Remember the movie “Back to the Future?” It raised the ‘if’ question. Well, the Psalms and all the Psalms for that matter, get us to consider alternatives, either-or, this or that, there’s another way. Take Psalm 95:7-8 as an example. It calls us to go back to the future. “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, do not harden your…

If you will, think about three beautiful well-built sailboats carrying contracted passengers across the Gulf of Mexico.  Each of them is built to deal with storms. 

The first one has an experienced skipper who is familiar with storms, has the proper maps, checked weather conditions and has navigated the ocean area before.  He has a committed crew that trusts his judgment, has the storm-trained skills to work with him and all the equipment checked and properly maintained. …

To Choose or Not to Choose, That is the Question

I’m back in the mountains and it’s early in the morning but I woke up about 4am with a concern for the idea of choice, pro-choice and what choice is all about.  I couldn’t sleep so this article is the result.  We make all kinds of choices.  We all like the idea of being able to choose.  We are by nature pro-choice people.  Every human being likes to make choices and to make them freely.

Yes, I know.  You are…

Hebrews 2

2:1 tells us “We must pay MORE careful attention THEREFORE…” The ‘more’ and ‘therefore’ is Chapter 1’s emphasis on the superiority of Jesus. This is why Chapter 2 leads out with such a strict calling. But what does that specifically mean for each of us? Three things to consider here:

First, we are created in the image of God to be like Jesus. What is an image of God? Jesus is the exact representation of God. He had a mind, a heart and a spirit. He thought like His…

“His Heart’s Not in It.” You’ve heard that expression I’m sure. It’s all about the heart and where we are when the heart is called upon.

When I was coaching soccer we had a new crop of boys at the beginning of each season. There were four kinds.

First, it was not unusual to see boys come out who wanted to play but when they found out it was going to require personal discipline to really play and run well they would tend to make excuses and slack off. It was more important to be…

Praise, the Door to Reality

If ever there was a need for stepping into reality it is now. Ultimate reality is God and everything He is, His person and His nature. When we use the word ‘God’ we are moving from our self-centered egos into a realm of identity, perfection and spirit that surpass the most illustrious ideas of man’s imagination. He is the eternal challenge to the core of our being self-conscious, self-dependent and self-exalting beings.

As sinners we spend most of…

I’ve always been fascinated with the story of the Lone Ranger. It was one of my favorite radio programs when I was a child. The Lone Ranger had been a Texas Ranger wounded by the Cavendish gang and left to die. He was nursed back to health by a childhood Indian friend named Tonto, his ‘kemosabe (faithful friend).’ His signature marks were his silver bullets, a mask and a horse named Silver. Together he and Tonto decided to be a duo that would bring justice back to the frontier on their own…

Smoke---what is it, where does it come from and how do we get rid of it?

There are three things we need to understand when we approach the Old Testament.

First, it is an earth grounded spiritual history of God’s preparation for the coming of Jesus. The Law, the Prophets and the Writings all contain deep personal issues with which we are to identify.

Second, it is an outward expression of an inward problem, sin, which Jesus was sent to solve. It is written to the mind,…

A recent anti-smoking ad showed the emphysemic condition of the lungs after years of tobacco intake. The background voice described it to be like dried shoe leather that, untended, dries, hardens, cracks and is impossible to restore. This explains why you see people walk around with oxygen tanks (unless they have a lung transplant). They’re infusing what’s left of the shriveled remains.

A similar condition is described in Ps.119:83, “Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not…

John Stott has given us a definition of political and religious interaction when he says,

“Relations between church and state have been notoriously controversial throughout the Christian centuries. To oversimplify, four main models have been tried: --

First, Erastianism (the state controls the church),

Second, Theocracy (the church controls the state),

Third, Constantinianism (the compromise in which the state favours the church and the

church accommodates…

What time is it anyway? Typical question, right? But there’s the problem. Just what are we talking about when we use the word ‘time’?

There are two Greek words for time in the Bible. One is chronos, man’s time, and the other is kairos, God’s time. The first demands a clock, a calendar and a written schedule. The second demands belief, trust and faith. They are quite different. The importance of the two is to ask which one takes precedence in our daily life. If we say chronos then we…

I love it when a song and the Bible come together.

Willy Nelson had a great song called “On the Road Again.” When I was thinking about the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 and started writing about it the words to that song popped into my mind. But before I quote them let’s look at that two man experience of the risen Jesus, making three trips on one road.

The First Trip---

Two men had gone to Jerusalem from Emmaus. We assumed they lived there since they were headed there to…

If ever there was a reason for being more pro-Jesus our present news headlines should be sufficient. The question is why, how and where?

OK, why did Jesus become man when He could have stayed in the comfort of just being God? Answer: He saw the people He loved focused on the world, on things they couldn’t change, on things that weren’t personal, on things that only brought death. They lost touch with Him, their Creator.

OK, how do we solve it?

Answer: By staying focused…

“I Wish You Were Dead”

Those were the words sent to me in the comment section of Facebook after I wrote that I supported Chic-Fil-A’s belief about marriage. It wasn’t but a matter of seconds before several hostile replies came. It was as though there were vultures hovering ready to pounce. One was very extreme. Because I was old (seeing my picture I guess) he wished for my quick death. That started me thinking about the words we use and the spirit behind them.

Do any of us…

Light. When John uses this word to describe the Jesus, the Word, what is He saying? A few years back Debbie Boone recorded a love song that became tops on pop charts, “You Light Up My Life.” It was quickly sung by many Christians to refer to the way Jesus lights up our life. But that idea of personal lighting is a common experience. Think about how we talk about people we know who ‘light up the room’ when they walk in. Or think about the times when we go to a fireworks display or watch…

The Word 10

When Julie Andrews played Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady one of her songs vented her frustration with suitors, "Words, words, words, words---if you're in love show me!" If you think about those words for a bit you find they carry an awful lot of meaning. They are deeply relational and when you say "I love you" you’re hoping they hit the heart. The actual words may be little and contain only eight letters but think of the impact they have. You are laying your heart out in…

When a rifle is fired there is a kick against your shoulder, a loud noise and a bullet launched. When John wrote “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God” he fired a rifle shot into the heart of every invented thought and religious system of his time. He fired it to jar the individual reading it, make a loud noise in the culture and to penetrate the heart of every person. What he wrote was a challenge to every world authority. Group pressure, economic…

The Word 8

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt.4:4).’”

As we have said already, when God speaks, whether it is a single word or many, there is more than a written symbol or spoken sound coming through. Be it the creation of night and day, the universe and people or a language, each segment carries the full impact of God’s character, intention and attitude. When John said Jesus was the Word He…

The Word 7

As mentioned before when we look at John 1:1-5 we see a totally different approach to how Jesus is introduced as Lord and Savior. In these verses we see Him as the Word, a divine message from a divine mind given in a divine mode. It carries a threefold impress to touch our being a threefold image of God. Most people usually hear this and move on quickly taking for granted that it was understood.

But there is more. If you read John 1:1-5 carefully you will ask just…

But What About When You Doubt?

I was recently asked by a friend to explain Luke 7:23 which says, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

The key to this verse is the context in which it appears. The context starts in Ch.6 with Jesus having preached a ‘mini’ Sermon on the Mount. He ends by declaring that He and His words are foundational to living. So Ch. 7 naturally follows built on one theme, faith in Jesus. Luke starts with the faith of a high ranking…