

They’re exploiting you, openly rejecting you, and ridiculing the name of Jesus. James points out the irony – you’re honoring people because you assume their status makes them worthy of special treatment, but many of those people are the source of your suffering.

Don’t give the best seat to the same value system that’s hurting you.

God repeatedly chooses the people the world overlooks. Not because poverty is inherently righteous, but because God isn’t impressed by the things that impress us. And He calls His people to a different way – not a suggestion, but a law.

James 2
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

The way James says this is interesting. “Royal law” suggests that this is the most important thing, but Jesus had some things to say about it.

Luke 10
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Jesus is telling us that this is the entire Gospel. Everything else comes under and after this. He follows the passage with the parable of the Good Samaritan – the story of an outcast going very much out of his way to aid an injured man who wouldn’t give him the time of day even at full health. One has been made powerless by society, the other by circumstance.

The Gospel levels the playing field.

We can do nothing to earn God’s favor. And He calls us to serve those who can or will do nothing for us. Even when we think we’re better than others, or that others have something (wealth, influence, power), we don’t have what we think we need. God says that’s not true because the field is level.

James 2
9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

If you need to add the endorsement of people, any people, to your Christian faith, and you lean in their direction at the expense of others to do it, your actions show that the Gospel is not enough. It’s not sufficient. You need something more. You’re showing partiality.

When you show partiality, you’ve stepped out from under the Gospel, and you’ve become the judge, not God. The size of the sin doesn’t matter, lawbreaking is lawbreaking. If you crack a glass window with a pebble or shatter it with a rock, the damage might be different, but it’s still broken.

Now, James isn’t saying that all sins have identical consequences. He’s saying that they all reveal the same problem – we all have hearts that don’t align with God’s heart. So, what should we do instead?

The Gospel brings value to those who think they have none and exposes the internal poverty of those who think they have it all.

The Gospel calls us to embrace the value God sees in us through Christ, but then to reject the things the world uses to define value and to measure people's worth.

James 2
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Not FEEL differently, not hope that things will be different, SPEAK and ACT differently.

Judgment = an assessment based on the evidence. You have the opportunity to get, inflict, or win something.

Mercy = compassion, acceptance, or forgiveness despite the evidence. You’re required to give something up or away. He says to speak and act with mercy because you have been shown mercy.

Those who have received mercy should be the quickest to give it.

Remember, one day we’ll stand before God and be shown mercy based on the mercy we showed others. The way you talk to people, treat people, or respond to people. All of it matters.

Think about everything James has exposed:
  • We’ve judged people.
  • We’ve ranked people.
  • We’ve assigned value to people based on the wrong things.
  • We’ve looked at image-bearers and treated them differently.

If God treated us the way we often treat others, we’d be in trouble. But He doesn’t.

God didn’t evaluate your usefulness. That’s the Gospel. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. How God sees people, and you, is how we need to see people.

How do you know if you’re seeing people the way God sees them?

Find someone and give them the best seat.

Give someone your attention, your time, your dignity, your kindness, and your mercy. Even, and especially, when they can’t do anything for you. When they don’t make you look better, stronger, more fashionable, more important, or more impressive.

Go and give someone the best seat because we’ve been given mercy and can now extend it to those around us.
]]> Show And Tell – Christian Style https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/27/show-and-tell-christian-style Mon, 27 Jul 2026 06:00:00 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/27/show-and-tell-christian-style
We all remember show and tell. It might’ve been one of your favorite days of elementary school. Telling everyone about your beloved item was easy, but handing it off for classmates to touch and feel might’ve been more difficult.

It is easy to talk about something while you still control it. Trust begins when you place something valuable in another person’s hands.

We see something like this in the Book of James, Chapter 2. People are talking about their faith, but James wants to know whether that faith has ever caused them to place anything in the hands of Jesus.

Dead faith agrees. Real faith entrusts.

Now, there’s a difference between agreeing with Jesus and trusting Jesus. Agreement states that we believe something is true, trust states that because it is true, we will place our lives on it. Agreement matters, but agreement is only the beginning of faith. Saying something costs almost nothing, while trusting someone may cost everything.

Have I entrusted myself to Jesus or have I only agreed with things about Him?

Real Faith Opens Its Hands to Real Needs
In the Book of James, Chapter 2, James trains us to recognize that dead faith doesn’t always look dead. It sounds dangerous because it is.
  • It can know the words and sing the songs.
  • It can believe the right things.
  • It can even sound compassionate.

Dead faith knows how to talk, but what it can’t do is entrust itself to Jesus enough to move.

James 2
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

A brother or sister lacks the essentials, and the response sounds good, even spiritual. James asks, “What good is a faith that can speak compassion, but never becomes compassion?”

The world will not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

James is not confronting someone who can’t meet every need. He is confronting someone who can meet this need and chooses words instead.

Real faith opens its hands to real needs.

It allows the love of Christ to interrupt our time, loosen our grip, and mess with our schedules to meet a need we could’ve walked past.

We are not saved by good works.
We are saved for good works.

Works are not the root of salvation, they are the fruit of salvation.

Real Faith Gives Jesus the Final Word
James 2
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

He goes straight from, “Your faith might be dead,” to, “Congratulations, you have the same theology as a demon.”

What he’s trying to destroy is the false confidence that just because you know the right things doesn’t mean you possess real faith.

The objections then follow:
  • Your thing is serving, mine is believing.
  • You have deeds, I have faith.

James tells them that faith and deeds are not two different spiritual gifts. He becomes even more direct, saying, “You believe there is one God? Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.”

James is not mocking theology because correct theology matters, but correct theology by itself is not saving trust.

The demons know Jesus is the Son of God. They recognize His authority, know judgment is coming, and respond to His power with fear. Their information is accurate, their allegiance is not.

Real faith gives Jesus the final word.

Trusting in Jesus surrenders the right to tell Him no. Many of us want Jesus as Savior because we need saving. But what about Jesus as Lord? We confuse that with “Consultant.” A consultant advises, a Lord leads.

Jesus will not accept a consulting role in the life He died to redeem.

Real faith gives Jesus the final word – if He loved us enough to die for us, then He is worthy to lead us.

Real Faith Places the Outcome in God’s Hands
James 2
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James calls two character witnesses to the stand: Abraham and Rahab.
  • Abraham is the father of Israel. Rahab is a Gentile woman from Jericho.
  • Abraham has walked with God for years. Rahab is just beginning.
  • Abraham is respected. Rahab has a reputation.

They are so different, yet both are people who don’t know what God will do next but know who God is.

God asks Abraham to place Isaac on the altar. Hebrews tells us he believes God could even raise Isaac from the dead. He does not act because he understands the plan. He acts because he trusts God’s character.

In the Book of Joshua, Rahab is a prostitute in Jericho. She does not know exactly what will happen when Israel reaches Jericho. But she knows enough about God to change her allegiance.

Abraham gives God the final word and places his future in God’s hands. Rahab gives God the final word and places her safety in God’s hands.

Real faith places the outcome in God's hands.

It acts on God’s character when His plan is unclear. It says, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I do know who you are, and that’s enough for me to take a step.”

What are you keeping in your hands?

Maybe it’s something you could use to meet a need, an area where you keep telling Jesus no, or an outcome you’re afraid to release. Everyone has a version of this because we’re all holding onto something. Something we hold tightly because it’s valuable to us.

But you don’t need to decide if you’re going to be a better Christian with what you’re holding, you need to decide whether Jesus can be trusted with what you’re holding.
]]> Don't Just Listen, Take a Step https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/13/don-t-just-listen-take-a-step Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:52:02 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/13/don-t-just-listen-take-a-step
Have you ever watched enough how-to videos on YouTube that you start thinking you could probably do it? If you watch enough cooking videos, you might start thinking you could compete with Bobby Flay, but then someone hands you a skillet. Watching someone cook doesn’t teach your hands how to cook.

Learning is a great place to begin, but a terrible place to stop. Learning prepares you to actually do, it was never meant to replace doing.

And this might be the greatest spiritual danger in the American church because we’ve never had more access to the Word of God than we do right now. The problem isn’t that we’re learning too much, it’s that we’re comfortable stopping there. Access is not the issue, change is.

We can begin confusing exposure with obedience

We assume that because we’ve heard something, we’ve done something, or that because we agree with something, we’ve applied it.

Follow
Sunday is full of information, and we learn so much, then Monday comes, and nothing changes. We think we’re following Jesus, but we’re not. And maybe part of the problem is that we’ve redefined one of Jesus’ favorite words – follow.

Think about the word “follow.” Today we “follow” tons of people online. Following is casual, convenient, and completely on our terms.

We say we’re “followers of Jesus,” but what we really mean is that we like His content. Following Jesus has never meant casually consuming His teaching. It’s always meant to obey and do it.

What happens when hearing becomes a substitute for doing? Why is it so much easier to hear God’s Word than to obey it?

Obedience always costs you something

It’s not that we don’t know what Jesus said, it’s that we know exactly what He said, and we know it’s going to cost us something.

Every time God’s Word calls us forward, it also asks us to leave something behind

Every time we’re faced with that decision, whether we’ll stay comfortable or become obedient, that’s where the gap is created. The gap between hearing and doing isn’t knowledge, it’s obedience.

How To Receive
There’s a process to gardening. You have to pull out the weeds, break up the soil, and prepare the ground to receive the seed. The seed isn’t the issue, it’s the condition of the soil, the foundation.

Before James tells us what to do with God’s Word, he first asks whether we’re actually prepared to receive God’s Word. The issue isn’t that God’s Word lacks power to transform our lives, the issue is whether the soil of our hearts is prepared to receive it.

James 1
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Humility
Have you ever had a direct or difficult conversation with someone and you start by saying, “Now before I start, I don’t want you to get angry?”
  • Be quick to listen
  • Be slow to speak
  • Be slow to become angry

All of those things share a common trait: preparation.

Real faith prepares

James says: Come to the Word of God and God’s direction in your life with the same posture. Lord, what do You want to say? Lord, you have the floor, I’m listening.

James tells us we need this approach because if we don’t, we don’t become people who can receive what God has for us. Real faith begins when we stop arguing with God’s Word long enough to let it speak to us.

Therefore
A good rule in studying the Bible is that anytime you see “therefore,” go find out what it’s “there for.” How do we prepare to receive the Word humbly?

James 1
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

First remove, then accept. You can’t do one without the other. Our hearts were never meant to be storage units for two competing voices. You can’t cling to your sin and fully receive God’s Word simultaneously.

James uses strong language here: moral filth and the evil. He’s describing anything in our lives that competes with God’s authority and voice. This means we need to get rid of the obvious sins in our lives that make the news every night and then get rid of the ones that no one knows about.

Sin in our lives isn’t just open rebellion against God’s Word, it’s a reasonable explanation for why we think some things are okay when Scripture tells us they’re not.

James 1
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Mirrors
When you get ready in the morning, do you do it without a mirror? Probably not. Imagine getting ready for church without a mirror, then heading over to the mirror, only to see a project. Then imagine walking away and doing nothing about it. The mirror isn’t the problem, ignoring what it showed you is.

Real faith responds

Don’t just look into the mirror and admire it, do what it says.

James 1
 22 Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James doesn’t say you’ve fooled other people. He doesn’t even say you fooled God. He says you’ve fooled yourself.

Self-deception is the hardest deception to spot

You can’t see clearly because you’ve distorted the truth for yourself. The real danger isn’t ignoring the mirror, it’s thinking you responded when you really didn’t. That’s self-deception.

James 1
25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Real faith reveals itself

Chatter & Compassion
The first place you’ll see God’s Word is in your words.

Luke 6
45 Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Your words are a window into your soul. But it also changes how you see people, widows, and orphans. Widows and orphans because in James’ time, they represented the most vulnerable people in society. And today, we still have widows and orphans. But James isn’t asking us to identify broken people like they’re projects, He’s asking us to move towards vulnerable people.

If we want to live out a religion that God accepts, we need to be a people who embody love towards those who are vulnerable or in need of relationship. Become a family where someone doesn’t know what family feels like.

Character
In verse 27, James isn’t talking about isolation, he’s talking about the world's influence on us. If someone spent a week with you, would they conclude your life is being shaped by Christ or cable news?

God’s Word changes what comes out of your mouth, who you move towards, and who you become.

Stop trying to prove your faith and go practice it

It’s almost as if James is saying that he doesn’t want to hear another sermon, he wants to see one. God is calling you forward, which means there’s probably something you need to leave behind.

When we obey God’s Word, that’s how real faith grows. And it’s not in one giant leap, but one obedient step after another.
]]> When Life Hits https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/07/when-life-hits Tue, 07 Jul 2026 12:06:28 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/07/07/when-life-hits
A porch doesn’t prove itself while you’re building it, it proves itself when it starts carrying weight. No blueprint ever says “tested under pressure,” that’s learned later. The test always comes after it’s built, and faith works the same way.

Sunday is where we talk about trusting God. Tuesday is where we find out if we actually do.

If we’re honest, this is where many of us struggle with faith. We struggle because we’re planners. The problem is life doesn’t always cooperate with the plan. And that’s what leads us to find out what our faith is actually resting on.

Most of our spiritual growth doesn’t happen in the moments we planned for

When things get heavy or outside of our control, there’s a default question we ask, “God, why is this happening?”

James invites us to ask a much better question: “What is God producing through this?”

When life becomes difficult, with trials, suffering, and a loss of control, we assume that God has left. The problem with that is that faith was never meant to give you control over your circumstances.

When life becomes difficult with trials, suffering, and losing control, we assume that God has left. The problem with that is that faith was never meant to give you control over your circumstances. It was meant to give you confidence in God when your circumstances are beyond your control.

Who is James?

James is one of the key leaders of the early church in Jerusalem, but before that, he was Jesus' brother. What’s even more interesting is that James didn’t believe Jesus was Jesus until after the resurrection, which changed everything.

James has a very direct personality, and he’s writing to Christians who have been scattered because of persecution, and he certainly doesn’t begin by promising that God is going to fix all of it. He begins by teaching them how to endure it.

James 1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

Perspective
James is not saying that trials are enjoyable, that pain is good, or that suffering doesn’t hurt. Christians shouldn’t deny reality, we should interpret it differently.

Real faith changes its perspective

Why? Why should we change our perspective during trials?

James 1
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 

The key is that joy doesn’t come from the trial, it comes from the knowing. It comes from what you know about God during the trial. The trial reveals what’s there, and God uses the trial to build what’s missing.

That’s why James tells us to let perseverance finish its work. Don’t interrupt what God is producing. Let God finish what He started. That’s maturity. There are 3 verbs James uses in these verses:

  • Consider it joy.
  • Know that God’s at work.
  • Let perseverance finish its work.

These are all passive. James is quietly teaching us surrender.

Wisdom
How do we live through this changed perspective? James answers immediately.

James 1
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

He tells us to ask for wisdom. Why? Because wisdom is what you need when life is no longer under your control.

Wisdom is knowing how to live faithfully when you don’t have all the information

We want explanations, but we need to stop asking God to tell us what He’s doing, and it’s because we actually don’t realize what we’re asking.

When we ask God to reveal what He’s doing all the time and why he’s doing it, we’re asking God to grant us the power and personality of God without needing the person of God. We need to ask for wisdom because He’ll give that, generously.

And when you ask for wisdom, ask for it wholeheartedly. James is talking about divided trust. He calls it being double-minded. A double-minded person wants God’s help without surrendering control. God’s not going to give wisdom to someone who’s asking for it only for their version of faith.

Real faith is humble and submissive. Ask for wisdom because He’ll give it.

What The Trial Reveals
James then takes a strange turn, answering what a trial reveals.

Trials have a way of exposing what we’re trusting

James 1
9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

The thing trials uniquely reveal is whether your life is built on something that won’t endure. For many people, that’s money, so James starts with rich and poor, saying:

“If you don’t have a lot, rejoice!”

“If you have a lot and lose it, rejoice!”

Why?

Both scenarios help us see that money is not a solid foundation to build your life on. It can be taken away. But if you persevere under that kind of trial, if you remain steadfast to God in the trial, the Lord has promised a crown of life to you.

Then James shifts from trials to temptation. In Greek, trial means difficulty or hardship, and temptation means an opportunity to sin. And the reason we need this distinction is that in almost every trial, there’s a temptation to sin.

James 1
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

Every trial eventually presents a temptation, but no one should say, “That’s from God.” The temptation is to look somewhere other than God for life, security, comfort, identity, or relief. Every trial eventually asks you one question, “Where will you run to now?”

When life hurts, where will you go?

When you can’t control the outcome, what will you reach for? What coping mechanism do you reach for?

James 1
14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

James says, “It’s enticing, it looks good.” Be careful of the life cycle here.

Desire leads to sin. Sin leads to death.

Don’t be deceived. Temptation doesn’t come from God. What does God come from?

James 1
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

So underneath every trial, there’s one question: Do you still believe that God is good? If you do, you can endure almost anything.

That’s the challenge behind this passage. We read it quickly and think James is asking whether we can handle suffering or surrender control, but he’s actually asking whether we believe God is good.

It’s time to ask yourself… Where is your faith carrying the weight right now? James gives you 3 invitations.

  1. Change your perspective – If you’ve spent months or years trying to figure out why something is happening or how you get more control around the trial, maybe it’s time to ask, “What is God producing through this?
  2. Ask for wisdom – Don’t ask for another explanation. You don’t need another YouTube sermon or podcast.
  3. Pay attention to what the trial is revealing – Maybe something you’ve been leaning on has been exposed. Maybe God loves you enough to shake what cannot hold you down.

When you build a porch, there’s only one way to find out if it was strong enough. Eventually it has to carry weight. And maybe that’s where you are. Maybe you’ve been wondering where God is, but don’t mistake the weight for God’s absence. The weight may actually be the place where God is doing His deepest work.

God is using this in your life to mature and shape your faith.

The God who is good on Sunday is still good on Tuesday.
]]> The Weight of the World is Temporary https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/30/the-weight-of-the-world-is-temporary Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:11:07 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/30/the-weight-of-the-world-is-temporary
A home improvement job might seem like a great idea at the onset. Then, you start getting to work, and things might get messy. The goal isn’t straight ahead anymore, and that leads to struggle. This is especially true in trying to live our lives out with God.

We know obedience is hard, but we think after taking the step of obedience things will get easier. The world around us lures us with the promise of easy and simplicity, like the red “EASY” button from Staples.

Everything is supposed to be about our lives getting easier, being made easier. From DoorDash to smartphones, this is a promise offered to us that always has a price tag, a transaction. Have you ever noticed that life doesn’t get easier, even with all those things?

Trust vs. Weight
Matthew 11:30
My yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Any of us would take easy and light in a world where everything seems heavy and hard. But what it doesn’t mean is, “Do what I say so your life is simple.” It’s very different.

My way is BETTER, and the weight of it is temporary

That seems to make much more sense in our life experience. Following God is rarely easy and sometimes feels really heavy.

This isn’t a trust issue at the outset, it’s a weight issue. We trust God with the call, we just struggle with the consequences, especially when things get confusing, disappointing, or messy. When we feel the weight, it causes us to question, which erodes our trust.

When we understand how God works, even if we aren’t sure what He’s doing, it can help build trust rather than weaken it. Instead of confusion when it comes to the what, when, and how, you get clarity when it comes to who (God is) and you (the part you play).

In the story of Abraham and Lot, in Genesis 13, Lot is Abraham’s nephew. They’re both wealthy, they both followed the call, the herds are growing, the land can’t support them both together in the same spot, the families are fighting, and God’s promise seems like it simply has produced problems and not a lot of payoff.

The natural response is to protect what you think was given to you, even if you think it was given by God. Don’t just hold onto the WHO of the promise, hold onto the WHAT.

The Promise
What’s the thing you’ve been given that you guard?

Genesis 13
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

Lot is younger, the beneficiary, not the one who should have been given a choice. Lot goes and grabs what looks like “the promise.”

If God gave the promise, God can preserve the promise

Hold onto the promise with trust.
]]> God Forms Us Most on Monday Mornings https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/23/god-forms-us-most-on-monday-mornings Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:09:35 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/23/god-forms-us-most-on-monday-mornings
Most of us don’t wake up on Monday mornings, smile, and exclaim, “What a great time to be alive!” We’re hit with stress, time crunches, deadlines, kids, emails, or anything that makes us want to rip our hair out.

But we’re faced with bigger things too. And when we follow God and then run into all these obstacles, not only does it demoralize, drain, and distract us, but it also causes a small crisis of faith.

What if we heard God wrong? What if we’re doing it wrong?

Our culture doesn’t help because everything in it points to a faulty idea that a good life, the right life, is a succession of big moments – mountaintop to mountaintop. But our lives aren’t like that.

What if Monday morning isn’t an obstacle to God’s call, but part of it? What if it’s not opposing us, but shaping us? What if it’s not a sign of getting the call wrong, but getting it right?

We are drawn to the mountaintops and milestones, but God forms us most on the Monday mornings.

At the end of Genesis 12 and into 13, there’s a lot going on. This was after God’s great call and promise a few verses before.
Leave your country, go to a land I will show you.
  • I will make you a great nation, I will bless you.
  • Who you bless, I will bless, who you curse, I will curse.
  • You’ll make a huge impact, and all people on earth will be blessed because of you.

Who wouldn’t want this? Even if there’s risk and uncertainty, we’d all probably take the chance. So, Abram gets up, heeds the call, and takes the big step. Then… Monday morning comes.
Famine hits the land.
  • Moses lies.
  • They bounce from place to place.
  • Conflict breaks out close to home.

There are the wide-open moments where we have a sense of the grand design of things, the big picture:
When you find the love of your life.
  • The first time you hold your children.
  • When your vision makes a difference.
  • Those sacred moments at the end of something and the beginning of something else.
  • When you feel connected to something or someone.

But a lot of our lives are lived in the “Monday morning:”
  • Putting out the latest fire.
  • Dealing with the result of cutting corners.
  • Getting kids out the door.
  • Navigating uncertainty.

In all of these moments, the bigger picture of calling and purpose gets lost. It doesn’t seem applicable or relevant. There’s no time or energy for it. It’s the last thing on your mind.

What if God is Building You?
God uses Monday mornings to build something in you that you need for the calling. The question isn’t, “What is God saying?” The question is, “What are you going to do now?”

Romans 5
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us.

We hear or feel God's call. The big moments. That’s hope. But right next to it is something we don’t expect. Suffering.

This speaks to the physical suffering of following the call of Jesus. But suffering is more basic than that. It’s when our expectations for how we thought things were going to go aren’t met. It’s obstacles, frustrations, distractions, things that feel physical, emotional, or even spiritual. At the moment, we have a choice – become cynical or fight for hope.

But then Paul says something we don’t expect, and that’s how suffering, when we’re grappling with the aftermath of a call, leads us somewhere.

Perseverance leads to Character leads to Hope

These are things that we need to live out the call of God, and they’re things we don’t develop any other way. They’re not big moments, they’re becoming (and staying) faithful through thousands of small decisions.

How Do We Live it Out?
We have to develop a cold-blooded commitment to God's calls in our lives. On the day you’re not feeling it as much as on the day when you are, keep moving. On your worst day as much as your best day, keep moving. During opposition, suffering, uncertainty, or setbacks, keep moving. On Monday as much as Sunday, keep moving.

Hold onto the WHAT of God’s promise or call tightly – Hold the when, where, how, and why loosely.

We want revelation, God gives repetition. Our problem isn’t that God hasn’t spoken, it’s that we haven’t built Monday around what He said on Sunday.

Understand that your Monday mornings matter the most

Monday mornings aren’t obstacles or missteps, they’re what makes the call itself possible. Give oxygen to the fact that this is hard.

Wherever God has already spoken (marriage, family, generosity, serving, forgiveness), keep showing up

It’s not about one great moment – one vacation, trip, experience, new toy, or big thing. We aren’t formed by a moment, but by the presence, repetition, and faithfulness. Keep showing up in the small things and remember the importance of your Monday mornings.
]]> What Happens in the Gap? https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/16/what-happens-in-the-gap Tue, 16 Jun 2026 08:06:01 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/16/what-happens-in-the-gap
Have you ever ventured onto the high dive at your local pool? If you have, you’re not afraid of heights or water, but how about that space in between? The space between jumping and landing.

This depicts our faith journey, as well. We can exist at our starting point even if things are less than ideal – our past, pain, questions, struggle, or the need to move forward. We can see a future where things are different and life makes more sense. We see growth, change, greater impact, and purpose. We’re even okay with temporary discomfort.

So, what stops us from acting in faith?
  • Uncertainty – We can’t see a clear path from here to there.
  • Loss of Control – We can’t control the sequence, direction, or pace of events between here and there.

There’s usually a gap between acting in faith and seeing anything happen

This is what puts us in a place of uncertainty and loss of control, and despite our faith in God, many of us experience great discomfort with the gaps.

Jumpers and Waiters
We talk a lot about faith and taking faith-filled risks, stepping out for God, and, at the same time, still waiting on God. These two things seem to be at odds. So, which is it? When do we wait? When do we move?

To answer this, you need to ask yourself if you’re a jumper or waiter.

Jumpers are the ones who run ahead, while waiters are the ones who hesitate to move. The problem is that you can spiritualize both. Many of us have stood on the high dive of life, facing a gap looming before us. How do we respond? What do we do next?

Thankfully, we’re not alone in our struggles with facing the gaps in our lives. We have God. Consider the story of Abram. Abram was a wealthy, successful man, with generational wealth and a very comfortable life. Yet his wife Sarai is barren. Abram receives a call from God.

Genesis 12
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

God promises a destination and descendants but hasn’t shown how either of these are going to happen. God asks Abram to abandon his home for a promised, but unseen new home. This isn’t like moving to a new state. God is unknown to these people. If the promise is to come to pass, it will be supernatural and require a LOT of faith.

For you, it may not be as dramatic, but God calls us to leave comfortable places and to follow Him in faith. To wait on Him, depend on Him, then walk with Him.

We want God to speak, explain, and guarantee before we obey. All we get before we need to obey is God speaking, with His reveal coming after we obey. This is what faith is all about.

Hebrews 11
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

God Speaks After We Move
Genesis 12
7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

How does God call you into the gap?
  • Out of a place of strength into a place of weakness – God rarely truly works from our strengths unless we’ve been humbled first.
  • Out of a place where we feel big into a place where we feel small, and God has to be big.
  • Out of a place of control into a place of uncertainty. Walk towards our fears, not away, where we must release our control rather than try to keep it.
  • Out of a place where we’re defined by accomplishing into a place where we’re defined by following. Abraham was a self-made man of high status. He became a nobody when he followed God.

What’s the gap in your life that God is calling you into?
  • Maybe you already feel like you’re in the middle of it.
  • Maybe you’re standing on the edge of it, getting ready to take that first step, whether big or small.
  • Maybe you’re trying to figure out what to do next.

How do you know your gap is from God?

If what God is calling you to doesn’t require Him, it’s not from God. You either need to act or wait. Remember that God calls us to step out in faith, but also wait on him (Jumpers vs. Waiters).

What do you struggle most with? Finding courage or relinquishing control? If you don’t know, ask your spouse or a friend. Both are about facing fear. Fear of the unknown or fear of uncertainty.

We need to lean toward our biggest struggle (act vs. wait) and away from our most familiar impulse.

For the waiters, act. There is no bigger enemy of courage than comfort. Uncertainty doesn’t disappear before the first step of the journey, it only disappears looking back.

You cannot be faithful and remain frozen

For the jumpers, wait. Faith is moving in God’s direction, but sometimes waiting is God’s direction. If your direction is premature action, it’s the opposite of God’s direction.

There’s nothing more active than faithful waiting

Remember, it’s all about having faith in the right places, before, during, and after the call. Many of us had heard about the importance of having faith in Jesus, but did you know that Jesus has faith in you too?

He chose you for the gap that’s in front of you. He chose YOU. Who you are and where you are. He’s with you. You are His best plan to impact the world. You are His first choice.
]]> God Never Gives Up https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/09/god-never-gives-up Tue, 09 Jun 2026 09:19:43 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/09/god-never-gives-up
Because we’ve seen movies and heard the Bible story as kids, and because we know that the Israelites make it to the Promised Land, it’s easy for us to imagine that this is like a television episode, everything gets wrapped up and resolved in 44 minutes.

But that’s not what happened.

Moses comes down from the mountain, and he’s not happy. He throws down the tablets of the Law, grinds the cow into powder, and makes the Israelites drink it in the water. But it gets worse, Moses rallies the Levites (one of the tribes devoted to God), and they kill about 3,000 of their family, neighbors, and friends. They famously had not bowed down to the golden calf and had stayed faithful.

This is something most of us might wrestle with because it seems messed up and very harsh. But this is how serious sin is.

Moses is not the only one upset, God is extremely upset. God promises punishment down the road. It’s the ultimate, “just wait until your father gets home” moment. But then something interesting happens. God still promises an angel to lead them to the promised land.

And even as this is going on, Moses starts pleading with God to relent. Even as judgment is happening, Moses starts appealing to God to be merciful. And God says, “Moses, you and I are good, but I’m done with the rest of them.”

God Feels, God Grieves
In Exodus 33, God tells the people to get moving, but that He’s not going with them because He’s still angry. The people realize they were wrong and are contrite. This is like when you have a big fight with someone, you’ve really blown it, and you come back to them, but they’re still not ready to reconcile.

So, they get on the road again. And although God is not in their midst, He’s still around. As much as God is justified in leaving, judging, or even destroying, He can’t and won’t quit them. He’s never going to give them up.

We don’t make relationship with God possible, God makes relationship with us possible

Exodus 33
9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

His presence is hanging out in this tent. Far outside the camp, but still with them

Sin has consequences AND God is faithful

This goes on for a while, but we see something we wouldn’t expect. Moses starts arguing with God. He actually reminds God of what’s true, and what God had already promised. They go back and forth, and then it seems God changes His mind.

Exodus 33
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

God Shows Up
God shows up, not on the mountain, but in the valley. The place where it makes a difference is where God shows up. And He shows up most powerfully after our failure.
We see that you can appeal to and even argue with God by appealing to His character and promises. This is why it’s so important for us to know what God has promised to us.

Joshua 1:9: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Deuteronomy 31:8 "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God."

And because His nature, character, and faithfulness never change, as followers of Jesus, we can claim these promises too.

Sometimes we might not feel like God is there or that we don’t deserve for Him to be there.

Just because God seems distant, doesn’t mean He’s absent

And some of us can’t imagine a God who wants to be with His people, right in the center of everything in our lives and not just on the periphery. But He does because that’s who He’s always been and who He is.

How do we bring this into our lives?

Know God and set the intention to meet Him.
  • Even when things seem tense.
  • Even when you’ve fallen short.
  • Even when God feels distant.
  • Even when you don’t think God would want to be in the middle of whatever your life is.
  • Even when things are good.

How do we do this?

Create a place and a space. The time doesn’t make the difference, the place doesn’t make the difference, but places and spaces create intention. Being in church on Sundays is intentional, but we can do some form of this daily. Some “tent” where we go to meet with God. We can get to know Him, His promises, His nature, and His faithfulness. We can appeal and even argue. Knowing that He made the relationship possible, and He is never going to give up on you.
]]> A Golden Cow, Idolatry, and God https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/03/a-golden-cow-idolatry-and-god Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:26:14 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/06/03/a-golden-cow-idolatry-and-god
Have you ever gone somewhere with someone who knows it very well? It’s more foreign to you, but they know every turn, every stop, every expected bump along the way. What happens if they disappeared? You’d be lost, longing for something or someone else to fill the void and help you find your way.

That’s where the children of Israel are in Exodus 32. And instead of sitting in the discomfort of uncertainty, they reach for something else.

Human nature is to worship. We are all designed to worship something. The question isn’t whether you worship, it’s what you worship, and there’s potential danger in that.

Most of us don’t realize what we’re worshipping until it gets threatened

The thing might not just be important to you, it might be functioning as “god” for you. It might be sitting at the center of your life. And whatever sits at the center of your life doesn’t just shape your behavior, it shapes your affection.

So idolatry is never just about having the wrong priorities, it’s relational. We are giving something else the trust and affection that were meant for Him.

Idolatry is what a good thing becomes a god thing

When we give the ultimate trust, love, value, or dependence on something other than God, that’s idolatry. It’s looking to something other than God to give us what only God can provide. But the problem underneath idolatry isn’t rebellion, backsliding, or paganism, it’s impatience.

Israel didn’t build a golden calf because they stopped believing God existed. They built the calf because they got tired of waiting for Him.

When you don’t trust God’s timing, you replace Him

I Don’t Know
Exodus 32
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

As a parent, you constantly ask, “Who did this?” And almost immediately you’re greeted with an “I don’t know.” And it usually doesn’t mean ignorance, it means discomfort. And in verse 1, they actually do know, but don’t have a timetable on it.

As Christians, we sometimes do the same thing. We hit a season when God feels slower than we want, less visible than we want, or harder to understand than we want, and suddenly we start talking like we don’t know things we absolutely do know.

When we’re uncomfortable, we start saying things based on how we feel rather than on the eternal truth about God. When you do that often enough, you start to believe it, and the world around you does too.

We need to be a people who embrace the tension of how we feel and who God is

This holds truth and emotion together. It’s honest and brings both insecurities and faith to God. “I don’t know,” is where idolatry starts creeping in.

The Calf
Exodus 32
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Why a calf?

In the ancient world, calves and bulls symbolized strength, fertility, stability, power, and divine authority. They were creating a symbol of a god they could see, carry, and control.

We do this too. These people didn’t think they were abandoning spirituality, they were just reshaping God into something more manageable and emotionally satisfying.

Good Gifts
There’s a small detail we miss. They were slaves, so where’d they get the gold earrings? God. And then in Chapter 32, they take the gold they were given and turn it into a golden calf. Confusion and impatience will make you misuse the thing God gave you.

You can turn a good gift from God into an idol that replaces Him

The very thing God gave them as evidence of His faithfulness and provision became the thing they used to avoid trusting Him. When you look to something besides God for security, identity, or stability, that thing can start replacing Him.

God+
But it’s not just replacing God, it’s also adding to Him.

Exodus 32
4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Idolatry is rarely God or, it’s God +.
  • God + financial security
  • God + political party
  • God + control
  • God + my own plan

This is problematic because God loves us too much to share our hearts with something that cannot save us. And what makes this even crazier is where they’re doing this. On the base of the mountain. And what’s on the top of the mountain? The cloud was still there. The fire is still there. The presence of God hasn’t left.

You can be in the right place and place your trust in the wrong thing

And this is what makes idolatry so dangerous and sobering – proximity doesn’t equal trust.

God Feels
How does God feel about this?

Exodus 32
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.

God is upset. Up until now His language has been, “I am your God,” and “You are my people.” Now these people belong to Moses.

Exodus 32
8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

God feels, He’s grieving here. He’s deeply angry and personally affected because idolatry isn’t merely rule-breaking, it’s relational betrayal.

Exodus 32
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.

While Moses is on the mountain receiving covenant instructions, the people are downstairs replacing God. That hurts. This is God feeling the pain of a rejected relationship.

Our relationship with God is not distant or detached – it’s deeply personal

This is why idolatry is a big deal, because God has committed Himself to us in such a deep way that when we replace Him, we are not only breaking the command, we’re breaking relationship and His heart.

But then something incredible happens.

Exodus 32
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. 

Even after rebellion, idolatry, and after the people replaced Him almost immediately, He relented. That means God ignored their sin. It doesn’t mean their idolatry didn’t matter because judgment still comes, but God is merciful.

God’s mercy is deeper than your failure

God refuses to simply discard His people. God doesn’t just start over, even though He has every right to. His mercy is deeper than our failure. And because of our sin and idolatry, we deserve the consequences of replacing God with lesser things.

Ephesians 2
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

That’s the Gospel. Jesus took on the judgment we deserved so that we could receive the mercy of God that we could never earn. The cross is God’s way of telling us that although we wander, replace Him, or have a heart that drifts, He’s still pursuing us. And that alone is enough for us to return.

We need to stop running to lesser gods and come home to the God who sees us, pursues us, lovingly confronts us, forgives us, and calls us back to Him.
]]> Anger is a Sign That Something Needs to Change https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/27/anger-is-a-sign-that-something-needs-to-change Wed, 27 May 2026 08:17:58 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/27/anger-is-a-sign-that-something-needs-to-change
A lot of us think we aren’t angry people, but there’s more to what anger looks like and how it affects us than we realize. It’s said that anger is a secondary emotion, an indicator of something deeper that’s going on, but it’s not a strategy for lasting change. It has to lead you somewhere better.

Your feelings are great indicators, but horrible advisors

They’re telling you something, and you should listen to them, but how to act in the moment probably isn’t what they are telling you.

Numbers 20
In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

Miriam was Moses’ sister, so his world is rocked. At this point, people had been wandering the desert for 40 years because they did not believe God’s promises. This is the second time the people had been to Meribah. The first was a year or two before, in an account we see in Exodus 17.

And there is no provision, again! God had provided in the past, but the same constant uncertainty continues, and it’s exhausting. Taking one step of faith can be hard, these people have had to do multiple. Two years later, not only have the people had enough, but Moses has had enough too.

It is possible to be in the center of God’s will and still be in the center of a lot of problems

Numbers 20
10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff.

Anger will invite you to try to become god in a situation where God needs to be God
Anger begins with feeling a loss of control that leads to frustration and then reaction. There’s a point at which things or your expectations need to change. The last time, they also got water from the rock, and God commanded Moses to strike the rock only once, that time.

God used the rock as a sign – to point to the Messiah who was to come.

1 Corinthians 10
4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

That first striking was symbolic foreshadowing of Jesus’ death. God’s purpose was that there was only one striking of the rock to foreshadow what was to come.

Sometimes, obedience is participating in what God is up to when you don’t understand it. And if you give in to frustration, you’ll miss it

There’s the thing we think our circumstances or what we’re facing is about, but God is at work in a completely different way – a bigger one that we may not even understand yet, or ever. That takes faith! This perspective reminds us that God is in control, while anger is always a level of perception in which we’ve lost control.

Our need for control assumes that no one else is in control or that the one in control can’t be trusted with the situation. There may be something that God is calling you to right now that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

There can be long-term consequences to your short-term reactions
Moses came seeking an answer, and God gave one. Speak to the rock, not strike. But Moses does something else instead. He speaks to the people in a way that causes a loss of respect for himself, because they look to him not to be like them and to lead them somewhere better.

People are looking to you. Your family, friends, neighbors, or kids. And they’re looking to us to respond differently from how others have. We’ve all said something in anger, and we know the instant it comes out, it was the wrong thing to do. It feels so good to shout those words or slam that thing down, and it’s a release, but the wrong one. In the moment, it feels justified, but then the consequences hit.

Numbers 20
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

Because of this seemingly small thing, there’s a big consequence for Moses and Aaron. They don’t get to enter the land.

The further along we get in life, the greater the impact of our response in the small moments

Anger is created by God as part of our humanity, and it can be good. But that depends on what we do with it, where we channel it, whether we let it in the driver’s seat.

Anger is an opportunity
Anger is a sign that something needs to change, an opportunity to reflect on ourselves to determine whether we need to change, and a powerful motivator to see things change.

Some of the greatest movements against injustice have started with anger. Some of the greatest changes we can make in our own lives begin here, too. But they can’t end there.
For us, it’s an opportunity to respond differently, redemptively. Anger has power, and it can be used for good or bad.

  • Anger is a secondary emotion – Why are we angry? When we get angry, we need to take a step back and figure out what’s really going on.
  • Anger needs proper release – You need to let it go the right way, otherwise, it will mess you or others up. It can cause you to sin.

But remember, this is not all on you.

God is still faithful to us, even when anger gets the best of us

Water still comes from the rock. He still provides. And we don’t do this alone on our own strength. When we take a step in God’s direction, He meets us so much more than halfway with both His presence and power.
]]> Is This What “Rest” Looks Like? https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/19/is-this-what-rest-looks-like Tue, 19 May 2026 09:57:40 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/19/is-this-what-rest-looks-like
If I can just get through this stage, this phase, this season, then it will be ok. But what if the “then” never comes? Because the moment one thing finishes, another takes its place. It’s not that we don’t want to rest, it’s that we feel like we can’t. What makes this hard for us isn’t theology, it’s reality.

Our lives are so busy, with so many things to do. And it’s not just the responsibilities and activities that keep us from rest, because most of us get a vacation. But even when we do stop, we don’t actually rest. Our bodies might slow down, but our minds don’t. Our souls don’t.

This goes deeper than having busy schedules because the issue isn’t just that we have a lot to do, it’s that we don’t know how to stop anymore. We are a society of driven people, and there is something good in that. But we just keep going. Not because we have to but because something inside of us tells us we can’t stop yet.

Eventually, you have to ask, “Where’s that coming from?”

When Israel came out of Egypt, they were physically free, but internally, they still thought like slaves. We are similar. Even though no one is standing over us with a whip, a lot of us still live as if everything depends on us. We are terrified that if we stop, everything will fall apart.

Sabbath confronts this. Sabbath confronts the belief that value comes from output, the need to control everything, and the fear that everything depends on you.

If you can't stop, you're not free.

Because slaves can’t stop. This is because when Scripture talks about rest, it’s not talking about finally collapsing because you got everything done.

Biblical rest is choosing to stop before you’re finished and trusting God with what’s left undone.

This is why Sabbath is so hard. There’s always more you could do. If rest only comes when everything is finished, then none of us will ever rest. But the Sabbath is God’s invitation into a different way of living.

Sabbath Gives Life
At the end of Exodus 16, God is speaking to the people, and He’s not coming up with something new, He’s calling back something that’s been there from the beginning.

Genesis 2
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

God rests, not because He’s tired, but because He’s setting a rhythm. When God does something, there’s always a why. He blessed it and made it holy. Is there anything else in the creation story that God blessed?

Genesis 1
22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

When God creates life, He blesses it. The interesting thing here is that God blesses something that isn’t a thing – it’s not an animal or a person, it’s a day. God blesses time. That means there’s a part of your week that God has designed to be blessed or set apart – holy. It’s not like the others. It’s different. How? It’s meant to give life.

Sabbath is Trust in Action
In Exodus 16, God gives a command to the children of Israel.

Exodus 16
21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

On the sixth day, they are to get twice as much.

Why?

Because on the seventh day, there won’t be any manna. No gathering. Just rest. This is how God works. He provided for them before He commanded them to trust Him. He’s made provision for the command because He’s given them double. Now they need to live it out.

Sabbath is how we live out the belief that God’s provision is enough.

It’s our trust in God put into action. Sometimes there’s a gap between what we say we believe and what we actually believe. And you can figure out how wide that gap is by how you live, the risk you’re willing to take, and the control you’re willing to surrender.

But faith is always an invitation to live out what we say we believe, and Sabbath highlights this painfully well. God has provided, but now life feels like a constant equation: “Do I have enough time, money, security to actually stop?”

Has God provided enough for me to trust Him to rest?

God’s your provider? Great – prove it. You’re not overworking because you’re chasing success. You’re working because you’re trying to survive. Sabbath is not God saying to drop everything and hope for the best. That’s not faith, that’s chaos.

Sabbath is about having a reoriented heart. A heart that recognizes that God has given you everything you need, and so, we put that belief into action by taking time to stop, set a day apart as holy, and rest. It’s a practice in trusting God.

This is exactly where Israel is. God already provided, and now they have to decide if what He’s given them is enough. If what you have isn’t enough, you’ll keep going.

Sabbath is Remembrance
And it’s something we need to be reminded of again and again. But then in Deuteronomy, the context has changed.

Deuteronomy 5
12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

Because back in Exodus, Sabbath was rooted in creation. Here in Deuteronomy, Sabbath is rooted in liberation. God says, “Remember who you are and remember what I did.” You were slaves! And now? You’re not that anymore.

Slavery doesn’t look like chains anymore.

Societally, exhaustion almost becomes a badge of honor. Even when we’re technically free, internally, we’re still slaves to something.
  • Achievement
  • Expectations
  • Comparison
  • Anxiety
  • Pressure

That’s why Sabbath mattered so much to God. Every time Israel stopped working, they were declaring that Pharaoh didn’t own them anymore, their worth was not based on output, and they trusted God enough to stop.

The Sabbath was never just about physical rest. It was about remembering that we are no longer slaves. You don’t just rest because God created, you rest because God rescued.

Where are you still living like a slave?

What is driving your life right now? Maybe the reason Sabbath feels so uncomfortable is because stopping exposes what’s actually controlling us.

God is inviting us into freedom, which means that somewhere in our lives, we need a rhythm that physically declares, “I’m not a slave anymore.”

Start small, intentional, and don’t overcomplicate this. Pick a block of time, and during that time of Sabbath rest and remember.

Sabbath is Resting & Remembering
Stop working, stop producing, stop trying to get ahead. Not because everything is done, but because you’re trusting God with what isn’t. You don’t need a perfect Sabbath formula. You need a moment where your soul relearns.

Remember that God is the provider, not you. God is sustaining your life, not just your effort. God rescued you, and it is enough.

The worst thing we could do with a message like this is turn Sabbath into another achievement, another thing to master, or another thing to do. That misses the point entirely. Sabbath becomes a declaration that you belong to God now and you’re not a slave anymore.

And because you are free, you can stop.
]]> One Day at a Time https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/11/one-day-at-a-time Mon, 11 May 2026 11:52:32 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/11/one-day-at-a-time
We live in a world where we’re trained to think ahead. Whether it’s retirement planning, kids’ futures, career trajectory, or financial security, we live in a “next” world. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because trying to be ready is responsible and wise, but it’s one thing to think about what’s next and another thing to live there.

A lot of us don’t just plan for the future, we live in the future. So, we don’t just live today, we drag tomorrow into it. We’re constantly trying to make sense and control what’s next so that nothing catches us off guard.

It’s a subtle shift. We go from being responsible and prepared to restless and controlling. Our tendency in life is to rely on the “controlled” in life, and this isn’t because we’re bad people, but because we’re human and we don’t like the feeling of not knowing if we’ll be okay.

We have a hard time trusting a God we can’t see with what we can’t see.

We don’t mind trusting God when we can also see how it’s going to work. And for many of us, that doesn’t feel spiritual, it feels irresponsible because we all want to trust God, but it’s hard to trust what we can’t see.

But what if you could see it?

What if trusting God means something different?

Editing The Past
Have you ever talked with someone who finally left a job they hated as they started their new one? They might have a hard time adjusting to the new position, making them long for the old, reliable one they had, even if they were unhappy.

We don’t miss what was good… we miss what was known.

This is where Israel is in Exodus 16. They’re free but complaining.

Exodus 16
3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

They’re remembering Egypt like it was a buffet!

When the present feels hard, we start to edit the past.

They selectively remember the food, whips, oppression, and the desperate cries to God for deliverance. And before we look down on the Israelites, we have a version of this, too. Slavery always looks better in hindsight when freedom feels hard.

It’s how we look back at scary times of “slavery” in our lives. Times that God brought us out of that we don’t recall as clearly because living in freedom is difficult. Why do we do this? Because freedom comes with uncertainty. We’d rather have predictable bondage than uncertain freedom.

We would rather stay with what is known and prepared than confront the fact that to be free means we’re not in control.

You can be out of Egypt and still think like you’re in Egypt.

We don’t just need God to change our situation, we need Him to change our thinking about it. If we focus on always wanting things to be easy, we will revert to a time when things were more secure, when things get confusing or challenging.

Enough for Today
Exodus 16
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt,

God could’ve given them a week’s supply, a month, or a stocked warehouse in the wilderness. He doesn’t. Instead, He is retaining them to live a completely different way. Not by control, but by trust.

God doesn’t promise us tomorrow’s clarity, He promises to meet our needs today. He’s not telling us to stop planning, working, or using our brains, he’s telling us He will provide. It’s about seeing Him as our source.

Trust
Why does God only give us enough for today?

God will give you enough for today, so you learn to trust Him again tomorrow.

Trust is not built in one big moment. It’s built in a thousand small ones. This is what God is doing with Israel and us. He’s inviting us into a relationship where we experience His goodness, faithfulness, and provision over and over again.

God isn’t just providing for you, He’s forming something in you.

He’s not just meeting your needs, He’s developing a daily rhythm, a practice that sees not just what He gives, but who He is.

Exodus 16
“In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt,

God isn’t just giving them bread, He’s giving them evidence. It’s not just, “God fed us.” It’s, “God is here. God is leading us. God is the one who brought us out.”

If God gave them everything up front, they might enjoy the provision, but they would miss the Provider.

We need to be people who can see and sense God's presence. We need to develop a daily practice of dependence and desperation on God, and on God alone, to supply our needs. It all comes from and is sustained through God.

Have you ever had just enough show up right when you needed it? That wasn’t luck, that was God. We need to recognize when things come from the Lord.

If everything comes from your hands, you won’t learn how to see God’s hand.

If everything we have comes from our achievement, striving, or control, we will never become  people who can see God’s movement in the world and our lives. That’s what God is saying to His people.

This isn’t just about bread. This is about belief. Because those two things are always connected.
  • Grumbling… and knowing.
  • Anxiety… and trust.
  • Provision… and identity.

When we live as if we don’t have, it reveals that we’ve forgotten who God is, because if we truly knew Him, we wouldn’t live as if everything depended on us.

This doesn’t mean life is easy. It doesn’t mean there aren’t real needs, fears, or uncertainty, but it does mean that your response reveals your trust in God.

Hoarding For Tomorrow
Exodus 16
16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

They are told to take what they need for the day and not store it. And what happens? They hoard it or try to stock up. They doubt God’s provision, and it rots. Why? Because tomorrow’s provision only comes from tomorrow. You can’t stockpile what God will give you tomorrow today.

What if we became the kind of people who didn’t live in constant anxiety about what’s next, but actually trusted God enough to live fully present today? Not because life is easier, but because our trust is deeper, if that were available to you, would you want it?

God give me what I need for today. I trust You with tomorrow.

This isn’t just a prayer, it’s a reorientation. It’s choosing trust over control and dependence over self-sufficiency. And what you might start to realize is that God is already providing more than you realized. You just haven’t been looking for it.
]]> What Does Freedom Begin and End With? https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/06/what-does-freedom-begin-and-end-with Wed, 06 May 2026 08:08:16 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/05/06/what-does-freedom-begin-and-end-with
Have you ever moved to a new place? You don’t know where anything is or how to function efficiently on the onset. It can be overwhelming, possibly off-putting, and frustrating. We see some of that in the Book of Exodus. It’s about the Hebrew people leaving slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, and finally getting to the land God promised them.

It’s quite the journey, and quite the story – one that movies are made of. But most of the book is not just about the Hebrew people becoming a new people; it’s about a people trying to figure out how to live in a new place and reality. They try to find their way around, from slavery to freedom.

It took one day to get the Hebrews out of Egypt; it took forty years to get Egypt out of the Hebrews.

As much as that difference between getting to a new place and then learning to live in that place was for them, it’s also for us. Now, most of us don’t feel enslaved. Most of us would say we’re free. But what is freedom?

The world around us thinks that freedom is the absence of boundaries, but that doesn’t bring peace, it brings chaos. It creates consumption and ultimately destruction. Think about what the world would be without restraint, laws, norms, moral expectations, or consequences. Yikes!

You are always bound to something. Freedom is not the absence or presence of restrictions, but the presence of the right restrictions.
~ Tim Keller

We don’t want to be ruled or tied to something, but we’re trading what we think will bring us freedom back and forth all the time. Think about when you get a job. You’re trading your time for something else you think will give you options, freedom, money, or resources.

So, none of us is actually truly free in the sense of having no limits. But what if the way we often live our lives in an effort to find it actually leads us in the opposite direction?

What if true freedom – God’s freedom – doesn’t work the way we think that it does?

God offers it to us, but we not only need to step into it, but we also need to stay there. We need to learn to live there.

The Hebrew people had been slaves in Egypt for around 400 years. God raised up Moses, confronted Pharaoh, there were the 10 plagues, Passover, the consecration of the firstborn, and then the release from captivity. They’re headed out, and God does a strange thing. He tells them to turn back and set up camp at Pi Hahiroth. A place on the edge of the sea, but still in Egypt.

This is the first clue that God’s freedom might not work the way we expect. What seems like confusion to us is actually where God does the mightiest work. What if confusion to God wasn’t the ending point, but rather the starting point?

So, the Israelites pack up and leave. Pharaoh lets them go but then has second thoughts. So, he goes after them with his army.

Exodus 14
…What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services! 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.
When you start trying to live in the freedom God leads you to, captivity will come calling with knives out. But you didn’t set yourself free, God did. He’s leading them out, He’ll lead you out, He’ll stay with you, and because of that, you can stand firm.

But the Israelites don’t do that. They see Pharaoh, his chariots, and his army coming. They immediately forget everything they’ve seen. The provision, the miracles, gone.

Exodus 14
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
It’s part of the human condition that we have very short memories when it comes to God's faithfulness, especially when we’re given what looks like an overwhelming obstacle. This is why we sing about God’s faithfulness, remind each other, remind ourselves, ground ourselves in the truth of God’s word.

When you begin to walk in freedom, there will be things that terrify you and cause you to forget what you’ve already experienced from God. The miracle doesn’t automatically change you. We might think that if we see or experience the big thing, we would be changed forever. But then something else comes and changes you. However, God forms you by standing and staying.

Exodus 14
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

God can deliver you in a moment, but He forms you over time.

When you feel holes emerge in your life, with that sense of tension and anxiety rising because of what you think you don’t have, stand firm. Trust that God will fill those gaps. Stand with Him, stay with Him. He’s there, He never left.

He’ll do the miracle, but maybe not in the way you ever expected. And that’s where we can cling to the good news.

Exodus 14
14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
 
Move on. Keep moving. Step out. Keep becoming. Keep going.

Sometimes we think that if we see the miracle, we’ll move, but sometimes it’s more about listening to God call you to move and then seeing the miracle. In Exodus, they move on, God moves with them, and then they see the waters part.

True freedom beings and ends with faith.

And this isn’t just about Christian faith; it’s about faith in something you don’t yet see. Where do you need to stand firm or stand up? Where might God be calling to you to stay?
]]> Moving from Fear to Confidence https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/04/22/moving-from-fear-to-confidence Wed, 22 Apr 2026 08:54:24 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/04/22/moving-from-fear-to-confidence
Have you ever seen a son or daughter run into the arms of their parent? They run, sometimes almost catapulting into their arms, because they are confident in the response they will be met with. The parent will pick them up every time they are able.

It changes how a child approaches their parent. They don’t approach strangers or even other familiar people the same way because a child knows who their parent is, what the relationship is, how the parent will respond, and that the love is there. It changes everything because the child is secure.

Whether we feel secure is something we love out of. It plays into how we see other people, ourselves, and even God. And what that looks like shapes everything.

When you know where you stand, you have confidence. When you have confidence, you find security.

The problem is that our natural inclination is to view our relationship with God mostly in terms of how it affects us.

Our search for security ends up being a destination rather than a foundation.

Are we secure?
There’s this idea in the American church that Jesus our personal savior, helping us personally. Similar to a therapist, stylist, or personal trainer. The historical church did not use this language. Subtly, our goal becomes getting and maintaining the relationship, rather than where that relationship takes us. But what if that personal relationship is a starting place that takes us somewhere, and not a destination?

The only way it does is if we’re secure.

1 John 5
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

There’s the relationship, it’s how you know if you’re secure or not.

1 John 5
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Televangelists use this verse to communicate their brand of Christianity and what benefits them. It turns God into a cosmic genie or vending machine in the sky.

But it’s not about that.

Have you ever traveled with someone who had platinum status with an airline? You end up in some fancy-named lounge prior to take off with more comfy accommodations than if your traveling partner didn’t rack up a certain amount of miles.

You have elite access to God because of His status and your relationship. Both need to exist for anything to happen.

When we have confidence in our relationship with God, we can address God and the relationship boldly. If you don’t have confidence in your relationship with God just yet, God hears and wants to answer the prayers of His children, according to His will.

What is God’s will?
Matthew 6
33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Follow God’s way of seeing, living, loving, and responding, especially to people. Then live it out. You will discover you have everything you need to do that. Insecurity always pulls us inward. We’ll only move outward when we know we’re secure.

We make approaching God and discerning His will about us and our needs or wants. John gives us a different application.

1 John 5
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.

What’s God really passionate about? Saving people, but also restoring them.

When you know where you stand, you have confidence.
When you have confidence, you find security.
But when you have security, you pray for different things than you did.

Security is not about your relationship or position anymore, it’s about where you go from there.

Confidence always leads us outward to other people.

1 John 5
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

We don’t really think about idols in our modern age. An idol isn’t believing in no God, it’s about believing in the wrong god or in the wrong conception of God. God isn’t a genie in a bottle. Idols end up overwhelmingly being about our sense of security.

So, how do you know the right God? John says it. You stay close to Jesus.

Remind yourself of the relationship you have – who God is and the access you have as His child. Whatever is true, stay close to that, but then go stand in the gap for people. A confident church is an interceding church.

When you don’t feel secure, you ask for protection. But when you’re confident, you ask for opportunity.

You’re not coming to prayer just for you. You’re coming on behalf of others. When we pray, it should move outward, and those are the kinds of prayers God answers.
]]> Why Are We So Afraid? https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/04/15/why-are-we-so-afraid Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:09:02 +0000 https://lhcnj.net/blog/2026/04/15/why-are-we-so-afraid
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night because you heard a noise? The something-is-definitely-wrong-in-my-house noise that ends up being nothing. There’s no real issue, nothing actually happened, but the fear you feel is incredibly real.

It’s strange how something can be completely safe yet still feel completely unsafe. It’s not a moment of panic or crisis, rather a low-grade hum underneath everything. It’s comparable to when your phone is at 12%, you’re not in danger, but you’re not at peace.

For many of us, that hum doesn’t just stay in moments like that, it follows us and leads us to ask:
  • Am I okay?
  • Am I secure?
  • Am I enough?

Now, not all fear is bad. Some fear is actually good, even necessary. Fear can protect you and teach you.

Proverbs 9
10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

But that’s not the kind of fear John is talking about in 1 John 4. He’s talking about a deeper fear. Not the kind that protects, but rather the kind that positions you against people. The kind that pulls back, withholds, distances, protects, or hardens.

We’re living in a moment where this kind of fear is everywhere. It’s not just “out there,” it shows up in the church, too. Fear doesn’t just make you anxious, it makes you guarded.

Why does fear make us guarded?
Genesis 3 is a great example, through Adam and Eve. What happened when they did something wrong? They hid. Why? They’re not sure where they stand with God anymore. And from that moment on, humanity has been asking the same question, “Where do I stand with Him?”

Fear isn’t just emotional, it’s theological.

At the deepest level, fear is telling you what you believe is true about God, and what you believe is true about you. Because underneath all of it is the quiet belief that when we stand before God, we aren’t enough.

Our minds don’t stop there, they go on:
  • If I’m not enough, then I’m accountable.
  • If I’m accountable, then something is owed.
  • If something is owed, then there’s a penalty.

And if there’s a penalty, then judgment is coming. If that question is not settled, fear doesn’t leave, it moves into every space and area in your life. As a result, fear starts to shape And if there’s a penalty, then judgment is coming. If that question isn't settled, fear doesn’t leave, it moves into every space and area of your life. As a result, fear starts to shape everything.

Without realizing it, we start relating to God from a place of uncertainty and insecurity. We believe in Him, we sing to Him, we love Him, but we’re not fully convinced we’re secure in Him.

What does Jesus say about all this?
Jesus didn’t come to help us manage fear, He came to remove it.

Have you ever been driving, minding your own business, when you saw a police car? Your mind and body react like you might be in trouble, even if you’re not. So essentially, you’re acting like you’re afraid of getting a ticket or being arrested for going 3 MPH over the speed limit.

Fear isn’t just about what’s happening, it’s about what we think is coming next. Our fear is connected to something… punishment.

Fear has to do with punishment.

In Greek, punishment means penalty. A debt that must be paid. This is courtroom language. Before a holy God, something is owed because of our sin. And John says that’s what fear is tied to – punishment. Not just what’s happening now, but what you believe is coming later.

1 John 4
17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

Even though we have a debt to pay, we can stand before a Holy God in confidence. How? Because Jesus paid the penalty in full.

Romans 5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

Paul says we’ve been justified. Declared right. Dept paid. Case closed.

Where does our confidence come from?
Our confidence is rooted in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

1 John 4:16
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

Confidence in God comes from relying, not trying.

But finding that confidence is still hard. Why? Because we rely on our effort, not His love. Hebrews tells us that His blood speaks a better word – it speaks the final word on the penalty we deserve, and because of that, we can stand in confidence before Him.

“In this world, we are like Jesus.”

This means we stand before the Father the way Jesus does – fully accepted, connected, and secure.

We now share His Spirit. His life is in us. His standing before the Father has become our standing. It we can stand justified before a Holy God, we don’t have to live like we’re on trial anymore.

What does that mean?

You’re free.

You don’t need approval, control, or to secure your own future. You’re free to give, serve, and move toward people without needing something in return, needing recognition, or calculating the cost.

1 John 4
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

If fear is rooted in punishment, then the only way to remove fear is to settle punishment.

If love moves in, fear moves out.

Not because you forced it out by trying harder, but because something better took its place.

Love kicks fear out of the house. John tells us that when the love of God moves into your life, fear doesn’t get to stay. It doesn’t belong there. Again, not every day, normal fear, but the fear of punishment before God.

Presence changes things.

When His love becomes real to you, present to you, or something you’re actually relying on, it starts to change what lives inside of you.

The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We might read that and think it means if you’re a Christian and you’re afraid, you haven’t been made perfect yet. That’s not what John means. He means that someone who fears punishment hasn’t yet encountered the love of God in Jesus.

1 John 4
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Why does John make the connection between the love of God and us loving people? Because if fear is still ruling your heart, you won’t move toward people, you will protect yourself from people. You will create distance, you will dehumanize, you will dismiss.

When you know deep down that your debt is paid, that doesn’t just remove fear vertically, it removes it horizontally. It doesn’t just give us confidence before God, it gives us love for those around us.

The clearest evidence that you’re actually experiencing the love of God is not what you sing, say, or post, it’s how you love the person right in front of you.
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