Category Archives: Christianity

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 →

The Importance of the Resurrection

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Jesus, resurrectionThere was a time I wondered why so much emphasis was placed on the resurrection.  Jesus died on the cross as the all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world.  Even if there had been no resurrection, his sacrificial death would have brought salvation; what could be more important than that?

The blood of Jesus was a more excellent sacrifice than that of bulls, sheep and birds.  His death on the cross brought an end to the temple sacrifice system.  The entire Gospel pivots around the cross.  It is the universal symbol of Christianity.  But the implications of resurrection are equally powerful, a fact that I can now appreciate as well.  Continue reading →

Jesus’ Example: Love Your Enemies

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Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 

Those are the words of Jesus in Matt 5:44.  The entire sermon on the mount can be read in Matt 5-7, but let’s deal right now with just this one command.  Like everything Jesus taught, he not only gave the instruction but provided us with his example to follow.  Jesus loved his enemies.  Continue reading →

Parable of the Sower (Fling the Gospel)

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sowing_seedsIn Mark chp 4, one of the parables Jesus shares is the Parable of the Sower.  If you didn’t just click the link to Mark 4, it may be that you know this parable well.  I hope you either know this story already, or at least take the time to read it now.  After telling this particular parable, Jesus goes on to explain its meaning.  The seed is the gospel, and what happens illustrates many things that could happen to those who hear the gospel shared.  What I want to foucs on for a moment is exactly what Jesus meant by “went out to sow.” Continue reading →

On the Other Hand (Jesus is God)

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Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—  for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.  Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.  And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.  For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.  -Romans 5: 12-17

In some ways, Jesus is like Adam. By one man’s transgression, sin entered the world.  And by one man’s righteousness, victory over sin entered the world.  Adam and Jesus are alike in that both are a type of “first man.”  At the same time, they are total opposites if you think about it.  Adam was the first man to sin; Jesus was the first man to live without sin.  Continue reading →

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

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coming soonI know I haven’t been blogging much lately.  If you somehow missed it, my wife had a baby about two weeks ago.  My mom was here two weeks, my in-laws are still here, a new school year started; it’s been a hoot.

Look for these posts to come soon:  On the Other Hand.  This is the sermon I preached last Sunday morning.  On the one hand, Jesus was a lot like Adam; and Moses, and David, and John the Baptist.  On the other hand, Jesus was God.

This morning I’m preaching on Abraham being the first man of faith.  Before there was Moses, Aaron, the temple or the Law, Abram was blessed by Melchizedek and gave a 10% tithe.  And then 3,000 years before Jesus was crucified, his faith was counted as righteousness.  Abraham was way ahead of the curve.

Equal Time

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This post is very personal and way too long; but  I feel it’s a story that must be told.

timeYou don’t hear about it much anymore, but during the 70’s a concept known as equal time or equal opportunity was hotly debated.  Television stations had to provide an equal amount of broadcasting time for both sides of a political issue.  1959 and 1971 are banner years regarding amendments and exemptions to the Congressional Act if you get really interested.  I just wanted everyone to remember there was such a thing. 

For a number of years, it didn’t look like my wife and I would be having any children.  We were married in 1997; in 2002 she tested positive for the first time on a pregnancy test.  We laughed, we cried, then we called everybody we knew.  We started picking out names, and one person wanted to be the first to give the baby a gift.  Then around 12 weeks or so we made a trip to the emergency room, and found out the she had already miscarried.  The event was traumatic; much worse than never becoming pregnant at all. Continue reading →

Open Door Policy

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open door Summer is the season of mission trips, Vacation Bible School and Backyard Bible Clubs.  I would like to share a personal experience that I find especially encouraging. 

Our church is hosting a large number of volunteers this week from Lynchburg, VA.  Their mission team is doing a few construction projects and running several Backyard Bible Clubs in different locations.  One of them is at the small country church I frequently preach at.  This is an old church, and does not have central air.  During the day we open up the windows and turn on a couple of fans.  We’ve been leaving the front door standing open, just to move some air.  Well, this morning a young couple was driving by and noticed the open door.  She has been looking for a job, and everyone knows what that is like right now.  She felt the need to stop in and pray.  They entered the back of the sanctuary, and listened to the children’s Bible lesson that was being taught.  When the kids went downstairs for snacks and crafts, we had the chance to listen to their story and pray with them.  We invited them to join us tomorrow, and certainly for service on Sunday. 

They stopped at the church to pray because they saw the front door open.  We often (I hope) invite people to church, but how inviting is our church?  How many others would stop and pray, ask questions or just talk to us if they saw the door open?  This happened at 11:00 on a Thursday morning.  There’s a lot of hurt, a lot of need, a lot of fields white for harvest out there.  It may be a stretch just to imagine people with problems wanting to be anywhere near “church people.”  Imagine if more churches had open doors and people waiting to pray with those passing by.  Just a thought.

Having An Excuse vs. Making An Excuse

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Years ago my family went to church with a guy named Ted.  He was a lifelong smoker, and had developed a pretty bad case of emphysema by the time we met him.  They finally starting bringing him to church in a wheelchair, and he stayed on oxygen all the time.  There was a large machine in his house with little hoses run to each room, and he carried a small tank around with him on wheels.  He frequently spent time in the hospital.  No one would have held it against Ted if he had stayed at home.  It would not have made him a lazy Christian or a bad witness.  But instead he was one of the most faithful members.  He wanted to come to church for as long as he was able, and did.  Continue reading →