It's All About Jesus

A father overheard his two sons playing church. One of them was explaining to the other what all the parts of the liturgy were about. "Do you know what it means at the end of the service when the pastor does this?" he asked, making the sign of the cross. "It means some of y…

The happy, optimistic farmer would see the sun coming up and shout over the roar of the tractor, "Look at that beautiful sun and the clear sky!" And with a frown, the negative neighbor would reply, "Yeah - it'll probably scorch the crops!"

When clouds would gather and much-needed rain would start to fall, our positive friend would smile across the fence, "Ain't this great - God is giving our corn a …

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, Perfect timing. You're just like Frank.

Passenger: Who?

Cabbie: Frank Feldman. He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time.

Passenger: There are always a few clouds over everybody.

Cabbie: Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an…

One morning a little girl sat at a kitchen table to eat breakfast with her mother and father. As she listened to the prayer her father prayed before the meal, she was especially intrigued that he thanked God for God's presence everywhere.

After the father finished his prayer the little girl asked him, "Father, is it really true that God is everywhere?"

"Yes," said her father.

"Is God in this house?" she asked.

"Yes," her father said.

"Is God in this kitchen?"

"Yes," her father said.

"Is God on this table?" she asked.

"Yes," her father said.

The little girl hesitated and then asked, "Is God in this cup?"

Her father said, "Yes."

Upon hearing this the little girl quickly covered the cup with her hand and exclaimed, "I've got Him!"

In Job's attempt to make some sense out of his suf…

Kierkegaard tells a fable of a king who fell in love with a maid. When asked, "How shall I declare my love?" his counselors answered, "Your majesty has only to appear in all the glory of your royal glory before the maid's humble dwelling and she will instantly fall at your feet and be yours."

But it was precisely that which troubled the king. He wanted her glorification, not his. In …

Who do you say that I am? I would suggest to you this morning that that is the most urgent, the most relevant, the most theological question that confronts us today. Wherever we turn in life we are faced with the implications of this question.

Throughout the ages various individuals have attempted to answer that question posed by Jesus. Ernest Renan, a French writer, answered it by saying that Jesus was a sentimental idealist. Bruce Barton, an American businessman, said that who Jesus was the greatest salesman who …

With the coming of the Holy Spirit an exclamation point was added to the Christian witness. Excitement had arrived. Power was present. Unbelief vanished. Fear fled. God, full throttle, was busy putting punch into preaching - cracking walls of unbelief, and giving the apostles a spiritual trip that they had never imagined possible.

At Pentecost the church is born. It had ceased to be an expectant enclave and now becomes a witnessing community. What emerged that day was a congregation filled with the power, excited over the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, alive at worship, consumed with love for one another, and devoted to the Lord. Their ministry was so positive that Luke tells us that the whole city was favorable to the…

There's a wonderful picture of Jesus' ascension. It is a black and white woodcut print finely etched. In the picture Jesus is rising up as the disciples watch him disappear into the clouds. If you look closely at the picture, not in the clouds, but on the ground, you can see footprints on the earth. The artist has carefully etched Jesus' footprints down on the level where the disciples are standing with their mouths open. Perhaps the artist was simpl…

I like the story told about Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) in his later years. On a special evening at the Vienna Music Hall his oratorio "The Creation" was being performed. As the majestic work moved along, the audience was caught up with tremendous emotion. When the passage "And there was light!" was reached, the chorus and orchestra burst forth in such power…

Lyman Abbot once paraphrased the Lord's Prayer to reflect the philosophy of those without God. We might call it the Humanist's Prayer:

Our brethren who ar…

JC = PJP is the formula for a happy and successful life. The formula begins with a few shepherds and a suddenly-appearing angel who tells them of a wonderful event happening in Bethlehem. In this nondescript place, the Savior, Jesus Christ, is being born. The angel is now joined by the armies of heaven praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Peace came to earth as the Son of God struggled out of a human womb. God became man. The Prince of Peace was born. That peace can now become ours. For peace is…

Pastor/Bishop Kenneth Ulmer (Inglewood, California) envisions the animating, life-fulfilling power of the Holy Spirit as like the transformation that comes over the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon figures as they're inflated. Without any air these huge balloons lay flat on the floor, limp, and featureless figures. But when the wind starts whipping up inside those balloons, they begin to rise, stand up, and stand tall. They become individuals, people and c…

Joel Gregory became the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, an impressive congregation with almost thirty thousand members. It was the crowning achievement of a preacher career. First Baptist Church occupies five city blocks in downtown Dallas. It houses two schools, a college, and a radio station. The church gave him a nice home, memberships in exclusive country clubs, and luxury box seats for Dallas Cowboys football games. They weren't box seats for the kingdom, but in Dallas a box seat for one is as good as a box seat for another.

But something went wrong in Gregory's pastorate. Church leaders wanted more members; thirty thousand weren't enough. People wanted the physical plant to grow; five city blocks wasn't big enough. Most of all, everyone expected Gregory to tag along behind…

In one of German writer Herman Hesse's books, Journey to the East, the central figure is man named Leo. Leo accompanies a party of travelers as their servant doing menial chores, but he also sustains them with his spirit and his song. He is a person of extraordinary presence. All goes well for the travelers until Leo disappears. Then the group falls into disarray; they abandon their journey.  Without Leo they cannot make it.

The story's …

Eloquence isn't necessarily flowery language so much as heartfelt expression. Consider this prayer of a country preacher in Red Rock, Mississippi:

The universe seems to have been around for billions of years. It could be around for billions more years. These numbers are mind-numbing when you think that humans have only been recording history for five or six thousand years. I remember a conversation I had with my father many years ago. I must have been a small child who was shocked by the cruel treatment I had received from my friends. He reminded me ho…

I was actually rescued from drowning in the sea. The events and images of that day is very powerful. I can recall being physically tossed about by powerful waves and buffeted by the cold wind; I know what it is like to be sinking in the sea for what seems to be the very last time. I understand with absolute clarity how the disciples must have felt as disaster overtook them while their Master slept. I lived out this Bible story on March 12, 1967 in a very literal way. Since then, I have had several occasions to live it out in a metaphorical way, and I am ashamed that I still haven't learned my lesson despite all these years. 

You know what I am talking about: there are times in your lif…

A singer in the choir has joined a group of complainers at a school board meeting. They complain about poor teaching and bad administration. They grumble about the sports program, losing seasons and poor coaching. They find fault with the taxes, which are too high, and the budget which is too low to allow for the programs they want. They criticize, gripe and whine about a myriad of issues and people. The Singer’s voice is among the loudest and most vocal. The board surprises the complainers by inviting them to take one of their number who will be invited to have a seat on the board at that very moment. The Sin…

As Bunyan's Pilgrim felt the forward pull of his journey, the question was put to him by an Evangelist, 'Do you see yonder wicket gate?' He answered, 'No.' Just No. He knew the power of the negative. But then the Evangelist said to him, 'Do you …

What kind of a Kingdom has Jesus? No castle nor palace has he.  No congress nor parliament sitting, deciding what laws there will be. Perhaps he has need of but two laws: Love God and your neighbor as well. To obey them is all that is needed, as all of the saintly can tell.

He has neither army nor navy, no air force to guard the frontiers to keep out the strangers unwanted and maintain the enemy's fears. Immigration he seems to encourage, of some quite di…

For Jesus, God had a plan for the recovery and renewal of all people on earth, and his mission was - he believed and staked his life on this - to initiate that plan to bring in the fullness of the kingdom of God.

If Alvin Toffler, author of The Third Wave, is right, we need that kind of hope more than ever. In the face of chaos all over the world, Toffler insists that we are going through something m…

Your child's journey from 4 to 14 is very short. Christian parents need to put God into each day during this impressionable time. As a father of five foster children and a preschool teacher for 10 years, I'm convinced that the following practices instilled early can teach children to hold onto God during the difficult adolescent period:

• Hang a picture of Christ in each child's bedroom. Children are often quicker to respond to pictures than to words.
• Teach your child how to pray. By the time a child is 5, he should be able to speak one-sentence prayers with a parent. By the time he's 6, he should be looking for answers to his prayers. But avoid correcting a child's prayers. They are …

One writer said of apostates, “One is reminded by way of contrast with the Lord, whom these men deny. He is the rock of our salvation; they are hidden rocks, threatening shipwreck t…

There is a sense of fineness
In music of the strings
That sing of life's sweet beauties
And the joys they bring.

Some thoughts so gentle that they speak
In softer words than lips may say.
Of souls that hide behind the scenes
And whisper only when we pray.

We travel through the life that's here,
Conversing o…

In all prrobablity, you know of some young boy who bears such a striking resemblance to his father that a person would know immediately, even in a crowd, that they were father and son. The father can be seen in the son. The Bible tells us that "God was Christ!" In what ways did the Son resemble the Father?

a. In his life. Jesus affirmed and celebrated life. His was not the attitude that this world and all that is in it are despicably evil ... that the object is to totally reject life with an eye always on "glory" ... that beauty in any form must be repressed as a tool of the devil. No, instead, Christ affirmed and celebrated life. Not a recluse, he enjoyed friendships with Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and others. He observed simple domestic gestures and was so impressed by them that he gave the…

The Scottish town of Stirling is built around a castle. It's a real castle, going back to the Middle Ages. It wasn't built as a tourist attraction and it has been the site of many major battles in Scottish history. The location of Stirling is such that whoever controlled Stirling Castle controlled Scotland. Anyone who has ever been to the castle would immediately see why it is so important. The castle is built on a huge rock standing in the middle of a plain. To the …

The main message of these 72 workers is the simple declaration "The kingdom of God is near." Dallas Willard once said that when he was a young boy, rural electrification was taking place throughout the United States. For the first time ever, tall poles popped up across the landscape of the countryside with huge electric wires strung from pole to pole to pole. But initially at least, not everyone trusted electricity and so not many rural families opted (for a time) to not hook up. They heard the messages of…

Ten Basic Statements about ministry:

1. The foundation of ministry is character.
2. The nature of ministry is service.
3. The motive for ministry is …

God’s “glory” is how we describe the sum effect of all of his attributes: Grace, truth, goodness, mercy, justice, knowledge, power, eternality—all that he is. Therefore, the glory of God is intrinsic, that is, it is as essential to God as light is to the sun, as blue is to the sky, as wet is to water. You don’t make the sun light; it is light. You don’t make water …

Once upon a time there was a prince who fell in love with a fair maiden. But his enemy captured the fair maiden and held her captive in a tower. Now the prince had a plan to rescue her, so he recruited the help of two small animals to send a message to the maiden. First there was Claude Caterpillar. Claude was a nice guy, and he didn't mind helping fair maidens in distress. But Claude was kind of a crusty old character. You might wonder, did he get up on the wrong side of the bed? Maybe he has a migraine headache or something.

Anyway, the prince gave him the message, and he started inching along toward the tower. Being a fat little caterpillar, he had to work hard to get there, even sweat a bit. He thought to himself, wouldn't you know it, the sun would have to be shining today! Just then…

One man was trying to persuade another to attend church. He said, "Don't you think you owe the Lord something?" The other man answered, "Yes, I suppose so, but he isn't pressing me as hard as my other creditors!"

True - and he never will. God will never send you a bill, or send out somebody to collect what you owe him. He doesn't keep reminding us how deeply we are in debt. This is something he would like for us to find out for ourselves.

It is on…

One of my all time favorite Christmas hymns is "O Little Town of Bethlehem." It has been around since 1868. It is packed with emotion, a song about the Christ Child, born to Mary, a song filled with the creative power of God intervening in history with the gift of a savior. It's a story where the divine and the human come together in an amazing but humble way. 

What might surprise you is how this great hymn came to be. It was written by Phillips Brooks, Episcopal priest. Brooks was serving the Holy Trinity Church in the City of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia, PA). He had just returned from a trip to The Holy Land which inspired him to write the words. "When he returned to America he still ha…

The redeemed are dependent on God for all. All that we have wisdom, the pardon of sin, deliverance, acceptance in God's favor, grace, holiness, true comfort and happiness, eternal life and glory we have from God by a Mediator; and this Me…

• I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself.
• I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like his child.
• I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.
• I cannot say “hallowed be thy name” if I am not striving for holiness.
• I cannot say “thy Kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful event.
• I cannot say “thy will b…

William Barclay wrote in his book The Mind of St. Paul:

"The great value of the doctrine of the Second Coming is that it guarantees that history is going somewhere. We cannot tell how it will h…

For the Christian, life is idyllic. As you embrace Christ, your problems become opportunities, heartaches turn into joys, and bad times fade into the past. Your career succeeds as it never has. Your relationship with those around you is enhanced. Unkind words once directed toward you no longer make their way to your ears. Temptation runs against you, then retreats in dismay. Money is no longer a problem, for you’ll have more than enough. Lovely flowers moving in the fresh breeze send their fragrance your way as the warming rays of the sun fill your body with the feeling of health and beautiful harmony with God and nature. You are God’s special person. He spares you from pain, problems, and poverty.

Hogwash, unmitigated hogwash - more like heresy. If Christianity is as I have just describe…

There's an interesting quote - from an unexpected source - that applies to this First Day of Advent, from a book you may have read to your children or grandchildren, or that you may remember from your own childhood. The book is by Dr. Seuss, and is entitled ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.' The quote to consider today is brief:

From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things
are everywhere.

Funny th…

Crowns have always been the sign of authority and Kingship. Charlemagne, whom historians say should deserve to be called "great" above all others, wore an octagonal crown. Each of the eight sides was a plaque of gold, and each plaque was studded with emeralds, sapphires, and pearls. The cost was the price of a king's ransom. Richard the Lion Heart had a crown so heavy that two earls had to stand, one on either side, to hold his head. The crown that Queen Elizabeth wears is worth over $20 million. Edward II o…

Every human being experiences many wonderful miracles every day. Unfortunately, most of us do not recognize them. But just what is a miracle? A miracle is something extraordinary that happens which is not easily explained. It is a stroke of God’s divine genius which adds specialness to ordinary life.

I enjoy photography. Often as I look at books of photographs I am amazed that most of the truly renowned pictures are of commonplace things. I feel that I could have taken that picture and become famous too! Perhaps I could have taken the magnificent picture, but first I would have had to notice how great it was. This is the problem. The renowned pictures, God’s miracles, are there every day of our lives, but our eyes are not open to see them.

Why d…

Little in life can match the beauty of Christmas Eve - the holy night of celebration. Beauty in abundance surrounds us for a few fleeting hours. Each of us treasures these moments, savoring every tradition. Somehow we love our children a little bit more this night. Our wife, how lovely she looks; our hearts feel special love for her, for him. If we had the power to stop time’s endless march - suspend it momentarily - most of us would do it Christmas Eve. For this is the night when peace pervades our hearts, as hands extend to greet friends and arms reach out to embrace family. How wonderfully good we all feel. We love and are loved. We forgive and are forgiven. We give only to receive in return.

Years ago, many years ago, there was a Christmas much unlike our own. The world didn’t stop fo…

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was present at the Vienna Music Hall, where his oratorio The Creation was being performed.  Weakened by age, the great composer was confined to a wheelchair.  As the majestic work moved along, the audience was…

Unlike Gibran’s The Prophet, and other lyrical works dealing with love, the Lord does not speak with his head in the clouds but rather with his feet firmly planted on an earth filled with conflict and hatred. In the holiness code of Leviticus, God says that those who consider themselves among his children are not to take revenge on one another and are not to bear any grudges. I am sure that some of us have felt vengeful in the last week. Perhaps we have even sought to hurt or discredit someone who first hurt us. The feeling of wanting to even the score is what God is speaking against. Perhaps some of us are bearing a grudge as a result of some offense we suffered at the hands of someone else. Grudges are the result of an unforgiving spirit. In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus speaks against …

In Rome's Barberini Palace there is a great painting by Guido Reni. It is a masterpiece showing the chariot of the sun coming through the clouds, horses and clouds, and darkness and lig…

While we deliberate, God reigns;
when we decide wisely, God reigns;
when we decide foolishly, God reigns;
when we s…

Four men were chained to trees in the black woods. They were hungry, heartsick, discouraged prisoners.

Then came a traveler. He knew the way to free them. He knew the combination to the locks, which held the chains, and could set the prisoners free.

He set the first man free, and then he went to the second man and freed him. In turn he cared for the third man, but failed to be able to loose the fourth.

The fourth was left in chains with the combination to his lock in doubt.

Many rejoiced at the heroic rescue, but the hero remained unsatisfi…

Easter is a magnificent day! It is the most significant day of the entire year. It is a day of celebration ... the finest clothes, lilies trumpeting their beautiful fragrance, Christian fellowship, joyful greetings ... nothing can be too good. On Easter we celebrate new hope and the possibility of living life to its fullest. God is saying to us that his blessings and love are ours. Good and even great days are now possible for us with the best of days still to come in heaven.

What problems lurk in your life? Are you afraid of death? Are you afraid of life? Easter proclaims that you can be victorious over any problem that you might face. Victory can be yours by believing in Easter and by app…

Dr. William Stidger once told of a lovely little 90-year-old lady named Mrs. Sampson. Mrs. Sampson was frail, feeble, even sickly. But Dr. Stidger said that when he was discouraged he always went to visit Mrs. Sampson. She had a radiant spirit that was contagious.

One day he asked this 90-year-young woman, "What is the secret of your power? What keeps you happy, contented and cheerful through y…