Money. Sex. Power. Power is the biggest temptation. Power is powerful. The Greek word for power is the word that gives us the English word “dynamite.” You know the old line, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” What you may not know is that the misuse of power is at the base of much of the misuse of money […]
Years ago a long-time church leader encouraged me to “externalize the opinion.” By that he meant that I should seek someone from outside of our congregation to weigh in on how we were doing. For instance, instead of asking our members how friendly we were, I should have someone from outside of the congregation come, visit and report back on […]
Sex is a gift from God to be enjoyed by a husband and wife. It is indeed a powerful gift. Like all gifts Satan seeks to get us to misuse and misappropriate it. While boundaries are important in all areas of life, they are even more so in the area of intimacy. What follows may sound quaint, outmoded or unenlightened. […]
What follows is not the same as what I have written on tithing. It is the first of three big topics. Money is liquid creation. Money allows you to acquire or access parts of creation. Money like all of creation is a gift from God. We are to use it. Wisely. We should love God and use money. Too often […]
Not only is the Church incurably congregational, it is also incurably “synodical.” Okay, that sounds odd. Synodical? That sounds like a made up word. Actually, it is an ancient word, at least the root word is: synod. Synod means walking on the same (syn—think symphony, lots of sounds at the same time) road (od—think Odyseus and his travels). The word […]
The Church is incurably congregational. Where ever God calls people to faith in Jesus, he calls them into congregations. The idea that “I can follow Jesus all by myself and worship him all by myself in a field” may represent rugged American individualism, but it does not reflect either Biblical teaching or historical Christian living. Christians gather together in congregations. […]
This is not just the pastor’s job. This is the call of each Christian. This is the reality of each Christian. Each of us represents Jesus. The issue is how well we represent him. Focus on Love. Jesus taught his disciples, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35) As representatives […]
“No” is a tremendous gift. It was part of the giftedness of the perfect Creation. When God created the heavens and the earth, he included for Adam and Eve the gift of “no”. He said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, […]
Words are power. Beware the words. Here are three words that lead to trouble. The Problem of Pride Watch pride, the word. Everyone seems to be proud. Victorious sports teams celebrate with pride. Parents speak with pride about their children’s accomplishments. Companies that seek success do so by instilling pride in their workers. Pride is everywhere and everyone has it. […]
God went all out when he created eyes. The complexity and flexibility of the eyes astound. Cameras and other mechanical devices may approximate what the eyes can do, but they cannot begin to compare to the wonder that is the human eye. There is one major limitation to the human eye. It tends to see only what it is already […]