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Faith & Trust: Living It Out
In the United States we have the motto, “In God We Trust,” printed on all our money. Most Christians are likely to point out the utter hypocrisy or at least the irony of this statement given our present society’s idolization of wealth. But beloved, can we all take a moment to look at our own lives and attitudes and ponder whether or not we ourselves are walking in light of God’s truth and promises?
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The Beauty of the Gospel
Have you ever really stopped to think about the impossibility of mankind being able to save themselves? We have had roughly 6,000 years of biblical history unfolding to date, and we have not and will not ever develop the perfect person or society. Why? While man claims that we can evolve into something better given enough time, Jesus prophesied that in the last days the world and mankind would devolve and get worse...
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Prophets or Profits: My Two Cents
Prophets or profits: making sense of it all is our theme today. With many mega-churches and ministries in the U.S. holding millions in assets, how is it that we have poor members in our midst? What message are we sending the world? Jesus said that the world would recognize His own by the love we have for each other. Where is this love? Have our capitalistic values in this country doused the light we are to be? How can we be missions-minded with money-driven goals? Are we so focused on doing big ministry that we forget those right next to us who struggle in the local church body? Here is…
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Are You a Hot Mess?
When the world or your life is falling apart, who do you turn to?
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A Slice of Humble Pie
"But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." [Isaiah 66:2 ESV] You would have to had nipped the strong drink of propaganda and then fallen sound asleep like Rip Van Winkle to not notice the lack of humility here in the United States, especially in the last six years or so. I mean, do the scriptures on humility above reflect our culture at all?
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A Reflection On Perfection
Have you ever considered the word "perfect?" It is used in many ways today, but I'd like to focus on the sense of the word used in scripture to describe Christ and His sacrifice: to lack nothing necessary to completeness, to be of consummate integrity and virtue. A rough analogy nowadays would be a perfect diamond, one without flaws in cut, color, or clarity. Such internally perfect diamonds are rare--less than 0.5 percent fall into this category. They are also full of faceted beauty. In the spiritual world, there is only One who is perfect, whose beauty is so great that mortal man cannot bear the vision and live: "our…
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Gethsemane
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. [John 12:24 NIV]
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Where is Your Focus?
Do you realize that out of all the children of Israel, only Caleb and Joshua entered the promised land? Their faith was in God, their focus on His strength. The people who grumbled and scared the entire assembly with their bad report had their focus on themselves, their lack, and also on their enemies, their seeming strength. The Israelites' entire focus was based on comparing their own ability against these "giants," instead of the power and faithfulness of Almighty God.
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Worthy Is the Lamb
You know, Jesus said some really tough things to people when He walked the dusty roads of Judea. For example:
