But Is It Real?

Leave a comment

This week we are kicking off a brand-new teaching series that is going to take us through the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on Easter. For the next few weeks, we are going to be walking through Luke’s Passion Narrative beginning with Jesus’ triumphant ride into Jerusalem. These stories are perhaps families, but there is great worth in giving a fresh set of eyes to an old story. You just might be surprised what we’ll find along the way. Let’s get started with a look at Jesus’ message of judgment and how we need to adjust our lives in light of it.

But Is It Real?

Did your folks ever leave you home alone when you were a kid? Once I was old enough, mine did on occasion. And maybe your experience was like mine. Did they ever leave and by the absence of any departing instructions give you total free reign over the house and what you would do in it while they were gone? Yeah, mine didn’t do that very often either. There’s just too much trouble a kid can get into when left entirely to his own devices. What’s the solution to this problem? Why, it’s to keep them engaged with chores and projects, of course! As a result, when your parents left, you got a list. If you completed the list before they got home, that was good. If you didn’t…not so good. 

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: John 17:22

Leave a comment

“I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve argued before that all of our best stories are always ultimately rooted in the Gospel. The connections aren’t always obvious, but if you look and think a bit, you’ll find them. They’re all over the place. I recently watched the latest offering from the Predator Universe, Predator: Badlands, and was pretty impressed with just how many Gospel touch points there were. Let’s talk about what made this a much better film than I expected it to be. And just to be fair, I’ll go ahead and issue a spoiler alert.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Philippians 2:9-11

Leave a comment

“For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Jesus once told a parable about a man who went to a party and seated himself at the head of the table—the position of highest honor. When the owner of the house who actually threw the party arrived, though, he ushered in some people he considered more important. He looked at the man who had evidently overestimated his importance and politely asked him to go sit at the very end of the table where there was still room among the least important guests. The moral of the story was that if we let humbly God declare our value instead of assuming on it ourselves, He will be able to exalt us. Jesus took His own advice, and God did indeed exalt Him. Let’s talk about it.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Philippians 2:5-8

2 Comments

“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Jesus was God. Like, the God who created everything. Paul spells out some of that in the opening verses of his letter to the Colossian believers. He was and is worthy of all the honor and glory simply by virtue of being God. When He came, He could have come in glory and luxury. He could have demanded comfort and ease. He didn’t have to experience any inconvenience or discomfort. Yet that’s not what He did. That’s not how He came. Today and tomorrow, let’s examine the most important presentation of the humility of Jesus ever written.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Philippians 2:1-4

Leave a comment

“If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one  purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Everybody needs community. We hunger for it. Even if we only find it online, we’ll search for it until we have it. Online, of course, is a pale imitation of the real thing, but if our choice is between that and nothing, we’ll take it. All communities, though, are not created equal. If you want to be a part of a healthy community, that’s going to take some work. It’s going to take a particular type of culture. What kind of culture, you ask? Paul gives us an important clue here in the prelude to one of the more important passages on the subject in all of the Scriptures. Let’s check it out.

Read the rest…