I’ve been reflecting over the current sermon series I am preaching in our churches right now on discipleship. I think it is the most challenging series for our congregations that I’ve preached. I can “feel” it. What do I mean by this? Well, everyone knows that people go to church to be inspired–they have usually had a rough week and are looking for some glimmer of hope or encouragement. Yet, the call to discipleship really is a call to die. It is a message that asks more of us to the call of Christ. Not necessarily the most inspiring message. But through my study and through our messages, I’ve been seeing more and more that to be a disciple of Jesus really isn’t hard,. Jesus says things like, “Take my yoke upon you, for my burden is easy, and my yoke is light.” He also says, “I have come to give you life, and life abundantly.” How can we juxtapose these things alongside the “hard road” of discipleship? For me, the answer is Matthew 6:24-34. Looking out my window, I see some trees that are now just finally starting to grow their leaves for spring. It is a natural phenomenon. God has provided the means for these types of things to happen, and they happen every year as they should. Being a disciple of Jesus isn’t hard either. With the Holy Spirit inside of us, God has provided the means for us to grow too. Jesus encourages us to look outside our windows during spring in this passage in Matthew 6, “Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin.” The reason being a disciple of Jesus is so hard for us is that we are toiling and spinning to make our lives as great as they can be. The notion that being a disciple of Jesus is even more important than anything else in this life–well, that just feels like SO MUCH added pressure to an already pressurized life. We are just proving Jesus right when He says in verse 24, “No one can serve two masters.” The reason why discipleship is so hard is because we feel we cannot leave...

I am always amazed when I realize just how much I am affected by life’s circumstances. How are things going at my church? If I perceive they’re going well, I’m feeling happy. If I perceive they’re going poorly, I feel discouraged. How are things going with my family? If I perceive we’re doing well, I feel happy. If I perceive we are struggling, I feel discouraged. How are things going with my finances? If I perceive we’re making it, I feel happy. If I perceive we are in need, I feel discouraged. How are people perceiving me? If it seems they like me, I feel happy. If it seems they don’t get me, I feel discouraged. And on and on it goes. The problem is, I don’t think you or I see things as they really are. If one little thing goes right in life or goes wrong in life, what a dramatic effect it has on us! Our perception on how things are going is so easily influenced. This is why it is so important to have a relationship with Jesus. I’ve been reading the book of Colossians lately, and what strikes me from that book is the truth that everything in life ought to be about Him. A life that is centered around Jesus is a life built on the “rock,” according to Jesus’ own teaching. Consider the analogy Jesus makes and contrast it to how I started this blog post: How are things going at my church, with my family, with my finances, with my relationships…? If my life is built on the “rock,” it doesn’t matter if the rain is pouring and the wind is blowing, or if it’s a calm, sunny day. The structure of the house remains unchanged. But if it is built on sand, that is another story. The house is greatly affected by external conditions. Of course, as we’ve seen in Alabama recently, tornadoes can destroy homes built on rock or sand. There is indeed something to be said about how a house is built, even if it is built on the rock, which is why discipleship matters. But clearly, a house built on a poor foundation has no hope whatsoever,...

No, this isn’t a post debating Calvinism and Arminianism. It’s more practical than that. When Billy Graham was interviewed about what he’d do differently if he had to do it all over again, he said he would spend a whole lot more time praying and studying. And he’d spend a lot less time speaking, etc. Lots of people say, “I can’t believe I get paid to do what I do. I don’t consider it work.” I woke up this morning struggling with this concept as it relates to being a pastor. I try my best during “office hours” to do office sorts of things (emails, letters, phone calls, website updates, worship guides, service planning, meeting with people, etc.). I also use part of it for study. Part of me feels guilty using that time for prayer, skimming a book, or reading the Bible. Who else in their jobs outside the church could do that? It just doesn’t seem fair. Yet many people would say, “Yeah, but you’re a pastor. It’s your job to pray/study/read the Bible, etc.” I understand what they are saying. After all, what more important thing can a pastor do then spend time with God? Even Billy Graham wished he did that more. And I do believe that a pastor’s calling is going to look different than someone who works a “secular” job. But part of me wants to disagree. Here are some reasons why: 1. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus got up early in the morning to find solitude with God and pray. If it were anyone’s job to pray/study, surely it was the Son of God’s job to do so! Yet it seems He was occupied with spending time with people during “normal hours,” and He found time outside of operating hours to spend in solitude with God. 2. Martin Luther is quoted as saying something along the lines of “Today is going to be so busy for me, I can’t afford NOT to get up super early and pray for 4 hours beforehand.” 3. If I went to bed 1 hour after we put our children to bed (on a normal night), I could easily wake up at 4-5 am and...

These next three days are what life is all about. They were the pivotal moment in earth’s history. The importance of what happened cannot be overstated. The importance of what happened should not be understated. And yet, because of the way us Christians live act speak demean misconstrue ignore sleep reject waste fear rebel judge abandon deny cower confuse neglect so many people will carry on today with life as normal. They will… eat drink be merry laugh drive work entertain shop sell build party learn vacation worry win lose write speak carry on as if life is all about this world, and God is just an afterthought. Yet, God sent His Son into the world. Out of weakness, He suffered. Out of love, He died. And in power, He rose again. I wish I had the words to convey just how incredible, true, and powerful Jesus’ death and resurrection really is. As a pastor, I feel it is my duty to somehow get it through everyone’s heads what this all means. But I keep coming up short. I can’t do it justice. I just wish that everyone understood. I wish that instead of mocking, they would kneel. Instead of dismissing, they would confess. Instead of ignoring, they would come face-to-face with their Creator and receive His forgiveness. I wish that all that Jesus did would have a much bigger effect on the world. I wish it would have a much bigger effect on us Christians and on those who have yet to believe. As C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity…presents us with something knottier–a God so full of mercy that He becomes man and dies by torture to avert that final ruin from His creatures, and who yet, where that heroic remedy fails, seems unwilling or even able to arrest the ruin by an act of mere power.” Oh, that we might all come to the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. That God might be able to peel through the many layers of our hearts that prevent us from standing bare before the truth. If that were to happen, today would indeed be a good...

The past several weeks, my mind has been too preoccupied with life circumstances to have the energy to blog. I am hoping things are settling down for a bit! When putting Naomi to bed one night this past week, she told me that Sunday was her favorite day of the week, because we get to go to church and learn about Jesus. Woohoo! Then she looked at me seriously and told me that one of the stories she learned about Jesus is that He cried–but she was quick to qualify that it only happened one time. “Oh yes,” I said. “There’s one verse in the Bible that tells us that Jesus cried. When His friend Lazarus died, it says that ‘Jesus wept.'” But then she corrected me. There was another time! When Jesus was “praying on a rock”! I immediately realized she was talking about Jesus praying in the garden, just before He was arrested. And that time, He was crying so deeply that it appeared as if there were tears of blood coming down His face. How could I have forgotten the other time Jesus cried? Hebrews 5:7-8 tells us that Jesus had to learn obedience through suffering. When Jesus prayed and cried asking God if there were any other way, apparently there wasn’t. One of the things I’ve been thinking about recently is God’s willingness to let His Church flounder so much. Much of my motivation as a pastor comes from my desire to see a church that is abandoned to God–and not superficially. There are lots of churches that have “passionate” worship services, but most of those churches also tend to have an attitude of “Look how great our church is.” In contrast, I want to see a church in America have the same qualities I imagine a persecuted church has: a real nuts-and-bolts devotion to Christ. I have a feeling that if you take away all the trappings of those “passionate” churches in America, much of the passion will also be lost. But what is the likelihood of finding a church with the strengths of the persecuted church in a land of self-absorption? Sometimes I feel like I have more passion for God’s church than...

So now what? I find it funny that so much effort is being utilized to convince other Christians that there is indeed a hell. I’ve devoted several blog posts on the issue since leaving my former church. At times, I’ve grown frustrated in this endeavor, since Jesus and Scripture talk very clearly about its existence. I feel like I’ve written more about it than ought to be necessary. I wish we could stop debating its existence and move on to the implications. It’s like continually debating with someone whether there’s a God or not. There is, so let’s move on to what that means for our lives. This morning, I woke up to discover that David Platt (author of the book Radical) gave his take on the Rob Bell / Robbed Hell controversy. (Man, there are so many plays on words to make regarding this controversy, LOL.) Check out his video response here. His response reminded me of the same conclusion I came to myself when faced with people who laughed at me for my convictions regarding the Gospel and the reality of hell. Read it here. Like I said at the conclusion of that post, Christians have three options when it comes to the reality of hell: Reject the idea of hell, because it is too intolerable to believe any longer Somehow convince ourselves that everyone around us going to hell is tolerable Find it intolerable that everyone around us is going to hell, and do something about it Today, I’ll add a fourth option that is very similar to #1: Believe that there is a hell but that very few people are going there (just the “really, really bad” people throughout history that we don’t want to see in heaven). Sadly, that’s the opposite belief that Jesus taught (few are on the narrow road, and many are on the road to destruction). The lack of evangelization in my life is as disconcerting as those who reject the idea of...

With all of the discussion lately about who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, allow me to write some thoughts along these lines based on my recent readings of Romans. (By the way, Romans is one of the most theologically rich books in the Bible–so much has already been written about it, as it’s packed with so much in there. This is just part of what I’ve gleaned from a few parts of it.) According to the Christian faith, what is required for one to receive salvation from God? First, we must look closely at the wording of that question: salvation is something to be received. That means it comes from something/someone other than ourselves. We do not have the possibility of saving ourselves. We don’t save ourselves by deciding to obey God or by professing any creed. Rather, the only way we can be saved is if someone else saves us. We can’t take care of the problem ourselves. So if we can’t save ourselves, who can save us? Can my neighbor? No, because they too need saving just as much as myself. Everyone is in the same predicament. This is an important place to stop and reflect: Everyone is in the same predicament. We must remember this when we consider who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Every one of us is under the rule of Sin, and as a result, eternal death is our fate. There are not evil people and good people. Under God’s standard of righteousness, there is NO ONE who is righteous, no not one. As a result, no one can be considered righteous–even if from this point on, I never sin again, my record is still blemished. Not only this, but that scenario is not at all possible, as sin is much more than just an act or deed done in isolation. Rather, sin has also changed the nature of who I am as a person. I am totally screwed up. (If you can’t admit this, that’s called pride.) The illustration of someone who has taken heroine is a good illustration of what sin does to us. Once you’ve taken it once, it alters your brain in such...