Have you ever participated in a blindfolded taste test? To introduce this sermon, we had a blindfolded taste test, inviting three volunteers to each come forward. They didn’t know it, but they were about to eat a bite of different kinds of bread and different red-colored beverage. One person had V8. Another had pumpernickel. EachContinue reading “Jesus, biblical literalism, and the Blindfold Taste Test – John 6:52-71, Part 1”
Tag Archives: religion
Did Jesus win his trial? You get to choose! – John 5:31-47, Part 5
The situation is bleak. The religious leaders refuse to believe Jesus. Even after such rock-solid witnesses, four of them, which you can read about here, here and here, who each give powerful testimony about Jesus, most of the religious leaders are not convinced, and they leave plotting how to take him down. What about us?Continue reading “Did Jesus win his trial? You get to choose! – John 5:31-47, Part 5”
Does Jesus have authority to break the law? – John 5:31-47, Part 1
I often wonder if our church’s outdoor sign has any impact. While I think it is good to have a sign with basic information such as our name and website, we don’t need to have a sign with a message board. Most people learn about us online anyway. But the message board is a smallContinue reading “Does Jesus have authority to break the law? – John 5:31-47, Part 1”
Can an ad campaign help Jesus’ image – John 3:22-36, Preview
Have you seen the advertising campaign with the slogan “He Gets Us”? The campaign has been on television, online and on billboards for most of the past year. It’s a catchy slogan with high quality black and white images, and compelling stories. Do you know what company it is advertising? It’s not Nike…as their sloganContinue reading “Can an ad campaign help Jesus’ image – John 3:22-36, Preview”
How you live shows what you believe – John 3:1-21, Part 5
I recently read a book about Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who betrayed his oath and sold top secret info to Russia. The author researched and described the in-depth, many years long process FBI agents went through to identify and catch Hanssen. Does reading that book make me a spy-catcher now? No. In the sameContinue reading “How you live shows what you believe – John 3:1-21, Part 5”
Who is Jesus? – Gospel of John Intro: Preview
Can you prove that Jesus is God, that he was born, lived, died and rose again? Can you prove that he is who he said he is, and that he is who his followers said he is? I have often wished that there was video evidence to help us prove it, but there is not. Continue reading “Who is Jesus? – Gospel of John Intro: Preview”
We can always depend on God’s reputation – Ezekiel 20, Part 3
Editor’s Note: Thanks to guest blogger David Hundert for continuing the Ezekiel series this week. Do you wonder how God feels about you? Do you wonder if you’ve been so bad that God would never forgive you? How does God feel about us when we have done things that are awful, whether big or small?Continue reading “We can always depend on God’s reputation – Ezekiel 20, Part 3”
When God laments, it can change everything – Ezekiel 19, Part 5
In Ezekiel 19 (starting here) we have seen God lamenting, expressing his pain, in the form of an allegorical funeral dirge, that simply says, “My children whom I love, you have betrayed me and become something totally different and oppressive, something I didn’t want for you. I have tried hard to express my love forContinue reading “When God laments, it can change everything – Ezekiel 19, Part 5”
Why and how we need to sit in our pain? – Ezekiel 19, Part 4
This week we’re studying Ezekiel 19 and its two allegorical parables of lament. The first was a lament about lions. The second parable of lament is similar. Read about it in verses 10-14. Very similar to the lions, isn’t it? A vine grows fruitful and abundant and strong. But it gets uprooted, withered by anContinue reading “Why and how we need to sit in our pain? – Ezekiel 19, Part 4”
Fight or Flight: How do you handle pain? – Ezekiel 19, Preview
What do you do when you are upset? It is fascinating to me how differently we humans handle our pain. Have you ever heard of “fight or flight”? While there are other ways to handle pain, fight or flight are two common ones. The fighters among us tend to get aggressive and confront the painContinue reading “Fight or Flight: How do you handle pain? – Ezekiel 19, Preview”
Engaging Scripture 