“Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb.11:1 KJV)

“I hope I can be a better person… I hope I can find a decent place to work and live…I hope for my children’s future…I hope I can get through this awful experience I’m facing…”

“I hope we can grow…I hope we can meet people who want to be a part of us…I hope we can get the message across…I hope I can witness when I get in the midst of non-believers…”

Hope is one thing. What we…

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities---His eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Rom.1:20)

Probably 99% of our breathing is done unconsciously. We live in an atmosphere of so much oxygen, nitrogen and so on. We don’t think about breathing, we just do it. The same is true for most all of our bodily functions. Our body works. It just does what it does. We have…

How we perceive and process what happens around us from our immediate contacts to the breadth of international affairs is our personal worldview. What we believe determines our worldview, which in turn determines our attitude and behavior.

The Resurrection of Jesus challenges every mind and heart to reconsider each and every concept in our worldview from His spiritual perspective in five ways:

First, His Resurrection reorients our mind to think spiritually. John tells us that…

A disturbing piece of news came out last week that brought to mind something that drove me immediately to consult Scripture. It made headlines in a number of news media. Two former popes were canonized as saints by a new pope. Some speculated that they were chosen because one represented the 'liberal wing' the other the 'conservative wing' of the Church. Be that as it may there is a deeper message coming through and it effects believers everywhere. There is a basic theme that runs through…

If someone asked you, “Who are you?,” what would you answer?

I remember when I was in New York City at Spring Break my second year of seminary. I had just come from seeing 'West Side Story' and was headed back to my hotel. I happened to take a shortcut through a narrow passageway by a Broadway theater where a small crowd of excited young people was standing by what looked like the proverbial stage door. They seemed to be anticipating the arrival of some star. As I walked by out of the…

The God of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, all the Kings the Prophets and the Apostles is the same God and the very same One who called us to Himself in the right here and now. When He told Moses to tell Pharaoh that “I AM” sent him it is the same “I AM” that called us to Him in Jesus the Christ to let us know we were made in His image and likeness. He is the centerpiece in the fabric of existence holding everything together by His grace and…

Eternal Life is the never-ending self-conscious present moment of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and all the family of God. That is what we are being prepared for. Jesus said before He was crucified, “I go to prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also (Jn.14:3).” Yesterday’s Cross is today’s way to be raised into the present which is our future. What we do with every present moment sets the stage for reconciling the world to the ‘I AM.’ Jesus was the ‘I AM’ revealed, the…

John 20:1-2 “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put Him.’”

As you read this you are in the self-conscious moment. You are in the present in your mind, heart and body. It is the ‘right now’, the ‘every…

The Resurrection put the final seal of approval on the identity, the claims and the life of Jesus. Each of these made sense out of the unseen, the spiritual dimension. What we are really doing here is what the disciples of Jesus did when they recorded His life. They were looking back in order to look forward. It was His presence they were called to proclaim and live. It made the Scripture the authority lifitng up the importance of the individual, gave every heart its true identity, its…

Where was Jesus between His Cross and Resurrection? This has been a lingering question over the centuries. Scripture does not deal with it in great detail. What we do have are some very powerfully suggestive statements in the Old and New Testament that generally cover the submission and victory of Jesus over all that is evil and its destruction in the lake of fire (Rev.20:14). Let's look at a few passages and then briefly address them

Psalm 16:10 You will not abandon me to Sheol (the…

THE FIRST WORD

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."

Gospel of Luke 23:34

THE SECOND WORD

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Gospel of Luke 23:43

THE THIRD WORD

"Jesus said to his mother: "Woman, this is your son."

Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother."

Gospel of John 19:26-27

THE FOURTH WORD

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Matthew 27:46 and Mark…

“Then Jesus came to them. He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  So you must go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And you can be sure that I am always with you, to the very end (Matthew 28:18-20)."

In all recorded history no person, personality or persona real or fictional has had more of an effect on human civilization and…

We will never know what it was really like for Jesus in the last week of His earthly life. To know that you are going to die on a cross, humiliated by a foreign government, victimized by your own ethnic and religious leaders, deserted by your friends and disciples---that is isolation, that is crushing. But to have embraced a mission with such love and perfection and end up with no one grasping even a smidgeon or an inkling of why you said and did what you did must…

Jesus saw time as the present. It was and is always the realization of the present. The time is now. The time is always now. Now is your time and my time to be, but to be whom and to be what?

“You don’t realize 'now' what I am doing, but later you will understand (Jn.13:7).”

“'Now' that you know these things…(Jn.13:17).”

“I am telling you 'now' before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He (Jn.13:19).”

“'Now' is the Son of Man glorified and…

“And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy…

1963 saw the release of “The Great Escape,” a movie based on and dedicated to a band of Allied soldiers imprisoned in a German concentration camp during World War II. Their entire mission while imprisoned was centered around escape in order to keep as many German soldiers as possible busy and away from the 'Front' by their constant escapes. One scene stood out for me in that movie. Toward the end Captain Hilts (Steve McQueen) steals a motorcycle and attempts an escape. He makes it to the…

If I Only Had More Faith...

Ever felt that way?

Mark 9:14-32 sets before us one of Jesus' healing occasions. Consumed by desperation a father brings his demon possessed son before Jesus asking, with hope and doubt mixed, for some relief. “If you can do anything...help... (vs.22)!” Jesus repeats the first part of the man's plea in the form of a question in order to get to the real inner heart issue in the father, “If you can...? [Are you saying I can't?] Everything is possible…

“Houston, we have lift-off.” Those words are accompanied by the roar of the satellites' departure from the launch pad. The command center is full of scientists and technicians actively monitoring all the measuring instruments recording the event. It's a gigantic undertaking involving thousands of hours of research and invention but also the belief, trust and faith in the human ability to put into being what the mind has conceived. Shift this into the spiritual dimension and consider God's…

To receive Jesus is to begin a spiritual relationship already in the mind of God and one that is never ending. You've heard that before but to really tap the reservoir of what that means we extract the operative word in that statement---”spiritual.” Keep that word in mind as we continue.

Those of you who know me know that I like many of the old movies from the 40's and 50's. Black and white, the first technicolor ones and their imagery depended on the acting styles of the stars in…

Worship is a growing experience wherein the mind expands its reasoning capability through belief, the heart is nourished to increase in trust and the spirit is energized to be more relationally discerning and confident so that we can reach out to others in love. What does it take to make this growth happen? How do we get that growth spurt? How do we become more able to sense what's in the hearts of those around us so that we can share our faith with them?

It depends on our personal…