More Than Bread

Send me a Text Message! I wonder sometimes, if a lot of us like Christmas Jesus, more than we love grown-up Jesus? And so Christmas might be our once a year opportunity to think about this sweet cuddly baby Jesus who isn't old enough  to know our minds, or strong enough to change our ways, or holy enough to convict our hearts. But I believe that we miss the true story of Christmas, if we don&...

Send me a Text Message! Isaiah 64 is a lament. A lament is a prayer that cries out to God in desperation for His presence. It is a prayer that pounds on the locked gates of heaven. It is a prayer of deep pain, intense frustration and confusion about the absence of God.  And yet a lament is not just the hopeless cry of a discouraged people, or a frustrated venting. A lament is a profound statement...

Send me a Text Message! Christmas is a global, timeless, eternal story, but for a moment, I want to step back from that big overarching story being written through all time and space, that includes all of humanity and I want to talk about your story. Let's talk about your personal story. That's one thing I love about Christmas. When Christ was born, God got personal. And Christmas is a g...

Send me a Text Message! It was the birth of a baby. Don't get me wrong. I love babies. But if you are going to change the world, don't send a baby. Right? Until we take into account the ripple effect. It's almost easier to watch it than it is to explain it. We’ve all done it. You’ve taken a rock and thrown it into the water and you watched the circles rippling outward from the point...

Send me a Text Message! Jesus the light of the world, the light of life has come! Isn't that the story of Christmas?  But here's the most amazing part of the Christmas story of light. He invites us to join him. As I was studying Isaiah 9 this week, I had this thought. Here it is. When I think of the Isaiah's Christmas vision of Jesus. I'm reminded that Jesus is the Mighty God,...

Send me a Text Message! The ultimate goal of this podcast is that we would grow to love the one who is called the WORD of God and that as God covers us in His love, we would become a bit more like Jesus. If we keep going to scripture to listen and learn but we never lean into it. We never apply it. We never let it change us, then it’s been a colossal waste of my time and yours. But if you’re looki...

Send me a Text Message! This episode is a hard one. No ifs, ands, or butts, it’s a hard one. In this episode we are going to talk about the unmistakable and often necessary connection between suffering and joy. We’ll start with the last part of chapter 1 in Paul’s epistle of joy but we might roam a bit farther afield in God’s word also, because this is a good topic to get a broad sense of God’s he...

Send me a Text Message! What is your dream?  You have probably heard the phrase, "The great American dream..." It's all about gaining what we (think we) need for happiness, joy, comfort, success etc.  Isn't that we often live? Gain all we can now. We live to gain. I want to win now. I want the job now, security now, the most recognition now. I want to be the one. Maybe you know...

Send me a Text Message! The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ...is all about the way in which the weakest, most despised, most difficult people in the world, can become through the power of God, the most beautiful, most radiant, people in the world. The gospel is all about how God finds gold in the garbage; how God does good things in bad times.  Or as Leonard Sweet puts it, "...whatever...

Send me a Text Message! We are in Paul’s letter from prison to his friends at Philippi. You know as I’ve been studying through Paul’s letter, thinking about his context and mine, I find myself in the last chapter of my life. I’m hoping it’s a long chapter, but if there are three acts to my life, I’m in act 3. So I think even more about finishing well than I have before. Paul’s words in Acts 20:24...

Send me a Text Message!  Paul's letter to the church at Philippi has power because his words of joy are the words of someone who has experienced unexpected barriers to joy.  His life was full of the kind of circumstances that tend to discourage and depress us.  Paul left a mark on others, at least in part because of his joy. He calls us to joy from the unexpected prison and circumstantial bar...

Send me a Text Message! There is a simple story in Luke 17 about 10 men who were healed of leprosy by Jesus. Not immediately in His presence, but on their way as they went to the Priest. They were healed on the way, and when they were healed, one returned to Jesus to say thank you. One returned and 9 did not. And my simple challenge in this episode is to "be the one." Paul begins his let...

Send me a Text Message! Perhaps few things are more essential for the life we long to live than the essential of joy.  Unexplainable, uncontainable, contagious and outrageous, extreme joy.  I'm not sure if I should try to distinguish between happiness and joy.  But I'm not talking about a pain-free existence. And I'm not talking about getting everything I want, when I want it. I&apo...

Send me a Text Message! As we look around us and even look within us, is it so crazy to believe that Paul might be right? A battle between God and evil rages around us. If so, how do we fight a battle we can't see, against forces we don't know, with weapons we aren't even sure we are trained for? I've experienced some battle, in fact more battle in the last few years than I can...

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...