Category Archives: Luke

Armed guards at church? Really?

Posted on by

In light of the tragedy at Lakewood Church in Houston I felt it might be good to take another look at the question: Would Jesus have armed guards at His church?
Please don’t jump to conclusions but track with me till the end here.

I know all the logical reasons why this is necessary but so often Jesus didn’t do the “logical” or the “necessary.” So I genuinely wondered what would Jesus do?

Jesus did have an armed guard at a prayer meeting. Peter sprang into action defending Jesus by cutting off a man’s ear. Jesus rebuked his protector, told him to put the weapon away, healed the wound and quietly went with the intruders to His death. (Luke 2:50+)

Additionally, He witnessed the slaughter of his apostles and thousands of followers even up until today when many are still brutalized and killed for following Him. But, for His precious flock in America, surely He approves of armed men gunning down any who threaten to do them harm. Right? Continue reading →

Would Jesus have armed security at His church?

Posted on by

I’m troubled by the fact that most churches today have a covert team of armed men wandering the halls and guarding the entrances. I know all the logical reasons why this is necessary but so often Jesus didn’t do the “logical” or the “necessary.”

Actually, once Jesus did have an armed guard and that person sprang into action defending Jesus by cutting off a man’s ear. Jesus rebuked his protector, told him to put the weapon away, healed the wounded man and quietly went with the intruders to His death. (Luke 2:50+)

Additionally, He witnessed the slaughter of his apostles and thousands of followers even up until today when many are still brutalized and killed for following Him. But, for His precious flock in America, surely He approves of armed men gunning down any who threaten to do them harm. Right? Continue reading →

A coffee cup encouragement

Posted on by

I was fixing coffee for my wife, Jana, and I pulled out a special Christmas cup. It says, “Let Heaven and Nature Sing.” That caused me to start singing (silently, to spare Jana’s ears) the wonderful Christmas carol, “Joy to the world.”

As I hit the start button on the coffee maker, I got to the part that says, “He rules the world” and I stopped.

“Wow,” I thought, “that is a message we all really need to be reminded of at this time – He rules the world.” Continue reading →

COVID-19 Response: 3 Things We Can Do NOW.

Posted on by

Let's love the fear out of peopleI send you out as lambs among wolves.*

Lambs among wolves? Really Jesus? That’s crazy! We’re gonna get creamed! The kingdom of God is upside-down (at least from the world’s point of view.)

It’s “crazy” to think:

  • If you have a need, give … and it shall be given unto you.
  • If you want to save your life … lose it.
  • If you exalt yourself you’ll be humbled. Humble yourself to be exalted.
  • If you want to be great .. be a servant of all.
    Not just a servant to the influential but a servant even to other servants.

In this time of world chaos it’s easy to respond like the world: anxiety, insecurity, complaining and hoarding because we don’t know what’s coming. That’s a natural response but …

God has called us to live supernaturally (above the natural). That means more than “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls that do.”

It’s easy to condemn the bad ACTIONS of the world
while we have the same bad ATTITUDES of the world.

If our attitudes and actions are just like the world we can expect to reap the same harvest the world reaps – anxiety, worry and hopelessness. But how can we live counter-culturally, counter-intuitively, upside-down from the world’s perspective? Continue reading →

The crazy old couple

Posted on by

A young couple brought their newborn child to church for the first time and hardly anybody noticed. Except for an old man and an old widow who got very excited. The old man believed he wouldn’t die until he had a very unusual experience. Today was the day!

The old woman lived at the church since the passing of her husband. When these two saw Joseph and Mary bringing the infant Jesus into the temple they did some crazy things. They excitedly took the baby, blessed the couple, prophesied and gave Mary some sad news. You can read all about it in Luke 2:25-38 but here is what is amazing and something I need to regularly remember.  Continue reading →

Getting your prayers answered.

Posted on by

The Messiah had finally come. He was going to deliver Israel from their oppressors. But then this happened.

When he got to Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. (Mark 11:15)

He walked past the Roman soldiers in the streets. He didn’t address the corrupt, anti-god government that ruled the city. He went straight to the temple and cleansed it.

He didn’t seem nearly as bothered by the sin around him as he was with the sin in the lives of his own people. I have to admit, I don’t like that. I wish he would deal with “them” and leave me alone.

“Look at all the bad stuff ‘they’ are doing Lord. Sure, there are things in my heart that could use a little polishing up but I’m not nearly as bad as ‘them.’ Why don’t you start with ‘them’ and once ‘they’ are all straight, then we can work on the things in my life.” Continue reading →

Stored up and ready?

Posted on by

Two words grabbed my attention this morning – “stored up.”

It happened while reading something Jesus said, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.”  Luke 6:45

Stored up. When I go to my pantry I find just what I put in there. If it’s empty, it’s because I haven’t been putting anything in. If it’s filled with garbage it’s because I’ve been filling it with garbage. If I expect to find something good to eat, then I need to put something good in.

As the old computer programmers used to say Continue reading →

Christians and Combat on Memorial Day

Posted on by

Turn the other cheek. Thou shalt not kill. Love and pray for your enemies. First century Christians opposed military service. There are those who refuse to serve in the military today because of religious convictions. So what about those who do serve? Who is right?

1.The Bible says “Thou shalt not kill”.  Participation in the military supports death and killing. Continue reading →

I was made to thrive. What happened?!

Posted on by

They were new missionaries – still wrestling with language, culture, missing family and friends, struggling to develop new relationships in a vastly different setting. Their pastor arranged for a live skype chat with the congregation.

During the call the pastor cheerfully asked, “Are you thriving?”

The stumbling response went something like this, “Well, I’m not sure we’re thriving, but . . . er … um … uh . . . we’re doing fine.”

Hmmm. Must be something wrong. He’s not thriving. We know the Bible says:
“We were made for so much more than ordinary lives
… more than just survive, we were made to thrive.” Continue reading →

It’s easy to avoid criticism. Do this.

Posted on by

You are guilty!If you’ve felt the sting of the critic’s mean words it’s natural to want to avoid future attacks.

And it’s really easy to avoid criticism.

Simply do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
In short, waste your life and no one will criticize you.
(Except perhaps your parents because they love you enough to tell you you’re wasting your life.)

If you could live you whole life and do nothing but good you still could not avoid criticism.
One man did that and they nailed him to a cross three years after He went public.

Will Rogers said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”
At first I thought that was an outlandish statement – especially since he knew so many politicians in his day. :-)

But years later it dawned on me what he was saying. Continue reading →