Paul on Encouragement
Encourage More Jack Schull 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13 Apostle Paul wrote to a church he planted in Thessaloniki. In these works, he inspires a people that are living in uncertainty, to…
Encourage More Jack Schull 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13 Apostle Paul wrote to a church he planted in Thessaloniki. In these works, he inspires a people that are living in uncertainty, to…
Spiritual Discernment – 1 John 4:1-6 In this short, yet powerful book written by the the disciple John, we can prepare to be challenged to live out our faith in…
Following Jesus as an act of resistance to our cultural push toward hurry, hustle, distraction and shallowness. Most of our greatest mistakes tend to come when we’re in a hurry.…
We do these practices like (slowing, simplicity, silence, solitude, sabbath and more) in order to grow the fruit of the Spirit within us and cultivate compassion like Christ within our…
The heart, in biblical terms, is not part of who we are, but rather the center and core of who we are. So when it comes to Jesus describing who…
We are each building a life. We’re building on a foundation. We each get to choose what that foundation is and at the end of the Sermon on the Mount,…
1 Thes 5:1-11: How to Be Ready For Christ’s Return Main Text: 1 Thes 5:1-11 ESV 1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to…
The Apostle Paul writes back to a church that he began to encourage them about remaining faithful amidst opposition and persecution. He celebrates what he’s hearing about indicators that mark…
As we shop, look up, seek out or ask for gifts in this season of the year — let’s do ourselves a favor and REMEMBER the GIFT of the Savior…
Feasts of the Lord Then never let anyone criticize you for what you eat or drink, or about observance of annual festivals, […]. These are only a shadow of…
How do we prepare ourselves to be ready for the return of Christ? Jesus teaches us how in Matthew 24. Preached at Casas Church. Used by permission.
Mark 9 allows us an eyewitness account of a mountain top experience Jesus has with some of his early followers. It’s known as the ‘transfiguration’ – which is a fancy…
Solomon took on a great building project during his reign as king. As he built the Temple to honor God and oversaw that project, there are some insights for us…
Jesus begins his ministry with a proclamation of incredible grace. His early sermon even harkens back to the Old Testament practice of the year of Jubilee. This incredible lavish love…
As parents, grandparents, extended family and friends we’re given a calling to hand-off the faith to the next generation. A faith that isn’t merely externalized and covering over a life,…
The Blessing is something we all crave and long for in life. The approval, appreciation, and affirmation is what we need to keep moving forward. The Blessing flows from God…
Every trial in life is an opportunity to discover what God wants us to see and to experience His hope-giving presence. Jesus, according to Peter, is our Living Hope. He…
What happened to all your joy? Galatians 5 encourages us to stop working for God’s favor and start resting in what He has already given us-the love and grace of…
John’s gospel describes the stories of disciples who discovered and followed Jesus because someone invited them. Andrew and Peter, Phillip and Nathaniel are two examples. We share those things that…
We can see people – but totally miss the person – their story. The woman bent over with scoliosis was ignored by the crowd. But Jesus called her a valued…
God has a habit of picking differently than we do. The narrative of Deborah in Judges 4 & 5 seems an unlikely story, given the scenario of the time –…
As we dive into the story of Gideon, we see in Gideon this cycle from a fragile faith, to a forged and strong faith and then one that fractures a…
The Apostle Paul (in 1 Cor. 13) challenges a couple of different paths where the believers have gotten sideways and are missing the “most excellent way” of living. It’s a…
The Apostle Paul unpacks in (ch. 10) some insights to what true freedom for believers entails. It’s a “guided freedom” – a freedom that exercises constraints at times – that…
Maturity is marked more by a weight on relational indicators than performance indicators. Maturity is also marked by our love for God and our understanding of our Kingdom role. We…
God’s nature is kind. Kindness surprises; it lingers and people remember it – it changes things… Kindness draws you closer, (isn’t that what Paul says in Romans 2:4? it’s God’s…
We’re looking into the 1st crime scene of the Bible – pulling out another theological foundation God has for us from the early chapters of Genesis. God designed us for…
Genesis 4 is a study in contrast between the worship of Cain and Abel. Why should we call upon the sacred name of God (YAHWEH)? Because He is inviting us…
We’ve got mail… and it’s a love letter from God. With a world swimming in communication, we must value God’s voice above all others. His relational and transformational words come…
Often when God calls us forward, He will first stretch us backward. God is always calling us forward in partnership with Him.
11As we face key moments in life, we’re called to live with an integrity of heart. It was a marker of David’s life and one we can have as we…
We can look at Thomas and label him the doubter – he has unfairly been labeled…this is a Bible snapshot of a time of questioning, wondering, searching for him…rightly so.…
The three parables of the lost sheep, the lost son, and the lost coin all involve something or someone lost, found, rejoicing and celebration in being found. Jesus is the…
Jesus redefines greatness as servanthood. We must be called away from the allure of living on the ladder toward the life of carrying the towel.
People hide behind fear, shame, denial and failure. Hiding seems so natural and appears to promise escape. However, it never brings lasting security and freedom. Returning to God is the…
Ask God to help you prioritize loving others who need Christ by increasing your awareness of their needs, by praying for them and by listening.
The health and the maturity of our relationship with God is determined by the health and maturity of the relationships with people God has put in our lives. We can…
A New Year brings thoughtful reflection. We say things like “time flies” or “where did the time go?” Perhaps we should remember this: I’m reminded that 2 things are true:…
As you reflect upon last year, what has become your “place of residence”? For Matthew, his choice was to step away from the tax table and follow Jesus. What is…
God’s hope is a hope that whispers and is a hope that will not wither. Hope in Christ is thus something that can remain and be activated in any and all…
Haggai-now that’s a name that seldom comes up in conversation! Who is this mysterious Old Testament preacher and why should we heed his words? Recently, I had the chance to…
Pastors Jack Schull and Scott B. commission 19 global workers from around the world. They share their stories, and how the church can be involved. Casas has sent 7,000 members…
Sometimes God needs to break us out of our comfort zones to see what we can truly be if we surrender our lives to Him. God still stirs hearts –…
All of you have seen the struggle, the perseverance, the prayers and the miraculous deliverance of these men from the jaws of death… The Chilean miners emerging from the depths…
Priorities are fueled by our resources, time, skills and energies. We only have so much. God mus be our top pursuit.
Open doors, chance meetings, fleeting moments with treasured family and friends may soon pass us by. Carpe Diem (seize the moment) is a Biblical principle. Solomon said it best: “There…
The desperate widow who begged Jesus for help, the neighbor who continued to knock and beg for bread were stories Jesus told to cause us to have indomitable faith and…
Bitterness can hold your heart hostage. Gratitude fosters a heart willing to forgive.
ONE is the best number. It conveys aspiration, new beginnings and uniqueness. The ONE we worship is supreme. He is unlike any other. The strongest number of hope is ONE.…
Do you struggle with losing weight? Every day is a battle, one calorie at a time. And then there is that wicked cupcake, that seductive pizza, that chocolate milkshake that…
God is always at work. We must join Him in His work and commit our daily tasks on God’s altar as an offering.
Christ condemning the fruitless fig tree and temple were both acts that illustrated the sad spiritual condition of the nation of Israel. The call for us as Christ-followers is to…
Confession restores sensitivity to God. When I make a relational mistake, confession allows me to make it right. Confession means we have made ourselves vulnerable and fully known, but also…
Every father has a soft spot for his daughter. It doesn’t matter if she is three or thirty-three. The Schull girls are especially cherished by their pop. As a Dad…
What are the things that slow you up in life? You know, the gum that sticks to the bottom of your shoe, the spare tire you grew over the holidays…Do…
God gave Israel seven annual feasts that reminded them of His goodness in the past and His exciting plans for the future.
Celebration is about spiritually savoring all of who God is, all that He has done. It is all about the joy available to us and the connections we have with…
Can you protect your child? As parents we often want what’s best for our children – I love what Psychologist Jonathon Haidt suggest about hardships and how they shape us…
Sometimes we don’t realize how “far down” Jesus had to go to save sinful man. I guess it’s because we really can’t get a handle on the holiness of God.…
Peter teaches three reasons why we suffer. It can be because of our own mistakes or it can be undeserved. Suffering can also be mysterious, we don’t know why. Regardless,…
Jesus’ final prayer was that the church might be unified in the same way the Son has unity with the Father. A unified church focuses on God’s priorities, rallies against…
Recharging is something we can do, and it’s necessary. But renewing is something only God can do-it speaks of HIs work, His power alone.
May we be captured again by the Nativity. That simple picture points us to an unexpected collision of grace and hope into a world of darkness.
Elijah triumphs over the prophets of Baal when he calls down fire from heaven and prays for Israel’s drought to end. After this victory, the prophet becomes discouraged and depressed,…
Elijah takes a stand in a bold confrontation with the prophets of Baal and calls the hearts of the people back toward God. God reveals Himself again in an effort to recapture…
Elijah, the Tishbite, undergoes a season of construction to become a transformed man of God. As he matures in his faith, Elijah becomes more like Christ and more useful to…
Rahab, the Jericho prostitute, is first known by her reputation but remembered by her faith. She fears God and bases her life on the promise that God will save her. Because…
We need to be reminded of the grandeur and holiness of an infinite God and His abilit to transform our ordinary lives.
The most vital relationship we can help our children develop is with the Lord. As parents, grandparents and other family members, we are called to invest in our children the…
The quality of our relationships with our children determines the weight of our influence. Regardless of their ages, we must never lose this influence to nurture and guide them. Children…
We can be free from anxiety and aloneness because we have access to the throne room of God and His gifts of peace and joy. We must live with the…
Our purpose is to live for Christ, a life of noticing others so we can minister the encouragement, compassion and comfort Jesus first showed us. As our love shines in…
Paul, in Philippians one, didn’t just make the best of a bad situation, he actually saw the positive results of his imprisonment. We must recognize God is working in and…
God longs for us to put our hope in Him. His hope can heal you from your past, give you endurance for the now and security for the yet to…
Peace is not found in circumstances, material possessions, status or popularity. Peace finds its source in God alone and we are clothed with His gifts of peace and grace.
The Lord’s Prayer is the blueprint for every believer’s prayer life. By personalizing this model prayer, we learn how to be genuine with God and bring His will to bear…
God is greater than any distance we create. He is all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere all the time. Even though our inclination is to wander, God focuses on proximity. Jesus came…
Disappointment is part of the cycle of life. Sometimes disappointment comes from our own faulty thinking, foolish choices or from vulnerable moments following great mountaintop experiences. Asaph pens words of pathos…
Prayer is a constant communion with God. We must catch His heartbeat and purposes, access His kingdom power and provisions for life and submit to His will. As we make…
Surviving adolescence is more challenging today because the transition has lengthened. Greater challenges face young adults as they seek to get established.
Making praise a habit touches the heart of God and reminds us that we have a give and take love relationship with Him. A life of worship requires us to…
How does the prophetic message of Matthew 24 change our lives in the present and ready us for Christ’s return? In these four parables, Jesus teaches us how to build…
Jesus teaches in Matthew 22 that our main priority is to love God and love others. We have a desire for devotion, but a drift toward distraction. We must become…
Two messengers–Isaiah and John the Baptist–prophesied the coming of the Messiah. For those who had ears to hear, their lives were transformed even in the midst of captivity and uncertainty.…
Invest time and energy in your children. Build them up according to their needs. The goal is to be adult friends when they leave home.
Are we living our faith on the fringe or front and center? The woman with the issue of blood, shunned by society, rejected by the religious leaders of her day,…
Fear is the antithesis of faith. Examples like the terrified Hebrews spying out the Promised Land, David facing the giant Goliath, the disciples panicking on a stormy boat, illustrate the fact…
The ten lepers are healed because God’s love extends beyond explanation and expectation. But one grateful leper who reaches back to God is twice blessed. He is also saved from…
Are you a penny picker, passer or partner? Christ’s story of the widow’s mite teaches us that God can use our gifts and talents to bless Him. God will use…
Faith triumphs over fear when Peter walks on the stormy water to meet Jesus. Like Peter, God has extreme adventures planned or us if only we will get out of…
King Solomon has it all — wealth, women, power and pleasure. So, why does he lament? These earthly pleasures fail to fill the void that only intimacy with God can…
God always has time for us. Do we have time for Him? Most of us suffer from hurry sickness. It diminishes our capacity to love God and others. When we…
God has dreams for us that are full of hope and lead to deeper intimacy with Him. He wishes for us to be spirit-filled, holy and loving. God longs for…
King Solomon learned that wealth, women, power and pleasure never bring satisfaction. Balance, simplicity and contentment may be gained by living a godly life. Pursue Me first, says God, and…