Category Archives: Christianity

Welcome to WordPress MBC

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We live in what is called the Information Age.  Just one generation ago, Americans found out about what happened in the world around them by tuning in to a 30 minute televised news broadcast at 6:30 each evening.  Walter Cronkite, who only recently passed away, was the very first news anchor.  Today, with broadband mobile devices and public access to high speed Internet, we are never more than a few seconds removed from breaking news that happens anywhere on the globe.  There are of course those people that Tweet each individual item they put into their shopping cart, resulting in what the kids call TMI (too much information).

The point is that any data can be accessed instantaneously, and to overlook the potential to share the Gospel would be foolish.  I wish to welcome Manchester Baptist Church in Manchester, KY to WordPress. Continue reading →

God Sent His Son – Hebrews 1

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I am about to start a sermon series on the book of Hebrews, and will endeavor to share those messages here.  Hebrews ties together the Old and New Testaments by showing how Jesus is carrying forward into the church age the work started by God among the Hebrew people.  Written to a Jewish audience, the letter to the Hebrews strives  to prove that Christianity is the continuation of Judaism, and not something else entirely.  If you have ever questioned why a Christian should read or study the Old Testament, this book will be an eye-opener.  Quite simply, most of what God was doing in the Old Testament was meant to help us understand the work of Christ in the New. Continue reading →

Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and the Kingdom of God

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Lincoln, King and the Kingdom: what’s the relationship?  I’ve always wondered who in the government decided to put Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) together.  Although my students will tell you that sometimes I get a little preachy when I teach history, I’ve always tried to not lecture history from the pulpit.  This time, I’m going to ask that you indulge me just a little bit.

It’s always around this time of year that my American History class studies the Civil War.  It just so happens that right in the middle of that, my wife and I visited D.C. over the Christmas break.  I stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and looked across the reflection pool toward the Washington Monument.  The words of the Gettysburg Address are carved into Lincoln’s memorial in 12″ letters.  It’s hard not to come back and say something about it. Continue reading →

There is Much to Pray For

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I noted at church this morning there seems to be more things to pray about than usual.  We’re in one of those seasons that “casting our cares upon him” takes a little more time and effort, but seasons change and this too shall pass.

Pray for the people of Hatti, as well as those who will go there bringing relief and doing what they can to help.  I know a group of church pastors personally who make regular trips to Hatti, and even now are gathering donations and preparing to go.  Let’s ignore the Pat Robertsons of the world who claim this is God’s judgment, and mobilize to give aid and live out the Gospel.  I don’t think Jesus would sit around saying “I told you so.”  He touched the sick, ate with sinners, washed the disciples feet, and told us to do the same.  We have blessed with much so that we can bless others. Continue reading →

…And the Holy Spirit

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God manifests himself in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  It’s easy to recognize the Father and Son in many of our Christmas stories and traditions, but the Holy Spirit is sort of the missing character.  That’s just in our remembrance of the story; in the Biblical account, he is all over that story.

If we’re aware of the Holy Spirit in the Christmas narrative at all, it’s probably when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will conceive, Luke 1:35.  That’s just the first time Luke will mention the Spirit. Continue reading →

Advent: Faith

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Week 2 of Advent is about faith, and we light the Bethleham candle.  This candle reminds us of the faith Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethleham, believing God was fulfilling his promise to Israel and blessing their family at the same time.  I began by reading Psalm 79.  Most of the psalm is a lement over the destruction of Jesrusalem. Continue reading →

Christmas Card Theology

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What if everything we knew about Christmas came from studying the pictures on our Christmas cards?  Even if you never pick up a Bible, there’s a lot to learn from the cards we send around each year.  Here’s a list of some that I’ve noticed:

  • Mary and Jesus are both white.  I’ve even seen Jesus with red hair, and lots of it.  Way too much for a newborn.
  • Angels are beautiful women.  They basically look like super models in choir robes.  OR
  • Angels are 6 year old children.  They’re cute, and plump, and sometimes play musical instruments.
  • There were 3 wise men.  There were exactly 3 wise men, no more, no less.  Two of them were white, one was black.  AND THEY WERE AT THE MANGER.
  • The manger was in a shelter made of wood with a straw roof.  There were no other buildings of any sort for several miles in any direction.

These are a few of the things we learn when we get our theology from Christmas card images.  Assuming of course that your cards have anything about Jesus on them at all.  I’m going to leave it at this.  Check out the first couple chapters of Matthew and Luke before asking stupid any questions.

The Ten Percent Tithe

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tithingTithing is a tricky thing.  If a church pastor preaches a sermon on tithing, he will be accused of being interested only in money.  The pastor’s salary (minister, priest, etc) is probably set in the church budget.  It’s not like if the church has a good day at the offering plate, he’s going out to Golden Corral after the service.  But try to teach on the subject of tithing if you don’t believe me, and see if  words like meddling or greedy aren’t tossed around freely.

The issue I wish to address here is the practice many Christians have of tithing exactly ten percent of each dollar earned.  I mean to respond to questions such as:

  • Is tithing an Old Testament command?
  • Are Christians required to tithe?
  • Does Jesus demand a tithe?
  • How much should one tithe, if anything? Continue reading →

The Pagan Roots of Halloween; and Easter and Christmas

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trick-or-treatJust like the Internet Monk rants here, I was raised in a fundamentalist Baptist home.  We read the King James Bible, went to Sunday School, prayer meeting, revival, and every other time the church door was open.  We didn’t wear shorts at my childhood home, nor go swimming in mixed company.  My dad went to the public school and had me excused from the two weeks of swimming our P.E. class had in August.  Dad was a street preacher, standing on the corner of a downtown city block shouting the Gospel at passing traffic.  (He still does that once a week, but I no longer hand out tracts to pedestrian passersby.)

But you know what my parents did let us do?  Go trick-or-treating.  Continue reading →

Building on the Rock

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jesus_teachingAs Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) he offers some practical advice concerning his teachings.  He says that anyone who hears his words and does them is like a wise man that built his house on a rock.  Do we all know what happens next?  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew, but the house did not move.  To not heed the word of Jesus is to be the foolish man who build his house on the sand; great was the fall of it.  Continue reading →