2011

December 25, 2011

From an Empty Throne to an Empty Tomb

Since I’ve lived here, I’ve met people who moved here from other areas. I’ve heard people say, “I came down from Minnesota, Praise the Lord.” Or, “I came down from Boston where we park the car by the harbor.” I’ve had people say, “Oh, right, I came down from Canada, you betcha,’ where I went out from my house.” I’ve even had people tell me, “I came down from Oklahoma.” (And they sound just like Texans). But here’s my point: In all these years of meeting people, I’ve never ONCE had anyone say, “Oh, I came down from heaven.” But Jesus made that claim about Himself multiple times. An examination of Jesus’ Christmas journey.

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December 18, 2011

Far as the Curse is Found

Most of us struggle with the pure grace of God because we feel better about ourselves if we can do something to earn God’s favor. The idea of grace goes against our human nature. Everything in our nature says, “Try hard. Work hard. Earn acceptance with God.” But salvation is not by trying; it is by trusting.

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December 4, 2011

“Bewitched”

When you connect suffering with legalism, you fall into the bottomless pit of thinking you are suffering because you aren’t being “good enough” and the best way to remove the suffering is to redouble your efforts to be more religious.

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November 27, 2011

Are You Wired for 220?

Christ in you changes your life. This is only a cup of hot water, but when I drop this tea bag in it, it changes the color and the nature of the water. For the water to exist now is for tea to exist. If the water could talk it might say, “It is no longer I (water) but tea lives in me.” Not many people drink hot water—there isn’t much taste there. But water turned into tea becomes a delicious drink. The tea adds value. Even so, in the Christian life, Christ in you changes your nature. He changes your life from being bland and boring to be exciting and thrilling.

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November 20, 2011

How God Rescues Sinners

Justified margins means the left margin and the right margin are both straight; they agree. Justified people are those who have been made right with God. Here are God’s standard on the left—absolute perfection—straight up. And here we are on the right—our lives are ragged. Religion or legalism is the attempt to JUSTIFY our lives with God’s perfect standard. But we can’t justify our lives to God’s standard. Thankfully, God does the justification. It is His act, not ours!

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October 30, 2011

Too Graced to be Two-Faced

Of these three characters, whose sandals are you wearing? Are you like Paul and you need to help someone who has stumbled? Or are you in the sandals of Barnabas and you’re following the wrong leader? Or perhaps, like Peter, you need to examine your life and make sure your conduct matches what you believe about the gospel.

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October 23, 2011

Born (Again) Free

The legalism that exists today isn’t about keeping Jewish festivals as much as it is thinking that a Christian can earn God’s love and acceptance by what they do or don’t do. Legalism is the belief that if I can just keep all my spiritual plates spinning, then I can earn more of God’s favor.

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October 16, 2011

From Terrorist to Evangelist

Have you ever found yourself in a spiritual desert and wondered what God was doing? You were thirsty for the living water and hungry for the bread of the Word, but instead, all you found was more desert? Desert experiences can help you grow.

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October 9, 2011

The Perils of People-Pleasing

Most people spend their lives trying to please others, but Paul challenges us to the take the road less traveled and live our lives to please God. That’s a pretty important matter to settle in your own life. Are you living to please others, or to serve God? A comparison of people-pleasing versus the blessings we receive when we live to please God.

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September 25, 2011

The Bad News Gospel

Jesus’ last words from the cross weren’t “EARN THIS.” His last words were a shout of triumph, “It is finished!” Sadly some Christians spend every day of their lives feeling like they have to live in a way to earn the sacrifice of Jesus. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was saying there was nothing else we could ever do to be saved.

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September 18, 2011

Galatians: Our Emancipation Proclamation

Galatians is a short book—only six chapters. You can easily read it in a half-hour. But don’t be deceived by its size. A tiny stick of dynamite can blow up a big building. That’s more than a figure of speech; it’s a metaphor for the book itself. Galatians is spiritual dynamite. Learn how to achieve freedom from fear, doubt and guilt through grace.

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September 4, 2011

Sharing the Miracle of Salvation

If Penn Jillette, a confirmed atheist, can tell us that if we believe heaven and hell exists, and if we believe there is eternal life, and we DON’T tell others; then it shows we must really hate them.

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August 28, 2011

Seven Words that Rocked the World

The absence of a body alone is not a compelling argument for the resurrection. But when you combine it with the fact that a living, breathing Jesus appeared on several occasions to His disciples, you either have to say the account is fictional, or Jesus really came back from the dead.

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August 21, 2011

The Miracle of the Cross

When Jesus died on the cross, four things happened simultaneously: Old Testament scriptural prophecy was fulfilled, darkness covered the earth, the Temple curtain was torn and an earthquake raised the dead. But the main miracle of the cross, the unseen miracle, was Jesus took the punishment for sin in my place.

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August 14, 2011

The Miracle that Never Happened

If one angel warrior could kill 185,000 soldiers, then 72,000 angel warriors could kill 13.2 billion soldiers. That’s over twice the population of the earth today! And the night Jesus spoke these words, it is estimated there were less than one billion people on earth. In other words, if Jesus had given the word, these angel warriors could have literally wiped out the entire population of the planet.

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July 31, 2011

Living in the Shadow of the Cross

Jesus lived in the shadow of the cross, and so should we. There’s only one safe place to find refuge from the judgment of God against sin—and that’s in the Shadow of the Cross. There’s no other way to be saved except through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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July 24, 2011

The Fragrance of Worship

We know from John’s account that the perfume Mary anointed Jesus with was worth 300 denarii, which is equal to a year’s wages. So figure your annual salary, and you begin to have an idea about how expensive this gift was. But she poured it all out on Jesus in an act of worship. To Mary, no expense would be spared. Her great love for Jesus could only be expressed by giving her most prized possession. Breaking the bottle symbolized her brokenness before the Lord.

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July 17, 2011

Jesus’ Last Parable: The Sheep and the Goats

In Israel, shepherds often had sheep and goats in the same flock during the day, but at night, the shepherd separated the sheep and the goats. The sheep, which are more defenseless, were herded into a stonewalled sheepfold. The goats, which are more aggressive by nature, were left outside the sheepfold. It was a common sight in Israel to see a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats; and this is the powerful picture Jesus uses to describe how He will judge all people at the end of the world.

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July 10, 2011

The Parable of the Three Managers

The parable of the talents is about money, but the application is about managing ALL the resources God has given you. In addition to your money, God has given you health, time, talent, energy, abilities, influence, and relationships. This is not just about money management; it’s about life management. But it all starts with acknowledging that everything I have is a gift from God. I don’t own it; I just manage it.

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July 3, 2011

America: God Shed His Grace on Thee!

It is my strong belief that America is a great nation but America is in trouble. We are on a downward spiral. Our foundations are eroding as our moral foundation is decaying. We have lost our moral compass. And unless we, the younger generations, reclaim the values, the dignity, the decency, and the diligence of this greatest generation, America may not survive very far into the 21st century.

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June 26, 2011

Here Comes the Bridegroom!

You can’t borrow someone else’s faith. You can learn from my faith, but you can’t use my faith. Even though I’m saved, I cannot become your Savior. Even though you have received the Grace of God, you can’t impart the grace of God to anyone else. I can give my life for you, but I can’t live your life, and you can’t live mine. God has children, but He has no grandchildren. You can’t borrow faith from your parents or grandparents. They can instill God’s Word in your heart and train you in the things of God, but they can’t give you their faith. You have to choose to follow Jesus on your own.

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June 12, 2011

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

Are you more concerned about your own needs than the needs of others? In the eyes of the world, greatness is determined by how many servants a person has, but in God’s economy greatness is defined by how many people we serve. Too many people have their eyes on the sky looking for the return of Jesus. Let me ask you the same question the angels asked the disciples: Why do you stand gazing into heaven? Jesus is coming back, so get busy serving God by serving others.

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June 5, 2011

Like a Thief in the Night

The Bible says at any moment, the Lord Jesus could return in a flash, in a twinkling of an eye. God has placed warning signs all along the road. Warning! Repent immediately. This message is just another warning. For those of us who have heeded His warning, and put our faith in Jesus, we will escape His judgment against sin. But some people just laugh at the Bible and refuse to heed God’s Warning.

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May 29, 2011

Can We Know WHEN Jesus will Return?

Most of us had the childhood experience of riding in the car heading on vacation. We were excited but we didn’t really have an understanding of when we would arrive. So we would yell up to our dad or mom driving, “How much longer? Are we there yet?” And they would often reply, “We’re ten minutes closer than the last time you asked!” That’s a little bit how I feel about the return of Christ. We don’t really know when it’s going to happen, so we ask our Father. “How much longer?” And He smiles and says, “Closer than when you asked the last time.” I’m not a genius but I feel safe in making this prediction about when Jesus will return: Sooner than yesterday. We can’t know the exact day, but we can know the season. Pay attention: The fig tree has sprouted leaves; the Israeli flag flies over Jerusalem; and the gospel is going to all people groups.

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May 15, 2011

Safe Beneath His Wings

God loves you and cares for you the same way that a mother cares for her children. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are experiencing God’s love at this moment–you must be willing to accept His love. Any person who rejects God’s love will experience spiritual desolation.

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May 15, 2011

I’ll Take the Camel; but Hold the Gnat

God is interested in how you manage His money, and He wants you to honor Him with the tithe. He’s interested in every area of your personal life. The websites you look at matter to God. The drugs you’re taking? They matter to God. The gossip you’re spreading? It matters to God. How you care for His temple, your body? It matters to God. Your personal morality matters to God, but if your concern for personal morality doesn’t lead you to help hurting people, you’ve missed the point.

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May 1, 2011

You Might Be a Hypocrite If…

Do you think, “I’m a pretty good person?” Or do you say, “I’m not perfect, but I’m better than most people, or at least some people?” Or do you say, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace?” Maybe you should say, “I’m not what I OUGHT to be, and I’m not what I WANT to be, and I’m not what I’m GOING to be, but thank God because of His grace, I’m not what I USED to be.” I’m just a sinner saved by grace. If you can say that, then you might NOT be a hypocrite—just a recovering hypocrite who doesn’t need a mask anymore.

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April 24, 2011

The Scarlet Thread That Runs Through the Bible

The scarlet thread runs from Genesis to the cross, but it doesn’t end there. Satan tried to cut it off at the cross, but the scarlet thread continued into a cold dark tomb. Today, this scarlet thread is God’s lifeline to you. He has tossed it to you. Will you grab it? The scarlet thread runs through the Bible, but when you let it run through your heart, then you can know without a doubt that you’ll spend eternity in the presence of God.

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April 10, 2011

Is Heaven for REAL?

What kind of perfect environment do you picture? If you love the beach, you might picture a perfect beachfront with no litter, undertow, sharks or crabs! Heaven is better than that. If you’re a golfer, you might picture being able to play Augusta National and every drive splits the fairway and every putt rattles into the cup. Heaven is better than that. If you love hiking you might picture a perfect mountain trail with no briars or snakes, and you don’t get tired as you carry a 100-pound pack uphill. Heaven is better than that. Imagine what you can, and Heaven is better than that.

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April 3, 2011

Show Me the Money!

Some people hold two or more passports because they are citizens of two or more countries. In this passage of scripture Jesus reminds us that we hold dual citizenships. He said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” By that statement He indicated that all of us live in relationship to an earthly government. He also said, “Give to God what is God’s.” In addition to our relationship to an earthly government, we must also consider our relationship with God. So, if you’re a Christian, you live in relationship with Caesar, the government and with God. It’s like holding two passports.

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March 27, 2011

Your Personal Invitation to the Royal Wedding

The message of this parable is powerful but simple. “Many are invited but few are chosen.” To rephrase that, “All are invited, but only a few CHOOSE to accept the invitation.” God has given you an invitation to join Him for eternity. He provides the clothing of the righteousness of Jesus. If you accept his gracious offer, then you will enjoy the presence of the King of Kings for all eternity. However, if you refuse God’s offer of grace, then you will spend eternity separated from Him in a place called hell.

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March 27, 2011

The Rejected StONe

Uncovering four foundational truths about the character of God in Jesus’ Parable of the Tenants and a corresponding personal lesson we can apply to our lives.

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February 20, 2011

Mountain-Moving Faith

The more you talk ABOUT your mountain, the bigger it gets. It grows and grows until sometimes you really do turn a molehill into a mountain. And if you don’t speak to your mountain it will speak to you—it will taunt you, “Look at me! You can’t get past me! You’ll never be healthy! You’ll never get out of debt. You’ll never kick that habit!” So try speaking directly to the mountain; you don’t have to yell. Just say with faith, “Mountain, there’s not enough room for both of us in this life, so you gotta go!”

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February 13, 2011

Where Does God Live Today?

In the Old Testament, God had a temple for his people, and in the New Testament, God has a people for His temple! He lives in the hearts of His people. God lives here in our midst when we gather to worship and serve Him.

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February 6, 2011

Has Jesus Touched Your Eyes?

the Bible teaches we were all blind until Jesus touched our lives and gave us the light of salvation. And you and I live with people who are spiritually blind. They are stumbling over themselves trying to find spiritual truth through crystals, meditation, or the newest and latest new age fad. Satan has blinded their minds.

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January 31, 2011

And First Place Goes to…

The world determines greatness by how many servants a person has; but in God’s Kingdom, greatness is determined by how many people you serve. In God’s kingdom, first place goes to the servants, to the people the world puts at the back of the line of prominence.

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January 23, 2011

That’s not FAIR! No, that’s GRACE!

When we think about what the vineyard workers were paid, our immediate reaction to that story is, “Hey, that’s not fair!” Jesus didn’t say this is what the kingdom of this world is like. He said this is what the Kingdom of heaven is like. Heaven uses different math than the world uses. Jesus leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one lost one—the world doesn’t operate that way. Jesus said that a widow’s two pennies were more valuable than all the gold given in the Temple one day. The world would call that fuzzy math, but the Bible calls it grace.

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January 16, 2011

A Camel Through a Needle: A Parable of Impossibility

When Moses faced the Red Sea in front of him and an army chasing him, he faced an impossible situation, but God specializes in the impossible and He made a twelve-lane express highway in the middle of the sea. When Joshua faced the flood-swollen Jordan River, there was no way to cross, but God told the priests to step into the water by faith, and He stopped the river. Impossible? But God did it. When little David faced a nine-foot monster with only a slingshot, victory was impossible by human standards. But the God of the impossible directed the stone to strike Goliath right between the eyes. When Gabriel visited a teenager named Mary he announced she would give birth to a son who would be the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Mary said, “How can this be, since I’m a virgin?” Gabriel said, “Nothing is impossible for God.”

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January 9, 2011

Grace: The Gift that Keeps on Forgiving

We love to talk about how God has forgiven us, but we sometimes choke on the idea of forgiving others. The world’s answer is simple: Payback time! But as Christians, we’re told to turn the other cheek; we’re told to forgive. But sometimes forgiveness is very difficult when we know the person who needs our forgiveness is going to keep on hitting us.

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