“When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. . .The path of obedience is often marked by times of suffering and loss” (Charles Swindoll). Paul was a poster child for suffering, having experienced it in so many forms—physical, emotional, and spiritual. Nevertheless, he praised God who is the source of all comfort (1:3). My belief is that suffering may be beneficia...  Read More

“God cannot fix who is first not broken” (Jack Wellman). Perhaps it is my recent accident or the global crisis, or both, but the word “broken” touches me to the depths of my soul today. Many of us have been racing to accomplish our self-made agendas, and we realize now that God has said, “Enough.” Friends, if He is talking to you in this way, as painful as it may be, please listen and respond. The...  Read More

There always seems to be a human tendency, when bad things occur, to draw a moral straight line from a national catastrophe to God’s judgment. What is the relationship between national and/or individual sin and some calamity? I’ll address this tendency to leap too soon to moral conclusions in a bit, but we first need to examine God’s mercies in this story of Achan’s sin and how it related to the n...  Read More

“The only way you can serve God is by serving other people,” says Pastor Rick Warren. We are likely to say, “Amen,” then go about serving our own interests. Not so with the Savior. Jesus has a way of getting the attention of his disciples by communicating the message on several different levels. I write what you may already know, but I do so because we often fail to see it in our own contexts. Mar...  Read More

Brother Lawrence once said, “You need not cry very loud; he is nearer to us than we think.” This man of God has reminded me of the power of Christ’s silence when He suffered for our sins (1 Peter 2:23-25). These were the darkest hours of the Savior’s walk on earth, and we often claim that it was during this time that God was far removed from him. I feel confident however that the word of God was w...  Read More

Jesus spells himself out, as the saying goes, in language that people understand. Sadly, people often do not “read” him correctly. However, there is life eternal for those that do. We will see the clear message that Jesus proclaimed and the various reactions to it in Mark 3. The message that the Gospel writer wants us to receive is contained in three words about Jesus—"Son of God.” Let’s examine a...  Read More

“Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you,” writes Dallas Willard. We may not grasp fully the significance of the former professor and renowned author’s words, but we do sense the invitation to be like the Savior! “Make disciples” was a central mandate that Christ gave to his disciples just prior to his ascension, so we know that it is important. Our discipleship n...  Read More

“The buck stops here” means that the “responsibility for something cannot or should not be passed to someone else” (Oxford Dictionaries). Many believe that the “buck stopped” with the first eyewitnesses of Christ’s earthly ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Therefore, the Acts 1:8 mantle to be witnesses fell upon their shoulders, so when they passed off the scene, the mandate ceas...  Read More

Conflict may be for the good of the whole and bring glory to God. There! I have stated it. Acts 15 provides us with a critical watershed moment in a missional current that has been building for several chapters in Acts. Luke has a clear message that he wants to communicate, and he does not sweep the theological challenge beneath the carpet, so to speak. Let’s examine the point in the passage and l...  Read More

Jesus’ final words to his disciples on the Mount of Olives were, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .” (Acts 1:8-12). The “Power” came! Sadly, the Mount of Olives would quickly change from a place of dispersion to a center of devotion by AD 330. Twenty-four churches had been built there, including Constantine’s Church of the Ascension a...  Read More

“Let my people go,” rings in my ears to this day as I recall Charlton Heston portraying Moses in the 1956 film epic, “The Ten Commandments.” Most of us will be familiar with the Bible book of Exodus and the miraculous stories of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery. We enjoy reading the narrative accounts of the birth of Moses, the travails of Israel under Egyptian bondage, the plague...  Read More

The meek “do not accommodate to the powerful and influential, but ‘surrender their will to God so completely that God’s will becomes their will’ . . . They become God’s workhorses on earth” (Clarence Jordan, Sermon on the Mount, 24-25). Christian culture, when confronted with a call to become God’s workhorses, quite often responds with “Neigh!” (Sorry, I could not resist the pun). Jesus, however, ...  Read More