Venture Church East | Boardman Ohio | Streetsboro Ohio

1. Those who hear His voice; those who know Him; and those who follow Him abide in Christ: ESV John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me [my underline]. It is those who “hear His voice, know Him, and follow Him,” to whom He “gives eternal life, and whom will never perish, and whom will never be snatched out of His hand.” (John 10:27-28) 2. Whoever lives a lifestyle [Continue Reading]

John writes to believers so they can know they have been born of God: ESV 1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Four ways to know if you have been born of God I.  If you do not go on sinning. ESV 1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God [Continue Reading]

How does one obtain faith in God? Who gets to receive faith?  Paul writes in his letter to the Christians in Rome the following: Romans 10:17 (NLT) 17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. Obviously, Paul is saying that faith comes from hearing the Gospel preached.  Of course, reading the Bible is a sort-of-hearing, especially if you read it aloud. However, there must be more to the story, [Continue Reading]

If there is any ecclesiastical bias indorsed by the Lord, holiness must be a basic precept of it. In order for there to be any holiness in a church, it must understand, value, and cherish the celebration of Sacraments, as well as other “means of grace.”  The first step in returning to holiness as a church body is to understand what holiness means; what it is.  In order to obtain a complete picture of what [Continue Reading]

Recently as part of my coursework I had the privilege of interacting with Norman Wirzba’s delightful yet challenging book, Living the Sabbath. I was reminded of the Biblical and experiential connections between church worship and Sabbath. With all that is put upon us modern Americans, particularly with increases in technology, there’s never been a time (at least in my lifetime) more in need of Sabbath observance with all of its refreshing. It has been observed [Continue Reading]

           Early in my seminary experience, a graduate assistant—filling in for the professor one day—shared with the class an interesting story he lightheartedly dubbed the conversation. “As the saying goes,” he began, “publish or perish.” He continued, “Don’t wait until you have earned your terminal degree before you attempt to have your work published. It will be no more possible for you to accomplish this lofty feat then than it is now.”  [Continue Reading]

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” -2 Corinthians 8:9 I wish you a Merry Christmas on this glorious Christmas morning 2014? And let me be the first to wish you a Merry POOR Christmas! Now all of this thinking about 2 Corinthians 8:9 raises this question in my mind: can [Continue Reading]

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” -2 Corinthians 8:9 Have you ever had that experience where God lays a thought on your mind and then keeps bringing it back to you in all sorts of ways and places? That was my experience recently when I ran across a G.K. Chesterton [Continue Reading]

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” -2 Corinthians 8:9 I’m coming to the conviction that the only way to celebrate Christmas is to become poor. Of course this has almost nothing to do with money except that loving and having lots of it can complicate a true perspective of Christmas [Continue Reading]