The Greatest Command: It’s Okay to Love Yourself
2 Timothy 3:1-5 warns, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers […]
Principles Wrapped In Practices – Fasting
Jesus could just tell us to rely on God. Instead He taught His disciples how to fast. Jesus was the master teacher, wrapping up principles into practices. Repeating those practices solidify the principles Jesus wants us to make a part of our lives. What is more, Jesus doesn’t just tell them that they should fast […]
Jesus Understood People, What Do We Learn From That?
One of the things that stands out about Jesus was just how well he understood people. First there is the obvious…the Bible says everything in creation was made through Christ (John 1:3) so it makes sense that the creator would understand his creation. What is more, Jesus became a part of the creation by taking […]
Giving: God, Jesus & Us
The more I read the New Testament the more I am convinced that God wants us to become like Jesus. I am not talking about becoming like him in his divinity. That just isn’t possible. But we are to become like Jesus in every area of our life. Just as Jesus loves God with all […]
Blessed
I often get myself all in a mess because I get this idea in my head that my blessings are dependent upon whether or not I feel they are present. If things are going well and I feel blessed then I am prone to think about how blessed I am. If things aren’t going well […]
Newtown, Egypt, Bethlehem and Deliverance
This past week has been a tough one. News of what happened in Connecticut came right after we found out that the neighbor behind us killed her boyfriend who had been physically abusing her. I came home on Thursday to see police tape around their yard and policemen walking next to our fence. We never […]
Discipling Is New The Hot Topic
Discipleship is all the talk now. If you have a method of discipling people that works, people want to know about it. They want to know what it looks like, how it works, etc. It is the Hot Topic in Christianity because we have now realized how important it is but don’t have a clue […]
What Would Ministry Look Like if Ministers More Fully Embraced Jesus Example of Ministry
That is one among many questions on my mind over the last few weeks. Here are a few followup questions: What things do you guys do that you would stop? What things would you start? What would get more attention and what would get less attention? How would your purpose change? What would you emphasize? […]
10 Things I Love About Jesus
I have been writing lessons on the parables over the last few months. All I can say is that it has been eye opening as the truths revealed in the parables come alive. It makes me so appreciative of Jesus Christ. It reminds me of why I am here and why I do the things […]
Do We Recognize Redemption When It Happens Right in Front of Us?
In Luke 7 Jesus is in the house of Simon the Pharisee. While they are reclining at the table a “sinful” woman comes in and anoints Jesus, first with her tears and then with some perfume she had brought with her. Luke tells us she had learned that Jesus was in the house and she […]