Jeremy Riley: In a few words

“You are not yet who you are supposed to be.” Phew!  What a relief.   Are you stuck with labels given to you justly or unjustly?  Perhaps you have been called a loser, loner, liar, or loon.  Well, I have something to tell you: Craig Groeschel has some good news for you!  God knows who [...]

When I feel like I’m in a rut, after reading how a follower of Christ ought to act towards others (blasted Gospels and Epistles!), I often times get really discouraged.  God wants me to be at “100%” to be righteous and awesome, but I feel like I’m at a “1” on the Christ-like scale. While [...]

Here’s something I have learned recently: Nothing of worth comes easy. Discipleship is difficult.  Sanctification is tough.  Conforming, slowly but surely, into the image of Christ is a rough process.  When the easy path shows up suddenly in your life, think twice before it allures you down the gentle slope. I am reminded during this [...]

Do you like celebrity magazines? Come on, I know you glance at them at the checkout stand of the grocery store.  You can’t fool me!  OK, maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but chances are you have some sort of celebrity or public figure you admire.  Whether it’s President Obama, QB Peyton Manning, Justin Beiber, [...]

A few months ago I went to a symphony event up at the Hollywood Bowl.  John Williams, the famous conductor of many movie scores, was there leading the L.A. Philharmonic.  They played scores from Star Wars, E.T., Schindler’s List, and many other of his incredible works.  As I was sitting there soaking in the music, [...]

If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your [...]

Confession time I made a mistake last week.  I didn’t practice what I preach. I planned out my month, set the budget, and got lazy.  I didn’t make adjustments and sooner, rather than later, money vanished.  Fortunately there were no bank runs, there were no stock crashes.  Just a card declined and a sense of [...]

In the past couple of years I unearthed the realization that I enjoyed writing. I cannot recall what made this dawn on me, but whatever it was, I decided to pursue it more in my life though this blog and other writings. Jeff Goins, a wonderful writer and blogger, would further encourage me in his [...]

Below is an amended portion of a paper I wrote this year on John Calvin‘s perspective on prayer and I wanted to share. So enough with the rhymes… enjoy. ———————————- John Calvin’s perspective on prayer is very helpful for Christians of all stripes.  The Genevan reformer anchored prayer in the unity with God in Christ [...]

The opening chapter of Mark has a story about Jesus calling the first disciples.  He told them plainly, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”  We are told by Mark that they left everything (including the family business) and followed him.  Levi was also called in a similar manner, and he [...]