More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! Mark didn't meet Jesus face to face. He met Jesus through others. In some ways, a bit like all of us. But he did know Peter, in fact some call Mark, "Peter's Gospel." This episode is part 1 of our intro to Mark's gospel.

Send me a Text Message! We are back with another episode of More Than Bread as we start a deeper dive into the gospel of Mark. This one is an intro...or more like a re-intro to the what and why of the podcast!

Send me a Text Message! The focus of this episode is John 21. This is the last chapter of John’s gospel. I hope this series on John has been helpful. It has been for me. I’ve talked to a few of you about this, but there is just something about hearing scripture. You know in the days of Christ, and the first church, it was very much an oral culture, the written Word was there, but for most people s...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we are focusing on John 20. For about 30 minutes as we listen to, learn from and lean into God's Word, we are going to saturate our souls with hope. As we near the finish line of John’s gospel, the last two chapters, John 20-21 contain the amazing story of the resurrection of Jesus and how his closest friends responded to it. But to set the stage and t...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we are listening to John 19. The focus of John 19 is the crucifixion of Jesus. So before we dive in, let's just be honest, we’ve sanitized the cross. We've made it into a geometric shape that holds diamonds and hangs around our necks. Crosses are everywhere, we're surrounded by crosses, silver and sanitized. But to really understand the power...

Send me a Text Message! This podcast is all about the value of the Word of God for our growth and development. At Calvary we talk about three paths of growth; listening, learning, and leaning. The first two are perhaps self-explanatory. The third "leaning" is all about surrender, living it out. What you get in this podcast is the result of my listening, learning and leaning. But you can...

Send me a Text Message! John 17 is the last chapter of a unique portion of scripture in John’s Gospel. It’s a three-chapter conversation followed by a one-chapter prayer. Honestly, I think it is one of the most important sections of scripture in the Bible. Some Bible scholars call these four chapters Jesus farewell discourse. But you know that I don’t think these are farewell words. Jesus knows th...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we are focusing on John 16. John 16 is in the middle of a unique portion of John’s gospel that some Bible scholars call Jesus farewell discourse. It’s a section of scripture that starts after Jesus washes the disciples' feet and ends before Jesus is arrested. John 14-17. It’s become one of my favorite sections of scripture and I’ve read it dozens of ti...

Send me a Text Message! To set the stage before we dive into John 15, let me remind us of the value of the Word of God, the Book! In his book, "The Gift of the Jews," author Thomas Cahill asks the question, "How did a tribe of desert nomads not only survive but change the very way the world thought, felt, and acted?"  What distinguished it from all the other nations that no lon...

Send me a Text Message! This episode focuses on John 14. John 14 is the first chapter of a set of four that comprise an incredibly unique portion of the gospel of John.  I think it contains some of the most important teachings of Jesus. If you have a red-letter Bible (some versions have Jesus' words in red) the next four chapters are filled with red. Most scholars call these four chapters, Je...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we are focusing on John 13. John 13 contains one of the most powerful, and most overlooked moments in the life of Jesus. In some ways, it’s even more revealing of the character and the heart and the power of Christ, than the cross and the empty tomb.  It was a defining moment that was meant to define the heart of a Jesus-apprentice.  The defining moment cam...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we are focusing on John 12.  From John 11 to John 21, we are heart-deep into the last days of Jesus. Days that changed the world. Days that changed my world. From Lazarus to Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter Sunday to the days before Jesus ascended into heaven; that's the last 11 chapters of John’s gospel. Over half of John's gospel focuses on...

Send me a Text Message! In John 11 we get both a miraculous sign and another “I-am” identity statement. As has been the case before, the sign and the statement match up. For example, Jesus fed the crowd and then told them, I am the bread of life come down from heaven. He healed a blind man’s eyes and said, “I am the light of the world.” In John 11, he will raise a dead man to life and tell us, “I...

Send me a Text Message! If I were to summarize John 10, I would say first of all that there are sheep. (And on the one hand, having raised sheep for a small portion of my life, it doesn’t necessarily feel like a compliment to me, to be called a sheep. But on the other hand, sheep are the sole focus of the heart and mind of a shepherd.) So there are sheep (that’s us); there is a shepherd, that’s Je...

Send me a Text Message! John 9 contains another sign-story. Remember John shapes his gospel on seven miraculous signs and seven “I-am” identity statements by Jesus. Both the signs and the identity statements reflect on Jesus. They describe him.  They reveal an important quality, role or characteristic of Jesus. Remember the sign is more than just a miracle…it points to something. It tells us what&...

Send me a Text Message! John 8 is a fascinating, intriguing passage of scripture. It contains so many well-known and life-changing truths. For example, you will hear Jesus say things like: "I am the light of the world." "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." And you will also hear a lot of talk about fathers. Who is your father? Jesus says that his father is...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode I'm going to tell you about the day, my son Jake, told me to get a life! Dad. Get a life! Probably not that uncommon to be told to get a life and definitely not uncommon to be desperately seeking for more life.  Far more important than my get-a-life story is the story told in John 7 about Jesus' offer of life. Jesus offers us a life that is worth &...

Send me a Text Message! As we take one more look at John 6, our focus is on a somewhat famous storm story. My guess is that each one of us could share a storm story of our own. Storm stories are those times when life seems a bit out of control, filled with uncertainty and maybe even a bit of fear. This particular storm story is the one where we get the challenge, "If you want to walk on the w...

Send me a Text Message! John's gospel is loosely organized around seven miraculous signs and seven "I-am" statements. The signs and the statements are meant to reveal his identity and lead to faith in Him, believing in Him for life. John 6 is jam-packed with two signs and one "I-am" statement. First, we have the feeding of the crowd with a young boy's sack lunch. Then...

Send me a Text Message! John 5 is a study in the contrasts of people who don't know Jesus. First, we have the story of a crippled man who had been disabled for 38 years. Jesus found him in Jerusalem by the pool of Bethesda. He had a short conversation with the man and then healed him! This healing is somewhat unique in the scriptures because it didn't require faith. The man didn't s...

Send me a Text Message! Episode #48 is a bonus episode in John chapter 4. With the amazing story of a worship encounter on a dusty trail with a woman at the well, and in addition, the second sign that Jesus performed, it was just too much good stuff for one episode. So our focus in this episode is on the last part of John 4. But before you get there, let me take another opportunity to remind us wh...

Send me a Text Message! This episode will focus on John 4. This chapter of John's gospel contains what is for me one of the most powerful stories in the life of Christ. Many know it as the story of the woman at the well. It's a story that first of all puts on display the "have-to" of Jesus.  There are many stories in the gospels that tell us what Jesus did...there are a few tha...

Send me a Text Message! This episode will lead us into John 3. It's the story of a man who came to Jesus looking for something more. Probably few people around this man would have ever dreamed that he was lacking anything, but he came to Jesus looking for something more.  The path to more is described throughout scripture, but you can't miss it in perhaps the most famous verse of the Bib...

Send me a Text Message! In this episode, we are diving into John 2.  Remember the gospel of John uses two groupings of seven to help organize the gospel; seven miraculous signs and seven "I am" sayings. In John 2, we get the first sign. In the midst of a wedding reception emergency (ran out of wine), Jesus turned about 150 gallons of water into a fine wine!  Now each of us probably has a...

Send me a Text Message! If I were to give John chapter one a title, I think it would be “A Messy Love Story.” In the beginning, Jesus (the Word) was with God and Jesus (the Word) was God. He created everything. Nothing was created except through him. He gave life to everything that was created. His life was like a shining light that brought light to everyone. But the world was dark. So the light s...