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
Last week, while my wife, Jana, and I enjoyed breakfast under the shade of a tree on an unusually cool Honduran morning she commented on how pretty a nearby flower looked. I turned and there was a beautiful orchid growing on a nearby tree. It was lovely.
As we finished our tortillas, black beans and fried platanos, I thought back to a few weeks earlier when we were in an exclusive area of Dallas attending the funeral of a longtime friend and ministry partner. If we had seen the same scene there, we likely would have viewed it differently.
Let’s face it. Christmas can be stressful. It’s easy to get wrapped up trying to create the ideal Christmas – that Hallmark Channel one.
Joel and I recently talked about one of the most meaningful Christmases we had as a family and what made it stand out. Here are some highlights from that conversation:
I 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:
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.”
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
Some centuries ago a nobleman decided to build a church for the people of the surrounding area. On the day of the dedication everyone was awed by the splendor of the architecture and design. But then someone noticed that an important element had been overlooked. There were no lampstands to light the interior of the church. “What will light the church?” they asked. Continue reading
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
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
Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. …It sounds like Jesus is changing the Old Testament law – You have heard it said .. but I say unto you. But just 11 verses earlier (Matthew 5:17) He said He didn’t come to do away with the Law but to fulfill it. So obviously He would not then proceed to “do away” with it and replace it with His own set of rules. So what is up here?
This passage makes sense when you make a simple change in emphasis in the reading. We tend to read it .. “But I say unto you..” putting the emphasis upon “I”. But it all makes perfect sense when you put the emphasis upon the “you”. “I say unto YOU ..” How can I justify such a change? Continue reading
Blood Moons, the SuperMoon, signs in the heavens … I don’t know about all the prophetic insights some folks see in these things. (After all, I have already lived through the end of the world several times – the comet Kohoutek, Y2K, 99 reasons the Lord will return in 1999, the alignment of the planets in 1982 and again in 2000, end of the Mayan Calendar December 21, 2012 and a few others.) I have no idea what the cosmic meaning of a SuperMoon is, I just try to live every day ready for his return.
But, I do know the SuperMoon is caused by the moon being closer than normal to the earth and I saw a message in that.
In 1 Kings 2, Solomon takes vengeance on his father’s enemies. God does not condone or condemn it, He just tells us what happened. I wonder if the Lord might be giving us a prophetic picture of what is to come when the Lord Jesus ascends to the throne and takes out all the enemies of the kingdom. For example …
1. Abiathar, the priest.
David said he wanted Solomon to be king but that wasn’t the proper protocol. The law of succession said David’s oldest son should be king. Solomon was not the oldest and, in fact, wasn’t even a legitimate son. Abiathar tried to follow the law and keep Solomon from the throne. He only wanted to obey the law but by doing so he was putting it above the expressed will of the king. Abiathar’s life was spared but he lost his priesthood – ability to minister before the Lord.
Will there be those who inherit eternal life but are not permitted to minister to the Lord because they insisted on clinging to the law refusing to embrace grace? Hmmm … I wonder. Continue reading