Citizen of Heaven

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Words are the tools of my profession. Whether written or spoken, live or recorded, they are the weapons of my warfare, to borrow from 2 Corinthians 10:3.  This week we will discuss a word used constantly by preachers like me — and if you ask me, we ought to use it more; the havoc that 300 years of usage can wreak on our vocabulary; the lie...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! “Repentance” is a church word. We don’t hear it very often in our daily lives in the world. And maybe that’s the problem. We’re not doing it because no one is talking about it. This week we will discuss our utter unworthiness of the kingdom of God, our utter unwillingness to learn from our mistakes, our utter incompetence at simple apologi...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! When I think of getting away from it all, I think of an island. Me here, problems way out there, it’s a comforting way of looking at the world. But island living is not as simple as that. This week we will discuss God’s plan to bridge the gap between the mainland and the islands; Robinson Crusoe conforming the island to meet his needs inst...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This is the second half of my conversation with BJ Sipe, the preacher at the church of Christ in Danville, Kentucky, and the host of the Set Your Mind Above podcast. Check out the first half if you have not already. True confession: the connection here to cannibalism is weak. But we have been personifying disease and death since long befor...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Do Christians actually eat other Christians? Yes they do, and my guest and I have the bite marks to prove it, as do countless other Christians.  BJ Sipe, the preacher at the church of Christ in Danville, Kentucky, and the host of the Set Your Mind Above podcast, sat down with me to discuss the topic. This is the first half of our conversat...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! For all the kindergarten teachers out there who are annoyed with me already, stick with me; I will get to you in a minute. The fact is, stupidity exists. And it’s not tough to prove it. This week we will discuss the things the Bible calls stupid; the behavior that makes you stupid, at least in the eyes of one author; the confusion over wha...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Anarchy is society without government. If you’re not a big fan of government, and I’m not, that can sound pretty good. And in a perfect world, it would be. But in case you didn’t know, this isn’t a perfect world. This week we will discuss what it means to be under law to Christ; how conspiracy theories feed into our worst tendencies; wheth...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Fair warning: This week’s episode will sound more like a lesson for preachers than normal. But I’m confident that any child of God will find a way to adapt it for personal use. (See what I did there?) We will cover the difference between being adjustable and being spineless; the importance of good source material, for movie makers and for...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This is the second half of my conversation with Kris Emerson and Steve Wolfgang.  Kris Emerson is host of the  Excel Still More podcast and preacher for the Lindale church of Christ. Steve Wolfgang is the evangelist for the Downer’s Grove church of Christ in suburban Chicago. In the final part of our conversation, we discuss Jesus’ ideas a...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I have two guests with me to share their insights — and if they choose, their feelings as well. Kris Emerson is host of the  Excel Still More podcast and preacher for the Lindale church of Christ. Steve Wolfgang is the evangelist for the Downer’s Grove church of Christ in suburban Chicago. This is the first two segments of our discussion;...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! In some ways this week’s installment is a follow-up to last week’s. We discussed the concept of “Big” last week. And there’s nothing bigger than eternity.  This week we will discuss the secret to life, according to the wisest man to ever live; how Native American philosophy, as narrated by James Michener, strangely mirrors the Bible; how y...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! They say everything is bigger in Texas. The bluster, the egos, the steaks, the belt buckles. You name it, we can supersize it. But bigger comes with its problems — big commitments, big disappointments, big failures and big consequences among them.  This week we will discuss big faith and why you should be trying to find it; big dreams that...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. God told Noah that thousands of years ago. And the value of human life has not diminished since then. Unfortunately our valuation of it has in many cases.  This week we will discuss whether Christians actually murder other Christians, and if so, how; the secrets to staying out of a...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This is the second part of my discussion with Jeremy Dehut and Barry Britnell. Check out www.appianmedia.com for the great work Jeremy, Barry and the rest of the crew put together. I absolutely loved Bruce Feiler’s book, American Prophet, which detailed the importance of the Moses story in American life. So when I heard he had written a bo...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This week I have the privilege of sharing my discussion with Jeremy Dehut and Barry Britnell of Appian Media, a wonderful resource for professional and Biblical material. Check them out at www.appianmedia.org. This is the first half of our discussion. We will discuss the insights the crew found into the book of Revelation while filming the...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Maybe it’s the holidays, Maybe it’s my new son-in-law. In any case, I’ve been spending a lot of time recently thinking about taking people on the outside and bringing them inside, creating blessings for host and visitor alike. This week we will discuss Biblical hospitality and Abraham’s example; barriers we may be erecting to keep brethren...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Looking at things from different perspectives is the fair way to approach a situation. But it’s more than that. It’s about compiling all the relevant information, including information that challenges our way of seeing the world. This week we discuss circumspection — the skill of viewing things from other points of view. And then we practi...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Bullies are people who take what they want at the expense of the weak. From the short kid on the playground to the minimum-wage worker to the next nation in the path of a warmonger, most of us have suffered bullying. And many of us have inflicted it. This week we discuss  David’s failed and selfish leadership; the pros and cons of public w...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! In the western corner, representing the Oregon Ducks, we have BJ Sipe, host of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast and evangelist with the church of Christ in Danville, KY. In the eastern corner, representing the Tennessee Volunteers, we have Terry Francis, preacher for the church of Christ in Chelsea, Alabama, and his son Peyton. In the secon...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Last month we discussed Nerds; this week we flip the coin over. Sitting in with me are the biggest sports fans and occasional participants I could find. BJ Sipe preaches for the church of Christ in Danville, KY. He also hosts the Set Your Mind Above podcast. Terry and Peyton Francis co-host the Pork and Son podcast, focusing on sports in g...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Ephesians 4:26 reads, “Be angry, and yet do not sin.” I fear sometimes we effectively leave off the second half of that sentence. The fact is, giving in to anger is just as bad as giving in to lust or envy. God’s words to Cain ring true for us: “You must master it.” This week we will discuss choosing brotherly love over angry words; a sing...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I don’t know how it is in your house, but I’m seeing pumpkins everywhere these days. From the coffee shop to the craft store to my front porch, it’s all pumpkin all the time. And for me, that’s a good thing. This week we discuss extreme reactions to extreme hunger; the lie you have been told your entire life about pumpkin pie; the weirdest...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Lions run wild in the Bible, pardon the expression. Everyone knew about them. Everyone respected and feared them. That’s why they make such a great metaphor — make that a series of metaphors. This week we will discuss why the sluggard stays in bed, why our original state of freedom is preferable to luxury in captivity, a personal flashback...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! More than a year ago, when I posted the Beauty episode, I said an episode on Art was on the way. Like I tell my wife, I always follow through with my promises; I don’t have to be reminded every six months. Today we discuss whether Renaissance artists actually accomplished anything for Jesus; whether Picasso was a brilliant master or a self...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I hope no one considers “nerd” to be a pejorative term; my guests this week certainly do not. Jared Bollman is the preacher for the Fifth Street church of Christ in Beaverton, Oregon; The action figures in his office speak volumes. Jared also hosts the Biblically Speaking podcast on Facebook. Jared Saltz is a professor at Florida College a...