Stability of Place
“The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) In essence, God told Abraham, “Leave this place because I have another place for you.” The idea of place has been important throughout biblical and church history. 1,500 years ago, […]
Holy Week – Tuesday
Special Announcement: The Sunrise service on Easter begins at 6:45 a.m. Please note the change in time. [Note: This week I will be chronicling the events of Holy Week with a short devotion each day.] It is Tuesday morning, and Jesus returns to Jerusalem with his disciples. As they pass the withered fig tree, Jesus […]
The Perfect Sacrifice
“…by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:14, NIV84) There’s an old story of a church in England with a stone archway inscribed with the words: “We preach Christ crucified.” Years passed and generations of preachers came and went. By then, the cross seemed too old-fashioned and […]
Our Substitute
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” (Ephesians 2:4–5) I read a story recently of an ancient nomadic tribe in the great expanse of Siberia. The tribe had […]
Salvation in Jesus
When most of us in church talk about salvation, our discussion begins with a test…a test of morality. We ask certain questions of ourselves and sooner or later, even the most upright citizen answers incorrectly. Miss just one question and we fail. The penalty for failure is, of course, hell. Our ticket has been punched. […]
The (Real) Message of the Church
“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.” (Luke 16:16, NIV84) When was the last time you saw someone so excited about the kingdom of God that he’d force his way in? […]
God Moves Deliberately
“And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) God’s in the business of meeting needs: When Adam and Eve discovered they were unclothed…God made them coverings from animal skins When the world needed saving from a flood, God gave us Noah When Abraham needed […]
Peacemaking and Rebuke?
I don’t know about you, but several of Jesus’ commands to his disciples make me uncomfortable. Here’s one: “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to […]
When Conflict Strikes
Job’s friend Eliphaz said: “…humans are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7) And it often seems that trouble comes out of nowhere, doesn’t it? A spouse suggesting divorce. A pink slip with 20 minutes to clear out your desk. A call from the principal…or from jail. Even in church – […]
Fire from Heaven?
“When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54) I’ve got to be honest with you: This is sometimes my default response when things don’t go my way. In this passage, a village refused Jesus entrance. They rejected […]
Pages of Presence
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) The other day a self-declared humanist/atheist friend tagged me in a Facebook post about the “errors” in the Bible. Rather than battle him with memes and GIFs, I offered to buy him coffee and discuss the […]
Empowering Others
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32, NIV) You might remember this moment: Simon promised Jesus that, though others might abandon him in his hour of need, Simon […]
