Leading By Example

It’s amazing sometimes how we miss the pieces of the puzzle coming together. It’s all the more amazing to us when we have our eyes opened and can now see what we’ve always missed before. I’ve been reading N.T. Wright’s book “The Day the Revolution Began; Reconsidering the meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion”, and it’s bringing […]

A New Beginning

Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel. The prophets Simeon and Anna both greet Jesus at the […]

What We Need

So, last week, I asked the question, “Does God bring the famine?” You may not agree with me, but my answer to this question, again, is an emphatic NO! In fact, as we see with the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ the Son of God, wherever he is, nobody goes hungry, everyone gets what they […]

Desiring mercy, not sacrifice

In my message a couple days ago about Jesus being “perfect theology”, I asked the question “does God shun sinners?” To which I answer emphatically NO, he welcomes them. There are many “proof texts” I could use, but the one that comes quickest to mind for me is this from Matthew – But when he […]

How to Move Mountains

Looking at an example of Jesus Christ, Son of God, living out his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount at a moment in time when it would have been very useful to him to NOT follow his own ways. But of course, that would have been very un-Christ like of our Christ, wouldn’t it? […]

Jesus the Great

Looking at the last temptation of Jesus in the Judean wilderness before the man Jesus of Nazareth embarked on His mission to bring the Kingdom of God on earth, just as it is in Heaven. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and […]

Wrong Ideas

A story of Jesus which shows a dark part of what is in our human nature, and His response to it. Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this […]

A Hard Heart

A very short parable from Jesus about being in the light, and more to the point, about being the light of the world. Pay attention, you’ve probably read this before but missed what I think is the point. No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on […]

You Wouldn’t Know It…

Staying in Isaiah Chapter 1 here. The thing that stands out about this passage is that like so much Jesus’ teaching, this warning is directed at people who were already in church. They were a rebellious people, but they were also very religious people. If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few […]

Grace-ism

I wrote about the older brother in the prodigal son story a couple of months ago, but after a really good message in church from my pastor this weekend, I’m revisiting this famous story. The prodigal son may be the most telling story in the New Testament. All of us, when we first come to […]