One of the most powerful passages in the book of Matthew comes in chapter 16. It’s the passage where Jesus asks the disciples who the people said he was. Their opinions varied from John the Baptist to Elijah to even Jeremiah. But the opinions of the world weren’t the ones Jesus was really after. He wanted their opinion, which is why he reworded the question the second time to ask who they thought he was.
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The Bible is full of pretty uplifting and cool stories. There are things about good morals and great ethical behavior. There are stories about how we should love one another and how God cares for us in our times of weakness. But if you dig just a little below the surface of the fun stories, you’ll find the ones that really don’t sound all that right.
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I recently read an article about the challenges that the current world climate is presenting to many of us in the world. The article was more specifically targeting churches and pastors but some of the principles carry across just about any situation. Here are some of my thoughts and take-aways.
Continue readingOk so I’m just going to throw this out there. We’re pretty wishy washy at times. I mean come on. We throw in the towel when life gets rough. Someone disagrees with us and we think the world is over. Friendships are thrown away because someone has a different opinion than we do. It’s pretty annoying how pathetic we are sometimes. And by we, I do mean me too!
But there’s a story in the bible about a woman who was anything but wishy washy. She was anything but weak. She had conviction in her heart and knew full well where she needed to be and with whom she needed to spend time.
Her daughter was sick and no one else could help her. She tried everything she could to help her daughter but nothing was working. So in a last ditch effort she finds Jesus. He for sure will help. Right?
Not at first! Jesus ignores her. Keeps walking away. Tells her he didn’t come to help her. Then pretty much calls her a dog! What in the world is happening here?!
If you have about 25 mins, give the following a listen. It’s an explanation of this story then an application to our lives. I hope it proves helpful and meaningful to you.
As a pastor I have to frequently evaluate what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how we’re doing it. The idea is to make sure we’re on track and that we’re being as effective as we possibly can be. But one thing I’ve realized over and over again is that we make life too hard. We have made the gospel far too difficult and have complicated the faith scenario immensely.
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Some times the greatest lessons are learned from those who do things wrong. I am a firm believer in the power of truthfulness and honesty. I also believe wholeheartedly that you can learn from both successes and failures. In this week’s message we take a few minutes to learn some pretty powerful messages from life’s failing moments.
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There are so many worries in the world today. We worry about our jobs and the small business down the street. We worry about things in life that we really have no control over to begin with. We worry about health and loved ones who make poor choices that put them in harms way. We worry about lots of things.
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The story in the Bible of Jesus walking on water is definitely one of those fun stories. I mean what kid doesn’t want to have some sort of super power like flying or even walking on water? This week we took time to dissect this account and show there several lessons embedded in this familiar narrative.
Continue readingWe talk about making sacrifices for other people. We give up a little something in an effort to make someone else’s life a little better but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that’s not a sacrifice at all. We are willing to inconvenience ourselves but rarely are we willing or able to sacrifice something of great value.
Continue readingSome days you turn on your streaming music device and a song just kind of hits you. Maybe it’s the beat. Maybe it’s the lyrics. Maybe it’s the artist. This morning I turned on my Apple Music and this song came on. My bluetooth speaker was loud because I was moving around church putting things away and making my coffee. It made me stop in my tracks.
Thank you Lord. How often do we stop to just thank him? How often too we see the small things as blessings? It’s way too easy to take these things for granted and just ignore them as if we deserve them or have somehow earned them.
This morning’s Music Monday will be shorter because I want you to have time to hit pause on the busyness of life and just be thankful.
What are you thankful for today?
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