Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 5 In Matthew 15, Jesus is being bold, confronting the religious elite, basically not only telling them off, but also telling the people in the crowd how wrong the religious leaders were. That makes the disciples nervous, and rightly so, because those religious leadersContinue reading “Why Jesus said the heart matters”
Tag Archives: mission
Sinus infections, hand-washing, bamboo, and what really matters to Jesus
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 4 As I type this, I have a sinus infection. I get one just about every year. This past June, I even had a rare summer sinus infection. Outside in direct sunlight, I was shaking with fever chills. Yesterday at a doctor appointment, IContinue reading “Sinus infections, hand-washing, bamboo, and what really matters to Jesus”
How some churches are actually two companies that Jesus never asked us to form
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 3 My church expresses vertical and horizontal faith in a public statement we post on every email we send to our church family: “We are a congregation developing a deeper relationship with God and extending his love to our community.” Notice the twoContinue reading “How some churches are actually two companies that Jesus never asked us to form”
Vertical morality: how some Christians justify horrific behavior
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 2 Do we further the will of God by killing people? That’s extreme, and we could perhaps say, “No, we should obviously never further the will of God by killing people.” When would we even have the opportunity to further the will of GodContinue reading “Vertical morality: how some Christians justify horrific behavior”
Are my students defending our Christian university against the devil?
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Part 1 In my role as adjunct professor for a local Christian University, I teach a course called Interpreting the Bible. The textbook we use is The Bible: An Introduction by Jerry Sumney. Some students have strong feelings about this book. Over the pastContinue reading “Are my students defending our Christian university against the devil?”
What Napster’s recent business model change got me thinking about
Vertical & Horizontal Morality and the mission of the church, Preview Take a look at this word: LoFi. Do you know what LoFi is? It’s a kind of calm instrumental music that emphasizes bass beats. LoFi is great background music. Check it out, if you’ve never heard it before. When I am in the office,Continue reading “What Napster’s recent business model change got me thinking about”
Ancient wisdom for the dark times in life
Advent 2025, Week 1: Psalm 112, Part 4 When we are in dark, difficult situations, we are often self-focused, wallowing in our misfortune and hurt. It is not wrong to sit with our pain. In fact sitting in our pain is needed for a time. As I mentioned in the previous post, when we feelContinue reading “Ancient wisdom for the dark times in life”
The second movement to bring peace – Jesus’ love and peace, Part 5
As I’m typing this, my wife is at Refreshing Recreation. The program is an effort her organization started to provide a place for local families living in hotels to have a delicious meal and a gym for their kids to play sports and other games. Our school district has so many families living in localContinue reading “The second movement to bring peace – Jesus’ love and peace, Part 5”
What can we do to allow Jesus’ love to bring peace to America? Post the Ten Commandments in all school classrooms? – Preview
Next week is another Q & A week. Once per quarter I ask people in my congregation for questions or current events suggestions that they would like me to preach about. My goal is to bring biblical theology to bear on that subject to help us think Christianly about the headlines of the day. IContinue reading “What can we do to allow Jesus’ love to bring peace to America? Post the Ten Commandments in all school classrooms? – Preview”
The important significance of Jesus’ Ascension
Editors Note: I had planned to write one of my regular five-part series, based on my sermon about Jesus’ Ascension, but my week did not allow the time. So here is the whole sermon. Does your church celebrate Ascension? I’ve been pastor at Faith Church 23 years, and I don’t think we’ve ever celebrated AscensionContinue reading “The important significance of Jesus’ Ascension”
Engaging Scripture 