More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! If we are going to stand up rather than give up we need to get connected, to Christ and each other. One of the best ways to connect to both Christ and each other...at the same time, is by praying together. That’s Paul’s concluding challenge.  Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. Keep alert with all perseverance, praying for all the saints...and...

Send me a Text Message! I used to think that God was kind of arbitrary in choosing who He was going to use; who He was going to empower for great things. "I'm going to use you and you, but not you.   That's not what the Bible says. I love the Words of 2 Chronicles 16:9, "The eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth looking for people whose hearts are fully...

Send me a Text Message! Life is a battle, you can't win alone. We need to be connected to Christ. There's no authority in the battle without intimacy with Christ, but it's also vital for us to be connected to each other.  Paul's whole letter to his friends at Ephesus is a passionate call to be connected. We are the family of God. We are the body of Christ. We are the dwelling p...

Send me a Text Message! Here's the bottom line when it comes to spiritual battle. It's hard to get a breakthrough if we can't find a way to stand strong.  In fact, the goal of those dark, evil forces, as much as anything, their goal is simply to see you fall. According to Paul, there's someone out there who is waiting to take us down. So Paul calls us to stand in the power of G...

Send me a Text Message! The gospel is an epic story, all the more epic, because it is real.  But every epic story involves a battle, and every battle has an adversary. Because at it's heart, every epic story has a battle between good and evil. I think one of the great problems for our movement today is that for the last few decades the invitation to follow Jesus has read more like a travel ag...

Send me a Text Message! Employees listen to your boss, follow their wishes, submit to their instructions, with respect and even a bit of reverence, but mostly with sincerity of heart, integrity. And here’s the big one, don’t miss this one. Work for your boss, just as though you are working for Jesus. Don’t be a good worker just to gain the favor of your earth-boss, because if you only focus on the...

Send me a Text Message! Not everything that make a life great has anything to do with money. Right? And when we go hard after money and stuff instead of the true treasures, something within us knows that we are getting cheated. In our hearts we know that some things are simply priceless.  That’s part of the message of Paul’s letter from prison to his friends in Ephesus…some things are simply price...

Send me a Text Message! So we are finishing up Ephesians 5…with both a focus on the church and on marriage. Paul weaves them both together. Last time it was the church. In this episode, we're looking at marriage. Paul has some great words about the heart of your marriage. (Actually there’s some stuff here on relationships that could help you regardless of whether or not you are married.) The...

Send me a Text Message! If Ephesians 1-3 are filled with theology and doxology, Ephesians 4-6 is filled with practical how-to's on living a life that thrives. BUT, here in the midst of pragmatic instruction on what it means to be a servant in your marriage, we run into this revelation of a truth more precious than diamonds; one of the most profound things ever written about the Church. Paul l...

Send me a Text Message! Moments are not seized in a moment.  Life's greatest moments come to those who have prepared. Life's greatest moments come to those who have made all the necessary decisions before the moment is given birth.  What is it in the human heart?  What is the traction of a soul that gives one person the ability to respond in the moment, with urgency and clarity and passi...

Send me a Text Message! Ephesians 5 gives us a call to be different. To be different; specifically by loving well; following the example of Christ. He loved us and gave his life for us and he was a  pleasing aroma to God. In other words, Christ was a breath of fresh air because he was different. So I'll ask you the question in this episode, "Am I being different?"  You understand, J...

Send me a Text Message! The most significant people in our lives are not always the ones that are most well known, most celebrated, richest or uber powerful. They aren’t necessarily the ones who impacted many people a bit, but more often they are the  ones who impacted you deeply. The theologian Augustine once said that adulthood begins when we start asking ourselves, "how do I want to be rem...

Send me a Text Message! The first three chapters of Ephesians are filled with theology and doxology. In the last three chapters we get the so-what? If this is true and this is glorious, how then should we live? In these three practical-how-to chapters, Paul shapes his words around the metaphor "to walk." How is your walk? I like that metaphor.  To "walk" suggests intentional, f...

Send me a Text Message! We are in the Good New business. That's our calling. Our primary business is not holding weekend worship services. It's not building buildings or hosting events. None of those things are bad, they just aren't our calling. Our calling is to know and become like Jesus and help others do the same. When that happens lives are changed. Marriages are renewed. Futur...

Send me a Text Message! What is our calling and how do we walk worthy of our calling? We start trying to uncover our calling when we're young. It begins with the question, “What do you want to do when you grow up?" I think one of the first times we asked Jake what he wanted to be, he wanted to be a pirate. Now he’s a youth pastor, maybe sometimes not all that different. What do you want...

Send me a Text Message! One principles operate by, at Calvary is the principle that God is always at work around us, so we need to look for what God is doing and then join him. It's a good principle, but let me tweak it a little bit. Don't just ask yourself, "What is God doing?" Ask, "What is God dreaming." What is on the heart of God that has not yet taken place? Wha...

Send me a Text Message! Can I tell you something? God delights in revealing Himself to those who will seek him with all their hearts.  He doesn't get tired of giving you moments to experience the love of Jesus that is beyond understanding. But he wants to be asked.  He wants to be pursued.  He wants you to want it.  Can I tell you something else?  No one can love you like God. His amazing hea...

Send me a Text Message! We have a God who is able…a God who is able to do more…a God who is able to do immeasurably more than anything we’ve ever asked for…a God who is able to do immeasurably more than we can even imagine.  And what we need in today's world of complexity, uncertainty, and chaos; what we need in our neighborhoods and families, what we need in our hearts is a God who goes beyo...

Send me a Text Message! Ephesians 3:14-21 is my all-time favorite prayer. It's a breakthrough prayer filled with faith and expectancy in the God who is able to immeasurably more than we have ever asked for or could ever imagine. But before Paul gets to the prayer. He sets the context when he says, "I am asking that you not lose heart..." Do not lose heart. Don't quit. Don'...

Send me a Text Message! Fix your eyes on the unseen realities of heaven coming to earth. You have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You have been given a seat at the table.  You have been adopted into the family of God. You have been graced. But it's not just for you. You have been blessed so that you can bless others. Grace has been poured out on you, so that others...

Send me a Text Message! In Christ we are accepted and deeply loved by God.  Think of all the reasons why you have thought you were unacceptable to God. Bring to mind the shame and the worry. Bring to mind the list that Satan the Accuser throws at you. Your prayer life is so dry. Your marriage is on the rocks. Your kids don't like you. You have failed so many times. Your secrets sins scream ou...

Send me a Text Message! One thing I so love about Ephesians is Paul’s gloriously practical vision of the church. I read Ephesians and I think, "This is the dream in the heart of Father God." Ephesians is a practical manual on church but it looks forward also. It looks forward to the whole family gathered together, from every nation. That’s the end game, right? This is why we go through w...

Send me a Text Message! Out of all the amazing parts of God's creation, it's only when he created (creates) people that He says, "That is very good." God's greatest masterpiece is not the amazing way that your body works together. It's not the color of your hair or the shape of your hips, it isn't even your tan-toned abs.  God's greatest masterpiece is your...

Send me a Text Message! "But God..." There are a handful of "but God" moments in scripture that I call divine reversals. Ephesians chapter 2 contains one of my favorites. "We were dead, doomed, and damned, but God... is so rich in mercy..." I love those two words..."but God." Every time you find that divine reversal in scripture, stop and ponder it, let it s...

Send me a Text Message! If there was one and only one question we should ask ourselves each new day, perhaps it could be, every morning, "How well do I know Jesus? And do I know Him better now than I did last year at this time?" Jesus once was overheard praying, he said, "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (Jo...