More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! At the very heart of this next story, a story that took place after the resurrection and before the ascension, is a breakfast with Jesus. It was a meal around a campfire and a moment of renewal between Peter and Jesus. I think you could say that Jesus never met a meal he didn’t like. He just had this way of turning every table into sacred space, every meal into an encounter...

Send me a Text Message! For the next few episodes as we close our our Lent series, we are going to look at a few of Jesus' days between the resurrection and his ascension. In this episode it's that guy who has the nickname that kind of sucked but totally stuck. Doubting Thomas. How would you like to be remembered with that nickname for a couple thousand years? But Thomas' story is a...

Send me a Text Message! From the earliest days of our movement, a greeting arose that was so meaningful. The early Christians greeted each other with the constant reminder that their story was not over and the best was yet to come. The one to initiate the greeting would say, "Christ is risen." The one responding would say, "He is risen indeed." From the very beginning, true Chr...

Send me a Text Message! As the story unfolds, it's Saturday. The disciples are in this in-between time; the  time in between hopeless and hopeful.  They don't know what's available so they aren't living like what's available is really available. It's life in the in-between.  Can you relate to that?  As a follower of Jesus do you ever feel like you are living life in t...

Send me a Text Message! The cross is the ultimate, blow-out love-burst of God. Think about it. From the eyes of heaven, the resurrection was no big deal. Do you think the angels of heaven  waited with bated breath to see if God could raise Jesus from the dead? Were they surprised that the creator of life could give life to the bringer of life? In heaven's  eyes the resurrection might have bee...

Send me a Text Message! Thursday of the last week was the very first communion in the history of the world! So in this episode we have a very simple focus on communion. This mini-drama set in the context of the Passover (a great celebration of deliverance) remembers, celebrates, even revels in the death of Jesus. That's what communion is all about; we proclaim the Lord's death. We celebr...

Send me a Text Message! Who was Judas? Well he was chosen by Jesus. When Jesus was putting together his inner circle, when he stayed up all night praying, asking the Father who should the twelve be, Judas was in his mind. He must have been trusted at least to some degree by Jesus. I mean he was the treasurer; he was in charge of the team’s money. And I believe that Jesus loved Judas. He washed his...

Send me a Text Message! When Jesus died on the cross, the viel in the temple, which kept everyone away from the very holy presence of God, that curtain was torn in two. We've all thought that the message in that moment was "Come. You're invited. Come into God's presence." But what if God tore the curtain in two as a way of saying, "I will not be put in a box. Walls ca...

Send me a Text Message! The four gospels are basically biographies  of Jesus, but unlike most biographies you've ever read, the gospels pretty much ignore the first 30 years of Jesus' life. They dive into his last three years, but of his last three years, about 1/3 of the pages of the gospels are dedicated to his last week. Sunday to Sunday. 8 days. Apparently the people who knew him bes...

Send me a Text Message! Spread throughout John 14-17 (which begins with the words, "you will have trouble") are these amazing prayer promises that center around the word, "whatever" -- like "Whatever you ask for in my name, God will give it to you." Whatever. Whatever you ask. You’re probably thinking, "Wait a minute Dan, we've got to be careful how people t...

Send me a Text Message! You will have trouble! Jesus made it clear that this is normal. You will have trouble  in the world. All kinds of trouble. You're going to go through circumstances that will cause doubt and fear. You will lose friends. The world will hate you and people will persecute you. The enemy of your souls, the prince of this world is coming and there may be opportunities for yo...

Send me a Text Message! We live in neighborhoods filled with people in need of hope. And I believe that somewhere within us is a desire, a stirring to make a hope-filled difference in our neighborhoods, our schools, our workplaces, all throughout our communities. At least in part, I hope that’s why you are listening, and I hope that along with that stirring in your heart to make a difference, you...

Send me a Text Message! Years ago, when speaker of the house Sam Rayburn heard he had terminal cancer, he shocked everyone when he announced he was going back to his small town in Bonham, Texas. People said to him: "We've got the finest facilities here in D.C., why go back to that little town?" Rayburn's response came from his deep desire for community. He said, "Because i...

Send me a Text Message! How do you measure greatness? Whether it's for a country, a business, a community or perhaps even more importantly for a person, for you and me. How do we measure greatness? What does glorious greatness look like? How do you recognize it?  We may have different pictures of greatness in different fields. So how do you measure greatness?  To what greatness do you aspire?...

Send me a Text Message! Henry Blackaby said that "A love relationship with God is more important than any other single factor in your life." Did you live your day or your week as though your relationship with God was the single most important factor in your life? Listen, the witness of the church is so intimately related to the manifest presence of God, that without it, the peoples of th...

Send me a Text Message! In the permanent record of his words, God has told us time and time again that He loves us. And He has used a variety of illustrations in the hopes that one of those stories would resonate with the deepest chords of your heart. But every story, every illustration, every metaphor was simply a pre-view of the real deal...the cross. Can you imagine the courage it took to love...

Send me a Text Message! God is calling you to go all-in, because that's how he loves you...with all His heart. What God asks from you is what He gives to you, His whole heart. God is all-in. His heart burns for you! This holy, sovereign, high and exalted, God is all-in for you.  Even when you are undone by your failure, you have all of his heart. He didn't choose you because you've...

Send me a Text Message! Are you on fire for God? Make no mistake, the fire of God will look different in the hearts of different people. For some people being on-fire for God will cause them to be God's greatest cheer-leader; for others on-fire will bring a steely-eyed courageous love that sacrifices and surrenders for someone else's good. For some the fire of God will bring a mysterious...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode and the next we are going to look at a prayer in Isaiah 64. It's a corporate prayer of lament, but it's also my Easter-Prayer. You know I think it's difficult to grow in prayer, if the prayer "God we need you." isn't always at the center of our hearts and on the tip of our tongues. In fact O Hallesby in a classic book on prayer...

Send me a Text Message! At Calvary (my church) every fourth Sunday is CWOW Sunday, church without walls. Rather than going to church, we go out to be the church. You know we call Sunday morning a worship service. We sing and we pray. We listen for a word from God to our hearts and we experience God's presence in many different ways. We call it a worship service. But in this episode I will sug...

Send me a Text Message! Mary had this opportunity that I don't have to give an extravagant gift to Jesus, face to face, to see his expression of gratitude. I have to be honest, I’m kind of  jealous of this woman who has been remembered for centuries as someone who was so crazy in love with Jesus, that you cannot talk about the good news with out talkng about her. I would love Jesus like that,...

Send me a Text Message! When it comes to living God's dream for our lives, the journey to become  someone great, a true follower of Jesus; sometimes we focus so much on the process, all the stages that we have to master, all the different things we have to learn to  do right, that we lose sight of the motivating passion that inspires us to keep going no matter how many times we fall & fai...

Send me a Text Message! We've all felt the emotion of urgency, right? That sense that smthng needs to be done right now. Somethings gotta change. Can't wait. It's urgent. Sometimes we get confused about the difference between what's important and what's urgent. We often hear people say, something like this, "Sometimes we get so wrapped up in  what's urgent that w...

Send me a Text Message! In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a story about a rippled of generosity that travels all the way to His heart. You might think that it would take a really big act of kindness to ripple that far. But actually, it's pretty doable, it's a small act with a massive impact. Because when you do it, you are doing it for Jesus. In fact, that person in need, that person living in...

Send me a Text Message! Our eyes are often drawn to what we think are the great events of our day.  We imagine that God only manages his world through the great events. But when we read His story, we can't help bu see that His plans often begin with a baby. When the gospel needs to go out; when a country needs to be liberated; when a song needs to be song; or a book needs to be written; or a...