FIVE Minutes with Phil

There was a lot that happened between Jesus cleansing the temple and the last supper. One day, on their way to Jerusalem, they were walking beside a fig tree, and Jesus was hungry. The fig tree was in full bloom, but it turned out that there were no figs on it. It was putting up a good front, but producing no fruit. Jesus said to the tree, "May you never bear fruit again!" And immediately, the tre...

It's almost as if Jesus is saying, "I dare you!" The evening before, he had arrived at the Temple, riding on the colt of a donkey, surrounded by crowds of cheering people who were welcoming him as the Messiah, and opposed by Pharisees who were telling him to rebuke them. But it was getting late, so Jesus and his disciples headed back out of the city. The next morning, he returned without fanfare,...

Triumphant entry? Was it really? Was it what the disciples were expecting? Was it what the people were expecting? There were no fanfare trumpets. Think of what it might have looked like if Caesar arrived in Jerusalem to make sure there was no doubt about who was king - hundreds of soldiers, chariots, horses, spears and swords. I hear the music from Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Fanfare for the Commo...

Welcome to the beginning of Holy Week. Each day until Easter Sunday, there will be a Five Minute post here, as we journey through the events of the week that changed the world forever. Here's how the Apostle Paul summarizes Jesus' ministry: (Jesus), being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the...

My Mom always said "Getting old isn't for wimps." When I get old, I'll let you know if it's true or not. (Cough cough) Early Wednesday morning, I experienced a health scare. It turned out being no big deal, but when it started, I got more and more concerned. I woke up with an elephant on top of me, and what felt like a Charlie horse in my chest.

There's a two-part question that all of us should be constantly asking: What's it cost, and what's it worth? And the answers aren't always as obvious as you might think. Let's say you see something, and the price is $1,000 (since that number is easy to work with - and for the sake of argument, let's forget about taxes for now). What does that cost you? If you pay cash, it will cost you $1,000, str...

Welcome to Five Minutes with Phil Routly, where I share my experiences under three headings: Grampa Talks, which is where I discuss events of the day, or ideas that inspire me to write; Soul Impact, which is my coaching and leadership development business, with the goal of helping people be more effective in whatever they are called to be and to do; and Timothy My Son, which is inspired by Paul's...

As a Pharisee of the Pharisees, what did Saul believe? Well I guess it would start with the idea that God was the God of very Gods - he had no rival. Sure, the other nations may have their "gods," but none could compare to the God of Israel. He, and He alone, had created this world, protected his people through Egyptian captivity, led them under Moses to the promised land, and spoken through the p...

Ask Google, and here's some of what you get: Success is always doing your best. Success is setting concrete goals. Success is having a place to call home. Success is understanding the difference between need and want. Success is believing you can. Those are lots more definitions of success that can be found online, and I'm sure you have your own.

Handel's Messiah, which includes the Hallelujah Chorus, was written by George Fredrick Handel in 1742. In his day, such music was often derided by religious leaders in England, where it was written. To escape some of the controversy, it actually premiered in Ireland, where Jonathan Swift (who wrote Gulliver's Travels) threatened to remove the singers from St. Patrick's Cathedral for participating.

This weekend, our lead pastor, Mark Burch, asked our church three questions: Do you love the Bible? Do you read the Bible? What do you believe about the      Bible? So, in this post, I'm going to answer those questions as well as I can, in something you can read or listen to in 5 minutes.

I am not a poet, and I am not a song writer, but for some reason, this feels right. Please let me know in the comments what you think! T'was one day in June in the year '69, Enjoying a Sunday School picnic. The sun it was bright, I looked forward to night, When the stick of lacrosse came a looming. My friends and I, we played sports all the time, At church, and in many school yards, Intensely we p...

Jesus is not just King - He is Eternal King. From everlasting to everlasting. Forever has been and forever will be. When you try to figure this out, we realize the limits of our brain power. God existed outside of time, before he created time, and he will exist when time shall be no more. We cannot fathom that because we cannot comprehend a time without time. And we cannot comprehend the idea of n...

Last fall, my sister, Marion, posted a video featuring David Daws playing the cornet solo, "Golden Slippers," written by Norman Bearcroft. It brought back an amazing string of memories.

How do you describe the indescribable - the One who is beyond description?

Leadership is influence. Nothing more - nothing less. And to put it bluntly, you don't influence people by telling them what to do. You may demand compliance, and get it, but it's like the little kid whose mother told her to sit down. She did, but then said, "Momma, I'm sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on the inside!" Not much buy-in there.

Does God ever get impatient? Well, ask Noah, when the Creator had had it with his creation, and he hit the reset button. How about the tower of Babel in Genesis 11? God removed the people's ability to all communicate using a common language, and replaced it with many languages so they were given a fresh start.

Is it happy pi day? Or happy pie day? Why not both?

1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Paul counts himself among the worst sinners in...

This week, there has been a group of people from around the world, gathered in Orlando, and on-line, to participate in the John Maxwell Team International Maxwell Certification conference, where they will listen to some of the best communicators BC and leaders in the world, and meet people from around the world who are determined to add value to people in their countries and communities. Their aud...

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

This may be the single most important post I have published. I learned long ago that if it's in the news, it's wrong. Not that it's all wrong - although that's possible - but I assume that something, somewhere in the story is inaccurate. And we have no way of knowing which part.

A few years ago, our friend Andy Steiger of Apologetics Canada began to talk about our "Zombie Culture." It can be summed up as the tendency to de-humanize those who do not fit within our experience. ( Andy Steiger - Zombie Culture Pt. And it's raising its ugly head once again. Here's how it works.

Paul now says that it wasn't just the Lord's grace that was poured out on him abundantly - it was also "the faith." Some translations have the definite article - "the faith," while others refer to "faith" in general, and some to the faithfulness of Jesus. I don't think there's any advantage to focusing on "the faith" vs. "faith," but it's worthwhile to look at the fact that it is the faith that Ch...

To mix a couple of cultural references, it's as if Oprah is shouting out to everyone in the studio, "You get a birthday! And you get a birthday! And you get a birthday!" And when she gets to me, the Soup Nazi jumps in and says, "No birthday for you!"