More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! There is something so amazing about being chosen. Whether you are chosen for marriage or adopted into a family, or hired for a job, or chosen for an award, to be chosen fills our heart. But to be chosen by God? Beyond amazing. So often when we bring up the topic of being chosen, people  want to push it into a theological discussion of when God chose and what God did and wha...

Send me a Text Message! One of the ways we identify people is by labels right?  In fact, sometimes we wear labels on our clothes in the hopes that it will say something to others about our identity.  But we also label people.  We have economic labels, theological labels, and political labels. We have labels for how someone looks, or thinks. We have sexual labels and intellectual labels. The labels...

Send me a Text Message! Ponder this reality for a moment. If you are a Jesus-follower, you have been chosen by Christ, the most amazing man to ever inhabit heaven and earth. He chose you. He  picked you up and exchanged your existence for his life. And now you are part of the Kingdom that will never end. So set your sights on Him! You're not only part of the team, you have been adopted into t...

Send me a Text Message! We've all asked or been asked that introduction question, “so what are you into?” We ask it because we kind of know that what we are into shapes our identity.  Figuring out what I am into is part of the "who am I" discovery process right?  Where do I go, to whom do I listen if I want to know who I am? I go to who or what I'm into...and what I'm into...

Send me a Text Message! What is your way of life? When we talk about a “way of life” I’m not talking about religious regulations. On the other hand our way of life is something that we do. It’s a way that we lean into the ways of the Word and the ways of Jesus over time. Dallas Willard said that "the gospel is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.”  We should work hard, strive, and...

Send me a Text Message! In Colossians 2, Paul is contending for his friends, because it can be so easy to let something else divert us from the nothing else of Christ. Paul is ultimately contending so that together we would know Christ, gain the treasure of Christ. It’s all in Christ. In Jesus is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Not in google is hidden all the treasures of wisdom...

Send me a Text Message! Most of us know that we need help, don't we?  As much as we try to hide it we are painfully aware of our "as-is-irregularities." Some of us can't believe that you don't see our flaws because some days, the imperfections in me are all I can see. But here's the cool part. When we contend for each other (not against each other, but for each other)...

Send me a Text Message! Here's what we say at Calvary. When it comes to the Word; we listen, we learn, and we lean. We listen for the voice of God, the whisper of the Spirit through the Word. And as we listen, we learn. It’s not all we do but we do do that. We learn about God and about His ways, His values, His heart. We learn about life and how to live well. We learn the promises of God that...

Send me a Text Message! Earlier in Colossians 1, Paul prays that the Colossians would  be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, and that they would walk worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in good works and increasing in the knowledge of God. Then in verse 15-20 he puts pen to paper or quill to scroll and paints a graphic description of the glory of Christ. And in the midst of the glory is the co...

Send me a Text Message! We are making our way through Colossians, a book that is passionately and sweetly obsessed with the worth of Christ. And we keep coming back to this idea…that there is more than I can see. Especially when it comes to Jesus. There is more of Jesus and more to Jesus and more with Jesus than we can see. In Paul’s personal world, in his soul, all of everything is all about Jesu...

Send me a Text Message! I love Paul's prayer. I often pray Paul's prayers. My favorite is Ephesians 3:14-21. An amazing prayer. I've memorized it and pray it often. BUT Colossians 1:9-14 is a pretty good prayer too!  It's a prayer that Paul is praying for his friends. He is so proud of them, they are doing so well in Christ and for Christ on mission. In fact, there are doing so...

Send me a Text Message! There’s more than I can see. When it comes to Christ and his mission, there is more than I can see. There is more to life, more to Christ, more to the Kingdom of God, more than I can see. I think sometimes we unsee the brokenness in our neighborhoods because we don't see the work of Christ. We don't think that we will see it. We're afraid that Christ is not e...

Send me a Text Message! As we jump into Paul’s opening lines of his letter to his friends in Colossai, let me say this and then explain it. "When it comes to Christ and his mission, there is more than I can see." There is more to life, more to Christ, more to the Kingdom of God, more than I can see. There is more happening in me and around me, and perhaps even through me than I can see....

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we begin to dive into the book of Colossians, and here is what I love about Colossians. It is passionately thrilled with Christ. Colossians is one of the most Christ-centered; Jesus-loving, Son of God-exalting books in the Bible. It’s filled with variations on the theme of Jesus. Jesus is the object of our faith and the image of the invisible God. Jesus is...

Send me a Text Message! So much of Philippians 4 is about walking with people. Go back and read the whole chapter. It’s all about people; Euodia, Syntyche, his co-workers, Epaphroditus and Clement. They are the people we work with and walk with through difficult times. We share our troubles and we encourage and support one another. We don’t walk alone. We can't walk alone. We won't make...

Send me a Text Message! Sometimes it seems like nothing goes the way you planned, and your left to navigate what might be coming, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. But even when it doesn't, we imagine it and we hold on for dear life. So when someone says, "don't worry," you're thinking, "Holy cow if you aren't anxious, you just don't know...

Send me a Text Message! Paul calls us to press on. Forget what is past and strain toward the goal ahead, the goal of gaining Christ. Press on. And the pressing on is needed for what we are doing…but even more importantly it’s needed for who we are becoming. How often have you thought…in a time of failure, a time when you wanted to be like Jesus a lot more than you looked like Jesus…how often have...

Send me a Text Message! When  you read Philippians 3, you can almost feel the passion drip off every word. In fact, for Paul the equation of life is, Christ + Nothing else = Everything. Which also means that without Christ, if we have everything, it's nothing. So often we think we have so much. We think we can get so much, or we deserve so much. But our much is nothing without Christ.   Paul&...

Send me a Text Message! Does Christ have your heart?  I'm asking a deeper question than simply what do you believe. I've talked to thousands of people who believe correct doctrine, but Jesus doesn't have their heart. Paul Had A gloriously gut-wrenching craving for Christ; a Christ-craving. He couldn't get away from it. Jesus dominated his thoughts, filled his heart and motivate...

Send me a Text Message! You know there is an interesting connection between prayer and the WORD of God. If you were to ask me, “Which matters more, prayer or the Word?" I would say that it’s a bit like breathing. "What matters more, breathing in or breathing out?" It depends on which one comes next. We need both. This is the rhythm of life.  It begins when we breathe In His Words an...

Send me a Text Message! Let me ask you, How do you see Christmas?  Do we need a new look at Christmas? Do we need to look behind the wrapping paper? Our whole lives we've lived near Christmas, yet at times, it's easy to lose sight, isn't it?  Most every December 26th we wake up feeling unsettled, like something isn't right, something is missing or wrong.  Why? Because there&apo...

Send me a Text Message! At first glance, John’s description of Christmas is kind of an intellectual, philosophical rendition. It doesn’t have all the sentimental feels of Luke’s story. But in this episode I want to suggest that John 1 is all about the deep connection between home and Christmas.  We started to grasp the story 2000+ years ago, that we have a home, a family that is broader, bigger, m...

Send me a Text Message! So here's the thing...we all love a good story, but I don’t think Christmas, the way our world celebrates it today, could ever prepare us for the depth of the true Christmas story. That story is what truly draws us in. Not the story of consumption but the story of conception. Not the story of last minute sales, but the story of ever present glory. Few stories can rival...

Send me a Text Message! Ok one more episode that is a bit, ok a bit more than a bit different from the normal fare. Giving me a few days break. Next episode will be back to the WORD and some words on the WORD!

Send me a Text Message! This one isn't a regular "More Than Bread" episode...it's actually my Christmas Eve message. So if you didn't get a chance to join us...you can ponder "following your star" in this episode. If you did join us, then...read the Christmas story all over again. It's a good one!