Conversations at the Ranch with Dudley Hall

2020 has certainly been surprising to us all, and that surprise has manifested in a lot of different ways: Angry people are shouting, fearful people are fretting, predators are pouncing, and almost everyone is scratching their heads, wondering what is really going on. All the while, it seems as though the wise and mature are ignored as they stand in the shadows, leery of offering what they know is...

The awareness of the existence of something greater, just out of reach, plagues all of humanity. C.S. Lewis recognized this when he spoke of having desires that nothing in this world can satisfy. His conclusion was that these unmet desires are evidence that we are made for another world. This is why fantasies captivate us. To learn more, take a few minutes and listen to this exciting message.

It is universally common to want to have a better life. No one sets out to have a bad life or a lesser life. As we read the Bible, we find words and concepts that grab our attention because they seem to offer ways to find that place of blessing. It has always been relatively easy to misinterpret what that means. We long for victory over our enemies both external and internal. We see promises of pr...

Amid all the bad news and global disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen a surge of speculation about the “last days” and the end times. If you’re like me, you’ve heard and read numerous things in recent days comparing the current viral outbreak to the plagues mentioned in the book of Revelation, usually accompanied by a suggestion that we are living in the last few moments of history. So,...

Throughout the years, biblical scholars and theologians have searched for the historical Jesus. They have sought to know all they can about Jesus in his historical context. While this can certainly be a worthwhile and profitable study, I contend that there is another search that is more universal: searching for the essential Jesus.

God’s purpose in creation is to rule through his human partners. Adam and Eve were designed to tend the garden with a view to tending the whole earth. They had everything they needed to do just that. Their fall into sin left them afraid of the God who loved them, ashamed of the bodies he gave them, and dismayed at the task he assigned them. The story of redemption is the answer to each of these pr...

THE NATURE OF HIS NAME The apostle John closes his gospel account by recording the very last discourse Jesus had with his disciples. John recounts the prayer Jesus prayed to the Father after revealing intimate insights to the disciples about sharing the life of God. He prays that they (and we) will know in fullness the joy of sharing his very life. Jesus relates that he has made known to them how...

As we approach this new year and decade, we hear many voices encouraging us to feel positive about our future. I have heard some playing on the idea of 20/20 eyesight, saying that 2020 is a year of corrected vision and clear perspective. Others build their hopes on positive thoughts and words that they believe will actually create circumstances that are better... 

The deliriously happy couple married and expected to live to a ripe old age enjoying grandchildren and savoring their twilight years together. Cancer! She died at age 27. He was devastated. Another young man studied hard and received good grades in hopes of getting a job with the large firm. Another less qualified candidate knew the CEO personally and was hired instead. He was downcast. It happens...

The whole human race is caught up in a frantic search for peace, harmony, purpose, and pleasure. In other words: joy. What most have not yet discovered, however, is that God designed us for that very thing. Even the wiring of the human brain is controlled by a center that is motivated by joy.

Who among us has not been alarmed by news reports of how divided our society has become? People on both sides of the political aisle roll their eyes when they hear those on the opposing side demanding safe places and refusing to even listen to opposing views (much less allowing them space on their Facebook news feeds).  It seems we have become so fragile that we can’t endure the tension of being c...

The Way Of The Thorn Suffering is often demonized in the current climate of “feel good” religious dogma. In an effort to attract more followers, leaders tend to over-emphasize the idea of pleasure and comfort afforded those who believe while neglecting or even rejecting the role of suffering. This is very dangerous. It leaves the sheep of God’s pasture vulnerable to the stalking predator who is se...

When what we see suggests that evil is winning and that life is random; that God is, at best, disinterested in our plight; that when our hopes and dreams seem to be crashing around us and prayers are seemingly ignored—we long for an audience with God.  The ancient Job did, and so did Habakkuk.  “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will...

There is a growing number of church leaders who, having a heart of a true pastor, recognize the attractional model of the church is not getting the job done The metrics of our consumerist culture are not those of the kingdom of heaven. When we measure the success of our ministry primarily by attendance, money, and the Sunday experience, we have missed the point. The called-out ones that comprise t...

Lincoln Steffens went to Russia after the Russian Revolution and saw the new collective form of government, known as communism, being tried. Things looked so good in the early days that he reported back home, “I have seen the future and it works.” Of course, by 1989 the country was in big trouble, having witnessed millions of people dead in the tragic experiment.  However, the scriptures testify t...

LUKE 15 - When we share the life of God, we find ourselves celebrating what he celebrates. It is an awesome thing to share the life of the Triune God. Jesus made the nature of God clear and real. He is a Father who loves to show his love for his own.  We often reveal that we are either not conscious of our shared life, or that we are still trying to live in a way that will be acceptable to God.  G...

What is the deal with temptation? Are we just playthings that God is watching as we struggle with an enemy that is invisible and amazingly deceptive? Does he enjoy seeing us get trapped and fail? Are we being tested with some vast rewards going to those with the best score, but most of us feel like the perpetual “D” student?   The Bible tells of three battlegrounds with three different human repre...

I have mentioned in earlier messages how confusing all the discussions about the end of the world had been to me during college and seminary. The coffee shop debate often brought out charts and maps. The pressure was on to declare your stance on the issue of “pre-,” “post-,” and “a-.” If you didn’t experience the intensity of those discussions in your journey, the issue was about whether Christ’s...

It seems that some have missed the point of the apostle Paul’s warning about pow- erless religion because they have delayed it to some future last days. He is clear that he is not speaking of some distant future, but the last days that were present then and are present now. Paul was living in the last days of the Old Testament era, as it was being fulfilled in Jesus and his new people. This era of...

It is common to hear of someone going off the rails with a temper tantrum and justifying it by their pent-up anger but seldom do we diagnose our inner frustrations as coming from pent-up love. I think we should consider it. One of the blessings we receive by sharing life with Christ is the love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 

In a culture where the economy is largely based on people being discontent with what they have so that they will buy something more, contentment is a rare state of mind. Too many of us have bought the lie that more stuff will mean less misery. We are captives of materialism, which demands that we measure our happiness by what we have, compared to what some others have. We already have so much that...

The public’s perception of Christians is not very good. Various surveys reveal that many have bought the description of Christianity offered by secularism and have focused on the failings, mistakes, immaturity, and imperfections of Christians.  We should expect this since our culture seems to be obsessed with distorted caricatures of those we don’t want to know. The common complaints regarding Chr...

Spiritual warfare has been dragged through many pits of distortion in an effort to establish how we relate to the forces of evil in the world. It seems that every 20 years or so, there is another outbreak of “deliverance ministries” focused on how we gain victory in our own lives over the influences of demonic powers. Those of us who have been through some of those cycles can remember screaming at...

It is significant that the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans do not give many instructions. In fact, there are basically two imperatives in that section. One is in chapter six when Paul tells us to reckon ourselves dead to sin, alive to God, and yield our members as instruments of righteousness instead of wickedness. The other is in chapter 11 where Gentile believers are warned not to be arr...

On our journey with Paul through the theological fulfillment of Israel’s trip from Egypt to the promised land and exile in the book of Romans, we come to chapters 9-11. Some biblical scholars see these chapters as sort of a parenthesis where Paul feels the need to address the true identity of God’s Israel. Personally, I think this discussion fits in perfectly with his timeline, explaining the theo...