More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! Even if you are not sure you believe it, would you suspend your skepticism and consider the possibility that nothing's more important than hearing God's voice, letting His Words saturate our souls and if there is nothing more important than hearing his voice; no book is more important than His book, the Bible, the Word.   I know some of us need to be convinced, bu...

Send me a Text Message! How many of us understand that it isn't easy being the first one to start something big? It isn't easy to be the first one to go to a new place. It isn't easy to be the first one to explore new strategies or climb to new heights or go on new journeys. It isn't easy to be the first one to pray for or live for or sacrifice for an awakening? In the history...

Send me a Text Message! Nehemiah 7 contains a long, (kind of boring) list of names. But in this episode I just want to make it clear that no list of names is boring to God. Long ago, before all of the grand and awesome creation was even a gleam in Father God's eye, Paul says that God loved us and chose us. He created you in his image. He fashioned your heart with His heart as a model. At the...

Send me a Text Message! This episode is going to hit on a few of my favorite themes, calling, travailing prayer, revival, finishing well, and God's desire to do a new thing. You know I have found over and over again, that it’s difficult, to finish well, if we aren't willing to lean into new things. And it's almost impossible to lean into new things, without being done with the old t...

Send me a Text Message! As I have been doing, on More Than Bread for awhile now, when I preach on Sunday at Calvary, Monday's episode is that message. So we are just starting a teaching series at Calvary called, "A Life Refreshed." It's a look at the Psalms with the theme of...you got it, a life refreshed. If you are feeling drained, damaged, or a little bit of hope-less, you m...

Send me a Text Message! Don't worry, we're still in Nehemiah. We'll be in Nehemiah all the way to the end of Nehemiah. But I'm changing the series title, because the first half of Nehemiah is more about rebuilding broken places while the second half is more about rebuilding broken people.  I'm calling the series Awaken Revival, because those are two words that signify a mo...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode we will ponder what it takes to finish well. That's one of the themes that I take with me from the first half of Nehemiah into the second half. John Ortberg writes, "The capacity to finish well is what the New Testament writers called endurance or perseverance....any truly meaningful human accomplishment  will require perseverance. Bobby Clinton de...

Send me a Text Message! So the wall was completed in 52 days. Pretty amazing, it so obviously involved the hand of God. No way they could do that, without the hand of God on them. So here’s my question, again, "What work are we working, that requires the hand of God?" What work are we working that if it is accomplished, will cause everyone to say, "There must be a God. Because they...

Send me a Text Message! They did it. They did what seemed impossible. They worked at a work that would only work if God showed up and God showed up. They finished the wall in 52 days. In this episode I'm going to share one of my favorite stories. It's about a man named Dee Duke and the big boat that his father pushed. And it causes me to ask the question, "What's your big boat?...

Send me a Text Message!  One thing that has impacted me in the last two chapters of Nehemiah is the reality that we do not know the whole story. In our arrogance or ignorance, sometimes we act like we know the whole story. But we don't, at best we see a chapter or two.  When you brush shoulders with people in the grocery story, jog past someone on the street, glance at the person stopped besi...

Send me a Text Message! Nothing is beyond God. No problem is greater than His power. No sin goes deeper than His grace. No heart is so damaged, neglected or hard that He cannot breathe into it, new life. But it requires His gracious hand. Nehemiah's description of the story of his success was simple. "The gracious hand of God was upon me."  We need his hand upon us, but here's...

Send me a Text Message! The next chapter of the story God is writing in you and through you is primarily about building people, rebuilding marriage and families, and neighborhoods . It's all about rebuilding hearts. When it comes to church, facilities are tools. Programs and ministries are tools and it's good to have tools. But ultimately we have to ask the question, "How are we doi...

Send me a Text Message! There is work to be done and sometimes a battle (spiritual) to be fought. What should we do? Rush to the battle and God will fight for you. Listen if God is the author of my story, then trouble is not the story of my life. And here is the truth that goes beyond my story. God is not only the author of your story, He's the hero! I have heard it said that we should pray l...

Send me a Text Message! In Nehemiah 4,  the people are half-way home, the wall is half-way rebuilt. But how many of us know that half-way home is sometimes the hardest place to be. Because half-way home, means we still have just as far to go as we've already gone. And if we aren't careful, we can begin to lose heart. Sometimes if we don't want to lose heart, we need to forget the ru...

Send me a Text Message! So if you didn't listen to my message from this weekend at Calvary, even if you usually take Monday off because it's not part of the normal episode, let me encourage you to listen. If you did listen, maybe this is a good one to hear twice. Not just for you, I'm going to listen to this one again. And I'll be praying, "Lord would you do it again!&quot...

Send me a Text Message! There are two groups who didn't share in the story God was writing through the leadership of Nehemiah. The Nobles of Tekoa wouldn't put their shoulders to the work and the rulers of the region didn't want to give up control. The political leaders wanted power and the Nobles of Tekoa wanted comfort. Comfort and Control. I see this time and time again. Far too...

Send me a Text Message! Your story isn’t finished. You need a team. But if you’re not dead, God’s not done. He has a team for you and a team with you. And listen to me, make no mistake, there will be times when the life you want more than anything will be outside of your hands. Your story will not be written without some twists and turns and even a few seemingly dead-end moments. Our journey will...

Send me a Text Message! When God gives us a mission, the call to sacrifice is not far behind. Feeling bad will not save the day. It requires action, sacrifice, even risk. A good idea isn't good enough, it requires good work. Has anyone ever asked you the question, "If you knew you couldn't fail, what would you try to accomplish for God?" Perhaps a better question is, "What...

Send me a Text Message! Your story is unfinished AND...your story has a team. You are not alone. It may feel that way, but it's not true. Your story has a team. Sometimes we know the people on the team and sometimes we don't. Some of them are people you never met, maybe even long gone, an author, a Biblical mentor, an inspiring example from history. Some of them were on your team for a m...

Send me a Text Message! The unmet longings of your heart are not a flaw, they are a gps for your soul. If you let them, they will keep redirecting  your heart to God. But this is what amazes me, "you have captivated God's heart." And before Lynn and I talk about the longings of your heart, I just wanted that thought to be in your mind, God loves being with you. And with that thought...

Send me a Text Message! Listen, when it comes to the story God is writing in your life, your story has a team. We need each other. No one rebuilds alone. Walking through the rubble and brokenness of life alone, leads to discouragement. If we want to rebuild broken places, renew hope, and revive people, we need a team. In fact courageous leaders understand that God gives us projects to develop peop...

Send me a Text Message! If our story is hard, is God still in it? That's the question I ask and answer, more than once, in this episode. Throughout Nehemiah's story, the opposition grows. From death threats to picket lines to deception and betrayal, Nehemiah's story gets hard. So what we find is that just because God is writing the story doesn't mean there isn't groaning w...

Send me a Text Message! I don't know what's ahead of us, here at Calvary, or ahead of you wherever you live. I wish I did.  I wish I could tell you what God's going to do in your region and how He's going to do it. But I can't. All I can do is tell you I believe that globally He's doing something deep and profound. He's preparing us for His gracious hand.  For ye...

Send me a Text Message! In Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah makes this statement, "God's gracious hand was upon me." In other words, Nehemiah is saying, "This story was written by the hand of God. It wasn't my strategy, leadership or plan. It wasn't my resources, no it was the gracious hand of God." Isn't that the story we want written in our lives?  I don't know h...

Send me a Text Message! If you have been following me for a bit, you know that the last few months, I've loaded my weekend message from Calvary on Monday's. Gives me a bit of a break and sometimes, it has fit right in with the current MTB podcast series. While this weekend's message, (and thus this episode) has absolutely no mention of Haggai or Nehemiah, I do talk about temples and...