For years, my favorite bible to read had a page layout something like this: Note: each verse stands out, separated from what came before it and what comes after it. For years, I found such a layout to be both easy on my eyes and an aid to bible memory. After all,...
Many of you know that I spend a fair amount of my time in a role commonly described as "pastoral counseling." People make appointments, come in either as individuals or as couples, and share their burdens with me, seeking at some level to have both a human and a...
Below is a sermon that STARTS with a promise to offend, ENDS with a triumphant declaration regarding the authority of Christ from a second grader's mouth, and in between takes a tour of one of Scriptures most majestic mountaintops: Philippians 2:5-11. It also led to...
" . . . whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” The unforgiveable sin is not something you do. It's an attitude you have. It's not an act you commit. It's a journey you take. And it becomes a journey that...
Get ready for an ouch. A lot of you like storms better than you like calm. Why? Because when it’s calm it’s much harder to complain. And some of us simply cannot be happy unless we have something to complain about. It’s why we sabotage relationships. It’s why we...
If you've never doubted, you've only half-believed. Faith has never been easy, and doubts are not your enemy. Pretending is. Hear that again: Doubts are not your enemy. Pretending is. If we've never doubted, if we've never wrestled with issues of faith, our belief...
Yesterday, November 30, 2015, was a normal Monday in ministry. I've been through more than a thousand such Mondays in my years of full-time ministry. Yet if you read between the lines, look beneath the covers, and wash behind your ears . . . you can see some pretty...
Here's why I liked what we got to do yesterday: 1. We had a Campaign that had nothing to do with pledging money and everything to do with pledging prayer time; and 2. We rescued Psalm 46:10a from its Hallmark card safety and repositioned it dangerously into the...
Inspired by Fred Craddock, involving an Operation Christmas Child Radical Impact Project, including a stellar sermon from my friend and colleague Devin Tharp, Only Human has been one of my favorite series. And now it culminates on Sunday with "Human Racing," a message...
The hymn Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing has this puzzling line: “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come . . .” What in the world is an Ebenezer? And how do you raise it? An Ebenezer stone comes from I Samuel 7:12 where the prophet raises a large...