Category: Old/New Covenants
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Playing from victory
(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.) “You play from victory, not for victory.” Cooper Kupp, Super Bowl LVI MVP I had to think about it for a while to make sure I heard him correctly. Yes, that was what Cooper Kupp said after the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl victory: “You…
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Find new strength
I fell for one of those internet schemes the other day. You know the ones that sucker you into a 20-minute video where some doctor in a lab coat is revealing the secret to his new-found energy at 75? It started out with something like, “Three simple things you can do for five minutes a…
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The new people of God
It doesn’t make any difference now whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people. May God’s mercy and peace be on all those who live by this principle. They are the new people of God. (Galatians 6:16 NLT) How would you like…
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Carrying around the death of Jesus
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:10 I always thought this sounded kind of gruesome: carrying around the death of Jesus. After being flogged, Jesus would have been a bloody mess. But we’re not hauling a…
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What we have inside
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Who would have thought these verses would have given me so much trouble? Well actually, I wouldn’t have had any trouble had I not been so hard pressed on…
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No Hall of Fame
We are sore pressed at every point, but not hemmed in; we are at our wit’s end, but never at our hope’s end; we are persecuted by men, but never abandoned by God; we are knocked down, but not knocked out. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 paraphrased by William Barclay) Well, by now last week’s series should…
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Perplexed
Perplexed, but not in despair … 2 Corinthians 4:8 This is not about victorious living — this is about ordinary life lived out through the surpassing power of God. It’s not about you (or me). It’s about the all-surpassing power of God through us.
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One a day multiple challenges
One of my favorite passages of scripture is 2 Corinthians 4:8-12. It immediately follows the famous “jars of clay” verse, and confirms why God would want to put a valuable treasure in an ordinary clay pot. But more on that later. First, I need to tell you why we’re here again looking at this passage.…
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It doesn’t matter what your excuse is
A bruised reed He will not break. Isaiah 42:3 I can see it now. Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, goes to the olive grove called Gethsemane taking Peter, James and John with Him, and urges them to “Stay here and watch with me” while He goes on ahead to pray. “My…
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Being the beautiful person that you are
“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t be angry with you right now,” my wife said in the throes of a heated argument. “Because I’m cute,” I replied, hoping to diffuse the tension of the moment, and it did. “Well you do look a little like Bill Murray,” she said, and that’s something I’ve known…
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Evangelical Veil Productions
Chorus: Evangelical Veil Productions Pick one up now at quite a reduction Got all kinds of shapes and sizes Introductory bonus prizes Special quality one-way see-through You can see them but they can’t see you Never have to show yourself again Just released a Moses model Comes with shine in a plastic bottle Makes you…
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The sweet aroma of Christ
We are living in a time of unprecedented fear and instability when news from any source is mostly bad. Outrage is the norm. You’ve got people talking vaguely about dark corners and deep shadows and everyone seems to know what they’re talking about. People are afraid. Kindness is in short supply. Bullies are everywhere. Some…
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Wings to fly
Do this and live the law commands, But gives me neither feet nor hands. A better way His grace doth bring; It bids me fly, and gives me wings. Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.…
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Mission: Reactivation
Recovering and embracing the original purpose of the church. Recapturing the lost experience of discipleship. Reaching the worldwide community. Reactivating the New Covenant Your mission today, and every day, (should you choose to accept it), is to get yourself up out of bed and throw yourself out into the world. That’s right: Get up and get out. This is…
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No cruise control for the New Covenant Christian
Let’s go back to that morning that started off the church with a bang. It all happened in one remarkable day. Estimates say there were roughly 120 believers gathered in Jerusalem during the celebration of the Passover when suddenly there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and what appeared to be flames of…
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Reactivate the New Covenant
The New Covenant is the most important truth about living the real Christian life that almost no one knows about. It runs counter to most of the teaching and assumptions Christians have about being a better person, doing the right thing, being holy, being religious, pleasing the Lord, living the victorious Christian life and I’m…
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‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’
The Catch Ministry was incorporated in 2012 as a CyberChurch when very few recognized the digital dimension could provide faith-based experiences. But people like Peter Herschend, George Barna, JD Schlieman, and Michael McCausland recognized the need to focus on the church. Not the church as it often is, but the church as it originally was.…
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Making God sad?
Jesus loves me, this I know, “… and in the in-between time …” For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak but He is strong. Jesus loves me—loves me still, Though I’m very weak and ill; From his shining throne on high, Comes to watch me where I…
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What does God require?
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:28-29 This is the work God requires: to believe. This statement does not make sense. Work and belief are in two different realms, and Jesus puts…
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The new covenant prevails
But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day. (Joshua 6:25) King David’s great-great grandmother was Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho. She was a Canaanite, of the people-group that the children…