Tame the Tongue Be Careful What You Say Many people today—too many—feel they have a right to say whatever they want to say, whenever they want to say it. What they forget is that this privilege also comes with a responsibility to not say some...
Does Jesus Offend You? Though many people like an easy Jesus, not everyone accepts what he says Jesus normally teaches the masses in parables. Though most don’t really understand what he means, they like his stories because they’re so...
Are You At the End of Your Rope? Imagine you are going down the side of a 200-foot cliff—with a 100-foot rope. At 99 feet down, you find yourself literally dangling “at the end of your rope.” What an apt metaphor for a hopeless situation...
The Simplicity of Faith: Jesus Says “Follow Me” In Peter’s darkest moment, he denies that he even knows who Jesus is. I don’t criticize Peter for this, however. Despite a desire to respond differently, I suspect that if facing death, I could...
A False Assumption About Church Growth A Lesson in Reacting to the Unexpected In college I heard an account about a struggling church who hired a minister to help them grow. He was full of energy, enthusiasm, and ideas. In no time he connected...
Warn One Another in Love I’ve talked about the need for theological diversity in our churches. While we need to embrace those who hold different understandings of Jesus, we perhaps need to adopt a separate view of the behaviors of people...
His Love Endures Forever We Should Praise God for the Many Ways He Loves Us Love is a recurring theme in Scripture (686 verses). It shows up in most every book of the Bible (60 out of 66). The word is most common in Psalms (157 verses). Psalm 136...
Love God and Love Others: A Call to Christian Unity Shun Division, Disunity, and Denominations in the Name of Jesus Just as church member status divides the church body into two groups, so does our doctrine. Instead of obeying Jesus’s instruction...
Having a Q and A with God In the short book of Malachi, there is a reoccurring phrase “but you ask” (along with a few of variations thereof). This turns into a Question and Answer monologue, with God voicing the people’s unspoken questions...
Reflecting on Church #22: Affirming One Another With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #22. During the public sharing time that wrapped up...
