Hunger and Thirst

The Challenge of Proper Advice

Anyone ever asked you for advice? Ever felt like your advice was really needed in a situation? Any time we offer advice and there is no lingering evidence of our own failures, people will not see what we say as “advice” but rather self aggrandizement and just a lot of hot air. The blind leading the blind. In fact, in that situation we become the ones who are in need of advice or better yet, gentle rebuke. Any advice we give ought to make more out of Christ, His grace and truth, than it does our own self perceived successes. We are the formerly blind who now know grace and forgiveness because of Jesus. We should remember that it is His truth that set us free and delivered life to us who are unworthy of that gift. From that perspective we can then humbly share advice, truth and hope in Christ and Christ alone.

The Gentle

The Meek

This quote didn't make the sermon for Sunday but I wanted to share it in some way because it is really challenging.

If someone tells us, “You are a wretched sinner and have no rights,” we might retort, “You’re a wretched sinner yourself!” It is easy to tell God that we merit no favor, but it is much harder to lay aside self-assertion with others. Daniel M. Doriani, The Sermon on the Mount, p.21.

Meekness is laying aside self-assertion, independence, rights... and humbly submitting ourselves to the gracious and merciful rule and will of Jesus, the author of all true and eternal blessings. Blessed are the meek because they shall inherit the earth.

Those Who Mourn

The Poor in Spirit

The Beatitudes

This is the promo-video for the series on the Beatitudes. I hope to post other short videos on each beatitude as each segment is completed. Again, I hope you enjoy.

A Call to Serve

I want to show off some of the stuff our video team is putting together. Hope you enjoy it.

A Little Adventure

We were scheduled to have a guest speaker at church on this particular Sunday. I thought it would be nice to go with the family to church... all together... in the SAME car - a rare thing. I have driven with my family to church in the same car only a handful of times over the past 13 years. This was one of those times... perhaps one of the last times. After the service, Lynlee and I were in our separate areas talking and conversing with different people. As I was getting ready to leave, I began to look for Lynlee. I could not find her, but I saw Caden and figured Lynlee was just in another part of the church talking. By this time everyone was leaving and I finally asked Caden, "Where is your mom?" He said, "I am riding with you. She already left to go home." I thought he was just joking, but sure enough, Lynlee was in her normal routine and had left with the other children to go home. She had left Caden to go home with me.... So, there we were at church with no ride home. Lynlee had left her cell phone at home so I could not call her. I decided that Caden and I would just start walking home since by this time NO ONE was left at church to give us a ride. I told Caden we were walking and he didn't believe me until we walked out of the door and started on our little adventure. I told him, "No big deal, Caden. We only have ten miles to go." He said, "Dad.... this is the 'worse' day of my life." Lynlee did not realize that she had left us until she pulled into the driveway at home. She saw my truck and commented, "How in the world did Dad beat me home? I saw him talking to people when I left." After getting those words out, they all realized what she had done. Weston busted out laughing - no sympathy from her son. They walked in the door to hear me saying on the machine that we were walking home. That "worse" day turned out not to be so bad for Caden. He and I stopped at a convenience store and bought a root beer for our trouble. Lynlee and Maelyn (she was not about to miss any of this) got back into the car and headed back towards church to pick us up. Luckily for Caden, we had only made it 4 blocks into our little adventure. Just another day in the life of the Ueckerts....

Educational Choices and Division

Having home-schooled all three of our kids for years and now that all our kids are in public school, I wanted to share Josh Harris' relevant and important statements. I hope that we all (whatever "camp" you are in) can rally around the unifying biblical mandate to disciple our children.

Mixed Messages and the Crowd

There are many messages floating around today in our country. From Oprah to those who call themselves evangelicals, you can hear it all. You can hear that you will be healed if you will just believe enough, that God will give you great financial success if you give enough, that God is in you as a some kind of light or a presence that is you, that you are the force or essence that is god, you can hear it all in our country, all in the name of truth and Jesus’ name and Scripture will often be dropped in to create more credibility. But the red flag ought to be that all these kinds of false messages are really about giving you some sort of wonderful kingdom here on this earth, a kingdom that is centered upon you and your glory, making your life wonderful, great, rich and healthy, now. Whenever the message you hear is man-centered, God serving us or us being in command of God so that we can make him give us all the things that would make life wonderful, then you can rest assured that message is not the good news of the kingdom of heaven. The good news of the kingdom is radically God-centered, Christ-centered. It is about us serving and glorifying God, losing our lives in this world because Jesus Christ is King over all kingdoms and because He is life. The kingdom of this world is passing away and life cannot be found through this kingdom. If you follow Jesus, this is what the Bible says can happen to you in this life, the kingdom of this world: Persecution and sufferings. Rejection by your family and friends. Loss of property and possessions. Difficulties and problems, sickness, tribulations and trials and even death. If we follow Jesus, we will lose our lives for the sake of the glory of Jesus Christ in this life. That is the message of the kingdom of heaven. I hope your church is embracing the message of the kingdom of heaven. We must remember that as followers of Jesus, we are not of this world. As followers of Jesus, we will have joy, we will have peace, we will have hope, we will be saved from our sin, we will overcome death, we will be healed from every disease, we will have every tear wiped away from our eyes, we will have eternal life but all those things will be experiences that we have for eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven because and only because we are in Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus is the goal. Eternal life is knowing Jesus not being healed. Eternal life is glorifying Jesus not glorifying ourselves. Jesus is life. And he is the only way to life. Don’t miss the good news of the kingdom. Don’t be a part of the crowd who comes for what they can get from Jesus or religion or miracles but don’t really want to hear the message of the kingdom. The good news of the kingdom is the most demanding of any good news ever preached. It is the most promising of any message ever uttered. It is the most dependable of any promise ever given. It is the most freeing of any proclamation ever spoken. The good news of the kingdom is a one of a kind declaration of life, a call to faith, to surrender. There is nothing like the good news of the kingdom. Following Jesus will cost you your life but you will quickly discover that following Jesus is life. Follow Jesus. There is no other way. There is no other life. It is no surprise that the one and only Son of God, Jesus Christ, would deliver a one of a kind message calling for a one of a kind response. Don’t follow the crowd. Believe in Jesus. Follow Him.