More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! This is an utterly simple reality. Jesus does not have my heart if  He does not get my time. I am not an apprentice of Jesus loving like Jesus, and sent like Jesus if I do not long to be with Jesus. And it’s a journey, not a curriculum; it’s a journey.  This journey you are on, of apprenticing Jesus, is a life-long journey. It’s not a two-day retreat, or a semester long cur...

Send me a Text Message! The ascension tells us who Jesus is today and where Jesus is today.  The ascension tells us what Jesus is doing today.  Who is he? He is the Lord of heaven & earth; ruler of all the nations, King of the Universe, and the Head of the Church.  Where is he?  Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, a position of authority and power.  What is he doing?  Besid...

Send me a Text Message! This may be a difficult episode for some of us to love. It's all about the ascension of Jesus. The ascension is that moment described in the gospels and the book of Acts when Jesus went up to heaven. But the language of ascension is not just a “going up” language. That language is used, Jesus going up, coming up, ascending. But it’s not just directional, it’s primarily...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode we will ponder two different groups (and two specific people) who interacted with the resurrected Jesus, women and family; specifically Mary Magdalene and James. If there was anyone there for Jesus in the hardest moments of his life it was Mary. If there was anyone's change of mind that proves (at least for me) the  resurrection, it was James the brothe...

Send me a Text Message! Do you believe? When you look around you at the state of the world, or maybe the state of your family, or your life, do you ever wonder who is driving this thing we call "the world" and can that someone be trusted? Can I place my life in his hands? Does he care about me? Can I trust his character and his competence?  I call it the "Quest to Believe." Ove...

Send me a Text Message! It's one of my all-time favorite moments in the life of Jesus, breakfast on the beach at sunrise with his friends. But for Peter, it's a hard moment...a moment when he comes face to face with the facts of his failure. Jesus knows Peter has messed up. Peter knows Peter's messed up. Peter's pretty sure that Peter's gonna mess up again and Jesus would...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode we will spend some time talking about the authority of our King in the Kingdom of God. The glory of Easter is not just the promise of personal resurrection. It's the promise of the Kingdom of God come to earth. It's the fulfillment of the promise of the return of the King!  And that King, our King Jesus is offering us the same challenge He offered...

Send me a Text Message!  Can you imagine what would happen if we had a viral outbreak of Easter?  When God let Jesus loose on the earth, people were amazed; amazed at his birth, amazed at his life, his teaching, his miracles, and his compassion. What if, because resurrection power has been let loose in the world; what if because of the outpouring of Spirit, Jesus was let loose through each of us a...

Send me a Text Message! How many here have ever had a good movie or a good book spoiled because somebody told you the ending?  Like, "Did you realize that the guy in the Sixth Sense is actually  dead?" Sorry. On the other hand, in real life, there are times when knowing the ending  could make the middle a little easier to live through. Sometimes wouldn't it be nice to know how the s...

Send me a Text Message! Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday are the celebration pillars of Holy Week. But today isn’t Friday or Sunday. It’s Saturday. The in-between day. The Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday goes by various names, Holy Saturday, Black Saturday, even Hallelujah Saturday in Portugal. I think of it as Silent Saturday, stuck in the in-between, not quite as bad as F...

Send me a Text Message! Can you guess the most famous, the most well known logo of all time?  From tattoos to jewelry, from huge monuments that tower over cities to a tracing in the air over a forehead or a heart, from works of art to a form scratched on the walls of catacombs -- the caves where persecuted Christians hid, it's the cross.  You see it on churches, t-shirts, and cemetery tombsto...

Send me a Text Message! John 17 is Jesus last time of prayer before the cross and in it we see the dream on the heart of Christ, was a dream for our common unity, that we would love each other like Jesus loves us. And yet how well have we responded to his prayer.  We have been so  easily divided, race, covid perspectives, economics, when it comes to the unity of the  church, I can’t say I’m lookin...

Send me a Text Message! What did Jesus do on Wednesday of Holy Week? The New Testament is silent. But I have to believe that Jesus was thinking about Judas, praying for Judas. In less than two days, Jesus will be star player, center stage, in an event that will fulfill the deepest purposes of God and split history in two.  In a few hours he will be fulfilling his call, and turning history inside o...

Send me a Text Message! Where is your sacred space? When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple, which kept everyone away from the very holy presence of God, that curtain was torn in two., from the top down. We usually focus on the message in that moment, as an invitation to come. You're invited. Come into God's presence. But what if God tore the curtain in two as a way of sayin...

Send me a Text Message! I think most of us think that prayer is a good thing. Something we should do more  of... when we are able. But few of us think of prayer as a necessary thing. Most of us think that the reason we aren't loving our neighbors, our workmates, classmates, family and friends well is simply because we don't have time. If I just had more time I would be  love better. I wo...

Send me a Text Message! We are only a few days away from the start of Holy Week, Palm Sunday. In Luke 19:41, there is a picture of moment, as Jesus came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, He began to weep. I can't get that scene out of my mind. It's a moving party, a celebration; people yelling, shuffling around trying to get a glimpse. All of a sudden the parade stops. On a hil...

Send me a Text Message! Something happened when Jesus died on the cross. Something deep down in the  foundations of reality shifted. It isn't just a story that shows the soft side of God.  It was cosmic redemption -- grace started working it's way backwards and forwards through time, as God began to reconcile all things to himself "through the blood of the cross." (Colossians 1...

Send me a Text Message! I wonder how often we miss Christ's invitation to join him in a miracle because we  think he's leaving the solution up to us. So, we count our coins, strategize our plans, and work up our gumption only to realize, "Yeah, we can't do that. We don't have enough. We can't give what we don't have." Jesus is looking for a yes and too often...

Send me a Text Message! Here's a good legacy question. How will I be remembered? That's a great question, an appropriate question to ask, but I would suggest that there's an even better legacy question, not just how will I be remembered, but "Who will remember me?" I’ve been thinking about that a bit lately. Unless you are a world-changer, book-writer kind of person, a lif...

Send me a Text Message! I think part of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 25, is that when you come across those who are in need, I don't want you to think of them as the least of these. I want you to think of them as family. They are not just the "least of these" they are family. In fact, they are not just family, they are Jesus, to us. So... Go Love Jesus. I'm not taking about...

Send me a Text Message! This is what love does. Love gives and God gave the greatest gift. He gave us his son. Jesus died for us. My sin responsible for his death. And what does God do. He invites us into His family, gives us a seat at the table. For God so loved the world that He gave His only son... So that whoever believes would have life. This is the Greatest Invitation . Whoever.  Is there an...

Send me a Text Message! There was a moment in the life of Peter, before he was a Jesus-follower, a fishing boat moment that lead to an "if you say so Jesus" moment.  Are you an if-you-say-so-Jesus person? Or do you always know better? It’s hard to surrender when I think I always know best.  This moment was a test for Peter. Jesus is looking for people to invest in; leaders to develop; pe...

Send me a Text Message! My sin is not just my failure to reach God's standards, it's a failure to treasure his invitation; a lack of trust in his ways; an unwillingness to surrender. An un-surrendered sin-soaked soul is life's greatest problem. It leads to addiction, ravages marriages and breaks families, it hardens hearts, creates anxiety filled souls and drains joy. It keeps us fr...

Send me a Text Message!  We don't always connect the act of surrender to presence of love. But there is a story in John 13, that we call "The Washing of the Disciple's Feet" that is really the story of the love-burst of Christ. Do you realize that when Jesus is serving us, serving others, when he surrenders, it's just the over-flow of a love-burst? John 13 contains a story...

Send me a Text Message! In Mark 10, Jesus is quoted as saying, "Whoever wants to become great must become   a servant. Because this is what the Son of Man has done. He came to serve and not be served." My goodness don't we want that to be some sort of metaphor. I mean sure Jesus came to serve and not to be served but that was a temporary interruption in the normal experience of his...