More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! In today's scripture we are going to listen to some incredibly amazing, generosity promises. Promises like: whoever sows generously will reap generously; and God loves a cheerful giver; and God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work; and you will be enriched in every way so that...

Send me a Text Message! You know I look around in central PA, and it’s not just here, I hear of stirrings in other places as well. I think Jesus is getting ready to bring his church into a new season; a season of seeing His Kingdom come in new ways; a season of making a serious difference in the world around us. It won’t happen without prayer and breakthrough prayer is almost always connected to f...

Send me a Text Message! Here is a good Lent question, "Does God really care?" Do we matter to God? I think many of us today struggle to believe that God is father who loves to bless his kids. It’s the issue of trust right? Can I trust Jesus? Can I trust God? Or do I need something to hold over him, so that he will respond to me? Do my prayers matter to God? I think one of the reasons we...

Send me a Text Message! In Mark 4:1-20, Jesus is telling a story of growth and harvest. Actually it is a story of uncommon growth and harvest.  In those days, maybe a 10 fold yield was common. Jesus goes all the way to a 100 fold yield. And then he turns his story into a parable about life. A story about letting God's Word take root in our hearts for a great life breakthrough. Because in the...

Send me a Text Message! The apostle Paul knew a bit about causing suffering and going through suffering, and 2 Corinthians 4 contains one of his most encouraging words. He begins and ends with the words, "So don't lose heart." I know, in those times when it feels like we're fighting for every breath; looking at the darkness around us, maybe even in us, we might wonder is there...

Send me a Text Message! Perhaps more than anything Lent is a season to get hungry for the presence of Jesus. Fasting is giving up something that matters for someone who matters more. Can you hear his whisper, come, come to me. I wonder how many of us hold out on God bcse we’re afraid we’ll miss out on life? But here’s the truth. If don't come to Jesus, we’ll miss all the good stuff. So regard...

Send me a Text Message! The story of Jonah inspires me to believe that we're living in days of expectancy and it's time to call urgently on God.  How urgent do you feel about making space for God? Is it, more of a "well that would be nice." Or is it more like air? "Without it, I ain't gonna make it?" With fasting and prayer, Nineveh urgently called upon God. And...

Send me a Text Message! When I look around it seems like the people who really live life, the people who make a difference, the people I want to be like, are people who deeply care about something that matters. Bob Pierce was the founder of World Vision, what has become one the largest Christian relief and development organizations in the world today.  But it all started with a holy discontent. On...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode and the next few, we are going to dive into fasting. Fasting opens up time, makes space in our lives for something that matters more than what we are giving up. But I think fasting also somehow softens our hearts. That's what Joel 2 is all about. It's a reminder that some things are worth crying for. I believe that the next move of God is going to...

Send me a Text Message! I'll be honest; I spend way too much time telling God, "If you would only give me more, more influence, more people at church, more money, then I could really make a difference in the world.  Because people with more, they make a difference. But here's the bad news, sometimes the more stuff we have, the harder it is to follow Jesus. But if we will open our ar...

Send me a Text Message! I'd guess that most of us have experienced the illusion of the myth of more.  If I had just had one-thing more; one more relationship, one more degree, one more  promotion, one more toy, then life would be good. What are you chasing today?  What one-thing do you lack? Maybe it's a dream or a passion, a million dollars, a better relationship, a vacation, a new job,...

Send me a Text Message! We are starting a new series for Lent, a season of preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. For the next 40 or so episodes we are going to unpack two themes, "making space for Jesus" and "taking the great gamble." And we are going to start with John's vision of Jesus in the book of Revelation. So as we pause here at the beginnin...

Send me a Text Message! Matthew 16 is one of only two places where Jesus uses the word "church." He says, "I will build my church and when I build my church, the gates of hell will not be able to stand against it." In essence Jesus is saying, "My legacy is a church that is an unstoppable force." But we know that that unstoppable force is at times an unspeakable mess....

Send me a Text Message! In Mark 6, Jesus was amazed by the unbelief of those who had grown up with him. I wonder if I sat down with Jesus and he pointed out all that he has done for me & thru me and around me...if he might be amazed by my lack of faith?  How about you? Have you lost your wonder? Where am I on the ho-hum scale? Have I lost my sense of wonder for the power, the love, the transce...

Send me a Text Message! Mark 6:1-13 describes two completely different responses to Jesus. One response was an amazing lack of amazement. The other response is all-in surrender. So here's what I believe. I believe that if you come to Jesus with ears to hear and eyes to see...you will. If you don't, you won't. Sometimes our lack of seeing is more on us, than it is on him. We come unp...

Send me a Text Message!  One of my favorite stories is a story of four guys contending for the life of their friend. And while there is more than one thing, I'll share from that story, one of the most powerful realities it points to is this... "Your faith may bring life to your friends." Don't miss it when it says that Jesus looked at the faith that these four guys had and beca...

Send me a Text Message! In 2025 Jesus may ask you to do something that you or others don't necessarily think is a good idea. "Not sure that will work Jesus." When he asks u to lean in, you are going to have to decide, do I trust that Jesus knows better than I do. Will I lean into what he tells me to do. Luke 5 is the story of a test for Peter and perhaps a test for us, because Jesus...

Send me a Text Message! So many, not all, but so many leaders reject(ed) Jesus. Why is that? I think one of the reasons people reject Jesus is because they think he (and God) is a taker and not a giver. Isn't that one of the reasons why people reject Jesus?  We have this idea that I can do life better; I can live more, get more, succeed more without Jesus in the picture. Jesus is a taker.  He...

Send me a Text Message! When Jesus and his first followers walked this earth, what was their brand? How did people identify them, describe them? When people thought of Jesus especially people who were poor, or marginalized, what did they think? I think if you asked the leper, or the prostitute, or the Samaritan woman or the blind man, or the rich tax-collector to come up with a single word that wo...

Send me a Text Message! If I were to ask you, "What's the point of being a Christian?" What would you say? What does it really mean to be a Christian? What's the point? In this episode we will see an encounter that Jesus had with a religious leader, that I call, "An adventure in missing the point." This leader thought that the point was the hand-washing ceremony. But...

Send me a Text Message! Come see Jesus. If you are looking for something more, something great, a great life, come see Jesus. That's what Nicodemus did in John 3. He came to see Jesus and in the midst of seeking a great life, Jesus told him, "You must be born again!" That was certainly not clear to Nicodemus, born-again, what in the world is that? But then Jesus gave the clearest st...

Send me a Text Message! This is our final episode in the wilderness! In the last episode we focused on the question, "Will I live like I am fatherless? Knowing my father is a key survival skill in times of spiritual battle. Our enemy wants us to believe that we are fatherless, when our father is God. So if the battle Jesus faced was a temptation to believe that he had been left fatherless; or...

Send me a Text Message! Here is what I believe about our wilderness, about the battle in our wilderness. If the words of Father God give us the courage and strength for the battle, the Devil's strategy is to get us to believe the lie that we live fatherless lives. Fatherlessness is the new cultural norm. It's a story being written into the lives of the next  generation; a story heard in...

Send me a Text Message! I think there’s a better than good chance that anytime we come to see Jesus, before long we will start to hear the still small voice of the Spirit of God calling us to lean out, lean away from what we think is our last bit of comfort, control and security. Listen, in the wilderness, few things are more important than taking your eyes off of you, and inclining your ears to t...

Send me a Text Message! Luke 4:1-19 is the story of Jesus' 40-Day battle against Satan in the wilderness. Jesus was baptized, applauded by His Father, and then he was driven into the wilderness by the Spirit of God to battle the evil one. Why did Father God drove Jesus into the wilderness to do battle with Satan? Was it because he was  disappointed by Jesus? Was it because he was angry with J...