OK, so we’ve been talking about preparation and prayer. They are how we come to the place where we let the Lord Jesus out of our heart and into the world we live. But how does that work for us? This is where He calls us to see Him as the example, “As the Father has sent me, that is the way I am sending you (Jn.20:21).” So how is He sending us?



If we look at the Lord, Scripture tells us He saw His task as letting the Father be seen and known through Him. That is exactly how we are… Continue

The real context of Advent is the return of Jesus so let me say this right off the bat. He could return in ‘any next moment.’ Keeping that in mind we want to approach the subject of prayer as God’s way of readying us for that moment. Our ‘every next moment’ is in this world. This world is a training ground for letting God in right where we are. One way to look at it is this. Jesus is returning whenever we give Him our mind, heart and spirit in any moment, which prepares us for His final coming.… Continue

We have been making the case for us to be open to the unexpected to happen at any next moment. The final big unexpected event is expected and that is the Second Coming of Jesus. While we expect Him to return we don’t know when to expect Him, what it will be like and what happens after that. We just know He is coming for us to bring us home. It could happen unexpectedly at any next moment. “You also must be ready. The Son of Man will come at an hour when you don't expect him (Lk.12:40 NIRV)." So… Continue

It’s Thanksgiving morning and I’m sure everyone is getting ready for the day. Eat a light breakfast, start the turkey and dressing, get the table set, the kids bouncing around. You may even be watching the traditional Thanksgiving Day parade on TV. For those who are alone or couples with no family near you may be going out to eat or been invited to a friend’s house for the afternoon. Whatever, wherever and whenever, the day is still marked by the air of thankfulness. If we can get outside… Continue

Expectations are the things that every one has as they approach their every next experience. You can expect problems or satisfaction or the unexpected. And actually, as Christians, it is the unexpected we are looking for. If our outlook is shaped by the world around us then we are limiting God to its expectations. If all we expect is to be able to do the things the world tells us in order to live painlessly with economic security and relational peace we will end up alone, empty, despairing and… Continue

Hebrews 6



We have been lifting up the subject of the priesthood of Christ, which is the priesthood He shares with us. We are but partial sharers inasmuch as He is the High Priest governing our priesthood. What is really happening in this experience of being priests is that while His priesthood is completed and complete ours continues to expand as we exercise our faith from moment to moment. His priesthood of the sacrifice of His blood was once and for all. Our priesthood is to be… Continue

It’s Time to Get Real 8



“The Holy Spirit’s task is to elevate Jesus in our mind, remind us of what He said and then to encourage us to act on the insight He has given us. He does that by our reading Scripture. He starts by lifting a thought consistent with Jesus for our mind to consider, moves us to trust it in our heart and encourages us to act on it in faith in our spirit. That consistent kind of thinking is how Scripture works in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.”



I… Continue

In “It’s Time to Get Real 6” there was a general idea presented. That is, letting Scripture open the door to ultimate reality, spiritual reality, which then in turn reorders how we appraise who we are, why we are here and where we are headed. What we are presented with there is choice, choice to either live by what works forever or by whatever gets us through the next moment. When you boil it…

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It’s hard to resist truth when it gets you right where you live. That is the nature, direction and purpose of Scripture. It’s loaded with those kinds of principles, ideas and insights that cut through and across history and speak to us right where we are. No person is outside its message. It is a directive from God to the mind and heart of…

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“But still others received the seed that fell on good soil. They are those who hear the message and understand it. They produce a crop 100, 60 or 30 times more than the farmer planted (Mt.13:23 NIRV).”

“Faith is a…

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Attitude (Php.2:5)



Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. (The Message)



How did Jesus think of Himself? Self-assessment is vital to a healthy spiritual life. He thought of Himself as the Messiah, the light of the world, the bread of life, the Good Shepherd, the way, the truth, the life, the Alpha, the Omega, same as the Father, the Son of David, the Son of God, the Son of Man and the I Am.



Upon what was His thought based? The Word of His Father.… Continue

I remember seeing a TV show years ago about a plane flying through clouds that seemed never-ending only to emerge from them and the earth below being totally unfamiliar territory. What had been highways and cities was now only forest and jungle. The whole environment in the sky and on the ground had completely changed. Where were they? Where were they going? Was there a landing field somewhere? With limited fuel and no response to repeated requests for location what…

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Remember in the last writing how Jesus is the picture of final ultimate and complete reality? Well that reality is the Kingdom of God, His Kingdom. It is a Kingdom of the heart, an eternal Kingdom, the Kingdom we have been called into and the Kingdom we carry within to offer without. It is His presence planted in each of our hearts, which we have been given the privilege to offer and give away. He, the… Continue

Time to Get Real 2

Right now I’m going to ask us to take a walk through the field of meaning. Our minds are always at work anyway, every step actively on the path of interpretation, to clarify what is taking place before us. We stroll the pastures of speculation looking for what is true and false, right and wrong, trustworthy and

untrustworthy. We climb the hills…

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Let’s get right down to it. Everyone needs salvation. Salvation is the process of restoration. If restoration is a process then the question must be, what are we being restored from and to what? The immediate answer is obviously from sin and to God. But what is sin and what has sin done? We have to get

real and face honestly the condition of human nature in each of us. This can only be done when we have a common authority to…

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