More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! Jesus once said that we would be known as His apprentices by how we love. You are not know as Jesus followers by how you dress or where you live or how successful you are, certainly not by how you vote, but by how you love. Some of you grew up with those four letters, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do). They were meant to be a guideline for life, but sometimes I think it's hel...

Send me a Text Message! As we finish the story of Louis Zamperini...let me say this, "I don't know your story, I don't know your life, I don't know your hurt, your trauma, or your sin, but I do know that the grace of Christ is greater and goes deeper and heals more." And when real-life grace flows into your life from Christ and out of your life to others, you will be a rea...

Send me a Text Message! Astonishing generosity. In the midst of NT Wright’s book, entitled, Jesus and the Victory of God, he uses those two words to describe a key characteristic that Jesus’ expected of his followers. Astonishing generosity. Let those two words roll around in your brain a bit, those who follow Jesus should be marked by astonishing generosity, not just marked by the astonishing gen...

Send me a Text Message! My goal and prayer for this episode as we are coming to the end of Jesus' mountain-top message is that we would love His Words. It's that simple. There's no breakthrough without His Words. We won't thrive in the storms of life without His Words. So we listen to the words of Jesus, we learn His principles and practices, and then we lean in by relentlessly...

Send me a Text Message! Hypocrisy is hiding what's inside. Authenticity is transparency, revealing what's inside. But integrity goes deeper, integrity requires a transformation of what's inside. And here's the blessing of integrity; when we get real with God, the real God shows up. Can I tell you what I fear most? I fear missing out on the real God showing up. I want to experie...

Send me a Text Message! It's a question of integrity. When you see the brilliant reds of a maple tree in the  fall, you don't have to guess if they are hanging on an oak tree. When you are out hunting and you see horns, you don't need to guess the gender of the deer.  Because in God's creation, what's on the outside is a good indicator of what's on the inside. But whe...

Send me a Text Message! If I could say anything to you, that you will remember from this episode, it's simply this, "Just let God love you." That's where a life that thrives gets it's start. We love because He first loved us. Let Him love you. Don't put up walls, keep your heart soft.  Toward him and others.  Let grace heal wounds and even overflow in the broken place...

Send me a Text Message! In this two verses Jesus deals with an area of brokennes, sin and failure that is all too often all too common in our world today. Divorce. He goes from adultery to divorce. In this episode we'll start by talking about marriage and the heart of a wedding and from there will be a challenge to guard your heart. But here's the deal, we don't guard our hearts by...

Send me a Text Message! At Calvary in our current series "Live Different" we are nearing the end of Jesus' mountain-top message. Which means we are nearing the end of this podcast series, but...we still probably have 8-10 more episodes to go. So buckle up and enjoy the ride! :) This episode is the most recent message I gave at Calvary. It's a look at the "narrow way with a...

Send me a Text Message! As we get into this episode on sex, lust and adultery... you may be asking the question, "How far will God go to love me?" That's the question I'll be answering before we put this episode to bed. And to be honest, my best answer is simply this. The cross is our reminder that God will go so far as to come down and give his life for you to show you his lov...

Send me a Text Message! Our next section of Jesus' mountain-top message is on sex, adultery, and lust. And let me just say upfront, that one of the reasons why this is such a tough and tender topic is because there are so many people crying on the inside. Something you did, something done to you, a decision you regret, sometimes there's this deep sense of hidden inner shame.  You're...

Send me a Text Message! Do I truly value relationships? You will hear some form of that question over and over again in this episode. If you want to be the light of the world, if you want to be a real life blessing, if you want to be a reconciler with a heart that won’t quit, you have to make relationships a priority. If you know anything about religion in Jesus day, presenting a sacrifice was a b...

Send me a Text Message! In talking about his football team, the legendary coach Vince Lombardi once said, "The difference between mediocrity and greatness is the feeling these guys have for each other. If you're going to play together as a team, you've got to care for one another." In some ways, he was just echoing the words of Jesus, when Jesus said that people would know; the...

Send me a Text Message! If we look at Jesus' example we would have to say that of all his names, Father is God's favorite.  In the Old Testament God was called Father, only 7x.  Jesus refers to God as Father 17x in the Sermon on the Mount alone! The gospels record over 200x's that Jesus called God Father. God's our Father. In Jesus day, those words were  revolutionary. Never be...

Send me a Text Message! Listen God is so good. I understand, every tragedy, every hurt, every funeral and every divorce; every disappointment seems to be marketing for unanswered prayer and unanswered prayers cause us to question the limits of God's goodness. But God's goodness has no limits. Not only can He help you, He wants to help you. Now I have to be honest, there are some prayers...

Send me a Text Message! In Luke 18, Jesus tells a story with a meaning, often called a parable. But in this case, Jesus starts with the "why," the meaning.  Often when Jesus told a parable, he wouldn't give the why. He wanted the listeners to grapple with the meaning without being fed the answer. But in this case, the why of the story is so important that Jesus tells it up front. &q...

Send me a Text Message! We are God's children. We are not God's friends. We are not God's neighbors. We're His kids. That's what Jesus was teaching about prayer and that's why He said, "When you pray, say Father." Nobody else called God father. Jesus said, "When you pray say Father." Smtms we make prayer so complicated. There are depths to prayer t...

Send me a Text Message! Make no mistake Jesus wants the church to be a place of active, life-giving service and overflowing worship. He  wants it to be a community of grace and truth.  But few things move his heart like prayer. That's why I imagine a smile came to his face one day when one of his disciples came to him. Jesus had been out praying.  In fact it wouldn't surprise me if Jesus...

Send me a Text Message! When it comes to prayer, I’m not sure what you are asking for, what you are seeking, or who you are asking Jesus to open the door for, but what if, Jesus message to you in this episode is simply this. Don't quit asking. Don't stop seeking. Keep on knocking." The open door is coming.  Especially don't give up on someone you've been praying for...    ...

Send me a Text Message! I think if I lived in the days of Pharisees and Scribes, when I heard Jesus say, "Unless your righteousness exceeds the guys who do it for a living..." I would have heard, "Unless your righteousness goes to infinity and beyond, unless you get more righteous than you ever imagined you could be, you might as well forget it." But that's not Jesus messa...

Send me a Text Message! Tsaddaqim? What is that babbling? It's the Hebrew word for the "Righteous Ones." The next part of Jesus' teaching is all about the righteous ones. Who are the righteous ones? According to Jesus it wasn't the pharisees and the scribes (the proffesionally religious people). In this episode we'll unpack it with a look back at Isaiah's descrip...

Send me a Text Message! You are the light of the world. And God has no other plan for the darkness. That's it.  No other plan.  Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit fills us up, we will have the power to become his witnesses. In other words, we will shine, and that's the plan;  the only plan, no back-up plan b. There are people in your neighborhood who are living in darkness. Paul said i...

Send me a Text Message! You are the light of the world. Isn't that amazing? Do you understand?  We're here to shine.  To be generous with our lives and do good deeds which shine the light on Jesus. You've heard this phrase before, but you may be the only Jesus that people ever see. What do they see when they see you? Think about the last few days, the last week, when people saw you,...

Send me a Text Message! All my life I have been attracted to the overflow, without walls principles and  stories in the Bible. One of my all time favorite prayers in the Bible is Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 which ends with these words, "Now to God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all you ask for or can even imagine." That is so without walls! Jesus lived a life witho...

Send me a Text Message! "You are the salt of the earth." Those are Jesus' words. Think about this, when salt is working, you can't see it. Where are you being salt? Salt-work is annymous acts of kindness. It's backstage work that doesn't mind missing the applause of the crowds; It's working hard and speaking the truth..in love; It's befriending someone who d...