Luke 18, one of my favorites. When I was going through a particular difficult time, the story of the persistent widow was of great comfort. I learned, as I cry out to God both day and night, eventually God would answer. That is a truth. But as I read Luke 18 this morning, I discovered Jesus’ example of how to pray did not end with the story of the widow....
Living Holy and Obediently
How do you teach holiness without evoking feelings of guilt? How do you teach obedience without legalism? You begin by teaching the Love of God, the faithful, unconditional, unstoppable, unfailing, uncompromising love of God. You remind people that God’s love doesn’t ebb and flow with their behavior. He loves you because you are His masterpiece. Secondly, remind them of power of the cross. Because of the cross, sin is no...
Good Teacher
On the first day of school, I give my students this speech: “I’m an amazing teacher. You hit the jackpot when you got me as a teacher. I’ve been doing this a long time and if you listen to me and do what I tell you, you will understand the math. You will prosper.” Sounds arrogant? Perhaps. But, the truth is, especially for my AP students, I know what it...
Why Should I Obey?
Yesterday, I felt as if I were supposed to share on obedience in the Bible Study I facilitate. But as I began preparing my notes, I felt as if God said, “Stop. Before you share on obedience, remind them of grace.” So, we began our discussion by remembering some truths: 1. We are righteous (right with God) because of Jesus’ perfect obedience not ours. (II Corinthians 5:21). 2. We are...
This is How We Fight
At this moment, I have been hurt by someone. I have been praying, avoiding, and maybe a little sulking. In a month I will be speaking at the Belonging Conference in Apex (ironic right?). Yesterday, as I I was driving to church, I was preaching to myself. God was giving me my sermon for the conference. I love it when God does that! He was showing me connections in the...
But At Your Word
They were professional fisherman. From experience, from, from being taught by their fathers, they knew the right time to cast their nets for the ultimate catch. They were also well acquainted with good catches and meager catches. Today had been a meager catch. So they called it a day. I can hear Peter calling it, “Men, today is not our day. Let’s clean the nets and head home to our...
God’s Blessing, Jesus’ Obedience
We had an interesting conversation last night about obedience vs. blessing. Does God bless us more when we are obedient? For most of my life I believed and taught this. It’s based on the Old Testament. Here is just one of the many Old Testament examples that support this manner of teaching: “Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do.” (Deuteronomy 29:9...