(Read part 1 first, if you haven’t.) So I’m supposed to lose everything in this life in exchange for Jesus…are we saying that I must quit my job, sell my home, give away all my possessions in order to be a disciple of Jesus? Why wouldn’t you be willing to do so? Wouldn’t you rather follow Jesus than have all that stuff? No? If you wouldn’t be willing to lose it all for Him, then do you really know what a treasure it is to know Jesus? It’s very clear in Scripture that Jesus called people to give it all away in order to follow Him. Why would it be any different now? The fact is, I think Jesus is calling every one of us to give it all away. Even if God wants you to keep your present job or keep your present money for the time being, it is only for the time being. It isn’t yours anymore. Jesus has a plan in place for how to spend it all. The same is true for your very life. For example, if God asked you today to die for Him, some might say, “Could you do it? Could you die for Jesus?” But a disciple of Jesus would say, “I already died when I was baptized. It is nothing to die for Jesus today.” If God asked you today to quit your job, some might say, “Could you do it? Would you be able to trust God to provide for you and your family?” But a disciple of Jesus would say, “Since the day I confessed Jesus as Lord, I have been trusting God to provide for me and my family. This is no different. I’ve already given this job over to the Lord years ago.” Whatever things were yours before you became a Christian, they are no longer yours. Jesus now owns them, because Jesus now owns you. You have already sold everything you own to Jesus, and He has bought them. He is now free to do with them as He wishes, just as you were free to do with them as you wished before becoming a Christian. And I have a hunch that what Jesus...

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,...

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...