75 Shades of Glory

What really makes the human Jesus different from the rest of us that we should follow Him? If He is God the Son how was that revealed in Him? What is there about Him that makes Him a perfect human being in every detail? When He claims to be one with His Father what does that really mean? Just what are some of the indicators that point to His perfection? Is He really holy? Perhaps the following will be a start in answering those questions.

Jesus is the only…

On the Way to Spiritual Gifts, Their Foundation

I am still convinced that the recovery of any stagnant local church is in the discovery, practice and sharing of spiritual gifts. When I say ‘church’ I am not talking about the ‘Body of Christ.’ It's growing. Rather I’m pointing to the sagging denominational efforts vested in maintaining traditional structure and budgets while neglecting the spiritual life of their members. But before we get to the gifts there needs to be a foundation in…

Pentecost 12c Faith, the Eye of the Spirit

In 1952 the Mathews Bridge was built connecting a remote small neighborhood called Arlington to downtown Jacksonville. Just before its official opening I drove the first bus across it. The bus belonged to Jacksonville Junior College (now JU). It was more a time issue than anything else because I needed to get the JJC Glee Club to a concert downtown. In those days road constraints were minimal.

Prior to that bridge being built there were…

Pentecost 12a Trust, The Eye of the Heart

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me (John 14:1).”

The heart is made to trust. Trust is an unseen attitude where the heart operates on a non-verbal level. It is an inner willingness to accept Jesus as the logical extension of eternal truth to live in an anti-truth world. The secular world is built on sin's toxic pride and fear, the generators of 'trouble' for which trust in Jesus is the antidote. Anything…

Pentecost 12a Belief, The Eye of the Mind

“...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason [belief] for the hope that is in you...(1Peter 3:15).”

This is the first in a three part series preparing us for the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. It definitely won't cover everything. It's not intended to. The purpose is to get us to think and act with a deeper awareness of the gift we have been given, the Holy Spirit.…

Jesus tells us what the Holy Spirit will do, “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned (Jn.16:8-11).”

Now is when Jesus really gets personal. He knows exactly what the heart needs to be set right.…

Pentecost 9 The Moment of Truth, Are We Up to It?

You're at a party and the language grows increasingly raw and nervous laughter begins to affirm the off color jokes being told. There is an embarrassed look on several people's faces but no one speaks up to quell the onslaught. The window is open for someone to say they aren't interested in that kind of atmosphere but no one does. “It's what everyone does these days” is the accepted but silent response. What about the time a group is…

Pentecost Shift to the Spirit Part 4

Vs.4 “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

We’ll break this verse down into three parts: spiritual filling, spiritual tongues and spiritual ability.

First, spiritual filling.

This verse presents us with the real challenge. This is the key verse that opens the door to everything that happens after Pentecost, the spread of faith in Jesus, the beginning of the…

Pentecost Shift to the Spirit Part 3

Vs.3 “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”

Again the operative word is ‘like.’ The Spirit is the power of God and when God wants to make a point He engages His Creation in His Spirit to express it. So ‘like tongues of fire’ makes sense. Don’t we use that same idea when we try and paint what is invisible with the brush of visible objects? What could look like tongues, fire and flames? If…

Pentecost 8 Bucket Lists

Everybody talks about making a bucket list. Things to do, places to go, people to meet. I'd like to say that my bucket list is not like that, some unusual activity I would like to do or some exotic place I'd like to go. When the usual bucket list has been done the 'bucketeers' find incompleteness still awaits.

Rather, I have something else in mind. I'm more interested in understanding and sharing primary biblical insights. A trip into Scripture guided…

Pentecost 7 What Does It Take to Be Wise?

“With age comes wisdom (anon)” “We get too soon old and too late smart (German proverb)” “The fool doth think himself wise, but the wise man knoweth himself a fool (Shakespeare)” As these slide one into the other you have a sense that wisdom is an illusive quality that few gain and fewer still experience. Every so often we hear a catchy phrase or statement that garners our attention. We spend moments pondering it to keep it stored in some…

Pentecost 5 When Is the Right Time?

I know you've heard the saying, “Timing is everything.” In fact timing can be both a help and a hindrance. We can use it as a means to get something accomplished properly or use it as an excuse not to do anything. In sports you are given specific times in which you play a game. In social, educational, and economic events you arrange items in the context of a calendar and a clock. In terms of living on this earth you organize a kind of time-line from…

The Moments We're Made For Are the Moments We Live For

“That got my attention” “That really spoke to me” “That hit me where I live” are all expressions describing when the heart has been touched. Perhaps it was a song, an article you read, a talk given or a person to person encounter. Could it have been an insight or a feeling of oneness or the awareness of something beautiful, heart moving and yearning? It's more than the mind understanding. It's an inner recognition that what was…

Pentecost 3 Take Away the Stone

“There’s no time like the present.” You’ve heard that expression many times. It may just be that today for someone you meet or have been meeting with the time to share your faith is now. There really is no time like the present. But this is not about you it is about the other person. What situation are they in? What is the circumstance they are facing? What problem lies before them? It means stepping out of our shoes and feeling the fit of the shoes of…

Pentecost 2a John the Baptizer

I received a gift yesterday morning as I was out walking. John the Baptizer came to mind. I knew I was supposed to say something about him. He was basically the last prophet, the prophet foretold to be like Elijah (Lk.1:17, Mt.11:14). I started mulling that while I was on the way. One word kept forcing its way across my thoughts, 'preparation.' John was born for one purpose, one basic task---to 'prepare' for the coming of the Lord Jesus, “I will send my…

Pentecost, The Shift to the Spirit

The single most important event after the coming of the Lord Jesus is His sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This is where the shift to true reality begins for each of us. Spirituality is the ultimate reality. It is the Holy Spirit who brings our minds, our hearts and our spirits into spiritual reality, our personal alignment with the Lord Jesus. Here is where the Lord Jesus establishes a personal relationship with us by entering our hearts…

Resurrection 20a Time to Get the Job Done

The four Gospels present the many appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection. In John it was first to Mary Magdalene at the tomb and then to ten disciples, then later to the Ten plus Thomas, then again to the disciples by the lake (Jn.20-21).

In Matthew it was first to both Mary and Mary Magdalene and then to the 11 disciples commissioning them for mission (Mt.28).

Mark records three, the first of which is to Mary Magdalene, the…

Resurrection 20 Time to Get the Job Done

The four Gospels present the many appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection. In John it was first to Mary Magdalene at the tomb and then to ten disciples, then later to the Ten plus Thomas, then again to the disciples by the lake (Jn.20-21).…

Resurrection 19 Holy Week, It's What Resurrection People Do

We are preparing for a celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Jesus is risen and we know it. But it is not enough to believe it. That's just the beginning. We have to live the Resurrection. We are a Resurrection people. Not a moment passes by that He is not with us. The faith that He had to go to the Cross was the faith it took to be resurrected. And the Lord Jesus' faith is His gift to us. We carry it wherever we…

Resurrection 18 Holy Week

Millions of Christians throughout the world are being made aware of the last days of Jesus' life on earth this week. An impressive modern version of those days was presented last Sunday night on live TV, “The Passion.” It took place in New Orleans. Add to that past spectaculars built around the life of Christ and those moments within them that zeroed in on the Cross, that unjust physical suffering Jesus endured for broken humanity. This week lots of special…