Trust & Obey, Week 3: Luke 6, Part 2 The picture above shows the text of two of Jesus’ Beatitudes. From memory, can you say any of the others? As the picture points out, you can find the text of the Beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which is Matthew chapters 5–7. The BeatitudesContinue reading “A new kind of Beatitude”
Tag Archives: sermon on the mount
The joy of giving your business and phone a regular break – Rest & Sabbath, Part 4
This past week I met friends for dinner. They live two hours away, were in town, so we met up for dinner on Tuesday night. We picked out a restaurant that we all liked. A couple hours before we were to meet, I got a text from them saying that they just looked up theContinue reading “The joy of giving your business and phone a regular break – Rest & Sabbath, Part 4”
How to put our hope in the right things – Advent Hope, Part 3
This week I once again welcome guest blogger, Kirk Marks. Kirk is a retired pastor of 30 years who now works in international fair trade. A couple years ago, I reached a direction-changing point in my ministry career. Some things that I had worked very hard on for a long time, and that I hadContinue reading “How to put our hope in the right things – Advent Hope, Part 3”
Is accountability disobedient to Jesus? – Holding others accountable, Part 1
I have an app on my laptop and phone called Ever Accountable. It’s there to monitor everything I do online. It is watching me. I can’t see it, of course, but I know it is there because I installed it. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t have God-like abilities to know everything. But it’s good enough. Continue reading “Is accountability disobedient to Jesus? – Holding others accountable, Part 1”
Struggling with war and peace – Boots of Peace, Preview
With war raging in Ukraine, Israel, and Myanmar, I wondered how many wars are happening across the globe right now as I write in fall 2023. One tracker I found lists 32 countries currently involved in war, and my country, the USA, is not one of them. Of those wars, 18 are terrorist wars, 9Continue reading “Struggling with war and peace – Boots of Peace, Preview”
Why Jesus said the so-called “righteous” people are wrong – Breastplate of Righteousness, Part 2
In the previous post, we observed Jesus preaching the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). At the outset, it seems like Jesus is taking his culture’s precious Mosaic Law and ripping it up. How so? First, in his Beatitudes teaching he says that the Kingdom of God is available to all! Continue reading “Why Jesus said the so-called “righteous” people are wrong – Breastplate of Righteousness, Part 2″
Jesus’ culture-bending teaching – Breastplate of Righteousness, Part 1
From an ancient military standpoint, the breastplate is piece of armor covering the chest, primarily to protect the heart and lungs from the possibility of being pierced by arrows or blows from blades and stones. It is very similar to Kevlar bullet proof vests that contemporary soldiers wear. In Ephesians 6:14b, the apostle Paul continues,Continue reading “Jesus’ culture-bending teaching – Breastplate of Righteousness, Part 1”
The answer to the meaning of life – Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26, Part 5
At the beginning of this five-part blog series on Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26, I showed you Ed Ames’ song, “Who Will Answer?”, a song that is really asking, who brings meaning to life? As we have seen all week long, while humanity tries to answer that question many way, it is only God who has the answer. Continue reading “The answer to the meaning of life – Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26, Part 5”
Why and how we should practice fasting as regularly as we pray or give
Is fasting an important teaching of Jesus? Let’s be honest. Rarely, exceedingly rarely, in our evangelical world do we hear about fasting. Once scholarly source, Halley’s Handbook says this: “There are special occasions born out of extreme sorrow when fasting is appropriate, but generally speaking it is out of order.” Generally speaking, it isContinue reading “Why and how we should practice fasting as regularly as we pray or give”
How the scariest Bible story helped us create our Faith Church Growth Process
What do you think is the scariest, most haunting passage in the Bible? Maybe something about demons or hell or something? Could be. For me it is Matthew 7:13-29, and especially verses 21-23 where Jesus says this: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the oneContinue reading “How the scariest Bible story helped us create our Faith Church Growth Process”
Engaging Scripture 