He's Bringing Us Out of the Darkness

The traditional reading for Christmas Eve worship obviously centers on the birth of Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-20). The first seven verses give us the political, social, physical and personal context in which His birth took place.

But is it ever mentioned that the bulk of the passage, vs.8-20, concerns shepherds, the shepherds living nearby, watching their flocks at night? How much it speaks to us right where we are. Let's…

Prophecy

When dealing with the idea of prophecy we immediately recognize we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience which means 100% of our life is motivated by what can't be seen. Prophecy by its very nature is spiritual. Spirituality deals with everything that can't be seen. “What is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal (2Cor.4:18).” The whole Bible, while visible, references the invisible, the spiritual…

The Longest Trail

When I worked in New Hampshire one of my favorite hikes was on the Lion's Head Trail up the side of Mt. Washington. It was strenuous but the reward was not only making a successful climb but also the view from the top. What I came to learn was the appreciation of the trail itself with its beginning through beautiful woods, then emerging at the timberline and crisscrossing the boulders to reach the summit. Even though the trail remains the same the weather changes,…

Romans 14-15

We start again with the last verse of Ch.13, “Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature (12:14).” This verse sets the pace for what he will say in the next three chapters.

How do we clothe ourselves with the Lord? Chapters 14 and 15 begin with the similar concern about weakness, uniqueness and cliqueness. “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters”…

It's 100% or Nothing

In one of the replies to my '3rd World War' article the question of percentages (my 99 to 1 ratio) came up as well as time spent in our working career and the Lord's 100% obedience factor to His Father's will. Fair, very fair, I thought. Let me say first that for us as disciples of Jesus the bottom line is faith vs. fear. That's the basic theme behind not letting world issues distract us from our primary purpose as disciples. The whole percentage thing was an…

The New War, Terror

Terror, political terror dressed in religious garb, confronts us right now. We are hammered every day with its reality. What do we do about it especially as disciples of Jesus?

There are three questions that hold the answer to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in a fear driven world. Now that the media; TV, newspapers and magazines; actively swamp us with stories of terror, crime, riots and chaos, our world has become a tidal backwash of survival…

Romans 13 Living 100% in a 99% World

The context for this chapter is the answer we give to the following question: Where did Jesus spend 99% of His time?

The issues Paul addresses here are based on reshaping images of God who believe in Jesus. It's all about attitude, the style we allow to shape our mind, heart and spirit. That's what Chapter 12 was about. The mindstyle in 12:1-2, the heartstyle in 12:3-8 and the spiritstyle in 12:9-21 combine to be like that attitude Jesus had…