I want to start this series of post off with a question. Have we complicated the mission of the church so much that many times what we are doing no longer resembles the intent of the original mission? Steve Job’s is quoted as saying, ”That’s been one of my mantras – focus and [...]
Part V: Developing Spiritual Discipline
Think about this! Does a successful bank robber just start robbing banks? Does the person who has the courage to climb Mt. Everest just wake up one day and do it? No! They spend years thinking and practicing such activity, until they master that which they desire to accomplish. The more they give [...]
Part IV: Developing Spiritual Discipline
In my last post I wrote about the necessity of being diligent to study the word of God so that you have a sound understanding of the Bible. However, we must move beyond a mere intellectual understanding into participation with the word of God. In this post and my next I hope to [...]
Part III: Developing Spiritual Discipline
In the 1990′s the Barna Research Group took a survey and discovered that among those claiming to be ‘born-again Christians’: Only 18 percent – less than two of every ten – read the Bible every day. Worst of all, 23 percent – almost one in four professing Christians – say they never read [...]
Part II: Developing Spiritual Disciplines
In looking at spiritual disciplines we don’t normally talk about holiness as a discipline. It is not a spiritual discipline, but it is the fruit of the ‘spiritual discipline of presenting our bodies’ as a living sacrifice. If we refuse to take up our cross and follow Jesus then we cannot be [...]
Part 1: Developing Spiritual Disciplines
Prayer is not an option for the disciple; it is the very air that he or she breathes. Just as the runner must know how to breathe correctly, so a disciple must learn how to pray. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He taught them to pray by both word [...]
Christ Our Passover
Among some, there is a debate as to whether Christ partook of the Passover meal or of the Lord’s Supper on that last night with His disciples before His crucifixion. He did both. At the same time, it was the last Passover meal and the first time the Lord’s Supper was eaten. In [...]
A New Covenant
On the night before Jesus finished His race at the cross, He ate the last Passover meal with His disciples in the upper room. The symbolic nature of this last meal with His disciples demonstrates the significant change His death and resurrection was about to bring in how man and God would relate [...]
The “Word Of The Cross”
In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth he had to bring them back to being singly focused on the cross. They had begun to listen to several factious voices, which began leading certain groups of them down different paths. Paul instructed the Corinthians to become focused around one simple message, which [...]
Know Your Point Of Reference
As we are entering into the season of the year when we celebrate Christ’s death, burial and resurrection I want to do a few post centering in on this theme. It is important that we have a solid point of reference so that we can stay on track during these turbulent times. Hebrews [...]
