This week we will be looking back to the triumphal entry!  Christ enters Jerusalem to the roaring cheers of the crowd.  It is impossible to know what he must have been feeling when he looked out at the impromptu parade knowing that the procession ended at the cross.  Napoleon said of Him, “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of...

If you’re into gaming, then the article title needs no explanation.  However, if you are not a gaming geek, the title of this post might be nonsense to you.  It is the sounds and jubilations of leveling up!  Gamers spend hours to be able to say, “ding” and hear their friends reply, “grats!”  I remember when I graduated from college and my best friend called me up and said, “Woot!  Grats! ...

Ever have to give up your pride to get healed?  Sure you have!  It is only when Christ deals with our pride that he can begin the good work in us.  Nearly every heartache I have encountered has little to do with love and much to do with pride.  Pride inflicts wounds while love covers sin.  What kind of life do you want to live?  Do you want to be an inflicter of wounds and a receiver of scars, or do you want to be a person who shares...

This Sunday, we will be looking at Mark 8, where Jesus tells us how to gain life.  Jesus tells us to bear a cross, to say “no” to ourselves, and to lose our lives for Him.  Like C. S. Lewis, I have to question the sanity of a man who would talk that way.  He is either mad, or he is the Son of God speaking truth and breathing life into a dying world.  If you want to go left, you have to go right.  Sometimes Jesus teaches...

Pride…what a sneaky monster.  I’m not talking about the pride that you feel when your child does good at a recital or a sporting event.  I’m talking about that monster that cloaks itself in light and beauty while all the time devouring the soul and separating us from our Creator.  Pride is so slick that we can feel our egos swell with how humble we are. Pride destroys families, shatters friendships, corrupts countries,...

Each of us has a doorway to blessing.  For those that walk through the doorway, there is no amount of discussion, skillful avoidance, or assault that can persuade them that God does not bless the tithe.  When we consider that Jesus demands everything that we are and have, tithing is really a simple teaching that should be considered the first step in a life of joyful giving.  When we teach tithing, we fall 90% short of the truth.  Do an...

This 2nd week of stewardship month, we will be looking at how we can be good stewards of the Church.  I have heard people say that they are members of the universal church in order to avoid attending a local church.  That’s a giant copout!  Jesus and the disciples were not vague about what they were doing.  They saw missionary work as building local churches.  The church is a community within a community and also a community...