Please pray the following prayer with me: “Lord, please quite my mind and heart to the things that might distract me from hearing from you about an issue most of us don’t think about enough – the size of our ‘buts.’”

Note how I spelled “but.” It only has one “t.” Not two. How many times do we say things like, “Lord, I would do it but….” I tried to finish this but….” “I would like to attend the small group but….”

May the Lord convict us about our “buts” as we enter into the world of Jesus and his followers. (more…)

Matthew 26:17-30 says, “¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

                ¹⁸ He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

                ²⁰ When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹ And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

                ²² They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

                ²³ Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

                ²⁵ Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”

            Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

                ²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

                ²⁷ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood of the^[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

                ³⁰ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

Jesus is being betrayed by someone close to him. Judas was one of his chosen disciples. Judas was one of those who were amazed when Jesus healed people from chronic diseases and freed others from the captivity of demon possession. He was awed when Jesus walked on water. He was shouting “Hosanna” and placing palm branches on the road when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. We know he was a trusted member of the group since he was their treasurer. He blended in because the other disciples didn’t know who Jesus was talking about when Jesus said, “one of you is going to betray me.” Perhaps Judas himself didn’t realize how devastating his actions would be since he responded with, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” (more…)

Do you ever feel like you’re not good enough to serve Jesus? This isn’t an uncommon thought among Christians, especially those who are all too aware of their struggles with sin. However, we should never let our past sins keep us from serving God. Jesus Christ’s atoning, sacrificial death on the cross saves us from the consequences of our sin. God doesn’t choose perfect people to serve him because there aren’t any.

Even though God knows we’ll never be perfect, he still calls us to throw off the “sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews 12:1). The difficulty with this is that when God or other people confront us about our sin, our normal, human reaction is to try and justify it. There are those rare occasions when we will humbly agree with those who challenge us but our normal, human reaction is to defend ourselves.

In his book Future Grace, John Piper writes: “Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it holds out some promise of happiness. That promise enslaves us until we believe that God is more to be desired than life itself.” This quote makes sense because we wouldn’t break God’s commandments if we really thought they are what’s best for us. We wouldn’t justify sin if we desired God more. (more…)

1 Peter 2:4-17 says, ⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

            They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

                ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

                ¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

                ¹³ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. ¹⁷ Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

In this passage, Peter refers to Jesus as “a chosen and precious cornerstone,” which references Isaiah 28:16. The initial readers of this letter most likely understood what Peter means with this example. Modern scholar N.T. Wright says, “For a first century Jew…the great hope of Israel was that the true God, YHWH, would return to Zion (Jerusalem) at last, coming back to live forever in the Temple – once, that is, it had been properly rebuilt so as to be a suitable residence for him…There was a long tradition of speaking about the Temple being built on the ‘rock’, on the ‘cornerstone.’ Find the right ‘stone,’ and you may well be on the way to building the new Temple, ready for God to return.” (more…)

According to the Bible, what is really required for us to have salvation?

Our understanding of salvation is heavily influenced by the Sinner’s Prayer, which is often used at revivals and evangelistic services to help people who come forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. A basic, shortened version this prayer goes something like this: “Lord, please forgive me for my sins. I believe that you died on the cross and resurrected. Please come into my heart and save me.” This prayer is one of the best things the church ever created because it is a clear and succinct way of helping individuals come to Jesus. It’s based on the theology that faith is all we need for eternal redemption. (more…)

This weekend we celebrated Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor those who have given their lives in defense of our nation. The roots of this holiday in America can be traced to the Civil War when the graves of soldiers were decorated to commemorate their sacrifices. It kept evolving until it became a federal holiday which we now celebrate on the last Monday in May.

I remember having a heroic concept of war when I was a young boy. Watching war movies inspired me to play war games with my friends. Of course, in my mind, I was always the hero. (more…)

Colossians 1:15-20 gets right to the point about the identity of Jesus. It states: “15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

Jesus is the image of God, the firstborn over all creation, creator, before all things, head of the church, the fullness of God, reconciler and peacemaker. It can be very difficult to understand all of these phrases and how they apply us – his followers. This, in turn, can lead to a lukewarm faith because we typically don’t give our whole hearts to anything which confuses us. Since our salvation is based on whether or not we’re right about Jesus being the Messiah, our uncertainly can lead to fear. (more…)

My wife, Stephanie, and I received a special blessing this past Easter weekend. Our daughters and their families came to spend a couple of days with us and to attend worship on Easter morning. The weather that weekend was good so I got a brilliant idea. I bought and assembled a fire pit so we could spend some quality time together around a calming fire. When it came time to light the fire, I gathered up some seasoned wood that was lying at the edge of our yard. It had been cut for several years so it should have been ready to burn. I placed the wood on the fire and initially it appeared we would have a roaring fire in just a few moments. Then something happened. The multicolored flames began to diminish and the firewood began smoke and make popping noises. We spent the rest of the evening playing “Dodge the Smoke” every time the wind changed directions. The wood looked ready to burn one the outside but on the inside it wasn’t ready. (more…)

The writer of this Psalm 71 appears to be an older man who’s asking God to strengthen him. His enemies see he is losing his strength so they’re attacking him. He starts out by asking God to strengthen him, protect him and deliver him for his enemies.

Psalm 71:1-8 – ¹ In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. ² In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; turn your ear to me and save me. ³ Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. ⁴ Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel. ⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. ⁶ From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. ⁷ I have become a sign to many; you are my strong refuge. ⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.

The author says he has followed God from the moment he was born through his youth into adulthood. Later in the psalm, he states that as an older man, he’s still trusting God.

There are a lot of older adults in worship throughout the week who have also been trusting Jesus since they were infants. They were raised in the church and are still practicing their faith. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of people in our community who were raised in the church but aren’t worshipping the Lord anymore. They’ve turned away from walking with Jesus and serving him. (more…)