Tracy's Blog

I preached at HPWC on Sunday, May 9 and wanted to let you all in on the essence of my sermon so here is a section of it. The text was John 14:23-29 Jesus' disclosure of Himself to others depends on the person's response to Him. verse 23 - 24 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him , and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching." God is eager to show Himself to anyone who loves and obeys Him. Jesus doesn't show Himself to those who don't love Him and won't obey His teaching. How can anyone come to know God or plainly see Him if they are unwilling to submit to Him, to love Him since part of the essence of "being God" is being the One who is loved and obeyed. Revelation of God cannot happen apart from a relationship with God. That's just the way it is. And you know, if you were to remember just one thing from this sermon, I hope that this woul...

I recently read a novel about a young man on a journey searching for a treasure - a buried stash of gold and jewels. How did that treasure get there? Someone hid it. Why? With the intent of coming back to dig it up at the right time. But as the stories go, due to circumstances beyond the person's control (shipwrecks, murder, that kind of thing), they don't get back to dig up the treasure and instead tell someone about it on their deathbed or make a map for someone else to go find it. And so we end up with the classic tale of a treasure hunt. I'm been thinking about the value of God's revelation to us - the Bible. It really is a treasure beyond compare. Through its message we hear the story of our redemption and are summond to believe the good news we recently celebrated at Easter: the Son of God has died for our sins and is now alive! Sin and Satan have been conquered, there is now freedom to love and to truly live! So what are we to do with this treasure? Simply put: h...