Faith 1

What You Can't See Is What You Really Want

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb.11:1).”

Faith, substance and evidence; this assemblage of words is well known and appears quite often in sermons and writings to touch the heart and challenge the mind to embrace God’s offer of an eternal relationship with Him. They are important words, words of salvation, words of life and words of invitation to share God's real…

Prelude to the Beatitudes

When Moses received the 10 Commandments, he was given a commentary with them on how to live them out for the community (Exodus 21 through Deuteronomy 34). The Commandments and the Law came from without, from God to Moses.

When Jesus gave us the Beatitudes, they and their commentary came from within Him, the 'how' we live them out from the heart (Mt.5:13-7:29).

There is however, an enormous difference, a night and day difference. Through Abraham…

There is a recent switch in liberal linguistics. It's called 'the new norm.' Typical of this mindset is the attempt to constantly change the meaning of words so that meaning is determined by whoever wants it to define what they want. When we use the word 'norm' or 'normal' it means a standard by which we judge. But suppose 'norm' is changeable according to one's personal whimsy? Then we have 'normal' not being normal at all and norms disappear. This is what is happening in education, social…

Two Testaments, One God

“We have a strong city, God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you (Is.26:1-3).”

First, it is important that we don't view the God of the Old Testament and its prophets as different than the God of the New Testament whom Jesus reveals. The first sets the stage. The second carries it out.…

Intimacy 105

Remember this from the last article addressed to both men and women? “OK. Try this. You got the car, the house, the lady or the man, the job, the trophy, the membership, the money. But did you get the fulfillment that your heart wanted? Did those things bring that sense of inner satisfaction that lasts? You got what you wanted but did you get what you were really after? If you didn't, well, let's talk Jesus.”

So, if you got what you wanted, did you get what you…

Intimacy 104

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:28).”

Relational intimacy is that openness between God and His children as well as the restoration of that same openness between His children. Look closely at what Paul describes in the above verse regarding Jew and Greek. There humanity is defined by bloodline and nation. Slave and free is how humanity is defined socially and economically. Male and female…

Intimacy 103

As we continue our look at intimacy in a Genesis perspective, we see Adam and Eve lived open and pure lives in Eden. It seems death was the farthest thing from their minds (Gen.1-2).

First of all they had no idea of what the experience of death was. In fact before Eve was created Adam was warned about death but his lack of response indicates he might not have grasped its significance (Gen.2:17).

Second, the Lord knew that one problem stood out for man's…

Getting What You Want

You got what you wanted but did you get what you wanted?

The question was prompted by how we look back on our life's choices and decisions. So much of what we desire we're quick to interpret as a need which becomes a momentary distraction that turns out to be a momentary attraction prompting a momentary reaction to achieve momentary satisfaction. It's the old Adam and Eve thing, seeing the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they…

In All Things

“And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Rom.8:28).”

It is vitally important that we grab hold of this idea of 'all things.' This is a spiritual statement that intrudes upon our self-centeredness with exacting force, like it or not. Every single moment of our lives is known to God and those moments hold the 'things' Paul mentions. Each of us is a compilation of choices and decisions,…

Intimacy 2

Eph.2:1-3

Just when we were lifted up in the presence of the risen Christ and could grasp the significance of how mighty and glorious God the Son is, we are immediately catapulted into the understanding of our fallen human nature from which we have been rescued. Men lived by systems and institutions but not intimacy with their Creator.

“We were dead in our transgressions and sins when we followed the way of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air,…

Intimacy 101

Recently, two events got me looking at Ephesians 2 in a slightly different light. One was a discussion in our Mountain Men’s group. The other was when a plumber’s assistant who came to fix a leak aimed to convert me to become a…

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

Actually we can change that expression to read “Truth is a stranger to fiction.” The life we live on this planet is fictional until we find that the truth is God Himself. The word becomes truth with a capital 'T.'  What we undo when we meet God in Jesus Christ is to reorient ourselves to truth being spiritual, personal and relational. When Jesus…

Getting the Most Out of life

Sermon on the Mount (Context)

The context of the Sermon on the Mount is spiritual poverty and its solution. It's stated in the first of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt.5:3).” That sets how we view and discover the riches of the whole Sermon from Chapter 5 through Chapter 7. Spiritual poverty is the root of all poverty---spiritual, emotional, personal, relational and physical. The Kingdom of…

It’s Hard to Stay Focused

In these “Out and About” chapters the theme has been to stay spiritually alert wherever you are with whomever you are in the day-to-day atmosphere in which you live. It is especially hard when the media pummels us all as we move around. Media are designed to make money and the way they do it is to keep your attention centered on what its designers believe will keep you tuned in. Look at the following listing: the bizarre (that’s intentional because it sells),…

Thy Kingdom Come

In the last section on ‘will’ I got ahead of myself as I was delving into Jesus’ teaching on prayer. Actually, ‘kingdom’ comes before ‘will’ so let’s get into that word now. Perhaps in a way it was good to have covered ‘will’ first because the purpose of God’s will is intimacy and God’s Kingdom is a kingdom of intimacy. Sin prevents intimacy, which is why Jesus went to the Cross and sacrificed His life to cancel the power of sin so that each of us could have intimacy…

Looking Forward Theme

If someone asked me to describe the single most important desire of God for His people I would say “Look Forward.” Be a looking forward people. Be alert. Be ready. Be transformed from a mind that puts self first to a mind that is geared to looking forward like God looks forward, a heart that has a 'looking forward' attitude and a spirit that is actively in a 'can't-wait-to-get-going' mode. The very first words of the Bible, “In the beginning...”, make up a phrase…

Where Did It All Go Right?

Let's get to the point. The devil's plan is to reduce us in size. What his spirit of sin does is to reduce us in size, being and quality. The more we sin, by being self-centered and self-indulgent, the smaller we become, the more control the devil has over us. Then we become like him and fade into nothing and know it. That's what disappointment, disillusionment and discouragement show. This is when the younger replaces the older, the athletic body fades, the…

Where Did It All Go Wrong?

After reading the first two chapters of Genesis it's obvious God made everything good. But there is a very important principle to keep in mind from these two chapters. Spirituality predates physicality. God is not physical but spiritual and it is out of the spiritual reality of God that everything physical comes into being. “What is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal (2Cor.4:18).” The entire physical realm seemed to be in perfect working…

The Sermon on the Mount Part 11

There is still one more thing we have to resolve. It's the parallel Jesus is giving us when we see Him fulfilling the Law and its signature statement, the Ten Commandments. Remember how Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Law from the Lord to be the moral lifestyle for the Jewish people? Jesus is taking His disciples up on a mount to teach them a spiritual lifestyle, really a heartstyle, that fulfills the Law. Whereas the Law was given to whip a…

The Sermon on the Mount Part 10

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Mt.5:11-12).”

The ninth blessing happens when the false witness of others will bear against us because we believe in Jesus. It's the second of the persecution Blesseds. The first one had to do with our…